The Tea Tree Time

The Tea Tree Time

I’m sure that herbalists and Aborigines will find this hilarious, but I have only recently discovered Tea Tree products. Somehow over the last year, probably when Kim was away somewhere, I was forced to do the unthinkable, go out into the commercial sector (in this case a Duane Reade Pharmacy) and buy my own shampoo. Can you imagine? I inadvertently bought some sort of Tea Tree shampoo and as soon as I used it I realized I loved it. First of all the smell of the stuff is so pleasing that it made me want to shampoo longer. Then I noticed that the longer I left the shampoo in my hair, the more my scalp tingled in a good way. I became a devotee of Tea Tree Shampoo and told Kim upon her return to only buy me Tea Tree Shampoo from now on. I now have a giant Tea Tree Shampoo bottle with a pump in my shower and its all I use.

Recently, the folks at Harry’s Razors hooked me into their shaving subscription program. I was in need of razor blades and some Facebook ad or another directed me to Harry’s. I had heard of Harry’s and I generally like new aggressive start-ups that disrupt the old line brands (In this case Gillette and Schick), but mostly I am lazy and I like to just get stuff in the mail on my doorstep rather than go out to the store and have to find it and get inundated with choices that make little sense to me standing looking stupid in the aisle. I will also note that finally, social distancing has taken me out of the lazy category and into the sensible medically-prudent category with this buying choice. Anyway, back to Harry’s. I generally don’t like subscription anything since it always strikes me as a lazy brand’s way of forcing repeat customers and/or to send me stuff I really don’t need or want. But I figured that if I am committing to try Harry’s razors, I needed to commit to replacement blades and their shaving gel. I recently got my first monthly order and we will see what’s left over after the first three month reorder period. I’m all in on Harry’s.

So, when I got an email from them inviting me to look at their other products, I saw that they had a combination shampoo and conditioner. It had occurred to me that the dry weather out here in San Diego on this north county hillside might make me want conditioner. I know I am too lazy to be bothered putting separate conditioner in my hair, plus there’s the whole waiting things. But maybe shampoo with conditioner would give me just enough to keep my head from taking on that fly-away look. When the product came from Harry’s, I tried it even though, as I mentioned above, I love my Tea Tree Shampoo. But I was pleasantly surprised, it seems that even though Harry’s does not shout about it, their shampoo is actually a Tea Tree based formula and thus makes me very happy. My only problem now is how to choose between Tea Tree pump shampoo and Tea Tree conditioned by Harry shampoo.

This has all caused me to wonder what exactly is going on in this Tea Tree. What I have learned is that Tea Tree oil is an essential oil. Stop. What the hell is that? It’s a plant extract that smells like the plant that it comes from. I find that a bit of an overblown word to describe something that just smells like from what it was extracted. So far its a perfume. This Tea Tree oil, though, can be used for keeping skin, hair and nails healthy. That will require some added exploration, but in addition to these holistic benefits, Tea Tree oil is inexpensive and safe when used as directed. Uh oh, I’m not good at following directions so I had better peel that fragrant onion a bit as well.

The Tea Tree has nothing to do with dinking tea so forget about that immediately. The Tea Tree as known in botanical nomenclature is called Melaleuca alternifolia, and it is a small tree native to Eastern Australia (note to self: make sure that this years’ wildfires did not devastate the Tea Tree population, otherwise start hoarding it). The Aborigines of Australia have been using the leaves of the Tea Tree to extract the oil and use it medicinally for millennia. It is to the Aborigines what Windex is for Gus Portokalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It fixes everything from a bad cough to a skin wound. It seems that Tea Tree oil has terpinen-4-ol, which is a compound that kills certain bacteria, fungi and ……. wait for it…..viruses, ALSO helps the immune system by activating white blood cell count. That’s better than Aloe. Wow, does Dr. Jake’s Snake Oil team know about this?

So let’s list the things that Tea Tree oil is used for:

• Hand sanitizer good against colds, flu and e-coli among other things.

• Insect repellant deemed by some better than DEET on mosquitos.

• Natural deodorant (its all about how sweat combines with bacteria)

• Antiseptic for cuts and scrapes (again….anti-bacterial)

• Wound healing is enhanced by reducing inflammation and activating white blood cells

• Anti-acne where both bacteria and wound-healing make this a multiple better than soap and water

• Anti-fungal agent for unsightly nail damage

• Good-tasting non-chemical mouthwash (unclear if it reduces plaque or not)

• All-purpose cleaner with water and apple cider vinegar

• Relieving skin inflammation and greatly reduces contact dermatitis

• Controls dandruff – I knew it!

• Treats athlete’s foot, so let it drip down from the toenails into the toe crevices

• Reduces mold on fruits and vegetables

What about those warnings of overdoing it? Scratch the mouthwash idea since it can be dangerous if ingested (who exactly thought to add mouthwash to this list….dumb). Also, some people are allergic and actually get contact dermatitis by using it, so tip-toe into using it. Dogs and cats develop nervous tremors from it, so be careful about how you pet Rover or Kitty. We have a Bichon and its hard to imagine him getting more nervous, but I will be careful.

Yesterday I got a haircut at Super Cuts out here and they shampooed me with Tea Tree shampoo. After I got home I realized that I was not observing proper social distancing protocol…but wait….if she used Tea Tree shampoo which is anti-viral, I think I’m good. I just wish there was a Tea Tree stock so I could go long during this whole Coronavirus thing.