For real- This is not a very pretty story, but it is true. Several years ago I was a regular pedicure client of an unnamed salon. I realized, though, I had nail fungus and quit going. I didn’t want to take oral antifungal medication because of the liver damage warnings. I tried several topical OTC anti-fungal solutions. I also tried an old home remedy- mentholatum. None of them worked. Then I started using Young Living Essential Oils on my toenails, Purification and White Fir… in particular. Twice a day. Now 5 of the 10 nails are clear with healthy pink nail beds. The others are showing great improvement and should be clear in another few weeks after the old nail grows out. Yippee! I am a happy girl, especially since I wear sandals almost all the time. I keep finding healthful uses for YL Essential oils. Thanks to my friend, Mary Brewington, for introducing me to them!
My Daddy was a big believer in turpentine’s medicinal qualities and kept a small bottle of it around all the time. Honestly, I just thought it was a little eccentric, but harmless. I remember, too, that he was enthusiastic about melaleuca oil. Turpentine is a monoterpene distillate from the resin of pine trees. His Mother, too, was a home remedy enthusiast. In all probability, he got it from her. She also would make a “poultice” to put on our chest or make us use Vick’s vaporub if we coughed at her house. I think I even have a book she had of home remedies somewhere that I need to try to find. From Wikipedia: “Turpentine and petroleum distillates such as coal oil and kerosene have been used medicinally since ancient times, as topical and sometimes internal home remedies. Topically it has been used for abrasions and wounds, as a treatment for lice, and when mixed with animal fat it has been used as a chest rub, or inhaler for nasal and throat ailments. Many modern chest rubs, such as the Vicks variety, still contain turpentine in their formulations.
Taken internally it was used as treatment for intestinal parasites because of its alleged antiseptic and diuretic properties, and a general cure-all[10][11] as in Hamlin’s Wizard Oil. Sugar, molasses or honey were sometimes used to mask the taste. Internal administration of these toxic products is no longer common today.
Turpentine was a common medicine among seamen during the Age of Discovery, and one of several products carried aboard Ferdinand Magellan’s fleet in his first circumnavigation of the globe.”