O is for oils

We have oils for everything today, maintaining your car, cooking, perfumes, for you hair, and to change your mood.  I’m sure I’ve missed a few. 

When I was growing up we had motor oil and vegetable oil and that was about it.  In the sixties, I discovered essential oils and started using them in place of perfume.  My favorites for this purpose are musk and patchouli.  I still use them to this day.  Oils stay on all day, unlike most perfume that dissipates in a few hours.  A drop or two is all you need too.

I never use vegetable oil these days, but instead use olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, or peanut oil depending on the flavor I desire for what I’m cooking.  I think these are healthier oils than vegetable and canola.

Toasted sesame oil lends a great flavor to oriental dishes.  I love stir fry with rice noodles, or rice, and all the veggies. 

Olive oil is great for most other things I cook, like meat or eggs, or stir-fried veggies, unless I want a hint of coconut.

Moroccan oil and Argon oil are great for your hair.  They give it shine and are a big help against split ends and breakage.  It only takes a couple of drops too, so the bottle will last a while since this stuff isn’t cheap. 

But coconut oil is the most versatile oil I know of.  It can be used in cooking, as a hair conditioner, as a body lotion, a makeup remover, etc.  I’m sure there are many more uses for it.  I must warn you to keep this oil capped up well and also zipped into a large storage bag after opening.  Ants love this stuff.  I guess they can smell the coconut a mile away.  I had a small jar in the bathroom that had a nice screw-on lid.  I had it capped tightly, but the ants still got in there and ate all that oil.  The only thing that alerted me to this situation was all the ants covering the jar and the trail headed for the contents.  Needless to say, I was flabbergasted.

Lastly, a large variety of oils are used in aroma therapy today.  They’re usually placed in a diffuser so the oil is dispersed in small amounts at a time to fill the room with pleasant scents.  Some of these oils are used to relieve stress and help you sleep, among other things.  I imagine these have been used for centuries and are enjoying a revival today, but I haven’t researched that.