My reasons for choosing Chamomile this week is personal
…………..some
of you already know I did a very silly thing earlier this week and
accidentally burnt my back and shoulders in the sun. It has been very,
very sore. I used ‘after sun gel’ given to me by my daughter but it
didn’t seem to help. Then I remembered being told that, amongst other
things, Chamomile is very good at soothing sunburn and other skin
complaints. Well………….what’s that saying? ‘Necessity being the mother of
invention’; I don’t grow chamomile and I don’t know anyone who does so I
bought myself a box of chamomile ‘tea bags’. These so called Tea Bags
are just dried flowers which are exactly what I need for an infusion.
So, I made up a pint of ‘tea’ using 4 teabags, 1 pint of boiling water
and allowing it to steep for about an hour. Then I left it to go cold
and chilled it in the fridge. Since then I have been using a clean piece
of cotton dampened in this cooling infusion to lay across my back every
couple of hours. And I have to tell you it works. The redness has
almost gone and my skin feels soothed and cooled. Unorthodox maybe but
effective defiantly.
For more information of little flower I went to the BBC
This is from the BBC website at
Camomile tea for aches and ills
Drinking camomile tea can fight a cold and banish menstrual cramps, UK researchers believe!
Five
cups a day for a fortnight is enough to boost urine levels of
substances that can ease muscle spasms and fight inflammation.
For years, people have used camomile as an anti-inflammatory, a mild sedative and as an anti-ulcer remedy.
It
has also been reported to have anti-oxidant activity and the essential
oil extracted from the chamomile flowers has been shown to possess
antimicrobial activity.
Drinking
tea caused levels of both glycine, which can ease muscle spasms, and
the anti-inflammatory hippurate in the urine to go up.
After
the volunteers stopped drinking the tea at the end of the two weeks,
levels of glycine and hippurate stayed elevated for up to a further two
weeks, which suggests the effects may be long-lasting.
Maureen Robertson, from the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine, said camomile worked by removing heat from the body.
"It's a very safe herb to use. It's good for inflammation, particularly of the gastrointestinal tract."
She said the high essential oil content of camomile also made it a good antiseptic.
The Latin name is Chamaemelum
Nobile and as well as having many medical uses it is also used in hair
conditioners, hair tonics, facial masks and facial washes. It is know to
be very kind to the skin (I can personally testify to that) and useful
for people who suffer allergies as it is virtually non allergic.
9 Comments
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dianahopeless wrote on Jul 24, '08
Great
herbal blog post. TY for sharing. It's kind of funny how we learn about
the use of herbs. lol Glad to hear the sunburn is benefiting from the
chamomile.
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greenwytch wrote on Jul 24, '08
a
very useful and pretty herb, i just love it. i hope your back feels
better very soon. HUGS and thanks for the nice herby blog.
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kathyinozarks wrote on Jul 24, '08
I
love chamomile-thanks so much for sharing, I think I have seen
chamomile made in ointments too, great blog-thanks for joining us for
herb thursdays
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 24, '08
Hi Kay, took me a while to get used to the taste but try it with a spoonful of honey..........nice!!
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brendainmad wrote on Jul 24, '08
It'a also very soothing for the eyes. Camomile is very popular here in Spain.
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octoberwitch wrote on Jul 23, '08
Im going to try and remember to drink more camomile, i dont really like it though, but I need the benefits.
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