What are these things and why are they so popular now? Why are they so darn expensive? Why do people use them? There have been so many questions people have asked me (and I've asked myself) so I figured I would start the conversation. 🏮㊙ Growing up in an Asian household, we always had weird concoctions of seeds, flowers, roots, barks, leaves, animal parts and who knows what else into teas, dishes and soups. We also heavily relied on wood lock oil, another one in a red box, and another with a flower on it for aches, pains, and headaches (holla if you know what ones im talking about!). At the time these strange Chinese practices made no difference in my life - in fact I was quite embarrassed of using them in public. “Uh, Mel… why does this tea taste like S***” or “smell like urine” or “why does this oil smell so bad?!” I would only use these herbal remedies at home and not really advertise my asian practices at school. In fact I started adopting mainstream Robitussin/claritin/A535 because ‘this is what we do here’. It didn't start until my dad was our soccer team manager and whipped out the smelly oil for girls who always hurt their ankles (and showed his wonderful way of tying up your shoelaces) 😳😰
Long behold - yes, they smelled awful.. But they worked! I only then started to realize the wonderful effects of these natural remedies - you only realize something good until it's gone (ugh so cliche). My mom recently got super upset because she went into an “English” store and saw these red seeds (kei-ji?/wolfberries) that we've been using for soups for 4x the cost of what we usually get in an “Asian” store 😔- (Canadian born Asians please relate). 💠 My main point to what seems so unrelated to essential oils is that natural remedies have been used for a VERY LONG time and WORK! These practices are a way of living and are not something we just whip up WHEN we are sick/when symptoms arise.
🌿 Stay tuned next week for all things (actually) related to Essential Oils (EO). Including the constituents of the plant, how to choose essential oils, scientific evidence of EO uses, pregnancy & EOs.
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