The Frankincense Tree

Frankincense has been used for thousands of years.  As you probably know from Christmas stories of the Three Wise Men visiting Jesus, frankincense (and myrrh) were considered extremely valuable – similar to gold – at the time of Christ’s birth.  Normally, only kings and queens got to use it to any extent.  It was also used in religious ceremonies extensively.  Frankincense is today extracted by steam distillation from gum and resin from the tree pictured above.

Pure frankincense has a beautiful smell – no wonder it was used for ceremonies!  But it also has many health benefits, as well!  Besides being beneficial for things like Arthritis, Asthma, Alzheimer’s Disease and Cancer, just to mention a few, it has many benefits for skin problems as well as brain function.  Just for example, for brain function:

• Brain Aging (reduce)
• Brain Injury
• Coma
• Concussion
• Confusion
• Memory
• Mental Fatigue

And there are many more areas, but this is to point out that frankincense is great if you are having some issues with your brain as you age!  Take a drop in a glass of water – perhaps with 6 drops of lemon oil, every day for a bright brain function!

But there’s (lots) more!  You can look it up in the mobile app or the book I recommended in a previous blog.  Here’s one you will not find in either place:  Frankincense will not only take the pain away from burns, it will prevent blistering!

I discovered this by the old tried and true scientific method:  experimentation.

I had a burn on my finger, and it had already blistered.  It was probably 24 hours or more since the actual burn event.  It was red around the edges, and the blister had broken, so it was “wet” with fluid.  Knowing that frankincense is anti-inflammatory, anti-infection, and antiseptic, I thought I would try some on my painful burn.  I also knew it was “good” for skin problems.

Shock #1!  My pain was gone within 5 minutes!  I did not expect that!  WOW!

Shock #2!  The red was gone within 15 minutes!  Well, I kinda expected maybe that would happen.  That would be the “anti-inflammatory” function working.

The next time I had a burn, after running cold water over it for a minute, I immediately put on some frankincense.  I reapplied it several times over the next few hours.

Shock #3:  I never got a blister!  WOW!  This was completely unexpected, and wonderful!  My skin looked like nothing had happened, and there was no pain or indication of a burn.

The big test came (not at my request, mind you) on Thanksgiving.  We had the mashed potatoes finished before the turkey, so we put the pan in the 350 degree oven to keep it hot.

When it was time to take it out, I was smart:  I used a potholder on the handle, and placed it on the counter.  Then I took out the turkey.  Serving time a minute later, I turned around with a potholder, and forgot about the hot handle (normally the pot handles do not get hot on the stove).  I instead used the potholder on the lid, and grabbed the handle with my right hand.

YIKES!  While the pot handle no doubt had cooled down somewhat, it was very hot, and my entire hand was burned.  I ran cold water over it for a few minutes, and then started applying frankincense.  The pain did not go away in 5 minutes this time – the burn was significantly worse.  I kept applying the frankincense  – probably every 5 or 10 minutes because it hurt so much, for maybe an hour.  After an hour, the pain subsided and went away by 2 hours.  I continued applying the frankincense from time to time after that, thinking that I was definitely going to have some blisters this time.

Shock #4!  NO BLISTERS!  The next day, my had looked exactly like nothing had happened!  WOW WOW WOW!

So frankincense is definitely on my list of favorite essential oils – for the wonderful smell, the burns, and all the other good things like warts and other skin issues.

But now, a friend of mine is taking frankincense every day internally to help his brain function – memory, clarity of thought – along with lemon and peppermint oil, both good for mental function.  I think it’s time for me to do that, too!

Finally, after several bad experiences with side effects with cheaper products, I now stick to DoTerra for all my essential oils.  No doubt there are a few other companies that also have super high quality (for medical use) essential oils, but DoTerra is my favorite source.  By using their “LRP” program, I now get 25% discount PLUS another 30% in points, which I can use for additional purchases.  This equals 55% discount!  This brings the price down to match or even beat many other sources, and still gives me the best quality out there.