Monday 30 December 2013

The Seven Wonders of Tea Tree Oil

My love, my saviour, my new obsession. 
I unleash unto you the wonders of tea tree oil!

I've been a massive fan of tea tree for years, ever since I was a child.
As soon as a letter came through from school saying about a "nit pandemic" my mum soon followed religiously with the tea tree. 
*little disclaimer here I've never had, and hopefully never will, have nits. I don't know why, they just don't seem to like my hair*
The smell of it takes me back to my youth. 
Following a recent marathon of Tati's Y/T videos I found a video on her uses of tea tree oil. 
I'd never even considered some of the methods. 
I quickly went out and bought some and have been experimenting with how to use it and what it's good for. 

1/ Moisturiser
The first method I tried was adding a few drops to my face moisturiser, mixing it in thoroughly and applying it to my face and neck. 
I've only been doing this a week but I can already notice such a difference! 
My skin is less congested, my spots have drastically reduced in size and it seems so much brighter.
My skin always seems to react to more natural methods so much better than chemicals. 
I should note that my redness is also greatly reduced! Because my skin is almost see-through I often get very red. 
I'm also very rough when moisturising my face because I like to make sure it's all sunk in properly.
But adding this into my routine has helped this a lot. My skin is less red and the cooling sensations is very nice.

2/ Bath
I never shower I always have a bath. So adding oils and stuff to my bath is always ideal. 
However I've never added any oils to my bath before; I have quite sensitive skin and tend to react quite badly to bubble baths etc. (I can get quite blotchy)
Also my skin tends to dry out quite a lot.
Bu just recently I've been adding about 4-5 drops of this to my bath and it's been amazing!
The cooling sensation means that my skin doesn't get as red/blotchy as it used to, it smells amazing, you feel clean and fresh and my skin just feels so much more alive. Much fresher. 
I also tend to go into a tea tree induced coma after this and my sleep has never been better!

3/ Shampoo
Now this may be a bit of a TMI for some of you, but I suffer with quite bad dandruff.
Nothing too noticeable but it does get quite bad on 2-3 day old hair.
Just lately I've been adding a few drops of tea tree oil to my shampoo and massaging it into the roots. 
I won't go into too much detail here as I have a hair-care routine planned soon but I wash my hair in two parts' top half and bottom half. 
Adding a few drops of oil doesn't weight down the shampoo or stop it lathering up; it just creates a cooling sensation on the head. 
And I have noticed that my dandruff has significantly reduced after using this method.

4/ Toner
Toner is a bit of a "meh" beauty product for me. 
Some work some don't. I'm not too fussed about it. 
It's something I do if I remember. 
But for those who religiously use toner I suggest adding about 4-6 drops to purified water. 
Using a spray bottle is the easiest method, as you can spray onto a cotton pad and rub around your face or just directly onto your face. 
This works great as a toner but also as a "make-up refresher", for those who like a dewey look!

5/ Spot Treatment
Tea Tree Oil is best known for it's anti-bacterial properties; it's marvellous at cleaning and purifying the skin.
I have started putting the tiniest bit onto a cotton bud (Q-tip) and pressing it against the spot.
This works at calming down the spot and reducing the redness & size of it. 
I only use this on my massive spots and got very sparingly with it.
Right now I have a right corker on my chin and this has been a treat at helping it out! 
The practise of just putting pressure on a spot helps on it's own, but with the added oil it works lovely.

6/ Body Moisturiser
My body always seems to ache; I get quite bad back pain and as I seem to still be getting "growing pains" despite me not actually getting any taller!
But adding a few drops of this into a body moisturiser and moisturising my body works wonders at relieving pain and is a great de-stresser. 
I like to do this when I'm having a pamper evening. 

7/ Cold Relief
Considering it's "that time of year" again where winter is here with full force I thought I would add this one in.
Getting congested and not being able to breathe is one of the most horrible things about having a cold.
But adding tea tree oil to your bath, or a flannel, or putting it in a hot bowl of water with a towel over your head (attractive I know) can work absolute wonders at relieving this. 
I don't know what it is, but something helps move the mucus (yuk) so that you can breathe properly. 
I have a lot of trouble with my nose so this helps out a lot. 
Also it helps with getting rid of headaches, I've found.

So thats some uses for tea tree oil!
I'm sure there are many more. such as adding it to your facial cleanser, adding it to your facial oil, cleaning etc. 
My main advice is just to experiment with it, you might be surprised with what it can do!
I hope that's helped some of you out :)

Much love
Deanna xo

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