Mopping the Floor to Cure a Headache?

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There are days when the boys are louder than others, whether it is amicable role play or a brotherly squabble. The cats hiss at each other and the dog barks at them, then at the UPS guy, then at the mail lady... Oh, my aching head! If only I could just turn down the volume a bit in the whole house.

I have a secret weapon that I bring out from time to time. Two, actually: essential oils of peppermint and cedarwood.  These two oils, in a 2-to-1 ratio peppermint to cedar, when added to unscented* mop water, take everything down a notch. I choose to use the mop water as the medium because it will give a gentle scent to much of our home, but not in an overwhelming way. It does its job and within a few hours will be gone. Today I used six drops of peppermint and three drops of cedarwood, making it pretty strong while keeping the ratio at 2-to-1.

Peppermint has an immediate cooling effect, and its vapours relieve my tension headaches. (If it is a migraine, the effect will be temporary but welcome all the same.) When I was a kid my mom used to rub white Tiger balm on my temples for a headache and this works in a similar, but more subtle, way.

Cedarwood gives a clean, earthy under-note. It is purported to have a calming effect. The household seems to quiet down after everyone gets a whiff of the magic mopping potion. Perhaps it is my imagination; maybe it is because my head stops hurting and I feel better. I don't know, but it works for me.

Headache gone. Floors clean. Next?


* It is hard to find a good, all-purpose cleaner that is not heavily scented. Life Tree's Home Soap does the trick for me. It barely has a fragrance of its own so I can add whatever I like or just let clean smell like nothing.



I shared this post with Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways,  Wildcrafting Wednesday and Fight Back Friday, the Weekend Whatever and Small Footprint Fridays.

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