Sunday, November 16, 2014

Manuka Naturals: Manuka Essential Oil: Reviewed

I use essential oils daily for various skin care and household use.  I have always been a lover of Tea Tree,  Eucalyptus, and Lavender essential oils for their antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antiseptic use.  I use them for making a variety of products such as cleaning sprays, disinfectants, anteseptic healing spray, skin salve and balm, cloth wipe solution for our baby, baby bath, hair shampoo and skin treatments.  Tea tree is wonderful but some people are too sensitive to use it.  I often find it a bit strong and sometimes it irritates my skin, (I often make my own deodorant) but since it works so well, I keep using it. 

I learned about an essential oil that is very similar to Tea Tree, however up to 30 times stronger in killing certain strains of bacteria, and 10 times the anti-bacterial & anti-fungal properties of Tea Tree oil.  I also found out that it is actually gentler on skin.  Of course this made me very excited, and I wanted to find out more about it.  It is called Manuka Essential Oil.  I was sent 3 variations of this oil to try in exchange for my full review and honest opinion from Manuka Naturals company.

The first one is the 100% Manuka Essential Oil (Leptospermums coparium).

How I use it: I apply directly to my skin using a cotton pad soaked with Manuka Oil.  This works well as a spot treatment for acne or to cleanse and heal cuts, sores, rashes, and other skin irritation.  This can be blended with other essential oils such as lavender, lemon, or bergamot to enhance the aroma.  It is a beautifully fragranced oil on its own.  I sometimes make a bottle mixture of Rose Water, Manuka Oil, Lavender Oil, Argan Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Rosehip oil, Castor Oil,  Vegetable Glycerin and Calendula for my facial oil cleansing.  I do not use regular soap or sulfates to wash my face, so I like to blend several oils and massage them into my skin while removing the dirt and makeup from the day.  I steam cleanse my pores and this is an effective, luxurious and gentle method.

I often add 8-10 drops of Pure Manuka Oil to my usual amount of sulfate free shampoo (usually about the size of 3 quarters---my hair is very thick and past my shoulders) and massage into wet hair and scalp. I leave on for five minutes before rinsing. This not only smells fresh and invigorating, but it helps with any itchiness or dandruff.

This essential oil is an effective acne treatment, you can add 2 drops of Manuka oil to a gentle face wash. I do not use sulfates or traditional soaps, so when I use this, I add it to fragrance free castile soap or my oil cleansing method mentioned above.

I have used this "neat" on cotton pads to calm dry, irritated skin.  I had a red, itchy, burning and peeling rash on my stomach for about 2 months.  I take extremely hot showers in the winter and my dry skin suffers.  I had tried aloe vera, tee tree, eucalyptus and hydrocortisone cream.  This Manuka oil mixed with my homemade salve was what helped the most.  I was able to clear up my rash.

**Keep out of reach of children & avoid contact with eyes.**

If you want to use Manuka for household cleaning and disinfectant use, what I do is add about 10-15 drops in a large spray bottle with about 5-10 drops each of any or all of these: Lavender, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree and Lemon Essential Oils.  I have a wide variety of essential oils so I add whatever I have on hand.  I use this spray on our baby's diaper pail, my daughter's potty chair, kitchen counter, bathrooms, tables, stove and all other dirty surfaces.  I can even use to keep bugs away (or spray 'em till their dead) in our nearly 100 year old, country home.

This freshens whatever we spray it on, while cleansing and disinfecting.  We do not like using traditional store bought cleaners and I have been using Tea Tree, Eucalyptuc and Lavender mix for the past 2 years and now am going to continue using / adding this Manuka Oil as well.

Manuka Essential oil has so many uses and benefits:

Strong anti-microbial, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal
Cleansing and Disinfecting
You can use it for soothing and treating muscle aches, joint pains, back ache, arthritis, sport injuries, dandruff, fleas, lice, body odor, Athlete's Foot, and so much more. The oil is also widely used in aromatherapies to relieve stress and anxiety. It also smells fantastic and clean.  We have an electric essential oil diffuser which I like to use at night when we sleep.

To learn how I made a healing Manuka oil salve and to see my full review of this essential oil and 2 other oils from Manuka Naturals watch this video.




It is important to look for Manuka Oil from the East Cape region of New Zealand.  Manuka Oil from that region has higher antimicrobial potency than the samples from other regions of the world.  This oil is from Manuka Naturals and you can find their oils on Amazon.  The products offered to me by Manuka Naturals in exchange for my opinion, were: Manuka 100 % Pure Essential Oil, Manuka Massage Oil, and Manuka Healing Oil.

The Manuka Massage oil is used for skin massages and is what I use for homemade baby wipes solution (cloth wipes) since it is the lowest concentration of the essential oil.  The massage oil contains 3.25% pure, undiluted Manuka Essential Oil, 0.75% Lemon Myrtle Oil, and 96% cosmetic grade Sweet Almond Oil (the carrier or base oil).

The Manuka Healing oil contains 22% pure undiluted Manuka Essential Oil to retain strong anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties, 1% Lemon Myrtle Oil, 1% Lavender Oil, 1% Tea Tree Oil & 75% Cosmetic Grade Sweet Almond Oil. I use this for adding to my creams and skin care products.  This is perfect for when you want more healing power and more potency than what is in the massage oil. 

The Manuka Essential oil as I mentioned is 100% Manuka and of course the most potent.

I love all 3 of these oils and have found so many uses for each individual potency and formulation.  I am excited to try this in my homemade deodorant (and use this instead of the Tea Tree).   

You can learn more about the Manuka Naturals company by visiting their website and by visiting them on Facebook and Twitter









I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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