Bruises - Editor's Choice

A few years ago, friend told me that a large ceramic water urn fell off a table onto her big toe. It immediately started to change colour and the pain was incredible. Someone had a bottle of lavender essential oil with him and told her to apply that straight away. She placed it all over and under her toe and shortly the colour started to return to normal and the pain receded. She had no bruising and no more pain!

Shortly after, I seriously jammed my finger, right on the nail. It was already turning blue when I applied lavender oil and to my delight, the pain receded and instead of the whole nail being blue, I had one spot about the size of a pin-head. I applied the oil three times during that day only. There was no pain or pressure on the finger at all after the first application.

One day, I was talking with a friend and we heard a bang and a heavy metal door had slammed on her 10 year-old daughter's finger. She was in a great deal of pain and was crying bitterly, hardly able to breath. I asked her and her mum if they would mind if I put some lavender oil on it. They happily agreed. It is so good, I carry it in my handbag wherever I go. I took out my little bottle and I applied it all around the impact site, top and bottom. It was already blue but within a few minutes she said it was feeling a lot better and off she went to play with the other children. That afternoon, before I left, I put some more on it and by that time, it wasn't blue and she smiled as she said it wasn't hurting any more.

I have read the comments on lavender oil causing breast enlargement in young boys, but I also read opposing comments that pointed out that this came from bad science and assumptions and therefore not a sound enough reason to "throw out the baby with the bathwater", in this case, the Godsend, lavender essential oil.

I have used it also for burns from boiling water, steam, oven trays, hot cast iron pans, etc. Each time it has removed the pain and prevented blisters or removed those which had already formed.

It is truly amazing!!!

My daughter is so spoiled with this remedy, she thinks that "owies" are "fixed" by mommy and comes straight to me for any little hurt. If it's in an ackward or large area, throw 3 bags of tea in a hot mug of water for 3-5min, cool it down with ice cubes after and use a rag or paper towel to apply it (be sure you dont like the rag because it will stain). Its important to use this remedy asap. The sooner its applied after the injury, the better and more dramatic the results. After the tea poultice or compress:

(1)if its a nasty bruise, I'll dress it with a thin layer of castor oil and wrap it up.

(2)If its an open cut, I'll dab it with raw honey and cover it with a cartoon bandaid (cartoons optional).

(3)If its a bad burn I'll put the tea poultice over the burn, place a piece of plastic wrap over it and wrap an ace bandage around that. This worked for me on a 2nd and 3rd degree burns I received from a very hot lightbulb. It wouldn't stop stinging until I used the tea. I fell asleep with the ace bandage on, woke up 2-3hrs later with the pain 100% gone and the best part yet, when it healed it didn't scar!

Also, for those lovely times when your child slams there hand in a door or cabinet, I brew the 3 bags in a wide mouth cup, cool it with ice cubes (to a luke warm/cool temp) and have her stick her whole hand in it until she tells me it stopped hurting (usually 5-20min). If it doesnt stop hurting, I would know she may have actually broken something (although thankfully its never been serious). I figured out the black tea bag remedy out of desperation when burning myself years ago on that light bulb. After that, I began experimenting on my own cuts and bruises. Since my daughter was born, its been the best thing I've ever tried, and it has yet to let me down.