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Does Oil Of Cloves Work For Mould Cleaning?

Uncategorized Feb 07, 2020
 

Cameron Jones:            Hello, and my name is Dr. Cameron Jones, and welcome to this week's live stream. I'm really excited, because, it is a Christmas show, and it's really Christmas for the next two weeks at our office. And today, I'm very excited to be talking about an essential oil, and how this particular essential oil is very beneficial for anyone who is dealing with mould. Let me see.

Cameron Jones:            I have a very special guest, Rachel from oilofcloves.com.au coming on. I interviewed her earlier this week, and she had a lot of really interesting information to tell me about, about how oil of cloves is very useful for mould situations, and she's got a lot of information about how we can use this. And I'm just going to switch to a little vaporizer, which we've set up in our office, and I'm going to ask Derek to switch this on, because being a Christmas show, I want to talk about how these oil of cloves can be used around the house, and we're using this in our office. It's got a beautiful smell, and I think that, that is really interesting. So I'm going to be telling you why this is interesting, and a whole lot of really interesting information about this. So I'm going to get on with it now.

Cameron Jones:            Basically, oil of cloves has... Most of you are probably familiar with cloves. You can go to the supermarket and purchase them, or to a spice store. You've probable had dishes with them, you might be aware of the fact that it's a very fragrant molecule, and it's got a particularly pungent smell. This is its chemical formula up on screen, and the active ingredient, which is considered the most potent component of the oil of cloves, is called Eugenol. And this is really important from a medical point of view, and we're going to be getting into that as well.

Cameron Jones:            But basically, in order to make the oil of cloves oil that can be either vaporized, or used as a liquid disinfectant, essentially it's Eugenol, which is used to actually have it's antibacterial and antifungal, anti-yeast properties. And it comes from a clove tree, and there is its molecular formula, and its molecular weight up on screen.

Cameron Jones:            Now, what essentially do these essential oils do? Well, they are historically used to mask unpleasant odors. As well, they're very useful to attract attention. Also, they add flavor and aroma to foods. And they're exploited and used in perfumes, and in cosmetics. And they are extensively used in biotechnology and in medicine, because Eugenol and the essential oil, and other components of the plant, show very strong larvicidal, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, fungicide, anti-tumor, and antibacterial activity. And this is all really important, and this is why we would want to be using these in our homes and offices.

Cameron Jones:            So how many essential oils are out there? Yes, we are focusing today on oil of cloves, but there are around about 17,500 different species of plants, which produce essential oils, many of which are beneficial to humankind, and more being discovered all the time. About 300 of these essential oils have been commercialized, and the way in which they're manufactured is that usually, parts of the plant, be it the buds or the flowering parts, or the reproductive components of the plant, or the leaves, or the stems, they are distilled in some way. And there are a couple of different types of distillation methods that can be used. Steam distillation, hydrodistillation, dry distillation, and even mechanical cold pressing can be used to extract the essential oil from these plants.

Cameron Jones:            Now, they have an aroma. Usually, they have some sort of alcohol side chain in their chemistry, and this makes them volatile. It also means that they leave very low residue on surfaces, and so they're particularly intriguing compounds. Furthermore, a lot of recent attention has looked at the use of exploitation of essential oils, because this issue of food security, and food spoilage, did you know that up to 30% of the annual food loss across the planet, is due to fungal spoilage and fungal decay. So water damage and mould in our homes is not the only problem caused by moulds, it affects a lot of our foods as well. And so, essential oils are certainly being actively investigated in the research literature, for how they can be used and exploited in food processing, food manufacturing, and furthermore, the delivery of the product into the store, and incorporated into packaging or delivered in some sort of gaseous format to reduce the incidence of mould spoilage to these foods.

Cameron Jones:            Now, again, I've got a whole host of references, which I am posting onto the show notes that are going to appear underneath this live stream. We're doing something a little bit different today, we are live streaming out to, obviously, Facebook where you're probably watching this, onto Periscope and Twitter, and we're also doing a live stream out to Instagram. So that is the cause for the delay today. But, I wanted to focus a little bit of attention on the antifungal properties, because oil of cloves is most connected, certainly in popular culture, and if you do a search on oil of cloves online, you're going to find that it is traditionally used in dentistry, because it has very strong analgesic properties.

Cameron Jones:            And in fact, one of the research papers that I've highlighted, focuses on the fact that, really, it's got some really, really strong uses for this to numb and delay the register of pain. And basically, people have looked at the opiod receptors in the brain, and found that oil of cloves actively works on that system in the body. So it's a very strong... It has some beneficial uses for dentistry and pain control. But, most of the people who are watching my live stream, are probably interested in the antifungal properties.

Cameron Jones:            And I have extracted some research data from a recent paper, that was talking about aspergillus niger, and I've got a picture of aspergillus niger in petri plate culture and also under the microscope up there. Aspergillus niger produces these characteristic spores, which easily become airborne, they're easy to inhale, and they are notorious for causing fungal ear infections, amongst other types of infections. And the graph on the right hand side, shows something called the minimum inhibitory concentration.

Cameron Jones:            So if you can imagine doing an experiment to try and work out the effect to the essential oil on the growth of the fungus, you want to retard to inhibit its growth. Hence, the X-axis is called the concentration of the amount of oil of cloves that was used, and the Y-axis talks about the inhibition in the growth rate. And you can see that beautiful blue curve on the graph, shows clove oil, and clove oil is out of all of those oils there, there's camphor, cinnamon, peppermint, citronella, anise, pepper and clove, you can see that cinnamon oil and clove oil are very, very capable of reducing the growth rate of this aspergillus niger. So this is something that I wanted to focus on.

Cameron Jones:            Now, again, most of today's show is going to be taken up with my interview with Rachel from oilofcloves.com.au. And so, I'm going to play you the interview now, and I'd like you to sit back and relax, and listen to this. She's got a lot to say about oil of cloves, how she got into the industry, where she sees the essential oil market going, and really, some behind the scenes information, which I can't possibly do or be aware of from the scientific platform that I have.

Cameron Jones:            So without further delay, we're going to move towards playing this interview. And whilst I do that, I will just put up the oil of cloves here. It's actually smelling in the office, absolutely beautiful, and so this is really a good thing. So we will start the interview now.

Cameron Jones:            Now, I've got Rachel on the line, and she's from oilofcloves.com.au. Welcome.

Rachel Shaw:                Hello, how are you?

Cameron Jones:            I'm really well. Thank you for agreeing to come on and be interviewed as my expert of the week. And I must say, I am absolutely really fascinated about what you do, and I've got lots and lots of questions, because I think this whole area of organic non-chemical based disinfectants is really of great value, and I want to hear all about oil of cloves.

Cameron Jones:            So firstly, could you tell me a little bit about what is oil of cloves?

Rachel Shaw:                All right. Well, thank you Cameron for showing an interest in what we do, and for having this discussion. The first thing is, I was first introduced to oil of cloves and mould back when I was studying natural medicine quite some time ago. I lived in Melbourne, so there was a new experience to me to discover one day, living in Northern New South Wales and studying, that my home that I was renting at the time, and all the furniture it, all the clothes in it, just had mould all over them. It just seemed to happen overnight. You could smell it, you could smell the mildew.

Rachel Shaw:                And yeah, wondering what was going on, I did a bit of research and discovered that oil of cloves was being used by a lot of people to effectively treat mould in their home, particularly people that weren't interested in using bleach to treat their mould, which is often the first thing that people think of.

Cameron Jones:            Sure.

Rachel Shaw:                So that's kind of where I came to oil of cloves. And I do find that oil of cloves is used for curing mould, it has a chemical constituent in it called Eugenol, and this is the part of the plant that's responsible for actually killing the mould. Bleach, which, as I mentioned, people would commonly reach for bleach, it can help with whitening a mould stain, but it won't kill the mould. So it's still there in your home, in your clothes, and it's not got the most pleasant smell either.

Cameron Jones:            And plus, people love an organic product.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah.

Cameron Jones:            And certainly, oil of cloves, if I go to the supermarket I can find clove buds, and I know that oil of cloves, or sort of clove buds have used historically to treat toothache. How do you get to the oil?

Rachel Shaw:                The oil is... So like all plant-based products, some plants are better suited to some environments than others, so the clove oil plant grows really well in Indonesia, and that's where we source our essential oil from. So they have big crops of it over there, kind of similar as Australian oil would be, like your eucalyptus or your tea tree, that's something that would be Australian. So the clove oil is an Indonesian plant.

Rachel Shaw:                And the oil is steam distilled from the plant, and then it's refined to create the product, which is the 100% pure essential oil.

Cameron Jones:            That's very, very interesting. And so, obviously you mentioned that oil of cloves is an alternative to some of the more common disinfectants out there, like sodium hypochlorite and that sort of thing, what else can it be used for apart from its strong connection with the mould community?

Rachel Shaw:                So it's sort of other uses, other than mould. As you mentioned, oil of cloves is traditionally used in dentistry for toothache, and I think a lot of the people would sort of be aware of that usage. It's not inside of my area of expertise, but I believe that you would apply the oil of cloves with a cotton bud to the tooth, and not straight on the gum. So that's, that's usage.

Rachel Shaw:                Oil of cloves is also used in aquaculture as a means to humanely anesthetize fish, and we have sold our oil of cloves to fishery departments and businesses for that purpose-

Cameron Jones:            Wow, that's very interesting.

Rachel Shaw:                ... as well. Even though it's not sort of our focus, it has been sold for that reason. And the other interesting thing about oil of cloves is that, it's also a natural pest repellent. Plant essential oils can act by modifying the behavior of certain types of pest species, rather than always killing them. And I have found that clove oil, on a bit of research I've been seeing, has very good use for killing, or deterring termites.

Cameron Jones:            Wow, that's very interesting. So it's not just mould-

Rachel Shaw:                And also-

Cameron Jones:            ... and bacteria?

Rachel Shaw:                No. And it's also repellent and toxic to cockroaches.

Cameron Jones:            Ha, so it's a good pesticide as well.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, it seems to be. And I think there's a wave of new research coming out about these sort of uses for oil of cloves.

Cameron Jones:            Very interesting. Now, I've got to ask you a question, how do you actually go about making or supplying your products? You mentioned that it grows natively to countries such as Indonesia, so how do you actually go about this? You've got lots of different products on your website, I'm interested in the different formulations that you've got.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah. So we have a 100% oil of cloves, which is coming directly from Indonesia, and from the farms where it's steam distilled there. And we have a small operation here in Melbourne where we package up the oil of cloves for use. So a lot of people just want the pure essential oil, they want the do-it-yourself option, so that's one of our main products. And we also make our own boutique cleaning products here in Melbourne. [inaudible 00:16:58] quite vulnerable, and they have more of a cleaning [inaudible 00:17:09] that can help with-

Cameron Jones:            Now, can you just talk into the-

Rachel Shaw:                [crosstalk 00:17:17].

Cameron Jones:            ... phone a little bit better, you just broke down a little bit there?

Rachel Shaw:                Sure. Yeah, do you want me to over any-

Cameron Jones:            No, that's good,-

Rachel Shaw:                ... of that?

Cameron Jones:            ... it's all perfect. It's all fine now.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah?

Cameron Jones:            We're back in business.

Rachel Shaw:                Sure?

Cameron Jones:            Yeah.

Rachel Shaw:                Wonderful.

Cameron Jones:            So you've got a range of boutique cleaning blends, and you've got the pure essential oils. And I guess I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but I'm interested in the use of essential oils in the vapor phase. Do you have any of your clients who are using it like that in nebulizers, or that sort of delivering vehicle?

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah. So mould spores, you can't always see mould, but you can smell it, and so mould spores can be in the air. And the oil of cloves, the 100% pure oil, can be put into a vaporizer-type system where it can help with cleaning the air in that way.

Cameron Jones:            And I presume disinfecting the air to some extent as well, and actually killing the mould. So even though you might not be getting rid of the mould spores and their allergen potential, at least you are reducing or limiting their reproduction, which has got to be a good thing.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, it's great for treating mould, it's great as a preventative as well, so this is something that you can have going in your home. It's quite a pleasant smell, and yeah, you can be using it in that way too, and people do use it in that way. They use it as the spray on surfaces, and in their vaporizer for the air.

Cameron Jones:            Interesting. Now, how do you... Are there any particular concentrations that are used? How do you mix oil of cloves if you want to use it for mould disinfection?

Rachel Shaw:                So the 100% oil, we recommend sort of a quarter teaspoon up to one teaspoon per liter of water in a spray bottle, sprayed on lightly. Being oil in water, it won't disperse well, so it just needs a really good shake with each use, but that is sufficient to get that solution to cover your surfaces. The cleaning products, our boutique cleaning products that we have, are already premixed. They have additional cleaning agents, and they have emulsifiers to help disburse that oil.

Cameron Jones:            That's a very good idea.

Rachel Shaw:                We have two different options for people really, depending on their needs.

Cameron Jones:            All right, interesting Rachel. Now, can you clean your kitchen benches, for example, with oil of cloves?

Rachel Shaw:                Absolutely. Kitchens, bathrooms, one of the main areas in the home where mould grows and clothes treatments. It's again, just a matter of diluting the product per instructions, they're on the label and they're on the website as well if people need to look that up, diluting it in water. We do just caution that people don't use the oil of cloves neat on any surface, so more is not better, and 100% oil without diluting it, it can damage surfaces. It's very strong, it's very potent, so absolutely fine though when used appropriately put it into a spray bottle and used in that way.

Cameron Jones:            That's-

Rachel Shaw:                Absolutely no problem.

Cameron Jones:            ... very interesting. I'll tell you a little bit of a story. This morning I did two inspections on... well, actually four townhouses, I did two this morning, and the owner of these townhouses is particularly concerned because the tenants are complaining about condensation on the internal window glass, on pretty much all of the windows. Now, I would imagine that applying oil of cloves to the glass might leave a bit of an oily film maybe, but what's your view on that? And the second part though, that I see this all the time, is that often in these lightweight construction properties, there is quite a significant windowsill, so you tend to get build up of water condensate on that, and that tends to get quite mouldy. So I would imagine that spraying oil of cloves on the windowsill, the plaster or wood sill, might be perfect. What's your view on that?

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, look, it shouldn't leave an oily film, it's diluted down quite a bit, so that shouldn't be happening.

Cameron Jones:            Okay.

Rachel Shaw:                I mean, mould starts out as you can smell it, it's white and then it's pink, and then it begins to darken, and that's when a lot of people notice it. By the time you notice it, the mould's already been there for some time.

Cameron Jones:            Sure.

Rachel Shaw:                And if you leave on the surfaces, that's when it will start causing some staining, so it's best to get onto treating it as quickly as possible. A light spray with the diluted product, the solution as we've talked about, you can definitely put that on windows and windowsills, and just generally around the home. And it's better to get onto it sooner than later. I am aware as well, a lot of people, especially tenants are having issues with mould, so it can be tricky. But having a bottle of this in the house is a good idea, and it can also be used as a preventative.

Rachel Shaw:                So once you've treated the area and got on top of it, you can use it periodically just to stop the spores getting going again.

Cameron Jones:            Very, very good. You must have so many stories from your customers, where they've had success with your products, and where they've asked for advice. You've mentioned now, because my initial thought was maybe being an oil, just the term oil, I forgot that you said that it needs to be diluted, of course it does. But, what are some of the success stories that your customers and feedback, what have they said to you?

Rachel Shaw:                Look, people are really looking for that alternative to bleach, especially when they find out that the bleach isn't killing the mould, and it keeps returning. I did have one lovely customer, she had these beautiful, much loved, expensive Spanish antique leather dining chairs, and she lived in North New South Wales, and she said the chairs started developing mould straight away. And she had tried what she described as, absolutely everything including a very expensive professional cleaning treatments, and lots of sort of recommended products that she searched online, and nothing was working. She was actually going to throw out her chairs. And she ordered the oil of clove, the leather treatment, and in her experience it cleaned the mould, and it never returned.

Rachel Shaw:                And even throughout the next few seasons, the wet season, the dry season, it managed to keep her chairs in good condition. She was able to keep her chairs. So that's something we're really proud of, that we were able to help someone in that way.

Rachel Shaw:                There's other customers who buy sort of oil of cloves, the 100% oil and send it to their relatives, often Queensland, Northern New South Wales, where the conditions are more humid and prone to mould. But also people sending it to the South East Asian countries, where they have relatives, and people living in China, Singapore, places like that where they do get mould as well. So very interesting.

Cameron Jones:            Yeah, I guess so. It all comes down, you learn, don't you, over time about where and how people use, especially disinfectants, and where they're getting success stories. So that's all very, very interesting, and I'm glad that you've brought that up. I guess you've certainly mentioned that mould doesn't always have to be visible for it to be a problem. I certainly mentioned that I was interested in its use in the vapor-phase. There's been some wonderful research that has come out in the last decade, about the application of essential oils, cinnamon, and you mentioned eucalypt, and of course oil of cloves certainly sits up there at the top of the list with both scientific and anecdotal first person positive experiences with it.

Cameron Jones:            I am very interested in this concept of vaporizing it, and I don't mean using a hot oil burner necessarily, but there are different types of vaporizers out there that don't use water, because I think that those types of nebulizers that use water, probably shouldn't be, or should be discouraged especially if you've got a mould problem, because they introduce more water vapor into the atmosphere. But there's certainly nebulizers out there that don't use water as the way of dispersing this into the air. What are your thoughts on all of that?

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, I think the same kind of thing, like you would an oil burner that's probably... People have moved onto vaporizers and things like that now that you're talking about, and it's a similar kind of thing, it's three to four drops of the pure essential oil, or whatever the product that you've... the vaporizer product that you've got recommends, the amount of its drops of oil. And this can be used in that way to clean the air, and have like a fumigant effect on the air quality of the area where you're using that vaporizer.

Cameron Jones:            Good. Well, I love that. I've certainly done this myself at home, not with oil of cloves yet, so I'm certainly going to be a purchaser of your products over the holiday season, because I want to do this at home as well, because-

Rachel Shaw:                Sure.

Cameron Jones:            ... I've been limited to, I think it is eucalyptus oil, and limonene. So I want to try oil of cloves and see what happens. But look, I certainly-

Rachel Shaw:                [crosstalk 00:28:58].

Cameron Jones:            ... certainly saw, maybe about six months ago on Instagram, that were some ads, and I don't know if you've seen these ads, but they were a USB cigarette lighter type oil nebulizer for cars, and I immediately thought, what a fantastic idea with all the rides of Uber and Lift, and many different people getting into strangers cars. You never know what you're breathing in. And there's lots of research out there to say that the cabin, when you travel on an airplane for example, that you're breathing in all sorts of hazards, and microbiological hazards as well. What's your view on this, or have you seen this, or is this just something that was peculiar to my Instagram feed?

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, it's sounds very interesting. I haven't seen that ad specifically that you're talking. I believe that [inaudible 00:30:00] type of tool that you can use [inaudible 00:30:07] put drops [inaudible 00:30:09], you put the 100% oil of cloves in there. It does have a lovely scent as I mentioned. The oil will have that fumigant effect [inaudible 00:30:24], you've got that 100% [inaudible 00:30:27].

Cameron Jones:            Now, that's great. Now, you've just dropped out again, can you just speak into your phone a little bit better?

Rachel Shaw:                Hello.

Cameron Jones:            Yeah, you're back, you're back, that's great.

Rachel Shaw:                yeah, yeah.

Cameron Jones:            Okay, not sure what happens. These silly internet things.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah.

Cameron Jones:            Now, I've got most of that, so I would imagine that if it works in a nebulizer for the home, it probably works in the car. Now, look-

Rachel Shaw:                Absolutely, yeah.

Cameron Jones:            ... I've got a follow on question to this. So what innovations do see in the natural product cleaning category space? So what's your view on this?

Rachel Shaw:                Just a bit of a general view. I just see there is some environmental consciousness, there's a movement towards what I'd probably call green cleaning. So business is investing in new cleaning innovations with their technologies and tools. And I think there's a lot more research going into sort of biological cleaners and what they can do for you in the home, in terms of cleaning and having the antiseptic properties, and that kind of thing, that are being well [inaudible 00:31:52] I think essential oils, but maybe not thought of in the cleaning space. So I think it's all got some movement now, and so a lot of interest from a lot of different people.

Cameron Jones:            Yes, I totally agree with you. I guess... Is your clientele business to consumer, or B2B, are you focusing on the home cleaner, or real estate agents, and what about institutional care such as aged care, or disability services? How are you actually spreading the word about the benefits of oil of cloves?

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah. So a lot of the time people are just looking for that alternative. They have that mould issue and they may have already tried something else, and they'll do a Google [inaudible 00:32:52], and that's where we often pop up, and people go, "Right, this is what I'm looking for, this is what I need." And they do a bit more reading about it, look at the website and decide to go ahead. A lot of people also have been referred from friends or family that may have read a book about it. So people come in informed, and wanting those green cleaning options, I guess.

Rachel Shaw:                In terms of who the products are for, literally, it's anyone who needs them who has this mould problem. So we do sell to [inaudible 00:33:41]. Our bottles of oil of cloves is 100 mils, so it set up for a cleaning. It's a good amount to start with, you can get larger amounts, but it is a good cleaning solution amount. We have sold not only to individuals, we have sold to real estate agents, business [inaudible 00:34:10].

Cameron Jones:            Yeah, I-

Rachel Shaw:                ... farms, fisheries, you name it, whoever needs it. And we do sell sort of in larger quantities as well, if it's sort of getting to that sort of more business commercial use.

Cameron Jones:            Sure, okay. Now, I'm not sure if you can answer this, but is oil of cloves poisonous to dogs? And the second part of the question, is it safe to use if you're pregnant?

Rachel Shaw:                All right. So that's kind of... Oil of cloves as a 100% oil, is something that should be [inaudible 00:34:54] compared to children-

Cameron Jones:            Now, hang on, can you just repeat that? It's just the internet just broken down again.

Rachel Shaw:                Oh, okay, sure.

Cameron Jones:            Yeah.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah.

Cameron Jones:            So is oil of cloves poisonous-

Rachel Shaw:                [crosstalk 00:35:10].

Cameron Jones:            ... to dogs.

Rachel Shaw:                It's to do with the state it's in. So oil of cloves in it's 100% pure oil form is something that should be treated with respect and caution, and kept safely away from pets and children in the home, just like you would with any other cleaning product.

Cameron Jones:            Sure.

Rachel Shaw:                In it's diluted form, so in our cleaners and once you have, if you're going to do it yourself and you've diluted it down into a spray, the solution is very mild. It won't upset pets when used around the home. I have a cat, I doesn't affect her at all. And to my knowledge, spraying it in a diluted form around the home, should also be okay in pregnancy. It's more just the handling of the 100% pure oil, so perhaps someone else in the house could make up the solution, rather than the pregnant person, just to be totally safe.

Cameron Jones:            So common sense.

Rachel Shaw:                But it is very dilute. I think if you Google your concerns about oil of clove in pregnancy, a lot of it would be talking about actually taking the oil like a medicine, that would just-

Cameron Jones:            Internally.

Rachel Shaw:                ... [crosstalk 00:36:34] ailment internally. I'm not recommending that anyone does that either, I don't want to comment on that. But,-

Cameron Jones:            Sure.

Rachel Shaw:                ... that's really where there's health issues, and you wouldn't want to be applying it directly, or taking it directly in pregnancy at all.

Cameron Jones:            I totally understand-

Rachel Shaw:                But as a cleaning spray-

Cameron Jones:            ... your point.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah.

Cameron Jones:            Sure. Now-

Rachel Shaw:                Something to note.

Cameron Jones:            ... you mentioned right at the outset about how you got into this, I think that, that's a really important point. What do want people to know about your business, because all businesses have a lot of connection with the identity and the interests of the founders of it? So is there anything you'd like people to know about your business that makes it unique?

Rachel Shaw:                Look, we founded this business back in 2008, so we've been around for a long time. We've just based ourselves online, because Australia is a large place, and mould pops up seasonally. It pops up in different parts of the country, so we find that just having it available online is easily accessible.

Cameron Jones:            And how do we find you?

Rachel Shaw:                We are [inaudible 00:37:52] a range... Well, we have our website, which is our www.oilofcloves.com.au. We have a presence on Facebook and Instagram as well, where you can find some stories from other people who've tried the products. So we have the 100% pure oil, and we have the cleaning products as well. There's the kitchen and bathroom, walls, ceilings, the upholstery, the leather, the fabric. So specific for their intended use. We also stock some other essential oils, lavender, lemon, and tea tree, which are sort of nice for cleaning as well, and some peppermint oil which we have on board as a natural pesticide, especially for mice, and rats, and snakes like that.

Rachel Shaw:                I tend to find those things go well together.

Cameron Jones:            Yes.

Rachel Shaw:                There's something else on our website, we've put up a guide for people who are suffering mould, and it's got some really handy links about different areas of the home that we could be finding mould, and what to do about them. And some of those links are to the State Government websites, that give people not just to spray with mould, but some other sort of strategies, and tips, and tricks on how you can care for your home and really minimize the mould growing, and the mould regrowth.

Rachel Shaw:                For example, in the bathroom, I would often say, "Once you've had your shower, wipe it down with a towel. Get that moisture out of there, don't leave wet towels hanging in there." There's things like that, that you can do that will help as well. So there's a bit of a guide there online.

Cameron Jones:            Oh, well, I'm going to look at that. That's very good advice. And I'm very pleased to hear that you're looking at other essential oils as well, because when you were saying that, lights were going off in my head because I was just thinking of all the different research literature's that I've read, that are all focusing on minimum inhibitory concentrations for most of those essential oils. So I think that, that's just fantastic.

Cameron Jones:            So I guess your business is evolving as we have a look back at what these natural plant products can offer us, certainly as an antibacterial, anti-yeast, antifungal agents.

Cameron Jones:            With Christmas around the corner, you knew I'd ask you, do you have any specials on for Christmas, and anything you'd like to mention?

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, sure. Look, like I said, the best way to locate us is on our website, and we're always having some promotions going for newsletter subscribers about once every month. So that's one way of checking in and getting updates, and getting a bit of knowledge about promotions. And because of the interest that your customers might have, in our products I like to offer a special discount code of 10% off all our products online for your listeners today, which I'll give you that code. And I can send a link to you as well if you like. And it's-

Cameron Jones:            Yeah, that'll be good-

Rachel Shaw:                ... [crosstalk 00:41:51]-

Cameron Jones:            ... idea, I'll post that in the show notes to this as well-

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, sure.

Cameron Jones:            ... if that's the best way that they can implement that code. But they can look out for that.

Rachel Shaw:                Yeah, sure.

Cameron Jones:            Well, Rachel, that's been absolutely fascinating, I've learned a lot from this. Are there any last comments that you'd like to make about anything?

Rachel Shaw:                I think we've covered quite a lot. I think you can't go past mould is a health issue, and treating the mould, preventing it is going to be good for you, good for your family and your pets, and is something to take seriously I guess. That's sort of the take home message. But, thank you for having me on to discuss oil of cloves, and how it can help people with their mould problems.

Cameron Jones:            Well, Rachel, that's been-

Rachel Shaw:                Anyone who wants to know more about the products, can check us out on our website, that's got the most information on there. Yeah.

Cameron Jones:            Fantastic. Rachel, thank you very much for your time this afternoon, and I encourage everyone to go to oilofcloves.com.au, and look for themselves about the fabulous range of products that are on offer there. And thanks a lot for your time. Bye for now.

Rachel Shaw:                Oh, you're welcome. Thanks very much. Thank you, goodbye.

Cameron Jones:            Bye.

Cameron Jones:            Okay, well, back to the studio. That was a really fantastic interview with Rachel from oilofcloves.com.au. We've had the USB nebulizer working in the office now for maybe about 45 minutes. It smells fantastic in here. I should say, it's not overpowering in any way. We have just put a small amount into the vile that came with the nebulizer, I charged up this nebulizer this morning with my computer. We've had this running. There are a couple of different settings that most of these USB nebulizers have. I'm not sure whether or not this is an ideal nebulizer for oil of cloves, or for any essential oil for that matter, but it certainly makes it easy to use, and portable and take it around, and as I said, it smells really nice. It's not off-putting at all.

Cameron Jones:            And I think for Christmas, certainly, you should consider taking advantage of Rachel's 10% offer, and trying out oil of cloves yourself.

Cameron Jones:            Now, before I close, I just want to talk about some of the newer developments in essential oil research, because they show so much promise, that people are looking at taking advantage of these in different formulations, not just in the liquid or vapor-phase as we've been focusing on for most of this live stream. And a paper came out just recently in October, 2019, in the Journal Nanotechnology. And what they've done is that, they have put clove oil and formulated it into something called a nanoemulsion. And basically, this is to be used like ointment, and it is specific for candida-type infections.

Cameron Jones:            So candida-type infections cause massive health impacts, and loss of life worldwide. And so formulated this natural product oil of cloves into these innovative delivering mechanisms using the nanoemulsion, gets rid of a lot of the irritant effects which can occur if you were to use the pure essential oil.

Cameron Jones:            Now, in closing, I just want to focus again on the coupon code that Rachel has mentioned, and so you can see that up on your screen. Go to their website at oilofcloves.com.au. And really, at this point in time, I want to wish you a very good week. Next week we are continuing with our theme of Christmas, and next week I'm going to be talking about some other aspects of the festive season, and how this impacts on mould exposure.

Cameron Jones:            I hope you have a great week. Thanks for sticking with us for this live stream. You'll be able to re-watch this on YouTube, and on Instagram, and on Twitter. So again, thanks very much for tuning in to all our regular viewers, and to our new viewers. And if you've got any questions, feel free to post them in the comments below.

Cameron Jones:            Anyway, thanks very much, and bye for this week.

 

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