According to the internet tea tree oil can be used as a hand sanitizer, natural deodorant, bug repellent, all purpose cleaner and skin cleanser. So when I saw a face wash with tea tree oil, I bought it. I was excited to get home and try my new purchase. Sure enough, the smell was lovely. As I rinsed off my face under the shower nozzle I started feeling a stinging in my eyes. I continued to rinse but there was no denying it, my eyes were ON FIRE. Sure that I was going blind, I did as I learned in my high school chemistry class, I flushed my eyes in the water until the pain slowly subsided. Huh, that was strange. 

The next day I repeated the exact event as described above. The beautiful scent of tea tree oil. The piercing pain of eyes burning out of my skull. Huh, that was strange, again. Maybe I was washing my face wrong. So I tried new methods of face cleansing but the facts remained, my eyes were dying a slow death. Naturally you are thinking I must have done one of two things at this juncture: 1. Throw the facewash out. 2. Return the lava in a bottle for a refund. Today I finished that bottle of fire waterl. I still have my vision which is a miracle. Especially since I finally picked up the bottle today and thought maybe I should read the instructions. It says two times, once in BOLD, “KEEP OUT OF EYES”. Well of course, I was doing that. But what I wasn’t doing is changing my behavior. 

Day after day I returned to the fiery inferno and continued to wash my face hoping for different results. Each time I left with a little less eye function. So why did I continue the madness? Because I”m cheap? Yes. Because I liked the smell? Yes. But mostly because I was determined to prove I could wash my face without my eyeballs melting. 

I was the problem. I was the element to the equation that was refusing to acknowledge, I needed to change my behavior. If I don’t want my eyes to hurt, then don’t use the facewash. Seems simple but the truth is, we are more willing to accept others' need to change before we are willing to see the need for change in ourselves. When you are in a situation that you know needs to change but nothing is changing it might be time to recognize you are the one that needs to take action.