**REVIEW** Organic Black Seed Oil

Here I go, trying another oil for my health.

From Sun Essential Oils

That right there, folks, is Black Seed Oil. Another of the remedies that's supposed to be good as an anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory because of the Thymoquinone in it.

(Believe it or not, I actually take most of the oils and other natural remedies I talk about here; I just stagger their use and try not to overdo it.)

I have managed to gag down a dose of this for a few days. It's tough though. If my sister were here, she'd say that this oil could "gag a maggot". I can barely get it down and I only take a little less than the teaspoon recommended.

Looks harmless. 

First off, the smell is off-putting. Black Seed Oil smells like what I imagine crude oil to smell like if you threw in a couple drops of car-ready gasoline. I am very serious. I have to plug my nose every time I bring the spoon anywhere near my face.

Next up, this oil has one of the weirdest textures ever. And I use lots of oils - face oil, hair oil, skin oil, foot oil. If there is an oil out there on the general market, I have probably tried it. Just like with the smell, the texture of this reminds me of the stuff I see being drained out of car engines.

This is the streaky, stinking, residue in a little bit of orange juice I used to mask the taste. (The orange juice did nothing to mask the smell or taste, by the way.) Notice how it sort of clings to the sides of the cup? Yeah. That's the way the taste clings to the tastebuds.

By the way, I was so concerned about the taste that I Googled it, and apparently, lots of people use words like oil, turpentine, gasoline, and motor oil to describe it. I have a tribe.

As I said, I wanted this oil for the anti-blah blah blah properties. When I was reading up on it, I learned that it's possibly good for weight loss. That's no wonder. For about two hours after I take this oil, I can't eat or drink anything else without that nasty taste echoing back into my mouth. I really can taste this stuff for the longest time. However, I do think there is something to the weight loss thing. For some reason (and not just the gag factor), my appetite goes way down after taking this first thing in the morning. Not sure what that's about because I haven't done much more research.

I didn't realize how small the bottle was going to be with that 9 dollar price. I just wanted to get one that had the best reviews and feedback at a decent price. At first, I was a little annoyed that the bottle is so teensy -

- but after tasting this stuff, I am glad I will quickly finish it off. I like what it's doing to relieve some of my general fatigue so I will probably buy more - in a pill form. though.

As far as using this on my skin or hair, that is a big old nope. This smells as strong and awful as Neem oil does - just in a different way. I don't want to walk around smelling like I work at Jiffy Lube. I have enough issues.

Some benefits (it is claimed) of using this oil on the hair and skin:

• Anti-Bacterial In Nature. The oil is anti-bacterial in nature and when applied on the skin may prevent acne by fighting off skin infections
• Packed With Antioxidants
• Fights Hair Fall
• Improve Hair And Scalp Health
• Fights Skin Infections

The smell of it could run off any kind of infection, I am sure. Still, I am tempted to use it when I know that I won't have to get within 50 feet of another human being. If you want people to keep their distance during this COVID thing, just wear some of this oil or some Neem oil. Yuck.

If you do decide to try this orally, I suggest just taking it straight. Swallow it down fast and then take a sip of lemon or lime juice. If I try any on my hair and skin, I will certainly let you know how that goes.

To Summarize:

There are natural remedies for health and wellness. Do your research. Talk with your medical care team. Ask questions. Find out what other people are using to solve problems/issues similar to your own.

Peace
--Free

**REVIEW** Clove Essential Oil (from First Botany)

Before now, whenever I thought of cloves, only two things came to mind: 1) Toothache relief, and 2) Teen cigarettes.

I applied to get this at a deep discount so that I could add Clove Oil to my arsenal of health, wellness, and beauty products.

This Clove oil is from First Botany. This is my first time trying one of their products and, so far, I am happy with this oil. (I did do the "paper test" to check if it was diluted with carrier oils and it passed.)

What I have learned about Clove Oil in the past couple of weeks is:

• It has the highest Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) number I've seen yet.
• It's a remedy for dry skin
• Can be used to shine metals (yeah, really)
• It's both analgesic and antiseptic, which is why, I guess,..
• ...it's so good for toothaches. (I'll tell you in a moment of my experience)
• That its main ingredient is Eugenol, which is high in anti-bacterial properties (thank God for Wikipedia!)
• It's rich in calcium, iron, sodium, phosphorous, potassium and vitamins A and C
• Because of its fragrance, it's used in lots of toiletries (soap, lotion, perfume, etc.)
• Clove bud oil is used in the popular Tiger Balm (my niece swears by Tiger Balm)
• Can be used as an insect repellent (and is included in many store bought brands of the stuff)
• Is said to increase sexual energy.(Y'all will have to let me know about that one! LOL)

source

                                              

Like I mentioned, I have a story about clove oil. When I was living in Arizona (and working two jobs but still had nothing but prayer as health insurance), I got an abscess around a tooth. The thing developed in between breakfast and lunch time. It started to hurt so bad that the side of my face turned red (and you all know how dark I am, right?). I had to leave work to go home and lie in the dark and cry. A friend of ours heard that I'd left work with a toothache. She came right over to my house with the tiniest bottle of essential oil that I've ever seen. It was clove oil. She put some on a cotton ball and had my place it over that abscess. The pain started to ease up within minutes. I had to rinse and replace the cotton with fresh oil every couple of hours. By that night, the pain was completely gone and, by afternoon or so of the next day, the abscess was gone.

I kept that bottle of oil around for the next several months and then gave it to someone else with a toothache. They were as happy as I had been with the results. The only thing is, I never used clove oil after that. (And I do remember my mother having talked about her mother chewing on cloves to keep her teeth healthy and her breath fresh.)

At any rate, I don't particularly like the smell of cloves. I knew I wouldn't be using this one as a fragrance (like I do with, say, Frankincense), but I do like that it can be used for so many other things. I love using it in my concoction of natural tooth cleanser which, up to now, has been of this recipe:

• Coconut oil
• Rice powder
• Peppermint, Spearmint, Lemon or Tea Tree oil

Now, of course, I am using the Clove oil as the EO in the recipe. (Note: it keeps the breath and mouth feeling fresher much longer than Peppermint, Spearmint or Lemon. It tastes better than the Tea Tree oil.)

I haven't yet been able to bring myself to use it in water to drink any, but I am seriously going to be trying that soon. I have checked on some other ways to use this (because I want to have some hair uses), and here's what I came up with:

• Mix Clove Oil with Cinnamon Oil as a snake repellent
• Apply some to temples to soothe tension headaches (use a carrier oil!)
• Use (with a carrier oil) for a massage to heighten, uh, circulation...
• Mix with olive oil to massage cold legs and feet (has warming properties)
• Do a scalp massage with a carrier oil and 1 or 2 drops of clove oil (it's very strong) to stimulate hair growth.

The biggest Pro to clove oil is that it is stimulating. The warning to this is clove oil is also very strong and has to be used with much caution.

My favorite find to all the hair uses is this recipe that a lady in the grocery store told me about:

Take two drops of clove oil and mix into a half cup of honey.

Rinse your hair and towel dry it, then apply enough olive oil to coat your scalp and hair well.

Apply the clove/honey mix to any thinning areas and cover with a cap for about 5 minutes.

Finally, either shampoo your hair and apply some leave in conditioner.

(If you have extremely dry hair, you can lightly shampoo the hair so you don't lose all the oil from your treatment.)

I haven't tried this yet, but I did add a single drop of clove oil to a glob of coconut oil and used it to oil my scalp. I want to add a little more clove oil, but don't want to burn myself! Maybe I will experiment the next time I do a scalp treatment.

A couple of last things about the First Botany brand of Clove Oil:

1. It is a Clove Leaf Oil (not Clove Bud Oil). I guess for people more familiar with Clove, there is a huge difference (?). I won't know until I try bud oil. For me, this was pleasant smelling (strong, IMO), and I could feel the warming properties that I heard about.
2. The bottle is a good 4 oz size and I think that, because its recommended to use so little, it will last me a good while. I am storing it as suggested (cool and dark place).
3. I have now applied to try other products by the brand and will update you on how the quality stacks up to this oil. Right now, I'm pleased.

If anyone has a good knowledge of uses for Clove E.O. (or about the differences), do let me know.

Peace

--Free

DISCLOSURE:
In exchange for providing my fair and honest review, I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only review products that I have personally used and can give an opinion of.

ORAC Numbers. Really?

When I was looking up information on the different oils the other day, I learned something new. There is a system for scoring the antioxidant value of common foods.

Did any of you know about this? If you did, why didn't you let a sister in on the news???

Anyway.

source

The ORAC thing is a little more complicated than I just stated but, if you want the nitty gritty on that, you can check Wikipedia. That's what I did.

I'm interested in the ORAC values of food, of course, but I do most of my reviews on essential oils. I was happy to see that there are E.O.s listed on the charts I found. At least, there are some E.O.s listed.

Here are some more charts and other information (sources as shown via links). Thanks for all the sources for having the information out there to share with the rest of us.


The USDA has a PDF downloadble that's kind of complex. Kind of. Or maybe it's just me.

Well Being does a better job of explaining antioxidants for the laymen

Superfoodly has a searchable list that's awesome. I mean, it is searchable. (And how cool is the name 'Superfoodly'?)

Bio Source Naturals has a chart and a Pinterest-friendly graphic.

source

It's been hard to find a chart of ORAC numbers for only E.O.s, so I'm showing a bunch for now.

source

source

Now, as for me and my house, the following are the most common oils & EOs that have been used (and some that I have recently started using). I will show their ORAC score if I can find it.

• Jojoba oil
• Camelina oil 
• Baobab oil
• Lemon EO 660
• Argan oil
• Grapefruit 22,600
• Lavender EO 360
• Peppermint EO
• Clove EO 1,078,700
• Frankincense EO 630
• Castor oil (reg)
• Castor oil (Black Jamaican) 
• Myrrh 379,800
• Peach (I have Peach kernel oil)
• Rosemary (I steep the leaves for a skin & hair spray) 330

I am still on the hunt for more numbers. In the meantime, isn't it interesting to look at which EOs have the higher numbers? I noticed that, other than Clove, I don't hear as much about those high number EOs. Might be something to think about when adding to your supplies, huh?

Since I started on these numbers, I thought I might as well add some Pins and charts for the ORAC score of foods and such. I mean, healthy is healthy, and beauty is a holistic kind of thing.

source was temp down

source

Source: A Handy Guide to Antioxidants

Peace

--Free

**REVIEW** Pure Lavender Oil by aVo Essentials

While I love essentials oils, sometimes I forget what a the "true" scent of something is. I ordered a vanilla essential oil once and, while it was great in a blend of other oils, on it's on, it was not something I was crazy about. Probably that's because my general idea of "vanilla" was so influenced by all the fake scents used in products. The oil I got was exactly like what I remembered from my mother's cooking.

My idea of the lavender scent was influenced mostly by store-bought products. My one memory of "real" lavender was from flowers that a sweetheart used to give me. Good memories.

When I got the chance to try this, I was excited to see if it matched my memories of the lavender flowers I once loved so much.

Notice the dates of the product. Fresh!

This is a Pure Lavender Oil from  āVō Essentials. (I love when the oils come with a stopper.)

Lavender is one of the scents I like for certain moods. I don't want to smell lavender in my coffee or food, but I love having this one.

Of course, like I said, I wasn't sure what to expect of the scent. I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, the best thing about this oil's fragrance is that, even though the scent is very distinct (just like the actual flowers), it's not overpowering at all. I had a fresh head cold when I first received the oil and I couldn't smell it at all. Once my sinuses cleared up, I could  tell that I had a "true" oil. Perfect. It really did match my memories.

Like I said, this is not something that I would use in food, but I understand that some people do use actual lavender in the kitchen (mostly for baked goods) and I find that interesting. Of course, keep in mind that this oil is for external use only!

What I have liked using it for is adding it to my shampoos and bathwater. Also, I like to blend it with some of my sweet orange oil to wear as a fragrance. I tried blending it with the vanilla oil I wasn't crazy about that as a wearable fragrance, but I did like it in the bath. Both scents are very soothing. I'm going to play around some more with the different blends. One way I did like using it is to add a drop to the hand sanitizer I carry in my purse. I did it to make the sanitizer smell better, but I later found out that lavender is a natural anti-bacterial.

Even though I loved the scent of my lavender bouquets, I didn't know at the time that lavender can be used for relaxation and stress relief. I realized it after using the oil in my bath water. Again, I think it's the whole "soothing" thing. I do know that it works well to help you sleep. If you apply a dab on your temples (with another carrier oil), it does ease a tension headache.

I've been using mostly coconut oil for as a carrier for this one. The regular coconut oils smells amazing when mixed with this, but if you want to keep the lavender scent undiluted, a fractionated coconut oil works nicely. The argan oils are heavier and, though they don't really disturb the lavender scent, it's more cost efficient to use an FCO for more body coverage.

 āVō Essentials offers a 100%  money-back guarantee, but the product is really good. The price seems a bit high, but the 4-ounce size makes it worth it. Lavender is a potent enough fragrance that it doesn't take much for most uses. Besides, you will need to use a carrier oil for applying to the skin because the lavender oil is concentrated.

There are a lot of other uses I want to investigate. Here are links to some information and usage suggestions:

• WebMD is my go-to for basic warnings and usage notes
• Use as a bug repellant, among other things...
• Anti-fungal, anti-bacterial agent
• Some lesser-known uses
• Interesting general to specific info
• Some recipes for that bottle of lavender oil
• My favorite: Chapped Lip Relief

If you haven't tried lavender oil before now, this is a good one to start with. Because of the product size/cost, multi-use, quality and the brand guarantee, you should be happy with this one.

Peace

--Free

DISCLOSURE: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Doing Yourself Healthy Natural Hacks, Solutions & Substitutes

It was nice browsing through information I found on other sites when I did the Do Yourself Beautiful post. So nice that I kept browsing through last night's insomnia. I thought I would pass along some things I found to address problems with dry skin and hair, wrinkles, dealing with other common healthy and beauty problems - in the most natural ways possible. (NOTE: when I speak of "natural" hair, I mean the hair african-american, bi-racial or other people who have naturally kinky-curly hair.) Here we go:

Treating your skin

• For eczema and dry skin
• Methods for treating wrinkles
• Ways to shrink pores (BTW, you can apply to write for this site)
• Beauty hacks for pretty lips
• Getting rid of blackheads
• 16 beauty hacks to try

For dry or damaged or "special needs" hair

• Damaged hair care
• A DIY protein treatment for natural hair
• Homemade treatments for various hair issues
• No (sham)poo cleansers for hair
• DIY hair conditioners
• DIY leave-in conditioners (especially for natural hair)
• Store bought, sulfate-free conditioners for natural hair

Inside Out Healthy (some lists to consider)

• 15 things about nutrition
• 23 ways to "eat clean" (warning: slideshow format w/annoying ad pop-ups)
• 10 healthy "superfoods" you might not know of (slideshow w/choice to view as a list)
• 20 healthy foods (listed by season)
• 8 healthy foods to eat every day
• 50 healthiest foods on the planet
• Top 10 healthy foods
• Another "Top 50" list of the healthiest (hmmm)
• 7 healthiest

(I think I'm going to compare all the lists & pick the foods that show up more than twice. Because, apparently, everyone has an opinion!)

Some Random finds

• Bunch of categories of remedies around the kitchen
• 5 beverages to substitute for sodas
• And if you just have to have soda, try these (in that annoying slideshow format)
• Deodorant alternatives (why oh why these slideshow things that I hate?!)
• Substitutes for white sugar
• Recipe ingredient substitutions/baking hacks
• Alternatives to potato chips (yes, another slideshow)
• More chip alternatives (and no freaking slideshow!)
• And more chip alternatives - with recipes (I really love this list)
• Reasons to find a chip alternative (and some tips) Like this one too!
• Best food & drink for healthy kidneys
• This thing about Matcha that has me applying right now to review some

Well, that ought to keep us all busy for a while, right? BTW, I'm not kidding about the Matcha powder. I just applied to try a few different brands, but I will probably start by picking some up locally. When I get a chance to try it out, I will do reviews for you guys. So stay tuned, and do let me know if you try any of the listed hacks and recipes. I want to know what you think.

Peace

--Free

**REVIEW** Sole Magic Foot Smoothing Pad

If you have problems with dry, scaly or callused feet, I'm going to scream at you to go and get one of these:

That is the Sole Magic Foot Smoothing Pad. And, boy, does it work.

You can get one of these online at the Sole Magic site. It's $7.99 (U.S.) and I'd very happily pay double (triple, if I had more money like that).  It's worth every single penny. I happened to find it cheaper and Walmart ($2.79). I found it a couple of weeks ago and, liked it so much, I went back for another one - just in case the price goes up.

I don't have money to throw around, and that I consider it a problem to "throw around" 3 bucks should tell you how hard up I am! Seriously, I have to be a little tight with the money so, when I bought this, I hung onto the receipt in case it was a dud. I have no problem returning bad products for a refund.

This is no dud. This works so well on my foot calluses, the only thing I wondered about was who the heck would be using it on their elbows. I'm not going to criticize though. My feet were so bad that I would never have taken a Before photo like the person on the Sole Magic site did. I can tell you that the photo is no trick. The foot smoothing pad works that well.

I am surprised that I never heard of this product before noticing it at Walmart. It was on one of those junky and badly placed racks where you can find everything from the latest things being hawked on infomercials to some hosiery. HOSIERY? Whatever.

The main reason I bothered to take a closer look at this smoothing pad is because I always take a closer look at any product for feet. And that's why I held on to my receipt until I saw the results I got. I have bought (and returned) so many products that claim they'll moisturize and smooth and, basically, keep you from shrouding your crusty, cracked, calloused feet in gauze to keep from offending other people. A couple of them did moisturize well (not well enough for my feet), and one or two of them lived up to at least part of the claims made (on TV, in magazines and by celebrity hawkers), but none of them worked fully as well as I'd like. One of them would have been great if it had been better designed.

The Sole Magic smoothing pad works mostly (I assume) because it has the basic concept of a foot file worked into a great design.

It's easy to hold and grip the smoothing pad, which seems to be the best part of the design. You don't have to exert a lot of pressure to remove the dead skin from your feet. And for the calluses... Oh! It just filed them right down to nothing.

I especially like that the pad smoothes the skin on your feet (and get's rid of calluses) without hurting at all. With some other foot file devices, I was afraid to use them too much because I didn't want to end up with scraped feet. It's the same reason I don't ever let anyone use razors when I (rarely) get a pedicure.

Before using this foot smoothing pad, I had stopped wearing certain types of shoes - just because my calluses were so painful. I could never walk barefoot around the house because the hardwood floors were like torture devices with each step. I spent about 10 minutes on each foot. Most of the time was used on my calluses because they were thick and located in odd places. The way the smoothing pad is made for gripping and angling is perfect. For my heels (which aren't so bad) and just for the overall smoothing out of my feet, I was done in no time.

Like with anything that files/smoothes dead skin, you're going to get that nasty skin ash falling everywhere. I usually try to do these kinds of foot treatments over the empty tub or over a towel, just to keep down on the mess. Plus, it's kind of gross. Another benefit of using the Sole Magic smoother is that it can be used wet or dry. I did my first smoothing treatment with a dry pad. A few days later, I did try it out in the bathtub. My feet were already pretty smoothed up by then though. I think that I will like it better wet for random "touch up" treatments, but I needed to full effect of a dry pad to handle these calluses!

After treating your feet to a smoothing, you can really tell a big difference - HUGE - right away, but you will be super impressed when you apply lotion to your nice new footsies. For me, it was better than a post-pedicure feel, and it didn't take all that soaking and waiting and paying. Besides, I'd rather take care of my own feet than risk some of the infections I've heard you can pick up at a mani-pedi salon...

Depending on how well I treat my feet (keeping them moisturized) and how dry or humid our weather is, I expect to do a smoothing treatment about once a month. Just touch up work. The pad seems to be sturdy enough to last for at least a few months, maybe more.

I'd check out my local drugstores before I ordered online. If your feet are in the shape mine were, you're not going to want to wait for shipping. Plus, it's nice to stock up on a couple of better-priced products while you can.

Recently, I've been wearing all my cute boots that my calluses made just standing uncomfortable. I can't wait for summer when I can wear my sandals...

Peace
--Free