A Beginner’s Guide on Essential Oils and How to Use Them Effectively
Essential oils are all the rage nowadays, but few people truly understand their power and how to use them effectively in their routines. It’s not just a case of slapping them on your face and rubbing them in and there are many effective ways to utilize them. If you’re seeking advice, have absolutely no clue about essential oils or just want some tips on how to use them, then you’ve come to the right place!
What Exactly is an “Essential” Oil?
Let’s start by explaining what an essential oil is. It is highly concentrated and volatile plant extract that is obtained with a variety of different methods. This might include purifying it via heating (also known as steam distillation) or even by cold pressing the plant’s flesh, seeds and skins to produce the oil.
Some of the most popular essential oils include tea tree oil and lavender, but there are actually over 300 essential oils available for sale in stores and online. Because they all derive from different types of plants, they all offer uniquely different benefits to take advantage of.
Ways to Use Essential Oils
Essential oils are versatile enough that they can be used in a variety of different ways to extract their benefits. Some can be applied to the skin, others can be inhaled with the use of a diffuser and some are great as part of homemade cleaning products.
In fact, the way you use the essential oils will often depend on the types of benefits you expect from them. For instance, skincare-based essential oils are often applied directly to the skin, but some can cause horrible reactions and some are far too concentrated to be applied directly onto the skin. As a result, they can be used in baths, as part of scrubs or even added to creams.
Another way to utilize essential oils is by inhaling them. Simply opening the bottle and getting a whiff of the smell is enough to get the benefits of the essential oil. However, it’s still recommended that you use a diffuser or place the oils around the home, especially if they’re quite strong or if you want the effect to last a long time.
Some essential oils are phototoxic, meaning that they should not be exposed to sunlight when applied to the skin. It can cause very nasty reactions on skin regardless of if you’re sensitive or not. This is why it’s important to test essential oils on smaller patches of skin to see if they cause any irritation, and to always dilute the essential oils especially if you’re applying it directly to the skin.
The way an essential oil is extracted can also affect if it will cause a phototoxic reaction or not. For instance, when some essential oils are extracted via cold pressing, they can become phototoxic whereas they won’t if it’s extracted via steam distillation.
How much should you Dilute an Essential Oil?
People often assume that diluting an essential oil will destroy some of the benefits, but this isn’t necessarily true. Some vegetable oils are capable of enhancing the effect of essential oil, so there’s no reason not to do it especially if your safety is a concern. Some oils are safe to apply directly to the skin, but others will require careful dilution not to have an adverse effect on your skin.
Dilution is important for using essential oils safely. When applied directly to the skin, diluting the essential oil means less risk of a skin reaction. In most cases, you’ll be diluting it with a carrier oil such as coconut or argan oil. It’s also recommended that you test the diluted essential oil on a small patch of skin to see if it causes any irritation. If it does, then you can dilute it further with more of the carrier oil.
Types of Essential Oil to Use
Here are a couple of essential oil examples and what they can be used for.
- Fighting off stress and anxiety – Try a mix of lavender, cedarwood, lemon, bergamot, valerian and orange for a stress-fighting concoction that is safe to be diffused and inhaled.
- For cleaning purposes – Cinnamon, pine and lemon are great for cleaning purposes. Add these to a bottle of homemade cleaner and they’ll smell great and help you fight grime and dirt. In addition, grapefruit essential oil can be mixed with water and added to a spray bottle to create a quick and easy air freshener.
- Taking care of your skin – For skin, we’d recommend lavender, rose, rosehip and frankincense. Tea tree is another popular essential oil and you’ll typically find face wipes with this oil on them. Carrot seed, ylang-ylang and patchouli can also be used to make your skin more vibrant and smooth.
- Fighting off sickness – Essential oils like grapefruit and lemon are great for boosting your immune system. Lavender, tea tree and eucalyptus are also good alternatives. Orange, another citrus essential oil, can also help and is fantastic when mixed with lemon.
Keep in mind that if you have sensitive skin, it’s important to be conscious of the essential oils that you’re using. For instance, geranium and chamomile are low in aldehydes and phenols, which are compounds that can irritate the skin. Before any long-term investment or use of essential oils, it’s crucial that you dilute and test them on smaller patches of skin around the body to see if they cause a reaction. If they do, then it’s worth trying out different types of essential oils for the same effect.
Since there are hundreds of essential oils, it’s difficult to recommend every single one and list its purpose. However, there’s plenty of experimentation that you can indulge in and there are huge lists of benefits for each essential oil.
