Category Archives: Essential Oils

Banish Dandruff for Good with a Raw Honey Hair Mask

Dandruff can be a major bummer, especially when white flakes ruin the look of your favorite little black dress. Commercial dandruff shampoos do the trick, but they are often full of nasty smelling chemicals. Beat dandruff the natural way with a raw honey hair mask.

This recipe comes from Youbeauty expert Julie Ricevuto. As an all natural dandruff cure, the raw honey hair mask works because honey is naturally antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, as well as being a fabulous moisturizer.

To make your hair mask:

  1. Mix two tablespoons coconut or olive oil with 1 tablespoon honey.
  2. Heat in the microwave for a few seconds until warm enough to spread easily.
  3. Massage the mixture onto your scalp, then cover with a shower cap for 30 minutes to an hour.
  4. Rinse well.

Growing up, I was told that apple cider vinegar was the best cure for my dandruff. Although it did the trick, I have to admit the smell was terrible.

I love the scent of honey, so I think this is a much better solution! If you want, you could even customize your mask with a few drops of lavender essential oil. Lavender pairs well with honey as a fragrance and lavender essential oil is often used to soothe an itchy scalp.

[Photo credit: Esther Max via Flickr]

You Won’t Believe This Easy Trick for Earning FREE Essential Oils!

Thanks to Jade Bloom, even those of us on tight budgets can enjoy the benefits of essential oils. This unique oil company offers a great risk-free way to build your collection of oils. Jade Bloom University lets you watch instructional videos and take quizzes to earn points that you can redeem for the FREE essential oils of your choice.

Some of the topics covered include:

  • How oils are extracted
  • Is it safe to ingest essential oils?
  • Single oils vs. oil blends
  • How to make your own blends
  • Myths about essential oils
  • Carrier oils

Each lesson includes a video that’s about 5 minutes long and a 10 question quiz you need to receive a perfect score on to advance to the next lesson. (You can take the quiz an unlimited number of times, so there’s no need to worry about what happens if you get distracted in the middle.)

Jade Bloom University is divided into four sections: Associates, Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate. You receive your points after completing each of the four sections. If you complete everything, you’ll earn 8,000 points that can be redeemed for $32 in free product credit.

To sweeten the deal, your points can be combined with the site’s other special offers. Shipping is free on orders of $10 or more, so there’s no added expense in that area either.

In my last order, I was able to redeem $16.20 of points and use a coupon code good for a free bottle of Ignite intimacy blend. When all was said and done, I learned several new facts about essential oils and received three bottles of essential oil for just $0.70 out of pocket! (I’m saving the rest of my points for a future purchase or a great sale — I haven’t decided quite yet.)

Make Your Own Room Spray with Essential Oils

I don’t know about you, but I’m super sensitive to weird smells in my home. Pet odors, kid odors, and weird cooking smells drive me crazy. However, I’m not a big fan of burning candles and many commercial air sprays cause problems with my allergies.

So, as an alternative, I’ve started making my own air spray with essential oils. This is a super easy DIY project, even if you’re totally craft impaired.

All you need to do is combine 2 parts water and 1 part vodka into an empty spray bottle. You don’t want to simply add the oils to water because oil and water don’t mix. If you don’t have vodka on hand, you can also use witch hazel. However, this may give you a lighter scent that doesn’t linger quite as long.

To complete your room spray, add the essential oils of your choice and shake well. I’d suggest starting with a 3% dilution at 15 drops per ounce, but this is based on your personal preference. Essential oils are very strong, so start off conservatively and add more oil as needed until you’ve reached the desired fragrance level.

You can make your spray using a single essential oil if that’s all you have, but some budget friendly combinations to try include:

  • Peppermint and grapefruit
  • Lemon and peppermint
  • Lime, spearmint, and rosemary
  • Lavender and wild orange
  • Lavender and lemon

If you’re going to start experimenting with DIY room sprays, one thing I’d definitely suggest is to label all of your creations. It’s easy to keep track of them when you only have one or two bottles, but once you start making more than that you’ll find that you struggle to remember the recipe for your favorite concoctions.

[Photo credit: Suzie’s Farm via Flickr]

 

Banish Mosquitos for Good with DIY Bug Spray

Personally, I’m not a big fan of commercial bug sprays. They tend to be expensive, they’re often full of nasty chemicals, and most of them smell absolutely terrible. So, I’ve been experimenting with my own DIY bug spray using essential oils. Assuming you’re using oils you’ve already purchased for other projects, this is an economical and all natural way to deal with mosquitoes.

There are several different essential oils known for their ability to repel mosquitoes. You can use any combination of them to make your bug spray, depending upon your personal scent preferences.

  • Citronella
  • Clove
  • Lemongrass
  • Rosemary
  • Tea tree
  • Cajeput
  • Eucalyptus
  • Cedar
  • Catnip
  • Lavender
  • Mint

To make your own bug spray, fill a four ounce spray bottle 1/2 full of boiled or distilled water. Add witch hazel so the bottle is ¾ of the way full. Add ¼ teaspoon vegetable glycerin. Add 20-25 drops of the essential oils of your choice from the above list. My personal favorites are lavender, mint, and rosemary, but I’ve found that lemongrass works really well. Fill the rest of your bottle with witch hazel, add the spray cap, and shake well before using.

If you like the scent of vanilla, I’ve heard that you can mix in a little vanilla extract with your bug spray to boost its effectiveness and create a more perfume like spray. Apparently, mosquitoes don’t share our love of this popular fragrance.

[Photo credit: Tom via Flickr]

Aromatherapy and Pregnancy

Expectant mothers across the globe have found that essential oils are a natural yet effective way to treat some of the most common aches and pains associated with pregnancy. However, there are some oils that pregnant women should avoid.

Safe Oils to Use During Pregnancy

diffuserSome of the more popular uses of aromatherapy during pregnancy include:

  • Grapefruit helps with water retention.
  • Lavender promotes a calmer state of mind and helps sooth general aches and pains.
  • Lemon is useful for treating morning sickness.
  • Tangerine helps to prevent stretch marks.
  • Tea Tree oil can be used to treat thrush during pregnancy.
  • Neroli is helpful in relieving nervous tension and may be helpful if you are having trouble sleeping during your pregnancy.

As a general rule, room fragrance aromatherapy treatments are considered to be safer than treatments that involve applying oils to the skin.  A diffuser is one of the easiest and most popular ways to experience the benefits of aromatherapy at home.

Oils to Avoid During Pregnancy

Because of the risk of danger to a mother and her unborn child, there have not been very many official studies conducted regarding the safety of aromatherapy and pregnancy. Most of the research about the safety of essential oils has been conducted on pregnant animals, which means it’s hard to tell how applicable the results would be to humans. However, experts generally recommend that oils known to thin the blood or cause cramping be avoided during pregnancy. This includes the following:

  • Basil
  • Cedarwood
  • Cinnamon
  • Clove
  • Fennel
  • Hyssop
  • Juniper
  • Lemongrass
  • Myrrh
  • Parsley
  • Pennyroyal
  • Peppermint
  • Rosemary
  • Sweet marjoram
  • Thyme

Clary sage and Jasmine should be avoided for aromatherapy and pregnancy except during labor. Cypress is acceptable for use after five months.

Women who have had a previous miscarriage may be advised to avoid treatments with essential oils during the first three months of pregnancy as an added safety precaution. Even though aromatherapy hasn’t been definitively linked to an added risk of miscarriage, the first trimester is when most pregnancy losses occur.

If you suffer from gestational diabetes, the use of aromatherapy during pregnancy is not recommended because diabetes creates additional complications for aromatherapy treatments.

As always, it’s best to consult your healthcare provider for guidance if you have any specific questions or concerns about treating your pregnancy-related aches and pains.

[Photo credit: Torsten Mangner via Flickr]

Create Your Own DIY Essential Oil Reed Diffuser

I love using essential oils to fragrance your home, but purchased products can be very expensive. Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to make your own homemade reed diffuser.

This project requires a glass container with a narrow opening and 5 or 6 bamboo skewers. You’ll also need the essential oils of your choice and a carrier oil such as fractionated coconut oil or sweet almond oil.

To assemble your reed diffuser, mix together ¼ cup of your carrier oil with 20 to 25 drops of the essential oils of your choice. Grapefruit, lemon, peppermint, or lavender are good choices that will appeal to most people, but you can also try making an aromatherapy blend if you want.  AromaWeb has a good blending guide that will help you get started.

Pour your oil mixture into your container, then insert the bamboo shelves. Once your oil has had time to travel up the skewers, you’ll be able to smell your fragrance. Then, all you need to do is flip the sticks every few days to refresh the scent.

The oil will eventually need to be replaced, but how long this will take depends upon the size of your container, the quality of your essential oils, and the moisture level in your home. When you need to replace the oil mixture, you should also replace the bamboo skewers.

[Photo credit: F Delventhal via Flickr]

Essential Oils for Sleep

There are some great suggestions in this video, especially if you frequently suffer from insomnia. However, I’d also suggest combining your oil diffusing routine with a little relaxing bedtime yoga for better results.