Natural healers often recommend using essential oils from herbs such as thyme, oregano, mint, and even lavender for nail fungus treatment. Lavender (from the scientific genus Lavandula) is not one of the commonest herbs mentioned in this regard, but it is a member of the mint family and scientific studies have shown that it does have some antifungal properties. Aromatic herbs, which must fend off the attacks of fungi and other organisms in nature, seem to produce potent substances that can be extracted or distilled from the plant to produce a concentrated antifungal substance.

Lavandula antifungal properties are perhaps the least well known of the herb’s many uses – esthetic, culinary, and medicinal. Lavender has long been used to create a sweet flowery scent in perfumes, bath water, linens, and closets. It is used to flavor teas, potato dishes and other foods. It is known to have a calming effect and has been used in many first aid remedies including medicines for headache, wound dressings, and insect bites, and as a treatment for chronic health problems such as rheumatism, psoriasis and parasitic infections, to name just a few. Lavender has antiparasitic, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, characteristics that explain why herbalists recommend lavender for nail fungus treatment.

The mechanism for lavandula antifungal activity is not well understood, but it may act in similar ways to essential oils from other herbs. Fungi that are actively growing spread by putting out long fine branching stalks called hyphae – most people have seen this type of growth on occasion when mold starts to grow on food items. It has been noted that essential herbal oils seem to eat away at the walls of hyphae, causing them to disintegrate and lose their inner contents. Interestingly, some studies show that a preparation that contains other essential oils as well as lavender for nail fungus may work better than single oils by themselves. For example, lavender oil appears to be synergistic with tea tree oil, meaning that the two mutually increase each other’s positive effects.

Fungal nail infections have always been notoriously hard to treat and modern medicine, despite many attempts to find effective antifungals, hasn’t been very successful at developing drugs that are both safe and effective. In this respect the potential of herbal oils such as lavandula antifungal extract provide considerable hope for people who don’t want to take a systemic drug which may cause unpleasant side effects. Many preparations from alternative medicine vendors today contain special blends of essential oils including lavender for nail fungus, and there is a growing collection of literature confirming that these remedies do work. If you’re looking for an alternative to an expensive prescription drug for a nail fungus infection, a natural remedy containing essential oils is worth a try.

Before starting self-treatment with lavender for nail fungus, or any other alternative or home remedy, have your nail infection confirmed by a medical professional: other nail conditions can look similar but will not respond to antifungal remedies.

Halitosis, or “bad breath” as it is more commonly known, is one of the downside of having a diet that is based on eating meat and dairy products, especially since these types of foods can create a stench that is rooted from the excreta or matter that has been putrefying in the colon, causing a person to have a very unpleasant odor manifest from his alimentary canal. This can become an embarrassing condition to have, especially if you interact with people almost everyday, causing some very awkward moments. Having bad breath can be very unpleasant at times, fortunately, this type of condition can be remedied through different treatments, one of which involves the use of herbal remedies.

Unknown to a lot of people, there are actually a lot of different herbal remedies that can help fight bad breath or halitosis, some of which have been passed down from one culture to another through folklore, or even through new discoveries today. These different herbal remedies can offer people who suffer from halitosis either a natural short term breath freshener or long term treatment for the condition. Either way, it can greatly improve the quality of odor that is coming out of your mouth.

Halitosis Herbal Remedies

One of the more popular types of herbal remedies for halitosis is the chlorophyll treatment, which actually serves as a natural breath freshener. Most of coniferous green vegetables contain chlorophyll, which means that most green vegetables or plants that you can eat can actually help prevent bad breath. This means that you may have to change your diet by including a lot of green vegetables into the mix if you want to avoid having a skunk breath. Parsley is one of the best ways to help freshen your breath, and it does so in little time only. The excretion that can be taken from this plant is also considered to be more potent as compared to just eating the plant.

Another plant that basically offers the same relief from bad breath is cilantro, which can also be juiced to get a more potent dose of breath freshener. Mint, which pretty much helps freshen your breath as well, leaves a minty fresh taste in your mouth after it leaves it smelling fresh. Again, this type of herbal remedy can be eaten, but its most potent effects can be achieved when it is juiced, giving you a minty fresh breath after you have consumed it, giving you an effective relief from halitosis. Other green vegetables that help you achieve this effect include spinach, alfalfa, wheat and barley grass.

Other herbs are used to clean the colon, which can help eradicate your bad breath, especially since the bad breath can emanate from the foods, such as meat and dairy products, that you have consumed which are being digested in your colon. Herbs such as aloe vera resin, senna leaves, cascara sagrada, trifala, rhubarb, and many others can help fight bad breath by evacuating the bowels, thereby cleansing the colon.

Aromatic herbal teas such as cinnamon, peppermint, ginger and cardamom can also help prevent halitosis since they can help in the entire digestion process, making it easier to digest food in the colon instead of just letting undigested food sit and rot there.