Clarification & Instructions ...Re: Cayenne in Christopher/Schulze Eyebright...Re: where to buy this eyewash tonic???
With the tincture you do two things:
1) You take the tincture internally...2 droppersful of tincture with every eye-wash is a good guideline. (I'd do more, but I have gallons of it). You can squirt the tincture directly into your mouth, or you can mix it with a bit of water or juice...whatever works for ya.
2) You make an eye-WASH out of the tincture, and do an eye-wash that 3-6 times daily. Do NOT put the tincture directly into your eye...it MUST be diluted.
Here's how I make my eye-wash:
I take the glass eye-cup and run it under very hot water to warm it up - then I fill it with distilled water. The warmth of the eye-cup then warms the distilled water nicely (so I'm not doing an eye-wash with cold water). Then add 1-10 DROPS (not droppersful) of the tincture to the distilled water in the eye-cup. (I swish it around with a toothpick or the end of a spoon to make sure it's mixed thoroughly)
I pick up the eye-cup and lean my head over it. Then I pull down my lower eyelid with my finger and place the lower edge of the eyecup on the eyelid to hold the lower lid open. When my head head still leaning over, I pull my upper eyelid 'open' and place the top lip of the eyecup on it (no solution is in contact with my eye yet). Putting the lips of the eyecup solidly in place ensures that the cup will keep your eye open when the solution comes into contact with your eye (and your natural instinct is to quickly close your eyes).
Then, (while holding the cup in place), tilt your head back, allowing the solution to flood your open eye. The goal? To move your eye in a complete circle (both directions) 5 times (for a total of 10 complete circles). The sting/burn of the cayenne in the solution prevents most 'newbies' from being able to make more than 1-2 circles...but you WILL still get benefits from doing only a few circles.
If you do 3-6 eyewashes daily, you will quickly build-up a tolerance...by day three, you will notice that the burn/sting seems substantially 'less' and much easier to tolerate.
The first time you do this? You may hear screams/groans coming out of your mouth, and your eyes may be screaming at you: "WHAT?!! ARE YOU SOME KIND OF A IDIOT!!?? DON'T YOU KNOW, THERE'S ***CAYENNE*** IN THAT?!!!". And you may start doing a "Cayenne Dance" lol
For a few seconds after you remove the cup, you will likely be squeezing your eye closed tightly, and the burn/sting will start to dissipate. Then (healing joy of joys), when you open your eye and the air hits it? It will sting/burn again.
After you've wiped your eye/s and blown your nose, then repeat the process on the other eye.
I'd worn contact lenses for years, so I had no problem at all 'putting things in my eyes' or holding my lids open to do so...but Rocky53 (my hubby) had an EXTREME phobia/issue about his eyes. He could not even force himself to put any kind of eyedrops in his eyes. So he first practiced placing the eyecup correctly, without ANY solution in it. Then he practiced with warmed distilled water (it took only a few practice-runs to get it right)... then he added the Eyebright tincture.
Personally, I see a difference in brightness/clarity of vision after doing it only one time (slight, but measurable); it takes Rocky a day or two to notice the difference...but for some, it may take longer.
Up the amount of drops you put in the eyewash as your tolerance increases. You will likely never get to a point where it doesn't burn/sting at all, but you should try to work up to 2-3 drops within a week or two. Since ours is definitely hotter & stronger than Schulzes (mainly because ours has been tincturing for MONTHS compared to the 2 weeks he tinctures his commercial tinctures), you may be able to get the same results with 2-3 drops of ours compared to using 5 - 10 drops of his.
Healthiest of blessings,
Unyquity