Quit Spending Your Paycheck On Claritin

neti%20pot.jpg Time to clear the air...in your nostrils. We're talking about nasal irrigation, of course, better known to the Seattlest household as "neti-potting." If you have wool, pet, or hair allergies, using a neti pot regularly to rinse out your schnoz can be a cheap, natural, effective way to ward off the perpetual sniffles. And if you've got a cold, like several Seattleites we know and love, dutiful neti-potting can be a great alternative to Dayquil or other "dry you up" medicine that inhibits your body's natural immune responses to the virus.

The general idea with the neti pot is that you pour saline solution up one nostril and let it drip out the other nostril into the sink (or what have you); the saline solution loosens up any gunk it finds in its path and gently flushes it out, so that you don't feel like your face is going to explode with all the pressure from snotty sinuses. You can do this anywhere from sporadically (whenever you feel like you need it) to once or twice a day for allergies, or if you're sick, you can flush out that sniffer every twenty minutes for an hour or two.

Where to buy neti pots in Seattle and a hilarious YouTube video about "White Trash Neti Pots" after the jump.

Photo of gorgeous neti pot by Flickr user Hamron. We have the same one! ZOMG!

Seattlest has seen ceramic neti pots for sale at Madison Market, PCCs of various locations, Whole Foods, and Rainbow Natural Remedies up here on the Hill; you can also purchase disposable squirty "neti pots" at pharmacies like Rite Aid and potentially even Walgreens. ("Get the one with the packets, not the one that has the solution already in the bottle," says Cameron Fuller, a local who has been experimenting with the disposable variety.) The ceramic ones run anywhere from $17 for a perfectly serviceable one to $30 for a really fancy pot created by Icelandic eunuchs out of unicorn horn clay, or you can get the disposable plastic kind for $10 - $12. You'll need some non-iodized salt, too.

We recommend you neti-pot in the privacy of your own home or behind a closed door, because it looks a little odd to the uninitiated. Actually, the whole idea is kind of hilarious, as this funny guy below has discovered.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Katelyn in Miscellaneous on August 15, 2008 12:30 PM

Comments [rss]

Katelyn

What I like so much about my ceramic neti pot, apart from functionality, is how beautiful it is. It's truly eco-friendly, hand-shaped, and a pleasure to look at; I'm fond of ceramic anyway, and if I'm going to be rinsing out my nostrils, I feel I might as well enjoy the sensory experience of holding the neti pot while I do it. Plus, it looks pretty on my shelf.

It took me a good three or four months of sporadic neti-potting using my housemate's neti pot (gross, in retrospect! eww sharing!) for me to get fully comfortable with the idea of investing in my own, but now I can't imagine not having it. I definitely recommend trying it out, whether or not you go plastic or ceramic.

redwoodtree

I still can't figure this nettipot thing out, but , there's a squirt style bottle , that's amazing. It comes with salt packets at just the right PH, and you squeeze into your nose after mixing it. The whole thing takes about 5 minutes, and well, it's totally saved me from some wicked allergies.

I recommend the squeeze bottle over this netti pot business. Granted the individual salt packets generate a small amount of non recyclable waste, which is unfortunate.

I'm all for vitamin c and acupuncture, but if that solved your allergies, you had something else going on. That's like taking an advil to fix a broken arm. But then again, who knows.... Maybe you can recommend your acupuncturist :-)

John Knee

I prefer vitamin C and acupuncture. The acupuncture helps get the junk out of my lungs. I used to have very bad allergies but no more!

I just don't like shoving anything into my nose or dropping stuff into my eyes.

caseydoran

As the standard OTC remedy, DayQuil is expensive AND contains pseudoephedrine, so I wouldn't recommend if you are on a DEA Meth-Lab Watch List or have any outstanding warrants.

Tom

Bowers, at some point I'm sure that swirling a brush, paste, and water in one's mouth, and then spitting it all out, was considered loopy and alternative. :)

Troy Morris

My friend got bloody noses regularly until he tried this.

I shiver everytime he brings it up.

bowers

We were talking about this recently over at Trusera. It still just seems a bit nutty to me (my mother's been doing it for a lil while now, and she generally gravitates toward that kind of loopy alternative treatment stuff), but if you want to stick Aladdin's lamp up your nose, more power to ya...

Katelyn

I totes stir with my finger, I concur that it's a little gross but I do wash my hands before. Yes to the distilled water, and to add to your addition, herbisara, I recommend using WARM water. Cold water hurts like the dickens, no matter how pure it is!

herbisara

I recommend using distilled water as well.

Kim Ruehl

now i must know how to unlock my root chakra using some mr. muscle and a can of WD-40!

best part of that video: he stirs the saline solution with his finger.