What exactly are essential oils? Probably the best way to explain them is, they are compounds that are extracted from various types of plants. Essential oils are processed in such a way that they are able to maintain the plant's scent, taste and health benefits. Personally, I am a huge fan of them. I like how potent they are. I like how helpful they are. And, I like how long the scent of them linger. Yeah, essential oils are dope.
When I first started using them, it was strictly as a perfume/cologne alternative. These days, I use them for homeopathic reasons too. Lavender is great for sleep. Rosemary is great for hair growth. You can check out my article, "8 Natural Aphrodisiac Scents, Where They Go & How To Make Them Last" to see how they can help you out, in a major way, in the bedroom department (wink). But if you'd like to learn about how to apply essential oils in a therapeutic health-related kind of way, not only do I have six different oils that I think you should get into, but six places on your body where you should put them. Are you ready to start feeling much better? Let's do this.
(Special note: Make sure to always mix essential oils with some type of carrier oil. Most of them are quite potent and can irritate your skin if you don't.)
1. Hairline
Aside from the fact that applying a little lavender oil (along with a carrier oil like jojoba or coconut) can help to stop a receding hairline, because lavender is the kind of oil that contains properties that help to treat anxiety, insomnia and even depression-related symptoms, it would make sense why massaging a little of it along your hairline or temples would be a great way to reduce stress. In fact, if you have a headache or even a migraine, applying the oil to this area of your head can help to relieve some of the pain and tension that you feel.
Application Tip: While it's super effective to massage lavender oil directly along your hairline or onto your temples, an alternative approach is to put a few drops on a piece of tissue and inhale the oil directly. While this method won't do anything to get your hair to grow back, it can help to knock your headache discomfort within a matter of moments.
2. Rim of Ears
Just like a lot of research points to the fact that a lot of health issues can be diagnosed (and relieved) through reflexology, there are also studies that reveal providing special attention to our ears can help to heal our systems too; it's called auriculotherapy. When people participate in auricular acupuncture, it can do everything from lower blood pressure and relieve stress to suppress appetites and improve their quality of sleep.
If you'd prefer to "ease into" auriculotherapy, something that you might want to try is rubbing some rose oil on the rim of your ears. The properties in rose oil are perfect for increasing feelings of calm, fighting migraines and even creating a mental atmosphere in order to make sounder decisions.
Application Tip: Add 2-3 drops of rose oil to a half teaspoon of sweet almond oil. Apply some of the oil to your fingertips and then rub the oil blend along the rim of both ears. Rub it in as much as possible and allow the oil to penetrate for the rest of the day.
3. Wrists
A lot of times, when we think of applying something to our wrists, it's strictly for scent purposes. However, this is a great place to put essential oils for health reasons too. Because your radial artery runs along the inside of your wrists, applying oils there is one of the fastest ways for the oils to hit your bloodstream. A good oil to try is oregano oil. It's a potent oil that fights bacteria, reduces free radicals and reduces bodily inflammation. So, if you're feeling under the weather, some oregano oil on your wrists might be all that you need to get to feeling like your old self again.
Application Tip: Again, since your wrist is a pulse point, it's a good idea to check out this essential oil dilution chart, just so you can determine how much carrier oil to mix in with the kind of oregano oil that you plan to use.
4. Stomach
If you've got digestive issues of any kind, you might want to rub some peppermint oil onto your tummy. Aside from it being the kind of oil that can clear up congestion, relieve PMS-related symptoms and help to speed up the healing process of the common cold, peppermint oil is also able to reduce nausea, treat irritable bowel syndrome and make menstrual cramps more bearable too.
Application Tip: Peppermint oil is pretty potent, so you'll probably only need 3-5 drops per one-third cup of your favorite carrier oil (due to olive oil's antioxidants, it's a good pick for this). Warm up the oil in your microwave for 15 seconds and then massage the oil directly into your abdomen. The menthol will provide a cooling sensation as the warm oil soothes you at the same time. Also, if you'd prefer to drink the oil, you can put a couple of drops into your water or smoothie, so long as the peppermint oil is 100 percent pure.
5. Legs
Whether you've got restless leg syndrome, varicose veins or muscle soreness, chamomile oil is a wonderful natural remedy. It's an oil that reduces inflammation and muscle spasms. Chamomile oil also heals wounds and skin conditions like eczema and rashes, plus it can promote a good night's sleep.
Application Tip: Either add 10-15 drops of chamomile oil into your bathwater or massage your legs with 3-5 drops per a cup of your favorite carrier oil. Massage your legs right after showering or bathing for instant relief from any discomfort that your legs may be feeling.
6. Bottom of Feet
One of the reasons why you should be extra cautious about where you choose to walk around barefoot is because some of the largest pores on your body are located at the bottom of your feet. This means that, similar to your wrists, this is another way for essential oils to hit your bloodstream quicker.
For this reason, bergamot is a wonderful oil to apply to this part of your body. Its antibacterial and antibiotic properties fight infection, alleviate pain, lower blood pressure, relieve stress and, if you rub the oil on your entire foot, bergamot will keep it extra smooth too.
Application Tip: A cool way to massage the bottom of your feet while applying bergamot oil to it is to use a roll-on. You can purchase empty bottles for essential oil via sites like Etsy and Got Oil Supplies. Now what are you waiting on? Get some essential oil and get to feeling better!
Want more stories like this? Sign up for our newsletter here and check out the related reads below:
7 Essential Oils All Naturalistas Need For Their Hair
The DIY Way To Prep Your Feet For Spring
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While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Fortunately, five simple words have simplified my dating process and ushered in clarity faster: “Would my husband do this?”
A couple of years ago, I met an entertainment lawyer who was tonguing down a twenty-something-year-old woman for breakfast while I slurped my green smoothie and chomped on a flatbread sandwich. Okay, Black love, I grinned and thought as I sauntered out of the Joe & The Juice. As soon as I stepped down from the front door, a torrential downpour of Miami summer rain cascaded and throttled me back inside to wait out the storm.
I grabbed a hot green tea and vacillated between peering out the wet door and anxiously checking my watch. My lengthy agenda started with attending the Tabitha Brown and Chance Brown’s “Black Love” panel, and I was already late. That’s when the lawyer introduced himself to me, after he made a joke about neither one of us wanting to get soaked by the rain. His female companion had braved the storm, leaving us to find our commonalities.
We both lived in L.A. and had traveled to the American Black Film Festival to expand our network. He represented various artists, including entertainment writers, while I was working as a writer/creative producer in Hollywood.
While there is no shortage of internet advice on how to strategically meet a prominent man at conferences, if I spend my hard-earned funds on career growth, I have tunnel vision, and that doesn’t include finding Mr. Right. So, I stowed his contact details away as strictly professional.
Keep It Cute Love And Hip Hop GIFGiphyAs the humidity and mosquitoes were rising around L.A., two months later, another suitor-turned-terrible match cooled off after three unimpressive dates and a bevy of red flags. I posted what some of my friends called a thirst trap, but it was really me wearing a black freakum jumpsuit with a plunging neckline to my friend’s 35th birthday soiree despite feeling oh, so unsexy and bloated on my cycle.
I’d been waiting to post a sassy caption and finally had the perfect picture to match: “You not asking for too much, you just asking the wrong MF.”
That’s when the entertainment lawyer swooped into my DMs and asked me to dinner. I was quite confused. Is he asking me on a date? Or is this professional? Common sense would’ve picked the former. Once it clicked that this would in fact be a date, I told my mentor, who’s been happily married for over twenty years and has often been a guiding light and has steered me away from the wrong men.
Upon telling him about how we met, he emphatically stated, “He ain’t it.” He followed up with a simple question, "You have to ask yourself: Would my husband do this? Would you tell others that you met your husband, tonguing down another woman, and later married him?"
Aint It No Way GIF by UFCGiphyOuch. The thought-provoking question cleared any haze. Prior to going out with the lawyer, the first thing I inquired about was the woman.
“You saw that?” He said, taken aback that I’d witnessed his steamy PDA. Surely, anyone with two open eyes peeped him caressing her backside as he kissed her in the middle of the coffee shop.
He brushed her off as a casual someone he’d gone on a couple of dates with but had since stopped talking to. He said he hadn’t been in a serious relationship in over three years. Though I was still doubtful, dating in L.A. is treacherous and ephemeral. Making it past three months is considered a rarity.
With my antennae alert, I dined with him at a cozy beachside steakhouse restaurant where we were serenaded by a live jazz band. I’d emphasized forming a platonic friendship first.
Break Up Friendship GIF by TLCGiphy“I’ll come to you,” he obliged. I liked that he had made me a priority by driving over 50 miles to see me. I also liked the effort he made to check in with me daily. But I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that he initiated on a professional pretense and then alley hooped through the back door on a romantic venture, which bombarded me with confusion.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my dating life, God is not the author of confusion; any man who brings confusion, rather than clarity, is simply not The One. It doesn’t matter how many boxes he checks–eventually, that confusion will manifest itself into bigger problems, in time.
After diving into deeper conversations on the phone, post our first dinner date, I quickly realized this man was indeed not The One for me. But I’m grateful for the valuable lesson I learned.
I don’t expect some unattainable fairytale of a husband; we all have our own flaws and conflict is inevitable, but after dating for two decades, through failure and success, I’ve realized that the person I ultimately marry must mirror the values I exert into the world. He must reciprocate kindness, patience, and respect. He must be quick to listen and slow to respond. He needs to be forgiving and trustworthy, practice healthy communication, and be a man of his word at the bare minimum.
If I’d had “Would my husband do this?” in my toolbox when I was dating and floundering in stagnant relationships, in my twenties, it would’ve saved me a lot of precious time. But now that I’m equipped with the reminder, it’s allowed me to ground myself in my non-negotiables and set/maintain the standard for the special person, I’ll one day say, “I do,” to.
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