**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)

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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.