The other day I did something so stupid that I had to laugh through the pain. I was half-awake (or half-asleep for the more pessimistic among us) and had just boiled some water in my electric kettle for coffee. I was preparing to put the hot water into a French press cuz once you have French press coffee, you never go back to Mr. Coffee. Ever. No matter how much he begs.
Anyway, I was pouring the water into the vessel and I was trying to get some of the coffee grounds off the sides of the press. Well, I misjudged and overshot the rim. 212 degree water poured all over my left hand. I had enough sense to put the kettle back on the counter rather than let it fall to the floor, and even more good sense to run over to the sink to start cold water flowing over my red fingers. But I could tell it was going to be bad simply by the fact that my fingers were on fire under the cool water. I imagined my hand all wrapped up in gauze for family pictures for my daughter’s high school graduation.
As luck would have it, I had just given my sister all my herbal ointments to try on her sunburn so I was without any burn cream. She and her family were here in San Diego on vacation and for the graduation ceremony so she was staying at an AirBnb. I normally use this SOS ointment for any kind of kitchen burn because it takes the pain away in less than a minute (don’t quote me on the exact time–just know that it works and it works quickly) but it was with my sister. If you spend any time in the kitchen and get burned, you must buy the SOS Lotion. As a side note, my husband (an engineer) burned his hand badly probably the one time he cooked in his life. He was sitting in his chair, eating his food, with his hand in a cup of water with ice. I told him to give the SOS Lotion a shot. He did, and when the pain went away in less than a minute, and did not return, he became a diehard fan. But a digress…
I googled ‘how to treat a kitchen burn with essential oils‘ and many sites came up with tea tree oil, frankincense, and peppermint oils in lieu of lavender oil but the combination only took away some of the burn. It was enough of a relief to be able to think about something other than my hand–if you’ve ever been burned, you know that the pain signals from your burned spot send messages to your brain about how much it hurts constantly! It’s hard to think about anything else.
My daughter got up from her slumber and asked me what was wrong after she came downstairs. I showed her my hand and told her the story about not having any lavender. Turns out, she had some in her bedroom to help with sleep. Lavender is so useful!! She ran upstairs and got it and I shot straight up to my bathroom and doused my hand in lavender oil. Pain, pain, pain, pain, and then ahhhhhh…..
Even if you don’t believe in herbal remedies or essential oils, just buy these two items for your kitchen for ‘just in case,’ and you’ll thank me for it. The only caveat I would add here is that you shouldn’t buy your essential oils from the grocery store because most of them are made with carrier oils rather than pure essential oils which dilutes the oil and not only makes it cheaper but makes it less effective, too.
If you need something right away and you have a Vitamin Shoppe in your area, they carry organic essential oils and I’ve used them before, but I would highly recommend planning ahead and purchasing your necessary essential oils from Plant Therapy. I have been impressed by them–not only for the quality of their essential oils but by their prices. For example, 30 ml of lavender oil from Plant Therapy is $16.95, whereas the equivalent amount from one of the biggest direct sales companies of essential oils (Young Living) is $61.84. NOTE: You have to make sure you’re comparing the same size to each other. Young Living sells a 15 ml lavender oil so it shows up on their website as $30.92. Even if YL claims their EO is organic, the same amount of oil from Plant Therapy is $16.43.
The biggest difference between the two companies is the fact that Young Living is a direct sales company and it has to pay all of its downline so the prices are going to be higher. Plant Therapy is a family company. Please note I have not received any compensation in any form to recommend them to you. My review is from my own experience.
Making changes from toxic laden remedies is difficult but this one is easy and a no brainer–use lavender oil for burns, or if you’d rather something that has more uses, go to Mobu Herbals (a small, woman-owned company) and buy the SOS Lotion.
My burn story could have been so much worse but it was made so much better with Lavender essential oil from Plant Therapy. Not only did I get almost near-instant pain relief, I never ended up with a blister or anything more annoying than a brown patch that eventually sloughed off. No pain even though I definitely felt the burn.
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