I've been listening to the hubs complain about his hayfever for years, and whilst I have sympathy for him, he does go on a bit a lot. Perhaps I've now recieved karma for my low tolerance of his moaning, because this year, I've been hit with the worse seasonal allergies I've had in my life. The ocean helps, flushing out the sinuses, but if I can't get in the ocean, I've been pretty miserable. Earaches, sore throat, tired, sniffling, itchy eyes - and I've got to the point where I'm almost scared to go outside. This morning Jamie did the mowing and I tidied up the garden, chicken coop, pulled garlic, built a fence around the asparagus, pruned, weeded and so on - then sat in the shower inhaling steam and peppermint oil in a bid to calm things down a bit. I was totally rueing not supporting my immune system a little better before hayfever season started - regretting it so much I've even set an alarm in my phone for next year about two months before the season as a warning to make sure I'm in tip top shape. But that's no good to me now. All I can do is reduce the histamines I'm eating, look at eating natural antihistamines like pineapple, eat lots of vitamin c, and blow my nose again.

Then I remembered talk of a barrier cream. There's been studies done on using a barrier cream to 'trap' the amount of pollen that enters the nose, suggesting it does help. And it's pretty easy with simple ingredients. I followed this recipe and this one, making a bit of a combo of both because I had some calendula infused olive oil to hand. If you can't make the balm, try just straight coconut oil smeared under your nostrils and see if that helps. It's worth a shot - if you, like me, are suffering hayfever, you'll be reaching for anything that might work.

1 tablespoon beeswax pellets
1 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon calendula infused olive oil
4 drops steam distilled lemon essential oil
4 drops lavender essential oil
4 drops peppermint essential oil

Melt the oils together, cool slightly, add the essential oils and pop in a jar. Simple! Then all you need to do is smear some under your nostrils and eye sockets for some relief.