Headaches suck! These are my favorite natural headache remedies to do at home before reaching for the medicine. I’ve had headaches since I was a little girl and now my sons are starting to get them too. It’s important for me to have natural things to try so we don’t rely on pills. These are my favorite ways to find relief when a headache strikes!
I only share things I love and think you’ll like too. This post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase through one of these links, I am compensated. I was sent a pair of Aculief wearable acupressure clips to review.
If you can’t talk about throw up, you may want to skip down in this post a little bit. Throwing up (twice) was part of my migraine headache process as a child. Growing up, I got a few migraines a year and they were bad. When they came on, I needed to be in a quiet, dark room, with a cold washcloth on my forehead and just lay there.
It would take a few hours, but finally, I would throw up, lay back down for a little bit, throw up a second time and my headache would be gone and I could rejoin the world again. I remember on one doctor’s visit the doctor told my mom and I that I could take up to 12 Advil a day.
Even as a kid, I knew that sounded like a horrible way to treat them. And over the years, I’ve tried to find natural ways to relieve them.
Thankfully, I outgrew those types of headaches. But I still get severe headaches as an adult. I’ve tried tons of different headache remedies in my life. My headaches are a little bit different each time so I usually run down most of these on the list to see if one will work.
I really try to do this before turning to my prescription headache medicine. I’ve been able to find relief with these methods and wanted to share them with you in case you are a chronic headache sufferer as well.
5 Natural Headache Remedies
Figuring out what types of headaches you get and what will treat them is really difficult. Make sure you talk to your doctor so you know if there is a larger medical reason for your headaches. These aren’t natural headache cures (because I really don’t think that there are cures for headaches) but these things have worked for me so I want to share them in case they can help you too.
1.) Drink Hot Water with Lemon
One of the first things I always try to do when I have a headache is to drink hot water with lemon. This seems to be one of those healthy living things that people use for just about any ailment. I don’t know the science behind any of these methods I’m sharing. If you want more science, you better find another blog to read.
I do know that a lot of headaches (and there are so many different types of headaches!) stem from the body being dehydrated. So drinking any water is often said to help. Adding the juice from half a lemon is supposed to help the acid-alkaline balance in the body.
Whatever. All I know is that sometimes it works, especially if it is a “poop” headache. TMI? But seriously, it’s a thing, although maybe it has a different medical name.
2.) Use Essential Oils
Essential oils are not everybody’s cup of tea, I get that. And when I have headaches, certain smells make me want to vomit or are extra irritating. I can still clearly remember the heinous perfume a flight attendant was wearing on a return trip from New York City about 8 years ago.
We were stuck on the plane on the tarmac, I had a horrible headache and that b*tch kept walking by in her cloud of perfume. It took everything I had not to lose my cookies all over her.
Essential oils are great for masking offensive smells (peppermint and lavender are really great grounding scents that don’t typically make me feel worse than I already do).
I have a blend of peppermint, frankincense and lavender mixed with coconut oil in a roller ball bottle. I use this to apply the blend to my temples (do NOT get it too close to your eyes – OUCH!). 
My favorite thing to do when I have a headache is rubbing peppermint oil on my scalp and the back of my neck. I do this one a lot for my kids. This one is amazing for bedtime when you know you just need to fall asleep but are in pain.
This will make your skin very tingle-y which I think helps relieve the pain super well. Or at least take your mind off of it. Just be sure to wash your hands really well after you apply it.
I use a fair amount of oil and rub it on my scalp, using my fingertips. I start at my forehead, work around my hairline (again – make sure to not get too close to the eyes!) and then move to the back of my head and onto my neck under my ears and under my hair. It can make your hair look a tiny bit oily but it’s totally worth it if your head is pounding out of your skull.
Oils are known for promoting relaxation, alleviating tension and stimulating circulation, all which can help with headache relief. So this DIY headache relief technique makes so much sense. 
3.) Homeopathic Gel for Headache Relief
I recently found this homeopathic gel and had to try it. If I have a headache at night, I usually try to just go to sleep and skip taking medicine. But sometimes the pain is so intense that I have trouble falling asleep. I tried this gel the other night and it was AMAZING!
This is a similar effect to the peppermint oil but, like, times 10. It doesn’t really have a smell so this is strictly for the effect.
I don’t know what all the ingredients are and am not really sure how natural this is. All I know is that it tingled like crazy and made it easier to fall asleep.
I now keep this by the side of my bed in case I wake up in the middle of the night with a horrific headache. I found this by the ibuprofen and acetaminophen. I’m not saying I don’t take medicine, because I do. I’m just saying that I usually try to find natural headache relief first. 
4.) Acupressure
Sometimes, if I am caught away from home with a headache, there is not much I can do to find relief from the headache pain. One thing I learned years ago is a simple acupressure technique. The area on your hand can help to alleviate the pain associated with a headache.
I would usually stop what I was doing and apply pressure to this part of my hand for a while. And while it helped a little, it just wasn’t practical to keep me moving about with my day. 
When I learned about Aculief, I instantly asked for a sample.
This product was designed to apply consistent pressure to the pressure point associated with headache relief for you. You simply slip it on your hand and in a few minutes you are able to feel less pain.
While I didn’t see it take away my headaches completely, I certainly found myself with less severe pain. What I especially love is that I could keep working (even typing!) because my hands were free. These are small enough to keep with you in your purse and are great for wearing if you have a headache at bedtime. Since I usually get headaches when I travel, I kept these in my carry-on. I didn’t need to use them this time but I loved how easy it was to have them with me.
These don’t fit the kid’s hands very well but I am super into this awesome natural headache relief device.
Find out more about this remedy on Aculief.com.
5.) DIY Frozen Headache Bags
I’m not sure if you saw my post about these frozen headache bags. If you haven’t, go see the full DIY and make one for yourself. These are the sh*t when it comes to my headaches. These bags have weight to them so they really help by applying pressure to your head which seems to alleviate the pain from the inside.
I realize that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but trust me, these are amazing. Plus the cold feels awesome. These work really well for allergy or sinus headaches because the cold helps to shrink any inflammation in your nose and eye area. It’s really soothing. If I had to just pick one of these headache remedies for the rest of my life, these freezer bags would be it!
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I hope that one of these natural headache remedies will help alleviate your headache pain. As a kid, I always hated that the doctors would rather have you take medicine instead of figuring out what is causing the problem. I’m a big fan of western medicine but think we should always spend a little bit of time trying to figure out the root of the problem too. What natural headache remedies can you share with me?
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