If you have a giraffe with a bunged up nose, use this! (Olbas Oil)

Member Name: KingHerrod

Product:	Olbas Oil
Date:	15/02/02 (1490 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smells nice, unblocks giraffe noses, unblocks human noses.

Disadvantages: It is not nice to have the symptoms it relieves!

As some of you may know, I live with a giraffe. If this is news for you then, well I do. His name is Geoffrey, Geoffrey the mohican giraffe. He can be a bit boisterous at times, so some people call him Geoffrey the mad mohican giraffe.

What does this have to do with Olbas Oil? Well, poor Geoffrey has just recovered from a rather nasty cold, that resulted in the poor little chap being rather blocked up. Not blocked up as in he got into the toilet and blocked that up; blocked up in that the he couldn't breath very well, he had a stuffy nose. You must know that horrible bunged up feeling. Like most males, Geoffrey did not bear his cold well; he felt that he was never going to breath properly again in his life, he said his sinuses were always going to hurt. It was news to me that giraffes had sinuses.

Being a nice caring chap, I decided that Geoffrey would need some help, so I bought him a bottle of Olbas Oil, the inhalant decongestant. Olbas Oil is a mixture of natural oils, primarily eucalyptus, menthol, juniper berry, mint and cajuput. When you inhale the mixture it claims to clear your nasal passages. That is, it doesn't tell you, "Hey I am going to clear your nasal passages!", the products claim is........oh you get it don't you! The best way to inhale is to sprinkle a few drops of the oil onto a hanky, wrap the hanky around your nose and then take a deep breath in. Obviously through your nose. The vapours then penetrate the blockage and make it easier to breathe. Please note that if you or your giraffe have been stupid enough to place a rubber up your nostril then Olbas Oil is not going to help in getting that out.

If like poor Geoffrey, your blocked nose is giving you problems sleeping, then sprinkling a few drops on the appropriate pillow gives relief through the night. By appropriate pillow, a pillow that you do not sleep on is not going to help much.

So does it work? Well within 10 minu
tes of Geoffrey inhaling the vapours he was frantically blowing his nose and the snot was streaming out of his giraffe snout. After that he could breathe more easily and was whinging far less. He also said that sprinkling the oil on his pillow, helped him breathe in his sleep and so he felt far less grumpy when he woke up. Which let me tell you was a relief to me.

What the vapours also did to the giraffe is ease the blockage in his sinuses; he says they hurt less, so I guess it was a triple bonus. As a warning to you though if after your cold has gone, the sinuses still hurt, then get them checked out, all the snot up there may have infected them and that can be a painful occurrence.

I myself use Olbas Oil when I have a cold, I can report the same benefits as Geoffrey, just in case you were going to tell me that it is of no use to you to be told how this product helps a giraffe with a cold!

Another benefit of Olbas Oil is headaches. As I recover from M.E., I find that if I overdo my concentration I get a rather migraine like headache. Inhaling Olbas Oil seems to ease this headache, takes away the pounding. Don't ask me why or how, but it does.

One day after his cold had gone Geoffrey was reading the label of the Olbas Oil and discovered that you can use it as a massage oil, you know for those aches and pains. Seeing as he had played football the day before, for Young Giraffe Colts, he had sore legs. Having looked at me with pleading eyes, I rubbed the oil into his calves and he immediately felt the benefit of the warming feeling, he said his calves felt looser and les painful. Obviously, Geoffrey would have preferred a female giraffe to do the rubbing in, but as he has no luck in finding a girlfriend, the young female giraffe that he was chasing, Luscious Linda, has shunned him permanently; he had to make do with me. I myself, used Olbas Oil in the early stages of my illness as a massage rub and it really did help i
n alleviating the pain from aching muscles and Lorraine, my partner now uses it as a deep heat substitute on her muscles when she comes in from her run.

So this oil really does give you a triple benefit, help in breathing, help in relieving headaches and help in relieving muscle aches and pains. I have been impressed, Geoffrey has been impressed and Lorraine finds it great for her muscles.

Olbas Oil is manufactured in the UK by G.R. Lane Health Products Limited and costs £2.19 for a 10ml bottle, from Sainsburys. If you have a cold this will last about a week, you only need two or three drops to do the trick.

Alternate ways to inhale are by placing a few drops into a bowl of very hot water, sticking a towel over your head and placing your head over the bowl and inhaling the vapours. You create your own little atmosphere within the towel. I find this does not work as well, but it may work for you. Geoffrey refused this method as he said that putting a towel on his head would make him look stupid.

The product also claims to be able to help joint pain associated with arthritis and rheumatism and to help alleviate hay fever. As my giraffe or myself do not suffer with these problems, I cannot comment, but if you do, you may want to give Olbas Oil a go.

The product should not be used on babies under 3 months of age and if you wish to use it on babies between the ages of 3 months and 2 years, you should make sure that the oil does not come into contact with their skin. The other big no no is using Olbas Oil on broken skin, believe you me, it stings. Serves me right for not reading the label properly before I used it.

This is a natural remedy; it helps alleviate that stuffy feeling of a cold and is well recommended by the giraffe and me. It won't cure the cold, but it will make it easier for you and whomever you live with to bear the cold. I like the smell as well, it is all menthol and fresh smelling. Some
people may call me weird for liking the smell, but I do.

Oh and as you will have gathered it is not just for kids, as claimed in the categorisation.

Some good news, Geoffrey has found a girlfriend, she is called Rossie, she is not a giraffe, but they like each other! At least I will not have to do the rubbing of the calves now!

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