Essential oils aren’t technically essential. They’re highly concentrated pressed essences of flowers, seeds, barks, and other botanicals with incredibly strong scents. But unlike fragrances, which are artificial and toxic, these pure plant essences bring numerous healthy benefits. And once you realize the benefits they can have on your cleaning, beauty, and health routines, they will seem rather “essential.”
Popular essential oils include lavender (flower), lemon (fruit), and frankincense (tree bark), but there are hundreds of potent plant extracts with hosts of benefits. Here are just a few uses:
1. Add lemon, lavender or mint to your (homemade) cleaning sprays for disinfecting power and fresh scent.
2. Add a few drops to laundry before putting it in the dryer for a clean scent.
3. Or, douse an old wool sock in about 15 drops of your favorite scent, roll it into a ball and drop into the dryer instead of a dryer sheet.
4. When you change your bed sheets, spray a few spritzes of essential oil over the bed for a nice clean scent. (Lavender has been show to possibly help with insomnia.)
5. Add a few drops of lavender and eucalyptus to a pot of hot water for a facial steam.
6. Add a few drops to your bath.
7. Plug your shower and add a few eucalyptus drops to the tub while you shower for a nasal steam.
8. Turn any unscented lotion or body wash into a fragrance of your choice.
9. Keep peppermint essential oil on hand to use with your hand sanitizer.
10. Clove oil on your dental floss may aid with healthy gums.
11. Dabbing tea tree oil onto pimples may help with drying and antibacterial benefits.
12. Make your own soaps with essential oil scents.
13. Make your own scented candles.
14. Use instead of perfume.
15. Make deodorant with essential oil scents.
16. Dabbing a teeny tiny drop of peppermint on your temples may help with headache relief.
17. Make a scented eye mask with raw buckwheat groats and lavender oil.
18. Whip up a refreshing facial toner spray with water and your favorite essential oil scents.
19. Make a salt or sugar skin scrub with salt, jojoba or almond oil, and a few drops of essential oils.
20. Deter insects and rodents with cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil.
21. Make a flavorful lip balm.
22. Make your own bug repellent.
23. Add essential oils to your sunscreen for a natural and clean scent.
24. Make a lemony wood furniture polish by adding a few drops of lemon essential oil to a 2:1 olive oil/vinegar blend.
25. Simply open up the bottles and smell your favorite essential oils for an invigorating or calming scent.
This article was originally published on www.NaturallySavvy.com
