DIY CHEST RUB (AKA NATURAL VICKS)

The cold season is upon us and it poses an imminent threat to our children's respiratory tract.With blocked sinuses, throat infections and congested chests, we need to keep something at hand for a quick and effective relief. The common cold is nothing to be worried about and it's best to wait it out and build immunity against it but this does not mean that we should not attend to any of the symptoms for temporary relief.

Of course, natural is the key word here as most often our kids are the ones suffering, we don't need to fill them with synthetic drugs unless the situation is extreme ( discretion is advised ).

Here is an easy recipe for homemade chest rub that uses only essential oils and does not contain the disputed camphor (synthesised from turpentine oil).

On the note of essential oils and children, please keep in mind that essential oils are incredibly concentrated and potent natural chemicals and hence a little(very little) goes a long way.

Ingredient:

6 gm beeswax

24 gm olive oil (I infuse mine with peppermint leaves)

1/4 tsp peppermint essential oil

1/4 tsp eucalyptus essential oil

1/8 tsp clove essential oil

1/8 tsp lavender essential oil

1/8 rosemary essential oil

Measure olive oil and wax in a steel or glass bowl.

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chest-rub

Place the bowl over a pot in which water is boiling and let the oil heat up and the wax melt.Once this has happened, add your essential oils and pour in storage container.

You can use this balm for chest massage, for steams, rub it on pillow cover corners so kids will keep inhaling while sleeping and it is also effective as a muscle rub , relieving minor muscular and skeletal pains by massaging on affected areas.

For a quick effect it's best to massage on soles of feet where the pores are larger and allow for faster absorption in the blood stream. While applying balm on feet one can also apply massage pressure on certain reflex points which correspond to organs and parts of the body and have beneficial effect on these.

You can also find this balm for sale on my online shop, here .