Coconut oil for Oil Pulling

As I type, I'm swishing oil between my teeth. Yup, oil. Coconut oil, sesame oil, and spearmint essential oil, to be exact.

The idea behind oil pulling makes sense. My mouth is at just the right temperature to house billions of bacteria, multiplying constantly, and feeding on the egg salad, Brussels sprouts and watermelon I had for dinner. 

Inside my mouth-house are both good and bad bacteria. The bad guys cause cavities and gum disease; bad bacteria thrive on sugar, sugar is converted into acid, which erodes the enamel on teeth, and the end result are cavities. While sugar encourages the growth of this bad bacteria, my saliva counteracts the acid and gives me a more neutral pH balance. 

So how does swishing oil get rid of some of the bad bacteria?

The idea behind oil "pulling" is that the oil attracts the fatty membranes of the microorganisms and they come out of their hiding places between your teeth and around your gums. The longer you oil pull (20 minutes is recommended), the more microbes are pulled free and released from your mouth when you spit out the oil solution. You're getting rid of the bad stuff and freeing up your body to fight off any infections you might have. 

I personally chose this combination:

• coconut oil because it really doesn't matter what kind of oil you use and I like coconut oil for its many health benefits, 
• sesame oil because historically, sesame oil was used for oil pulling, and 
• spearmint essential oil because I personally need a little gum-feeling action with this new habit

I'm now 15 minutes into my oil pulling. I occasionally get the "gag" feeling but when I get that out of my head, I'm able to get back to swishing and not think too much about it. After I finish, I'll spit out the oil and clean  out my mouth with fresh water (swish and spit, repeat) before brushing. 

My battle against the bad bacteria will be complete for the night and I'll repeat the fight again tomorrow. 

Note: the information above is my interpretation of Dr. Bruce Fife's book Oil Pulling Therapy. My amounts of oils are approximately 3/4 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 teaspoon sesame oil and a drop of spearmint essential oil. At the time of publishing this blog, I've only oil pulled once a day for three days but I plan to continue the practice with the hopes of having fresher breath, whiter teeth and stonger gums. The practice will be easier when my children aren't asking "mom, what are you doing?" and "don't make her laugh!" while pulling oil. 

Have you practiced oil pulling? What's been your experience with it?

Lavender Distillation in Southern France

Our family friend from southern France likes to distill lavender with a home contraption and recently shared some pictures and a few notes about how he does it. Translated into English, this is the gist of what he said:

The row of lavender in the picture produced 0.5 liter of lavender oil and it took me about 22 hours of work. To get one liter of oil, I would need 120 kilos of lavender.

My first step is to cut the lavender and then spread it out to dry. My second step is to separate the lavender flowers from the stalks. 

My third step is to distill the oil from the flowers. 

The distillation part does not require any moving around, but you still have to be there during the distillation process. 

 

My homemade distillation setup is made of three pieces: a steam generator, a condenser, and a propane tank.

Keep in mind that the process for obtaining oil is different than the distillation process for obtaining alcohol.

 

Does Lemongrass Oil Attract Bees?

After posting a Mother's Day special of a lemongrass oil add-on to the lotion do-it-yourself kit, I was told by a beekeeper's wife that lemongrass oil is used to attract swarms of bees! That put me in a slight state of panic as I scrambled to find out more.

A question to the people over at GloryBee Foods, a beekeeping and skin care product supplier, assured me that for skin care products, lemongrass oil is safe. Here's the answer they gave:

We can’t say that the lemongrass absolutely won’t attract a bee swarm, but we can give our “expert opinion” that the likelihood is slim to none.  Lemongrass is used in beekeeping swarm lure with other oils to recreate the smell of the queen’s pheromones.  However, as you pointed out, Lemongrass is a very popular oil used in skincare items all the time- and without any such complaints.  Hope that helps!

So go ahead and make your lotion with lemongrass, or do as the bees do and if you're making lotion for the Queen mama in your life this Mother's Day, choose a scent that complements mom's personality.

A Lotion With No Scent Makes More Sense

Lotions have scent because the consumer wants it.

But what about those who are sensitive to scent, or have allergies?

I talk about why I leave out the scent in the Beesilk Hard Lotion Bar... except in customized cases.

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What's the difference between fragrance oils and essential oils?

Fragrance oils are a synthetic imitation of pure essential oils. While they can offer a lovely scent to a product, they don't offer the botanical properties found in pure essential oils. Check the cosmetic database for the hazard levels of your favorite scented skin products. Not all fragrance oils are toxic but it might be worth a quick check.

Essential oils are extracted from individual plant sources and often last longer. Many even carry special antibacterial or anti-fungal properties. Essential oils scents are associated with emotions (soothing jasmine), memories (cinnamon at Christmastime), or regions (rosemary in Southern France).

Info from The Soapmaker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch

Vanilla is a very popular product scent, Unfortunately, it's extremely expensive as an essential oil. And sweet pea, another popular choice, is often found in products as a fragrance scent (hazard rating of 8 compared to a sweet pea essential oil's hazard rating of 0).

The choice is yours. I will admit that there are some products in my cabinet that I won't toss even though they might not be the healthiest option. At the same time, I'm enjoying the experience of falling in love with the complexity of a new essential oil (like lemongrass) when I'm in the mood to try something new. The best advantage to switching to essential oils? Your nose begins to recognize the difference between the true plant source and the synthetic imitation.