Tea Tree Oil Uses

This was in the early 1980s, by the end of the 80s Thursday Plantation was distilling tea tree oil in it’s own factory and in this millennium Tea Tree oil can be brought around the world and is well regarded for it’s many great uses.

Tea tree oil’s health benefits are probably the reason why the Dean’s started on their odyssey to spread the word about tea tree because the oil contains not just antiseptic and anti-fungal properties but it’s also an immune stimulant.

Let’s have a look at tea tree oils medicinal uses –

Tea Tree oil is both a germicide and a fungicide.   In a controlled study to measure it’s effectiveness in fighting athlete’s foot it had a 66% success rate.   (The study used only a 50% tea tree solution, so it would have been interesting to see the results if they had used a stronger solution.)

Tea tree oil can also be used to fight fungal infections such as nail infections and vaginal candida albicans.   As far as a nail infection is concerned you merely need to put one drop of pure tea tree oil onto a damp cotton bud and apply to the nail.   My husband used to get a number of fungal nail infections and used a range of different products – tea tree oil is the only one that has worked completely (and he was very sceptical at the onset!).

To use tea tree oil for a vaginal infection of candida you need to dilute 1 part tea tree oil to 200 parts water (do not use a stronger dosage) and use as a douche.

Used in a diffuser or burner tea tree oil has disinfectant properties which makes it great for burning when someone in the house is sick.   The only problem is that sometimes children don’t like the smell of tea tree oil in a diffuser as it’s quite strong which is why I usually use lemon oil to keep bugs at bay and tea tree oil if we’ve (somehow) succumbed to a virus or infection.

Apparently 3-5 drops of Tea Tree oil in 30ml of a base oil such as sweet almond is very handy as a rub for rheumatic pain.   I must admit that I’ve never tried tea tree oil like this, but I have seen television testimonials as well as reading studies where it has been found to be beneficial.

I was working at a health food store when I first heard about tea tree oil and we were told that using a tea tree shampoo would help with dandruff.   The shop’s owner used to have really bad dandruff so he tried using the shampoo and found that it cleared up his dandruff – I was sold and immediately got some for my hubby.

I didn’t check how the shampoo smelt and hubby didn’t want to use it!   I was not to be deterred and instead brought some tea tree oil (this was when I started trying to use it for lots of different things).   I instructed him to put 1 drop of the tea tree oil onto his normal shampoo when he put it on his hand – mix it slightly and then wash his hair as usual.   The result was a dandruff free hubby who has come to like the smell of tea tree!

Tea tree oil is also really good for acne and can be found in a number of different ranges of acne face washers and creams.   A simple way to use it is to simply add a few drops to a bowl of boiling water and, covering your head with a towel, allow the tea tree to work it’s magic through the steam.

Tea tree oil is amazing when it comes to helping to keep the house clean while also acting as a disinfectant.   The first way I used it to clean was by lifting the lid off of my cistern and adding a dozen drops of tea tree oil to the water stored up there.   Each flush would bring a very faint odor of tea tree and (most importantly) it seemed to keep the bowl cleaner which meant I didn’t have to clean the toilet quite as often.

The next thing I tried to use tea tree oil for was in the health shop when we had new flooring put in – the scuff marks showed up pretty badly so I put a few drops of tea tree oil onto a damp cloth and gave them a wipe – the marks came off very easily.  

I also used it to remove sticky tape from glass when we were taking posters down from the doors/windows.   I used the same method as above – a few drops of tea tree oil onto a damp cloth.   I only tried it because I had the tea tree oil out and I knew that eucalyptus oil could do this – tea tree also worked!

Washing floors is also where you can add some tea tree oil – simply add 1 teaspoon of tea tree oil to 1 1/5 gallons of water and wash your floors as normal.   Now sometimes I will also add a little lavender for a nice smell as tea tree can make your house smell a little antiseptic!

Apparently you can use the same solution for cleaning windows as with the floors, but for some reason I haven’t tried that yet as I have a different home made solution that works well for windows.

There are a lot of other ways in which you can incorporate tea tree oil in your cleaning, but even employing just these few uses will help reduce the number of toxic chemicals you use in your home and you’ll still have a lovely clean house!