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
Drinking camomile tea can fight a cold and banish menstrual cramps,
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
"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.
