Natural Herbal Beauty

The simplest remedy for the symptoms and diseases of excess is cleansing. Natural health practitioners believe that when the body is overloaded with toxins, disease occurs. The disease may be as commonplace as a cold or an allergy, or it can be as serious and life- threatening as the clogged arteries that lead to a heart attack or the damaged cells which give rise to cancer. (more…)

Description: common plantain (P major) is characterised by its rat tail-like flower spikes and basal rosette of fleshy, rounded or ovate leaves. It grows to around 15 cm high and is commonly found in gardens and pavement cracks. Ribwort plantain (Planceolata) is taller, up to 75 cm, with more pointed, lance-shaped leaves with three to five prominent ribs. Its flowers are dark rust with clear white feathery stamens and appear from late spring to early autumn.

Part used: leaves (more…)

Description: a robust, erect (up to 120 cm) perennial with thick, mucilaginous roots and large, ovate leaves.

The funnel-shaped flowers appear in clusters in summer and can be white to purple.

Parts used: root, collected in autumn, or leaves, collected during early flowering

Actions: astringent, demulcent, expectorant, tissue healer, cell proliferant

Although comfrey has been used for centuries as a wound healer and restorer of broken bones — its country name is “knitbone” and the botanical name is derived from the Greek sympho meaning to unite — it has had a more chequered history in recent years, veering from panacea to health hazard. (more…)

PSORIASIS: Psoriasis is genetically determined and consists of reddish lesions that have characteristic silvery scaling. The lesions may come and go but generally are chronic. There is a specific type of arthritis that is associated with psoriasis. Check with your physician for treatment if the condition is severe. For home treatment of the scaling and itching of psoriasis, split open an aloe vera leaf and rub on the area affected. The skin absorbs the gel rapidly, so apply plenty and apply often. This stops the itching, and if used regularly seems to help psoriasis. It’s also good to use for sunburn. You can purchase aloe gel juice by the gallon and you may want to use the juice as a daily lotion to help control psoriasis.

PSORIASIS: Try using oil of avocado rubbed sparingly on affected areas. It works for quite a few people. (more…)

Salves need a preservative because they are often used for cuts and wounds and as such need to be free from bacteria. A good preservative to use is tincture of benzoin, which you can purchase from your local drugstore. It is inexpensive and is necessary for the preparation of your salves. Choose stainless steel, glass, or earthenware when you are looking for bowls or containers in which to mix or store your herbal preparations. The containers you use to store the mixtures should be airtight and sterile.

It is helpful to know what the basic ingredients of a salve are. The ingredients used to make the salves are: the herbs you plan to use, an oil, beeswax, and the preservative. The best kind of oil to use is olive or sesame. Do not use the drying oils, such as soybean and linseed. (more…)

Of all the herbs, valerian is the champion sedative of historic fame. Recent findings have substantiated the old wisdom. Valerian not only relieves insomnia, it improves the quality of sleep, cuts down the number of times an insomniac awakens in the night, and doesn’t leave the user with a nervous headache in the morning. (Incidentally, if you have trouble falling asleep, don’t bothermaking notes.

You can even be a teetotaler and get the reputed benefits of red wine. Tea has about the same amount of catechins as red wine; catechins are antioxidants thatseem to help prevent the clogging of arteries by reducing the negative effects of LDL cholesterol.

If you must select between a manmade conglomeration of chemicals with some really nasty side effects or one of MotherNature’s nicely formulated remedies, the better way is obvious, isn’t it? (more…)

There are many ways to use nature’s medicinals. No matter what method is employed, the idea is to release, extract, and activate all the useful properties of the plant. For the most part, that’s accomplished with liquid. In other words, even poultices, plasters, and ointments start as teas.

A word of caution. Never use tap water. There are just too many chemicals in tap water that can interact with and alter the working properties of healing teas. Always use bottled water when preparing home remedies. (more…)

To make sure of the highest degree of purity and potency in your herbal ingredients, visit one of the larger herb shops or health-food stores in your area. Pick one with a lot of traffic and a knowledgeable staff, then be guided by staff members’ expertise.

Here’s one more word to the wise: Don’t congratulate yourself on searching out the lowest-priced herbal ingredients to brew your healing teas. This is one instance where quality and care in processing show up in price. Expect to pay a little more for the best. And don’t begrudge it. If you want your teas to be of full benefit, spend for quality ingredients. (more…)

Healing teas have been used with great benefit for millennia. Without the experiences passed down by the master physicians of ages past who both compounded and brewed their own medicinal teas, our knowledge of healing plants would be meager indeed.

Please keep in mind that the physicians of antiquity formulated their healing teas with great care. They were very particular about the apothecary shop they patronized, too. To ensure that the healing brews the doctors personally compounded and dispensed to their patients were biologically active, insisted on herbs that were organically pure, recently dried, and fully potent. That’s what you must do, too. (more…)

Please be as considerate when field-gathering as you are when harvesting in your own garden. Don’t pull plants out by their roots and don’t leave a mess behind you. Always leave several plants of a given species to insure sufficient growth for future harvests. When gathering leaves and blossoms only, snip them off between your fingernails to minimize damage to the plant. Pinching is preferable to cutting because the pinch acts to close the broken stem and helps seal in the plant’s vital juices. You may, when necessary, scissor tough stems when gathering the entire herb, but leave at least one strong growing stem so the plant can heal itself. If you are gathering roots, please dig them out carefully. When possible, divide the root clump and replant a portion of it to insure future growth. (more…)