I was going to do a post on my first impressions of Young Living's Premium Starter Kit, but... I'm just too excited about the outcome of this experiment that I decided to share this first!

About 2 weeks ago, my son took a nasty fall while ice skating.  He hit his right knee hard on the ice, and it got bruised pretty badly.  His whole knee was a dark purple.  It was terrifying to look at!

So I looked up which oils could help heal a bruise, and I found some oils which were included in the PSK: lavender and frankincense.

I decided to try lavender first.  I knew that you can use lavender neat (i.e. undiluted), but I diluted it with jojoba oil (that was all I had on hand) since I was going to use it on a child.  Plus, I wanted to extend the usage of my oils.  *grin*  I massaged the oil on his knees (the left one had a tiny bruise, too) every night, and gave him a foot massage while I was at it.  (Now he asks for a foot massage every night!).  The reason why I rubbed the oil on his knees only at night was because I just didn’t have the time to do it during the day.  At this point I still hadn’t done any roller bottle mixes or anything.  I was just eyeballing how much carrier oil to 1 drop of lavender I should mix on my palm.

A few times, depending on my mood, I would mix lavender and frankincense together. It was fun to do and nice to smell!  But I think I wasn’t really expecting any dramatic result. I also massaged him with only the night light on, so I wasn’t able to observe the changes day-to-day.  So imagine my surprise when a week later, I checked and saw the bruise had almost healed!

Day 3                                                                                             Day 7

I was not able to take a photo of the bruise before I started applying the lavender, but I took one on the third day.  By then the purple area had already lessened.  By day 7, it was almost gone!  The small one on his left knee had also almost disappeared!

Since they usually heal on their own, I never really paid much attention to how long it takes for bruises to disappear.  But being a skeptic, I searched on the net on how long it usually takes.  This says that it normally takes around 2 to 4 weeks to heal.  Given that I also have a bruise of my own, on my arm, which I got while working out, and it's still black after a week, I would say that 2 to 4 weeks sounds pretty accurate.  My son's gigantic bruise took less than 2 weeks to heal with lavender!  A few days after I took that Day 7 photo, my son's bruise had completely healed.  (Only to be replaced by a new one, of course!)  

Conclusion:  Lavender does heal bruises, and fast!  

My Story

Just thought I would share a little background about myself....

I've always been interested in herbs and spices and their medicinal uses.  In fact, I had written a research paper in college on traditional herbs from my native Philippines.  I grew herbs in little pots in my backyard, mostly for culinary use, though.  But for all my interest, I had never really thought of applying them in real life.  I hadn't thought of using alternative forms of medicine or even personal care products until after my son was born.

My son is a real gift to me from heaven.  Since the time I was a teenager, I suffered from endometriosis, which resulted in a total of 4 surgeries to remove cysts and endometriotic implants. While I am thankful to the doctors who took care of me, the drugs they prescribed and the surgeries they performed did nothing to "cure" me of my disease.  The endometriosis would just come back, along with the terrible, terrible pain  -- so debilitating, and so excruciating, I wished I would just die.  

And I thought I would never be able to have a child.  But then I became pregnant, and I wanted to make sure that my son had the best things in life.  So I did a lot of research, and learned a lot of things.  Things like what is in most packaging and personal care products.  What is in disposable diapers and disposable menstrual products.  What is in most processed food.  Yep, it's enough to make anyone freak out!

So I started reading the labels of products before I bought them.  I ate real food as much as possible.  I breastfed and cloth diapered my son.  When, after having my 4th surgery, my endometriosis returned, I started having acupuncture treatments, and this was what actually helped reduce my pain (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most painful) from an 8 or 9 to a 1 or 2!  It was incredible!  If I had only known about this before, it would have saved me from consuming copious amounts of painkiller, which can cause stomach and liver problems, each month.  Who knows, perhaps acupuncture would have balanced my hormones enough to save me from having 4 surgeries!  I am now in my late 30's, and already menopausal, directly caused by my last surgery.  Since I no longer have my periods, I wouldn't know if acupuncture can actually heal endometriosis, or at the very least, prevent it from getting worse.  What I do know is, if I or a family member gets sick, I would want to try natural methods first, before reaching for conventional medicine.

And this is where the Young Living essential oils come in.  I guess you could say that I'm a perfect target for this kind of product.  It is natural, doesn't have harmful side effects (as long as used properly, I presume).  Still, I would like to test whether the claims are true before I dive into this whole business.  And I will use this platform to share my experiences, whether good or bad.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog!  My name is Jane, and I'm a working mom to a 10-year-old boy.  I was gifted with the Premium Starter Kit of Young Living about a month ago, and I created this blog as a place to document my usage (and experiments!) with essential oils.  Do they really work?  Walk with me on this journey and we'll find out!