How To Use Peppermint Essential Oil For Headaches

AUGUST 18, 2014 BY LORI KLEIN 4 COMMENTS

 

About three years ago I didn’t know much about Essential Oils and I thought that peppermint was only something in toothpaste, gum or candy. Little did I know that finding out how to use peppermint essential oil for headaches would save me from the awful headaches that I get a few times a year. When I would get headaches, I would have done anything to get relief and that used to include taking over the counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) drugs, like Motrin. I hate to admit it, but I used something “unnatural”! I would throw my principles out the window to find relief!

But, I soon found out that taking these causes horrible side effects! NSAIDs, which include ibuprofen, are not only unhealthy because of their chemicals, but are damaging to the body, especially the longer you take them. All NSAIDs I took upset my stomach and made me feel much worse! When I began researching why ibuprofen caused stomach aches, I found that stomach problems are actually common.

Dangers Of Over The Counter Pain Relievers

There is much documentation that NSAIDs can damage the stomach lining and cause significant damage in the gut as they stop healing and reduce the protective mucus layer. This can even lead to leaky gut and contribute to triggering an autoimmune disease.

Did you ever really look at the warnings and precautions listed for NSAIDs? They are too numerous to list here but include stomach bleeding, liver damage, fatal gastrointestinal bleeding and damage to kidneys. So if at all possible, it’s best to avoid these pain medications.

I Turned To Essential Oils

So… what do you do? Luckily, there is a great answer, essential oils! I was so happy when I found peppermint essential oil and tried it for my headache. It is truly a miraculous solution to pain and gives relief in less than 30 minutes. And it’s all natural! Essential oils have been used for centuries; they were used by the ancient Egyptians for medicinal purposes and beauty. Since the 20th century essential oils have gained popularity and today many people reap the numerous health benefits.

How Do Essential Oils Work?

Essential oils are extracted from plants and are basically the “life blood” of the plant because they help cleanse breaks in the tissues of the plant, help deliver nutrients and oxygen and protect the plant from bacterial and viral infections.  They help the plant to survive!

Essential oils are made up of very tiny molecules, in fact, in one drop of essential oil there can be nearly 40 million trillion molecules. This is what enables us to smell the essential oils so easily and the smell of the essential oil seems to fly right out of the bottle.

Essential Oils have an enhanced ability to penetrate the skin. In fact they can be applied to your foot and dispersed to all the cells in the body in nearly 21 minutes!

I Was Convinced!

One night, I was suffering with one of my atrocious headaches and my mom started researching online natural remedies for headaches because I knew I couldn’t handle pain medications like Motrin anymore. She found people commenting about how to use peppermint essential oil for headaches and their great results. She remembered that she had some! It was pure luck that my mom had picked up a bottle of peppermint essential oil because she wanted to chase spiders out of our garage! At that time, I didn’t even know what essential oils were and when I first starting reading how they help many common ailments, I was highly skeptical at first. I thought no way rubbing some of this oil on your skin would help a headache! Apparently, all I had to do was rub some peppermint essential oil on my forehead near the scalp line and it would relieve the headache.

But, seriously, when I tried the peppermint essential oil, I was in shock at how powerful and effective it was! However, I made a mistake as a newbie user. We had no idea how to use essential oils, so I used way too much that time and it turned my skin pink… but we’ve become much more experienced now. But even so, in less than 30 minutes my headache was completely gone.

I was thinking this peppermint essential oil is like a miracle! But, I wasn’t fully convinced until using it for over a year. I’ve been using the same method on 3 separate occasions when I’ve had headaches. And it worked every single time!

So, now anytime I get a headache it’s my go to remedy and I tell anyone who has one they have to try using peppermint essential oil for headaches! Why not, it’s all natural and so simple to do, plus it really works! Not even just for mild headaches, but worse migraines as well.

Above I shared with you a quick description of how I used it, but just so you don’t make the same mistake I initially did by using it too highly concentrated, here’s the simple directions for how to use peppermint essential oil for headaches effectively.

How To Use Peppermint Essential Oil For Headaches:

What You Need:

• 3 drops of peppermint essential oil
• 1 tablespoon of water or carrier oil, such as coconut oil
• bowl or cup to mix them in
• cotton ball or cloth to apply it to your forehead

Directions:

1. Add the water and peppermint essential oils to a container, I just use a glass cup and mix them.
2. Dip a cotton ball into the mixture and rub it across the top of your forehead right next your hairline. I always do it along my hairline, but some say to also put it around the temples.
3. I usually dip the cotton ball back in the mixture again and reapply it 2 or 3 times in the same way.

This should provide relief in about 30 minutes. If within an hour you’re not getting relief from your headache, you can reapply the peppermint essential oil using the same method.

Note: Peppermint essential oil is highly concentrated and not recommended for infants or small children.