I have been dabbling with alternative remedies lately and purchased some tea tree oil as one of my 'fundamental' oils in my new collection.
It has a pungent and strong smell which is distinctive; once you have smelt tea tree oil you won't forget it. I quite like the smell but I think it is a bit like Marmite, you will either love it or hate it.
This 30 ml bottle is physically quite small, you can easily hold it between your thumb and forefinger. However, you only need a single drop or a couple of drops at most at any one time so it goes a heck of a long way. The oil will probably lose its active ingredients before you ever get to use this bottle up completely.
There is a dropper attached to the neck of the bottle so it is easy to measure out the exact amount you need, drop by drop.
The brown glass of the bottle helps to keep the tea tree oil from destabilising. However, it is worth storing it in a cool, dark cupboard.
I have made my own kitchen spray cleaner which contains water, vinegar (to cut the grease), lavender oil (for the smell) and tea tree oil for the antiseptic/anti bacterial properties. I have been amazed at how well such a simple combination of ingredients work on kitchen surfaces, my oven, hob and even tiles.
I don't suffer very often with blemishes on my face but occasionally I get a spot starting to appear. I have put the tiniest bit of this tea tree oil on a cotton wool bud and applied it neat onto the blemish and it has visibly reduced it by the end of the day and after two days, there has been nothing to see.
I haven't personally had a problem using it very occasionally in a neat form on my skin but I have read somewhere that it can lead to skin irritation and redness in some people.
I have also added a single drop of this to the water whilst rinsing my hair as it does also seem to help reduce dandruff - but I don't do this regularly as I don't like my hair smelling strongly of tea tree.
This is one of those store cupboard items that I like to have in the house. I have used it for many different things and the more I research into it the more uses I have discovered.