Have Oils, Will Travel

We recently returned from Costa Rica, and of course I took a whole bunch of my oils with me!  I wanted to share what I took, and what I used.

I got a fair bit of flack for the oils.  It is what it is, and all I can do is shrug it off because I know they aren't for everyone.  (Well they are for everyone, but there are some people that I know aren't looking for the change.)

Another interesting story, is that while on our night hike, our guide was talking about a type of plant that he said is good for cancer.  He didn't say it cured cancer, and he didn't go into detail about what the benefits were, but all I could think about is how similar this is to the use of oils. Other cultures are using all types of natural remedies against common ailments.  And then our culture is up here rolling their eyes.  

So here is what I brought and why:

Terrashield spray - 20-30 drops Terrashield in a 4oz glass bottle, topped with distilled water.  This was what I used as bug spray.  We used it when we were in the jungle and I didn't find that I needed it when we were at the resort.  I don't think I got any bites, so it must of worked ok!  (You can buy this premade as well.)

Headache Roller - because it's always with me!

Deep Blue Roller - for the headaches that just won't quit!

Lavender Roller - bug bites & sun burns (took a burn on my hairline away within a day!)

ZenGest Roller - because you always need help with your tummy in a different country!

Immunity Roller - because your immune system takes a beating

Small vials in my doTerra key chain case:

Frankincense - behind the ears during take off and landing on the plane.  It's anti-inflammatory so I found it helped a lot.  

On Guard

Lemon

Copaiba - for anxiety and also anti-inflammatory

Terrashield - in case I ran out of our bottle

Balance - because I love it, a bit on the wrist, feet, or behind the ears

ZenGest - for if the roller wasn't doing the trick, my friend also used some for congestion

Deep Blue Rub - we were hiking, rapelling and ziplining for 3 days straight, loved putting some of this on at night

I used every single roller blend that I brought and a few of the small vials.  We also brought Pepto, Gravol and Advil.  Oils are great, but sometimes you need more.  And that's ok!  Modern medicine is amazing, but I always like to turn to my oils first now and see if they can fix the problem.  (By the way, I do find that ZenGest fixes most stomach problems.  However when you are down south, I find your whole system is off.  I took a Pepto pill every day for the last 4 days just to try to get myself back on track.)

As for taking the oils on the plane, it was easy peasy.  They are all under 100mL so they can go in your carry on if they fit in the liquid bag.  Once we were through security, I made sure the lids of my rollers were on tightly and put them in individual ziplock bags as I had heard sometimes they leak due to plane pressure.  None of mine ended up leaking, but it was nice to know that they wouldn't leak all over themselves if they did.

The Products We Use

I spent an evening entering the products in my house into the Think Dirty app on my phone.  Guys, it was terrifying.

I hate that we read stuff and are scared.  The flu is freaking me out right now.  But the flu shot also freaks me out.  And as parents, and just human beings, it's scary and confusing, and what is the right answer?

But the truth of the matter is, that we can only ignore the facts and what we are exposing our bodies to for so long.  When we know better, I feel like we have a responsibility to do better.  However, it's definitely a progress vs perfection situation.  I'm trying to rid my home of toxins, but it's definitely hard to do it all at once.  So it's a process.  I've eliminated a lot of chemicals that were used for cleaning.  But now I've looked at our personal care products, and although I know that I need to get rid of all of the things with fragrance, it's hard when couponer Kaileigh has stocked up on this stuff....

OK so basically I put a bunch of the products in my house into this app.  They rate products from 0-10, 0 being the healthiest.  The kid's Live Clean soap was pretty good, so that's a relief.  But that's where it stopped.  My body wash, terrible.  My shampoo, terrible.  Who knew.... Even my high quality hair products aren't great.  A lot of these products are known carcinogens or cause reproductive and developmental issues.  A ton of them have allergens, and although we aren't dealing with any major allergies, I do have skin issues that are likely caused by some sort of allergy that I've just never figured out.  Is this why so many people get cancer or have trouble getting pregnant?  Are we doing this to ourselves and just choosing to ignore the damage that we are doing?

Let's be honest, I'm never going to eliminate all of these products from our home. (Well maybe I will, but I'm not going to go throw everything out immediately.)  But I can reduce them.  I have plans to make my own soaps and lotions.  (Actually really easy if you buy the ingredients.  You can also obviously purchase better products, but if you know me you know I like to save money.  I got most of the products we have for next to nothing, so that's a lot of the reason why this is so hard for me.)  

I'm trying to be real and authentic and sharing my journey with wellness and essential oils.  Because I know there are a ton of people out there who say you can't be healthy and do this and this and if you do you are basically a bad person.  But the fact of the matter is, change is hard.  It's a process.  Not everybody is ready for it.  But you can take small steps and every little bit counts.  

I really love this lotion...