Do you Neti?

My first introduction to Neti was while spending a weekend at our cabin with friends a few years ago. In the morning, Brandon and Misty strolled into the kitchen with matching little teapot looking things and started pouring salt water up their noses. We were shocked and a little grossed out. I mean, we always knew they were a little weird...

Fast forward three years. My mom, who suffers from all sorts of sinus issues, started telling me I needed to do a regular sinus cleansing. Uh-uh. No way. I mean, it hurts so bad to get water up your nose at the pool, right? But this year, in the midst of the Christmas rush, I began to come down with a cold. I could not afford to get sick. We work seven days a week beginning after Thanksgiving and keep going until Christmas Eve.

"Sinus cleansing," Mom said on the phone. Fine. I went to the store and got an ugly plastic bottle that shoots water up my nose. So what happened? I didn't get sick and it didn't hurt. Maybe Misty and Brandon aren't weird, but geniuses! If I had listened three years ago, my winters may have been very different.


Fast forward to two days ago. In the Etsy forums there was a discussion on sinus cleansing. Someone said, "Why to Neti pots have to be so ugly? A good potter could fix this." I smelled a challenge and got started right away. So I made three prototype neti cleansing pots. Of course, I expect them to become even more beautiful after a glaze firing. For now, they look like awkward tea pots that are missing lids.

As for Neti, it originates as the Ayurvedic practice of Jala Neti - a ritual nasal cleansing. It uses a saline solution that closely matches the make up of your tears which is why it doesn't burn. There are many reputed benefits including a reduction of allergy problems, more effective tears, reducing cough and post nasal drip, and more.