Happy Easter Everyone!
I am currently still in Nepal, however I prepared for you a hopefully interesting post about one of my favourite creations of the natural world: tea tree oil. I cannot remember the last day I went without using some, it has amazing qualities and benefits. However, be careful, this is not the common tea plant we drink from every day, it is from a native Australian plant called melaleuca, mis-named tea tree by the settlers. It is used to cure so many diseases, athletes foot, warts, cuts, scrapes, ringworm, insect bites, dandruff, and most importantly for me, acne. It has natural healing powers than include antibacterial qualities, so thats why I use it to treat acne, and recently gum infections. While it is a great thing to have in the medicine cabinet, be very careful as it is highly toxic and often needs to be diluted for use, or taken care not to swallow. Before using it, its best to double check and read up on the correct method to use the oil to treat your specific ailment. Here are all the products that I use on a regular basis that have tea tree oil in them, all found in the drugstore.
Firstly, the pure oil itself. I use this with a q-tip to apply to spots, insect bites, infections, or anywhere else I may need to apply it. This is very strong, so in some cases it is necessary to dilute it in coconut oil or water. As you can see on the label, this essential oil is poisonous, so be very careful to keep away from children and not to ingest it. This can be purchased at any drugstore or herbal healing store, or here.
This is almost pure oil in a tube, which has a silver rollerball for easy application onto spots or blemishes. This was the first tea tree product I started using on a day to day basis and I absolutely love it, it really reduces redness and swelling within a day. I use it every morning, and if it is one of those deep, cystic spots I also use it in the nighttime. I bought this here.
This is a very similar product to the one above, this blemish stick by simple includes not just tea tree oil, but also zinc and chamomile to help attack spots. This is very gently on skin and good for people with sensitive skin. I don't think it works as well as the pure oil, but still a good product. I bought it here from boots.
And finally, another product by dr.organic is this antibacterial tea tree handwash. This is designed for use on hands, but I find it gentle enough to use on my face without and sign of irritation. The only problem is the eyes, be careful to avoid them as this really stings. However, I personally have found this to be the best face/acne wash, better than the Neutrogena ones, as even the ones aimed at sensitive skin really dried up my face. It really has cleared my skin up, and I'm sure that is all down to the magical tea tree oil. I use this every morning and evening, and my skin has yet to feel too dry from using it. I bought it here.
I really hope that this was helpful, and could really help people who suffer from acne. Look out in the next week or two for my Nepal posts, I will show pictures, explain why I went on the trip and what charity work we were doing there.
