The other night I went to bed twice. The first time, I was breathing clear. The second time, I was completely congested. Upon reflection, I realized the only difference: using a commercial (though “natural”) aloe vera gel product on my face. In the morning, I put a little bit more on my face, around my nose, and got congested again. I have enough doubt to want to test it again.
The aloe vera bottle lists many ingredients. I’m not sure how to find out which is causing my reaction. It could be the aloe vera, I suppose. It could be any number of natural ingredients, such as fragrance oils or glycerin. It also could be one of the synthetic ingredients.
I looked up the ingredients here: Personal Care Ingredient Guide. That is a neat resource because it lists all the possible natural and synthetic ingredients according to function. To search for an ingredient: Type Ctrl-F (Command-F on Mac), then type an ingredient into the search form at the bottom of the browser, and the browser will highlight any matching terms on the page. I’m using Firefox. I believe this works in Safari, too.
My particular product contains synthetic ingredients in these categories: stabilizer, emulsifier, colorant, and preservative. Shocking! Here I thought most, if not all, this product was natural. I’m no closer to finding out what caused my reaction, but at least now I know I’ll probably not buy this product again.
Wouldn’t it be horrible to find out that I am allergic to aloe vera itself? I read on one website that if you’re allergic to onions, garlic or tulips, you might be allergic to aloe vera. I don’t *think* I’m allergic to those. In general though, especially in the spring, I feel allergic to everything living.
And here we are coming up on spring. By next month, I am going to be miserable until June, with all the pollen in the air. Oh, yay. Through the winter, we’ve also had goat hair all over the place, which keeps my nose tickling constantly. Thank goodness we don’t have any cats.
And I’m only going to complain about one more thing (about the spring). The carpenter ants are on the hunt. Ewww… all over the kitchen and laundry room floor. Any suggestions, anyone? I just keep smashing them with my (socked) foot and then sweeping.
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I have carpenter ant challenges too. Our house had them in the walls when I moved it to the site. They did quite a bit of damage to the stud walls, and you could see the crumbly sawdust coming out around the foundation- the product of their activity.
I think we successfully destroyed the colonies in the walls, but they do seem to go scouting in the spring for new nest locations. I have read that they make “satellite” colonies when one gets too big. I get the same thing– all of a sudden, they’re everywhere! At least for a few weeks.
I read that they seek out sugar-ey foods, so certainly curtail anything available that would encourage them to “move in.” And, wet wood also attracts them, so definitely make sure there is no wet firewood, logs, or scrap wood near the house that would encourage them to set up shop close by.
Other than that: here is my theory. Since we know ant colonies are “intelligent” via swarm theory, I figure if I squish all the ones I see, but leave them lying around (if you can stand it in the house!), that the later-coming scouts are going to observe the demise of the earlier scouts, and move along to find better housing opportunities elsewhere. When the new scout arrival seems to have diminished, then I vacuum up the dead!
They sure are worrisome- I always fear that they’re back in the walls chewing up studs and we won’t know it! Good luck in your battle!
Michelle
Michelle,
Thank you for all the suggestions! Guess I better stop sweeping up the remains on the chance that they’ll get the message and fear more death. Jeff told me that he heard that carpenter ants don’t actually eat the wood but that they’re looking for what’s in the wood: other insects, etc. We haven’t confirmed this.
They don’t seem to like sweets terribly much, but I have noticed that there will be a couple attracted to the agave jar, so I usually relocate that.
Love, Wardeh
I drizzle dish soap along where they might get it. Maybe water it down a little so it’s wet. That seems to almost instantly kill them.
They also have small traps that you can set out that attract them. The ones that I got had no odor (to me anyway.)
Good luck!
I am sorry about your reaction to the Aloe Vera. I bet is on the perservative. My son can’t have anything or very little of something with perservatives in it. Makes him sick.
We also have Carpenter Ants. Sir Husband vacuums them up with the shop vac. We just found a nest behine the children’s toilet. ewwwww…..
Wardeh,
I have not had carpenter ants but have used some of the following for fire ants.
~put out grits….the ants take it back to the nest, they eat it, the grits swell and it kills them
~diatamaceous earth (make sure it is the food grade kind)
~cayenne pepper lines-they don’t like to cross it.
~chalk lines-they don’t like to cross it.
Hi Wardeh, I am sorry to hear about your reaction to the facial product! I have a very sensitive system that tends to react to most extras =)
The ant attack had me laughing – mostly because I can relate to the frustration and so enjoyed reading everyones thoughts. Last month I was getting concerned about how much mental time I was devoting to the demise of ants =) Here are a few more ideas:
- Tea Tree Oil. I found that a drop of this shrivels them up instantly. Although this can be expensive. I mixed up a tea tree oil solution in a spray bottle to shoot ‘em with.
- Windex. A friend of mine found that Windex wipes them out instantly. (The smell is not so great).
-Cinnamon. They will not cross the line here either. Although, I find that once the cinnamon mixes with water it make a mess that sometimes stains – so this would be great for areas you aren’t concerned with the mess or stain.
I am still laughing about the post of leaving the dead ants out as a message to the new scouts – I had a similar thought. I don’t know if it really had that impact on the ants but I think I felt like my message was getting across =)
Sometimes we just have to laugh and then pray for God to resolve it. You are in my prayers.
I send you smiles and blessings!
Cammie Grace
I think Jeff is right- that rings a bell, that they are not wood eaters, but rather have other reasons for getting in your walls- nesting or eating other stuff that’s in there. In our walls, they had done some interesting “work” on the studs-sort of chewed every other growth ring of the lumber, so that the studs just looked like like baffles. It would have been beautiful if I could ignore the destruction! But they left all the sawdust below, so that didn’t seem to be what they were after.
Michelle
Wardeh:
I have enjoyed reading your site for some time. It is because of you that I am able to bake bread for my family efficiently with the Bosch mixer that you talked about a while back. Thanks for that.
Carpenter Ants:
Do not take the presence of carpenter ants in your house lightly. They do terrible damage. In the past, I have used Maxforce Carpenter Ant Bait Gel. It is not natural, but you only have to use a very small amount. I used to get it in Portland at a commercial pest supply dealer, but they stopped selling directly to the public. I have seen it online as well. The ants LOVE it.
I don’t like using toxic stuff, but for poison oak, yellowjackets, and carpenter ants, I make an exception.
The key to effective use is to find an ant inside the house, follow it around to see where it is entering the house and put about a 1/4″ dab of the bait where they appear to be going in and out. You have to watch the area to see if they are eating it and reapply as necessary. It may also take a few tries to figure out where they are coming in.
It is also important to check around the perimeter of the house to see if you can see where there might be other entrance points. Also, don’t forget that overhanging vegetation can be used by the ants as a bridge onto the roof and into the house. If the ants are colonizing in your house (and not just being carried in on something else) it means that there is most likely some damp wood from a leak somewhere and you should check that out as well. Maybe do the dreaded (for me anyway) crawlspace shimmy to see what the structure looks like under the house.
Jeff is correct, carpenter ants do not use wood for food like termites do, but they know how to tunnel through the stuff like mad. My wife and I bought a fixer house in West Linn, OR that had carpenter ants and termites and they created some “fun” projects for me. Good Times!
-Todd
I am allergic to Aloe, but only when using skin products. It burns and leaves me with itchy hives all over and when used on my hands I get blisters. I’ve been itching with hives for 2 weeks now and finally figured it out. I bought new shampoo and conditioner. Didn’t read the label because normally its written on the front label if there is Aloe in it. I’ve known for over 15 years that I am allergic to Aloe and no one believes that. I’ve never really thought anything about it, but after itching so bad for the last 2 weeks I was searching the internet and never realized that I should be telling my doctor I’m allergic to Aloe.
Heather, are you allergic to onions, garlic and/or tulips, too? I am curious what your doctor will tell you. As for me, I have not gone to bed congested once since I stopped using the aloe product, though I really don’t know what caused my reaction. I suppose I could test straight aloe vera from the plant as a comparison. Best wishes to you! Love, Wardeh
Hi Wardeh,
SueEllen has a good list, D-earth is good especially in animal food or other feed. They will stay out! Most of the time they will find another way around what you put down eventually. {ant speaking: So the dog foods out lets see what’s up on the counter} Same goes for chalk….. You can’t put it every where.
Instead of grits I’ve used corn meal in my garden, works the same way as grits, but I wasn’t happy with the results – new batches of ants keep coming. you see, if the ants are trying to ‘start new colonies’ or ‘establish aphids on your plants’ or some other agenda besides finding food then many solutions won’t work as they have to eat them to have affect.
White vinegar will kill them and mess up their chemical trail (all ways fun) plus repels them. So a spray bottle of vinegar for spraying the floor morning and night will keep them away for a few days. Yes, this method is a deterrent and not a complete solution either, you’ll have to keep applying it until the season is over.
Here’s some I haven’t tried:
Dust the ant-infested areas with Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. The ants eventually disappear because baking soda is poisonous to them.
Peppermint Soap Mix one tablespoon Peppermint Soap with two cups water in a 16-ounce trigger-spray bottle, and spray on plants to both kill and repel ants. The biodegradable soap kills ants on contact, and the peppermint drives away future ants.
Jeff is correct, they don’t eat the wood they tunnel to build housing/nests out of your housing – Ewwwwww
There are people who are not satisfied of the result in using aloe vera since their skin are very sensitive which causes on reactions and leads to irritation. Some aloe Vera extracts are formulated with chemical substances that can help the skin against reactions and damage.