Recently Tea Tree Oil has gone from something I like to have around to the top item on my essential first aid kit. I'm not going to write a detailed usage guide here as such things exist all over the Internet. Wikipedia is a good place to start for a description and links to use. I have used it for toenail fungus (expect to have to use it regularly 2 or 3 times a day for quite a while) and most recently an ear infection. A person I know used it on a gunshot wound. All in all, it makes the the healing qualities of garlic seem tame. While I had never heard about it being used for an ear infection, it make sense to me. I went looking for confirmation and possible dilution information and found both. Unfortunately, dilution varied from "use it full strength" to "a couple of drops in a teaspoon of olive oil" to "a couple of drops in a quarter cup of water". With the only cautions being "don't take internally" (even though it was suggested for toothache) and "can cause skin irritation" I ended up with a few drops in a quarter teaspoon of olive oil. Heated the mixture, dipped cotton in it and stuck it in my ear. Three days later, the nastiest ear infection I have ever had is pretty much gone. No doctor trips and no nasty antibiotic pills and/or shots. Yup, a little bottle goes in my first aid kit.