A few minutes before walking into the Rogue Valley Mall, Shirley Mignerey felt like her head was going to explode.

But after inhaling 10 minutes of oxygen infused with essences of eucalyptus, menthol and orange blossom, the throbbing in her head had eased.

"Can I take one home with me, please?" Mignerey asked.

Joining the likes of Los Angeles night clubs and East Coast day spas, Medford’s oxygen bar has arrived just in time to serve cold and flu sufferers and stressed-out holiday shoppers, said owner Gerald Boykin.

"We get a lot of people coming in with allergies and head colds," Boykin said, adding that he recommends eucalyptus to clear the sinuses.

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"They’ve come back and told us that they could breathe all day."

After bringing HydraRelax water massages to the mall two years ago, Boykin and his wife Tracy added the oxygen bar in October, anticipating an appeal among the mall’s teenage crowd, he said. Yet the Boykins have found about half of the approximately 400 customers, so far, to huff their designer air have been over 25, he said. "I do it every morning; it’s my coffee."

Patrons who visit the store on the mall’s lower level fill their lungs with oxygen — between 92 and 97 percent pure from the bottled source — containing up to five distinct aromas designed to energize and relax, Boykin said. Normal air has about 21 percent oxygen (the rest is mostly nitrogen and carbon dioxide).

Every customer gets a new oxygen tube (cannula) that fits inside the nostrils and loops around the ears. A five-minute session costs $6 — $5 for repeat customers who bring their own tube. Fifteen dollars will buy the 20-minute "oxygen experience."

"They call it a natural high, a runners’ high," Boykin said, adding that the scented oxygen creates a feeling of light-headedness in some users.

Billing the oxygen bar as both a healthy alternative to drinking and therapy for hangovers, Boykin plans to set up the apparatus at Medford’s Osprey Brew Pub on New Year’s Eve. The trendy treatment was well received at a similar event over Halloween, Boykin said.

The science is far from bedrock on the effects of breathing concentrated oxygen. Some scientists claim it has no effect at all or a placebo effect, while other researchers say pure oxygen’s free radicals are dangerous in long-term exposure.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, whose scientists say oxygen bars’ health claims are bogus, treats bottled oxygen like a prescription drug, but enforcement of oxygen dispensing regulations is left up to individual states. The FDA does investigate serious claims of health benefit, however.

While still touting a massage as the best way to beat holiday stress, Boykin said he plans to add soothing lavender and vanilla essences to the oxygen experience this week. Cherry, pear, cinnamon, tangerine, passion fruit and banana-coconut scents also are available. After the first of the year, the Boykins hope to add pure, nitrogen-free air to their oxygen menu.

"I think it adds something to the Rogue Valley," Boykin said. "To let them know we’re not a small town anymore."

More scientific research on oxygen bars is available by searching the Internet, and you can read a feature article from the FDA at www.fda.gov/fdac/602_toc.html.

Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail slemon@mailtribune.com