Tea Tree Experience

February 27, 2019

Tea Tree Experience

At Rocky Mountain Oils, we believe in only selling products that we ourselves actually use and have had success with. That means everyone from production to our executive team believes in our products and uses them daily!

Today’s blog post is written by our incredible CEO, Sally Clarke. Sally grew up in the mountains of Utah where she developed a love for Mother Nature and became a natural wellness enthusiast. Wanting to work for a company that shared the same appreciation for Mother Nature and the gifts she provides, Sally was hired on by RMO just over two years ago, and, well, the rest is history!

My Tea Tree Experience — Sally Clarke

When I think of Tea Tree, my first thoughts are of strong, stinky essential oil that I use when I need help with a breathing issue. When I contracted a toe fungus from a nail salon visit, Tea Tree was the last thing I thought I’d be using to combat the infection.

I feel stupid revealing that I didn’t initially notice the thickening on my big toenail (mostly because it was covered by nail polish). It wasn’t until the nail was half yellow and the nail bed around part of the nail started to get painful that I saw that it was taking over the whole toe and took it seriously. Here are some of the things I tried before starting my Tea Tree regimen:

I initially tried an over-the-counter nail lacquer on sale for $16.99 (Normal price showed $39.99). It ran out after 20 days, the pain had not stopped, and it didn’t seem that the nail was growing out of the nail bed normally.
The pain wasn’t bad, but it seemed to be getting worse, and I was starting to worry if I’d wake up one day and not be able to walk properly. I finagled a quick visit to my general doctor for help. The office visit was $120 plus a recommendation for a cream that cost $49.99. The plan was to use the cream for 30 days, and if that didn’t work that we may have to look at more serious surgical options with a podiatrist (foot specialist). I used the creme for 4 days. It burned, so I stopped using it and scheduled a follow-up appointment with my doctor.

10 days before my follow-up doctor’s visit, an aromatherapist I know suggested that I use straight Tea Tree on it. I didn’t have anything to lose at that point, so I did as suggested and put 4 drops on a cotton ball and rubbed it on the toenail, nail bed, and surrounding area morning and evening. (Caution: essential oils are concentrated. You want to make sure that you test a small area of skin to see if a reaction occurs before continuing)

After 2 days, I noticed that the pain was almost gone. After another 5 days, I thought I saw that the nail bed was changing back to a normal color, so I decided to cancel my doctor’s apt and continued using the Tea Tree. I was going to give it a total of 30 days to see what kind of improvement I saw with the intention to go to my doctor immediately if the pain came back. The pain never came back. As you can see from the 30-day picture/video, the nail bed is now producing more of a normal nail. Not completely back to normal yet, but you can see that it’s getting there.

I spent a total of $186.98 on other options that didn’t solve the problem I had. The bottle of 100% pure Tea Tree essential oil cost $21.95, and I still have plenty left to keep using until my toenail is completely back to normal…just in time for sandal weather.