DIY SUNSCREEN
This post is contributed by One Drop member – Yvonne Zee
OUR RESEARCH
Why I avoid commercial sunscreen is to stop exposing my skin to toxic chemicals used in sunscreens, several of which are endocrine system disruptors, increase the risk of cancer, and more. Remember, our skin is our largest organ, and what we put on it gets absorbed into our body.
Unfortunately, many of the oils that we have only block UVB rays and not UVA; Except for Red raspberry seed oil, many research has found this oil to have both UVA and UVB qualities. So at the end of 2013 , I made my first batch of face sunscreens with some basic essential and carrier oils (which is a very important component of the formula) and gave them as Christmas presents to my Oily pals. They were very well received because many felt their skin improved !
So in early 2014 , I decided to do more more research and came up with what I hope as improved versions of sunscreens for the face , body and children. But do remember, these are at best screens and not sunblocks because there were no lab experiments to come up with the formula and definitely no chemicals to totally ‘block’ off the sun rays. We have used the trial and error method to have come up with our suggestion. You may need to adjust the quantity/combination to suit your own skin type better! Also the quality of the essential oils ( we only use Young Living oils ) as well as that of the carrier oils are equally important .
Tips
- Reapply every 2 hours if exposed to high sun or after Swimming
- Do not bathe before going outside for an extended period of time .
What we are doing to our skin by washing off natural oils is causing it to be more susceptible to the sun’s rays . We are leaving our largest organ with no protective barrier . Human sebum has a natural SPF of 6 – 8 . Why would you want to wash that off ?
- Also try not to bathe immediately after coming in from a day in the sun.
Your body needs time to finish processing the Vitamin D and UVA/UVB rays. Try to wait at least an hour before showering .
- And some studies have shown some foods like fermented Cod Liver Oil ( high in Omega-3 acids ) can help reduce the excess inflammation induced by UV tissue damage , hence reducing sun damage .
UVA + UVB : the long and short of it
- The sunlight that reaches us is made up of two types of harmful rays: long wave ultraviolet A (UVA) and short wave ultraviolet B (UVB). Basically, UVA rays can age us and UVB rays can burn us. Overexposure to either can damage the skin. There’s also a third type of ray, UVC – these are the shortest and strongest, but thankfully they’re absorbed by the ozone layer and don’t typically reach the Earth.
- UVA rays are constantly present, no matter the season or the weather. If you think you can’t get sun damage on a cloudy day, tell that to the UVA rays. They are so powerful that they also penetrate some clothing and even glass. (When was the last time you applied sunscreen before getting behind the wheel?)
UVA rays penetrate deep into the dermis, the skin’s thickest layer. Unprotected exposure can lead to premature skin aging and suppression of the immune system. And when your skin’s defenses are down, you’re at risk for skin cancer.
- UVB rays are the rays you can blame when you get a sunburn. Unlike UVA rays, these rays aren’t always the same strength year round – They’re more prevalent in the summer months, however they are able to reflect off of water or snow, so it’s always important to protect yourself year-round.
UVB rays will usually burn the superficial layers of your skin. The intensity of UBV rays vary by season, location and time of day, with 10am to 4pm being the peak hours. Sunburned skin doesn’t just feel awful, it can cause permanent damage over time.
Thus, my reasons for using the oils in the various sunscreens blends are…
(Note the different oils used for the face or for children’s more sensitive skin)
Essential Oils:
- Carrot Seed Oil
One of the highest UVB protection 35 to 40 SPF plus good for oil control on face. Has significant antioxidant, antiseptic, antifungal and fragrant properties with high levels of vitamin A. When applied topically to the skin diluted with a carrier oil, carrot seed oil also provides one of the highest UVB . - Lavender
Low level SPF 6 but highly anti-inflammatory and good for skin repair - Helichrysum
Has been selected for its ability to effectively filter out some of the sun’s rays. Helps with many skin conditions - Myrrh
The ancient Egyptians protected themselves from the powerful desert sun by generously applying this essential oil to their skin; and myrrh was the secret that kept their skin so lovely - Sandalwood
Heals our skin, scars and wrinkles; improves the youthfulness of our skin - German Chamomile
Soothing, powerful antioxidant (inhibits lipid peroxidation) and anti-inflammatory. - Geranium
Helps with many skin conditions, anti-inflammatory and controls oily skin and revitalizes our skin cells.
Carrier Oils:
- Red Raspberry Seed Oil
Contain exceptionally high levels of alpha and gamma tocopherols (vit. E), vit. A and omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. This provides the skin with significant broad spectrum protection from damaging UVA and UVB rays. SPF 28 to 50.
Its high level of Vitamin E is known to be give it an important role in skin repair and conditioning. It is known especially for its prevention of gingivitis, rashes, eczema and other skin lesions. Raspberry seed oil is emollient, lubricating, conditioning, creates a lipid barrier providing protection to the skin and provides moisture retention for the skin.
It has superior anti-inflammatory properties and works well on rashes, eczema and other skin lesions. It has a long shelf life because of its high phospholipids content, and may increase the stability of other carrier oils when blended with them. - Cranberry Seed Oil
Light in texture, quickly absorbed.
Cranberry seed oil is the only available carrier oil with a natural ratio of omega 6 (linoleic), omega 3 (alpha-linolenic) and omega 9 (oleic) fatty acids. Cranberry seed oil aids in the absorption and utilization of the essential fatty acids in the skin, and is said to moisturize the skin as no other oil can.
Cranberry seed oil contributes to the lipid barrier protection of the skin and assists in moisture retention.
Cranberry seed oil is a wonderfully moisturizing addition to any formula for cream or lotion for rough, dry, or mature skin. Some sources say it aids in the relief of scaly, itching skin conditions, and may be helpful for both eczema and psoriasis.
A producer has seen evidence that cranberry seed oil is an effective barrier of UV rays, thus helping to protect the skin against sun damage. They are now in process of testing to find proof of this claim. - Coconut Oil
Coconut oil (cold pressed) has an amazing ability to heal the skin and block the damaging effects of UV radiation from the sun. One of the reasons why it is so effective in protecting the skin is its antioxidant properties, which helps prevent burning and oxidative damage that promotes skin cancer. There have been several recent studies done on the use of coconut oil as a sunscreen but there are fluctuations in the SPF rating of coconut oil. One study “proved” a rating of only 4 while another rated coconut oil at a 10. - Wheatgerm Oil
Wheatgerm is one of the best sources of natural vitamin E and is also a good source of vitamin K, B vitamins and choline. When applied to the skin, wheatgerm oil helps to moisturize tissues and acts as an antioxidant to prevent free radical damage. Wheatgerm oil has a natural SPF rating of 20.
Note :- Use at a proportion of maximum 5% to 10% of wheatgerm oil in a blend; also a preservative in other carrier mixtures + prevent deterioration. - White Camellia Oil
White camellia oil was traditionally used by Geishas to keep their skin flawless and their hair lustrous and healthy. This camellia oil is a precious cold-pressed certified organic oil containing exceptionally high levels of antioxidants to prevent free radical formation; soothing properties to help calm sensitive skin; nutrients to nourish devitalized skin; and emollients to create a healthy dew-like complexion. White camellia oils is also one of the rare ingredients that is wonderful for all skin types, including mature, ultra sensitive, oily, combination and acne prone. - Grapeseed Oil
This oil is said to be rich in oligometric proanthrocyanidins or OPC. These are like the sesame seed oil components which hunt down free radicals that cause aging, with the purpose of eliminating them from the body system, Studies show that the OPC in grapeseed is twenty times more effective than vitamin C in eradicating free radicals in its function as an antioxidant. The antioxidating capabilities also promote the self-repair process of cells, which is important when the skin becomes affected by the sun’s UV rays. The SPF rating for this oil as a sunscreen ingredient is 4.
Yvonne is a member of OneDrop. She supports oil users via her facebook page – Your Daily Rebirth. If you like Yvonne’s articles and would like to purchase the Young Living oils, please feel free to get in touch with Yvonne or sign up directly here.
SPIDERS HATE…
This post is contributed by One Drop member – Ranna Seah.
Last Sunday, I was cleaning up my daughter’s room (which is seldom occupied as she co-sleeps with us) when I discovered quite a few spiders crawling around the walls, on her bedsheets etc. Eeekkkkk! Luckily I remembered this image:
So I pulled out the diffuser quickly and started to diffuse Peppermint and Purification! (Keeping mozzies away as well) I was whining half the time…”Eeek Spiders! Yucks! Spiders!!!” while wondering how long do I need to diffuse the oils for? Then the hero of the household appeared with … TADAH – A VACUM CLEANER!!!!
The daddy appeared with a hand-held vacuum cleaner and sucked away all the spiders in sight. Sigh. Relief. Our Hero 
For more information why we should keep spiders out of the house with a safer and more organic option: http://www.deadpestz.com/does-peppe…
I shall be diffusing Peppermint and Purification more diligently from now on. The scent is just so heavenly calming. 
I’ve also started to develop a habit of carrying Peppermint and Lemongrass around with me when we go to the beach, walks in the garden and etc. Singapore is a lovely green city with plenty of greenery and healthy active mosquitoes and ants. Just a drop of Peppermint on our picnic mat, keeps all the ants away. It’s really a miracle to witness. I used to hate picnics as I would be busy fighting ants off half the time, but not anymore!
And Lemongrass? It works awesomely at discouraging the mosquitoes from kissing us as well as relieving the itch from their kisses. Never have I enjoyed outdoor time so much as before Young Living came into my life.
If you like my articles and would like to purchase the Young Living oils or have further clarifications, please drop me a message here or email me at fabulana@gmail.com. If you are ready to sign up as member to purchase, you can click here🙂 I would love to support you in using the oils for yourself and your loved ones.
HOW TO USE THE OOLA OILS
This post is contributed by One Drop member – Ranna Seah.
Ready to Accelerate in life?
Oola Balance and Oola Grow
Newly reformulated and more beneficial than ever, these two exclusive essential oil blends (sold separately) can be used to supplement and enhance the seven oils in this kit for even more effective results.
First of all, identify and assess which of the Oola 7 areas you need to work on by generating your Oola Wheel. Go to this website to generate your own result: https://www.oolalife.com/wheel/guest.Once you have the results, you will get a clearer picture which area you will need to work on. If you are still not sure where to start or what to do even though you’ve identified the area you want to work on, check out https://www.oolalife.com/path/5/dream/681/renew
Then find a postive and motivational related quote for the area you want to work on and follow the protocol below. If you are not balanced in certain areas of your Oola Score, you may benefit from this protocol. Examples of a related quote or statement:
Oola Balance Application Protocol
- In the palm of your hand, mix 1 drop of Oola Balance with 3 drops of one of the oils in this kit.
- Cup your hands together, close your eyes, and deeply inhale 3 times while repeating your selected oil’s affirmation before each breath.
- Get into a state of gratitude for where you are today and where you are going. Apply the oil mixture to our wrists and the back of your neck.
- Repeat this process several times each day. Follow this protocol for 21 days and reassess your progress.
Oola Grow Application Protocol
If you simply desire to take one of the 7 F’s to the next level, follow this protocol.
- In the palm of your hand, mix 1 drop of Oola Grow with 3 drops of one of the oils in this kit.
- Cup your hands together, close your eyes, and deeply inhale 3 times while repeating your selected oil’saffirmation before each breath.
- Apply the oil mixture to the bottoms of your feet. Review your goals (OolaPlan) and take action towardyour OolaLife.
- Repeat this process several times each day. Follow this protocol for 21 days and reassess your progress.
Keep the positive and motivational quote in mind as you apply and use the oils with a heart of gratitude. 🙂
Cheers to Oola seekers.
If you like my articles and would like to purchase the Young Living oils or have further clarifications, please drop me a message here or email me at fabulana@gmail.com. If you are ready to sign up as member to purchase, you can click here 🙂 I would love to support you in using the oils for yourself and your loved ones.
This post is contributed by One Drop member – Ranna Seah.
Disclaimer: I downloaded the article quite a while ago and I regret to say that I didn’t note down the source taken from. Please let me know if you know who is the original writer of this article. I will like to credit the person.
Every cell in your body needs a unique combination of nutrients to thrive. Example: we all know that our bones need calcium. Without calcium we have osteoporosis. The truth is our body uses MANY different nutrients ~ essential oils, minerals, vitamins, hormones, enzymes, proteins, carbohydrates, fats & even water to clean, repair & build NEW HEALTHY cells. When the RIGHT nutrients are not available or can not be absorbed — our body will make due with what it can find. Our body was created to repair itself NO MATTER what we do to it. That lack of proper building material causes damage to the body. We see the effect of that lack when an older person breaks a hip. That same lack was obvious BEFORE the hip was broken. There was pain in the joints BEFORE the break. EVERY organ responds the same way…the deficit in necessary nutrients causes dis-ease!!
Nutrients & building blocks that your eyes use to rebuild cells: When it comes to vision there are nutrients that have been tested over & over again in the medical community that have proven that your eyes thrive on antioxidants, Carotenoids ~ Zeaxanthin & Lutein, Essential fatty Acids ~ DHA, EPA & ALA, trace minerals & Macro Minerals ~ calcium, magnesium & sulfur, vitamins B, C & D. Just knowing what your eyes need to build with is HUGE!!
Finding a source for those building blocks that the body can absorb & utilize is PRICELESS!! Below you will find a list of the Young Living Products you can use for eye health:
- Water – drink ½ our body weight in ounces daily (ok this is not from Young Living)
- NingXia Red – Massive Antioxidant SOD, Carotenoids in proper balance 278 mg zeaxanthin & 2 mg Lutein per gram of dried Wolf berries, essential oil of lemon & orange
- Mineral Essence – Over 60 Trace Minerals, when mineral balance is out of balance we have disease.
- Super B – In a study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that women who took a combination of folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 had a 35 percent to 40 percent lower risk of developing age-related macular degeneration than the women who took a placebo.
- Super C – The eye has the highest concentration of vitamin C of any other organ in the body. Before a cataract forms, the lens of the eye becomes completely devoid of vitamin C and also glutathione.
- MegaCal – A wonderful source of calcium, magnesium, manganese, and vitamin C. MegaCal supports normal ocular, bone and vascular health as well as normal nerve function and contains 205 mg of calcium and 187 mg of magnesium per serving.
- Omega Blue – Essential fatty Acids – DHA, EPA & ALA With the addition of Clove, Myrrh, German (Blue) Chamomile & Lemon Grass Essential Oil & our Precision Delivery coating triples omega-3 absorption by releasing these stable, bioactive nutrients directly in the intestines make Omega Blue 10x more potent then fish oil alone!!
- Sulfurzyme – Sulfur is essential for the healthy growth of every cell in the body including the eyes. It equalizes water pressure inside the cells. What is the eye??? It is one of the top 5 antioxidant minerals in the body
- Pregnenolone – Master steroid hormone in the body. It continually turns itself into the hormones you are lacking for repair
- Longevity Capsule – Ultra-Antioxidant – Thyme, orange, clove, and frankincense essential oils. Test subjects receiving a daily dose of thyme oil had higher levels of DHA than those who did not take the supplement.
- Ultra Young – Naturally helps the pineal gland to begin secreting HGH (Human Growth Hormone). That is the hormone that tells the body to keep replacing old cell.
- Multi Greens – MultiGreens is made with spirulina, alfalfa sprouts, barley grass, bee pollen, eleuthero, Pacific kelp, and therapeutic-grade essential oils.
- Frankincense, Copaiba, Clove & Lemon Essential Oil – rubbed on eye points –NOT IN THE EYES!
If you like my articles and would like to purchase the Young Living oils or have further clarifications, please drop me a message here or email me at fabulana@gmail.com. If you are ready to sign up as member to purchase, you can click here🙂 I would love to support you in using the oils for yourself and your loved ones.
TRAVELING WITH THE PSK OILS
This post is contributed by One Drop Member – Kaye Ng
I can never leave home without my oils! But there are so many to bring and I always feel the need to bring all to ensure I cover all the WHAT IFs. Truth be told of course, it is impossible to bring all my oils with me. I musts have at least a hundred different bottles!
In my recent trip up to Ballina to visit my sister, I decided to bring focus on only bringing up MAINLY* my PSK (premium starter kit) oils. *Because I did bring up some others as well. WHAHAHA but for the sake of this post I shall just cover the oils in the PSK.
So lets go through this:
FRANKINCENSE: This honestly is my desperate oil. When I have no idea what to use and I have any sort of “ouch ouch” or “scratch scratch” or “ahem ahem” (trying to stay compliant LOL) , Frank gets whipped up to be used on the appropriate areas.
PANAWAY: Holidays often mean alot of walking and sleeping in hotel bed with pillows that are too soft or mattresses which might not be firm enough. So I can never go traveling without Panaway. As its name suggest its really good when you’re in pain. I used to do many business trips which required DAYS of EXTENSIVE walking. Honestly by the time I was done with half a day, I needed to find the nearest bench to sit and rest . So YES, PANAWAY. This is what you need.
DIGIZE: I’m not an adventurous food eater. In a restaurant – “YES PLEASE!” but ask me to go eat from a push cart off the streets of Bangkok and I will DEF say “HELL NO!”. BUT, I have a very sensitive and nervous tummy. Going to far away places, where the time zones flip and I’m eating breakfast at dinner times and dinner at breakfast times… mmmhmmm, that’s good enough to kill me. Plus I HATE searching out toilets in public places (who likes it seriously?) and so, I NEED DIGIZE! Just to ensure I don’t have an upset tummy and need to hunt down public toilets to do a big one.
LAVENDER: The swiss army knife of oils. Most importantly, I call this the ACCIDENT oil. If you have a toddler like me who climbs supermarket trolleys and sofas and railings, YOU NEED THIS. For all the times should those gymnastic acts turn bad and RED spills the ground. Also a great oil to help to calm everyone down after an exciting day out in a new place and sleep eludes everyone.
PURIFICTION: While in Singapore going outdoors might be more RARE, going on holidays often mean walking in the parks , visiting zoos etc. If you wish to have an undisturbed time in nature this is absolutely necessary. So I carry this sound with me to ensure that no one gets bitten and has to spend the rest of the holiday scratching through their clothes.
COPAIBA: I love this oil for IRRITATION. It helps the body deal with irritation. Not when someone irritates you, but perhaps when you ate too much of that yummy fried donut and your throat is starting to get irritated (I’m def toeing the compliant line here. eeeks), this is one you can ingest (Vitality Line) to help.
R.C: The oil for the most common…. AHHHHTTTTIIICHOOOOOO. Sorry something tickled my nose.
PEPPERMINT: This is one of my fav oils which can be used like Digize, or like Panaway or even like Purification. Its also great to keep u awake or to feel fresh when you are going on that long road trip. And if you are going to be living on a farm like me, remember, SPIDERS HATE PEPPERMINT!
THIEVES: AIYEAH! Cant live without this one right? You need it to protect everyone from falling ill and catching any bugs. This is one immune booster. No one wants to fall sick during a holiday ⛱ and so, should you find yourself starting to catch anything, HURRY USE THIEVES! I love using this also for bed bugs if necessary as well!
LEMON: Holidays for me also means NOT HOLDING BACK ON EATING. WHAHAHA And so I often carry my little bottle of lemon around to drop into my water to aid in supporting my body in detox. I like to think it helps negate all the crappy calories and makes me slimmer in the process. TEE HEE HEE
So yes, this is how I most commonly use the PSK oils when I travel! If you do sign up with Young Living, you would most likely have bough the PSK which means you got ALL THESE great oils in your hands. Use them – they work MAGIC!
If you are interested in trying out the Young Living oils, or would like to purchase the PSK do drop me an email at kaye@onedrop.sg or sign up to buy the products here.
