Unless you’re majoring in chemistry, odds are you can’t make much sense of the ingredients on the label of that nasal decongestant sitting in your medicine cabinet. Perhaps it’s even expired. And after the fact, you’re groggy and drugged-up. Enter: the Neti Pot. Yes, it’s actually a pot. And the only ingredients are salt and water.Here’s how it works: you open the box to find what looks like the Genie’s oil lamp from Aladdin. Along with it, there’s a little plastic spoon and a few dozen packets of salt. Rip open a packet of the salt, pour it into the Neti Pot, and fill up the pot with lukewarm water. Then stir with the spoon to dissolve the solution. Once you’re ready, place the spout of the Neti Pot into one nostril, and tilt your head to the side. The salt water flows through the nostril and out the other, cleaning the sinuses. If it’s cold or allergy season, expect some unsightly mucus to come along with it.
At first, it feels a bit like jumping into a pool without remembering to plug your nose, but the process quickly becomes a relaxing and cleansing one. A few months ago, a pharmacist might have looked at you funny when you asked for a Neti Pot, but today you can find one at CVS for around $10. Use liberally this season, because who wants to be that serial nose-blower in your 100-person lecture?
