How to Choose Essential Oils – The Man-flu episode of 2018

So… A short one today… Why? Because I am still recovering from being sick… I had the dreaded MAN-FLU. Now, when I am sick, my wife of course takes this as an absolute green light to apply, rub and diffuse every essential oil at her disposal. This time it was a delicate little rub of Thieves and Peppermint Essential Oils with a Coconut Oil carrier. I asked her how she came about this little concoction of joy and as she was answering I asked myself… “If I am going to do all these experiments and tests of the effectiveness of essential oils for men, then how on earth will I know how to choose essential oils”.

How to Choose Essential Oils – The Man-flu episode of 2018. Man Sick

The oily paste of goodness

So let’s start from the beginning… what was in this paste? Well it went like this:

Ingredients

5 drops of Thieves Essential Oil

5 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil

1 tablespoon of everyday supermarket quality coconut oil

Read more: The Best Carrier Oils for Essential Oils - Man versus Oils Investigates

Method

Mix them into a paste ( the weather was cool so this was possible – hotter areas will probably end up with a liquid)

Application

Rub onto the chest and wrists. Sniff the rest at regular intervals.

How to Choose Essential Oils. Effectiveness of essential oils for men. Man smelling bottle

Did it work?

Did it cure the Man-Flu? Of course not… This is not one of those sites that espouses the use of oils for every disease known to man!! And also, everyone knows that the only known cure for the man-flu is to be waited on hand and foot! But it did provide relief. Much as eucalyptus drops or nasal sprays do, it helped to keep my nostrils clear and my throat soothed – via inhalation NOT digestion. The difference was that this was done without the heavy chemicals of the nasal sprays or the sugar levels of lozenges.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it… This remedy definitely provided relief.

How did she choose the right essential oils?

I asked her that! Her answer was succinct and to the point… Her answer

“We don’t have any eucalyptus oil so I chose Peppermint because it is cooling and soothing and Thieves is awesome at killing germs”.

Sounds great!! Get it on me… but how did she know this? And more importantly how will I know which ones to choose when testing oils as a barbecue cleaner or weed killer (I have some big plans for this stuff). Her answer… “I looked it up”!

Where to find information on the use of Essential Oils

There is a lot of information out there. Some on track and some not so much! So this is what we use.

We have the Young Living Product Guide 2018. We have this because we use Young Living oils. However, of another brand is your choice then I am sure they will have a similar guide outlining the qualities, uses and ingredients of each oil.

There are also some good books released by Life Science products which also discuss the use of specific oils for specific symptoms. Another trick is to do some research into the actual plants themselves. For example, we know that citrus type fruits are acidic and good for cleaning. So this may be a good place to start when researching which oils might be good to clean, say… a barbecue.

Ok… One last point – And I have to get serious here. The levels of governance over the description of the benefits of Essential Oils vary greatly from country to country. Some books and websites will outline the medical benefits of Essential Oils which is not in line with Australian compliance guidelines. If you have a medical condition, please consult a Doctor in regard to your use of Essential oils as a treatment.

Conclusion

So there you have it. As a soother to man-flu sufferers it is definitely Oils 1, Paul 0… And we all breathed a little easier.

Oh, and thanks to my lovely wife for her input… And now that I know how to find them… I guess it is lucky I am over my Man-flu and able to start doing some reading…

Have fun!

Paul

Read more: 10 Best Essential Oils for a Cold. Let’s get better

 

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My name is Paul and I live on the east coast of Australia with my wife and six year old son. I also have 19 and 23 year old daughters. I am an ex government and bank worker who took a bit of a sea change and opened my own business by the beach with my amazing wife. If you can do it, try it. You will never look back. You want to know more about me, read my About Me page

10 thoughts on “How to Choose Essential Oils – The Man-flu episode of 2018”

  1. Hello, does this formula work on asthma? I am just wondering if it can then I will use it. I have peppermint oil, Lavender and apple scented oil at my disposal… thank you!

    Reply
    • Hi Jason – thanks for your question. This is a tricky one and to be honest, my answer here will probably be a bit vague. Asthma is a medical condition that can be quite severe and is often treated with chemicals. Part of the reason that many are skeptical on the use of oils is that there are sites out there that will openly outline the use of oils as a drug free alternative to many medical conditions including asthma treatments. I would always suggest talking to a doctor or naturaopath about the use of oils to relevie some of the symptoms of athma. My son suffers a very mild version of Asthma and we use this same paste on him at night when it is windy or smoky outside – we do this to help him sleep but not as a cure. Hope this makes sense and thanks so much for commenting.

      Paul

      Reply
  2. Hello, thank you for creating this amazing post. Essential oils just explains it in the name, they are essential lol. And can be used in so many ways, so beneficial for our health and extracting the oils from plants which gives so much variety and different healing properties.

    Great post buddy, keep spreading the word of health and wellness 🙂

    Kind regards.

    Dean.

    Reply
  3. Thanks for your post. I was looking around for some alternative to treat flu and find this. I will try eucalyptus essential oil to see how it goes. In fact, I used eucalyptus infusions in the past, and they did great. Thanks for sharing the experience.
    Cheers

    Reply
    • Thanks Theirry, Eucalyptus obviously very good for this also. We just don’t use it to liberally as it can pose a risk to cats – which we have. Let me know how you go…

      Paul

      Reply
  4. Oh I’m well aware of the Man Flu mate – I’ve got a four-year-old boy who constantly brings nice gift viruses home from school, which tend to mutate into man flu, just for me (why are those kid’s viruses so deadly?).

    It’s nice to come across a natural method  that provides some relief for once – I’ve always thought that the chemicals you use to improve your state when ill will eventually make the illness last a little longer. Would you say this oil maybe sped up the virus’s span and got rid of it a little sooner?

    Reply
    • HI Chris, not sure if it got rid of it sooner or not but it definitnely did assist with the symptoms.  ‘Medicines’ such as a couch drop or vapo rub help clear the nose and sooth the throat without actually fixing the cause.  Oils have some proof as assisting with these symptoms due to thier anti-inflammitory and anticeptic qualities which may work at the root cause.  Unfortinately science has not caught up to this testing as yet for me to say definintely one way or the other – but with oils you are definitely treating them in a chemical free manner.

      Hope this answers your question

      Paul

      Reply

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