Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tea Tree Oil

I always have a bottle of tea tree oil at home. It works best for me whenever I have those nasty little pimples that crop up when the weather gets too hot.. or whenever I return home from a different climate. My pimples usually disappear the next day. A really red and big one meant take one more day to go away. But it always works.

Tea tree oil also works against mild dandruff. A couple of drops in your shampoo is all it takes.

Hence, I always make sure I don't run out of tea tree oil at home. When a forummer from GCS offered tea tree seeds, I jumped at it. Not that I hope to get tea tree oil out of it of course.. just thought it'd be nice if the shrub gives out a nice smell for my balcony. (To be honest, I don't really know if it does... ) I haven't gotten round to germinating the seeds yet due to my travel plans. I was thinking of doing it in May, after our trip to Hong Kong..

But I've just found out that tea tree oil is a lot more useful than just for pimples.. Apparently, besides being a natural antiseptic, it is also a germicide, fungicide and insecticide! Rummi shared that it can be effective towards red spider mites.. so last evening, I took some chilled water, added a couple drops of tea tree oil and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.

The smell of my balcony afterwards was like that of a spa. So much so I felt like spraying it on myself. And viola, when I woke up this morning and inspected my plants, I didn't see a single RSM. Not sure if it is 100% due to the tea tree oil, or the heavy downpour last night.

But whatever it is, this is such a nice spray to use that I think I'd be using it for quite a while yet.

4 comments:

Rummi, the gardener. said...

lucky u (too). spidermite problem fixed overnite! yeahyeah

btw, rummi adopted the idea from petunialee. in the past, id been spraying with orangepeel-mix. the balcony smells just as wonderful:)

tink i'll rotate between the two ;)

Open Kitchen Concept said...

hehe.. actually, it is my poor eyesight. I still see some of them here and there now.. but i will continue with my battle against them.. :)

Rummi, the gardener. said...

LOL... mayb not. they cld b playing hid-n-seek with u tat nite when u were spraying. need to flip the leaves too and spray thoroughly.

in fact, im into my 3th week of maintenance spraying now =once a week just to make sure tat wats missed the first time dun go missing, and any newly-hatched gets the potion tis time.

teatree-scented balcony after spraying, i realli dun mind doin tat frequently;)

Daphne Leong said...

My beautician cautions that tea tree oil is quite drying tho...I still use it secretly and sparingly whenever I have a pimple :) Tip: Vit E oil (v high IU) is good for fading scars!