How a Normal Person Uses Essential Oils
I love essential oils. I use them in almost all of my homemade detergents, cleaners, and even toothpaste – I even use them in rollerballs for on-the-go aromatherapy, and in diffusers to take the place of candles or plug-in air fresheners in the house. Now, I want to share with you how a normal person uses essential oils.
By “normal person” I mean that anyone can start using essential oils without any real knowledge about them. I really think that essential oils are a great way to bring a pleasant fragrance into your home.
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Let me start by saying this:
- This is not a sales pitch: I don’t sell essential oils. I don’t represent a brand claiming to be “the best.” This is purely for your benefit so that you can use essentials oils to help you.
- I won’t ever recommend ingesting essential oils: Some people swear that there are magical internal benefits by doing this, but I just don’t feel comfortable doing so. If you choose to ingest oils, do so at your own risk.
- Don’t be bullied into buying super-expensive essential oils saying that they’re the only “pure” essential oils: My favorite brands are Eden’s Garden and Plant Therapy. Both are fairly inexpensive and are on sale through Amazon. There’s no need to spend $30 more on the same oil just because of the brand.
- I am not a medical professional. The FDA has never acknowledged the benefits of essential oils and does not recommend their use instead of taking medications. There are many resources out there to help you decide if essential oils are right for you. I love them! But they can not legally be recommended for use instead of actual medications.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let me tell you about all of the great ways that you can use essential oils in your home and in your life.
Related Post: Essential Oil Rollerball Recipes
Diffuse using the vents in your house.
Put a few drops of essential oil on clothespins and clip them to the underside of all your floor vents. When your heating or air conditioning runs, air will flow over the clothespins and your whole house will smell great! Refresh with more drops of essential oil as needed.
Freshen your home as you vacuum.
All you do is put a few drops of your favorite essential oil on a small piece of a napkin or tissue, then vacuum it up. As you vacuum, your whole house will smell AMAZING!
You could also use a cotton ball instead of the napkin. You could put a few drops in each new bag you put in your vacuum. No bag? No problem. If your vacuum has a washable filter, put some essential oil on the filter.
Super easy DIY car diffuser.
Take a wooden clothespin. Add 2-3 drops of essential oil to the wood of the clothespin and clip the clothespin to your car’s vent. When you turn on your car’s fan and air comes out of your vents, the air will blow over and around the clothespin and circulate the essential oils in your car.
DIY personal diffuser.
Add a couple drops of your favorite essential oil to a scarf for your own personal diffuser.
Wash with lavender to help you sleep better.
Add a few drops of lavender essential oil to the rinse cycle when washing your sheets. Lavender is very calming and will promote sound and peaceful night’s sleep.
Get stronger nails.
Dry, brittle nails? Add 1 drop of melaleuca (tea tree) essential oil to about 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil and then apply this mixture directly onto your nails and massage in to strengthen them.
DIY toner with 2 ingredients.
Super simple, cheap, and natural way to remove the last traces of makeup and tighten your pores. Add a few drops of melaleuca (tea tree) essential oil to witch hazel for an awesome DIY toner. Shake it up every time before you use it to mix the witch hazel and essential oil. Then saturate a cotton pad and gently wipe your face using an upward motion from jawline to forehead (avoiding your eyes).
Energize your shampoo.
Energize your brain by adding 2-3 drops of rosemary and spearmint essential oil to your shampoo and conditioner.
Make your own cuticle oil.
Get rid of hangnails and dry, cracked cuticles with this DIY cuticle oil. Fill a 15ml bottle with olive oil and add 10 drops of frankincense essential oil. Shake to mix. Apply to cuticles and massage in.
Make your own scented moisturizer.
You just need some plain lotion (or you can make our own lotion with cocoa and shea butter), and you can add a few drops of essential oils to make the boring lotion exciting.
Some essential oil combinations to try:
- Spearmint and eucalyptus (stress buster)
- Grapefruit and bergamot (energizing, uplifting)
- Ylang ylang, orange, and cedarwood (calming, balancing)
- Lemon and lavender (fresh, clean)
Make moisturizer work even better.
Add 1 drop of geranium or myrrh essential oil to your face moisturizer to promote youthful-looking skin.
Be happier.
Smell orange essential oil straight from the bottle or use in your diffuser for an uplifting aroma.
Get energized.
Feeling tired? Put a drop of lemon and peppermint essential oil in the palm of your hands, rub together, and inhale deeply for about 30 seconds.
Be more productive.
Diffuse lemon essential oil to reduce stress and improve focus so you can be more productive.
Freshen stinky shoes and boots.
Get rid of that funky smell using a cotton ball and essential oils. Add a few drops of essential oil to a cotton ball and place one cotton ball deep inside of each shoe. Leave it overnight and odors should be all gone in the morning! Good odor-eating essential oils to try are melaleuca (tea tree), lemon, lemongrass, eucalyptus, pine, cypress, lavender, and orange.
Ditch the dryer sheets and have your laundry still smell great.
Wool dryer balls work so effectively to cut your dryer time as well as fluffing clothes to make them look great. Add a few drops of your favorite scents to the dryer balls for a great way to ditch the dryer sheets for good.
DIY moth balls.
Make your own natural moth balls. Put a few drops of cedarwood essential oil on a few cotton balls and place them in your closet and drawers. This should keep the moths away and give you great, fresh smelling clothes!
Keep bugs away.
Make your own bug bracelet. Braid cotton fabric, use a leather cuff, or buy an essential oil diffuser bracelet. Put a few drops of citronella, lemongrass, or lavender essential oils on the bracelet to help keep bugs at bay.
Spider-be-gone.
Spiders hate the smell of peppermint. Mix 15 drops of peppermint essential oil and a cup of water in a spray bottle. Shake well and then spray all around your home (inside and out) where spiders hang out or might enter your home. Make sure to get corners or rooms, baseboards, around porches, doors, windows, etc.
Be careful to not use too much. You don’t want to soak your drywall and carpets. The goal is not for them to be wet, but just to get the scent around the areas where spiders might make their nasty way into your house. You just want to get the smell of peppermint into the area so that the spiders will go away.
Keep bugs out of the pantry.
Wipe down shelves with a mix of white vinegar and a few drops of essential oil. Citronella, eucalyptus, melaleuca (tea tree) and peppermint all work great!
Disinfect and deodorize while you mop.
Add a few drops of pine, lemon, or melaleuca (tea tree) essential oil to your mop water. They have powerful disinfectant properties and also leave your room smelling great!
Get rid of a stinky trash can.
Add 2 drops of melaleuca (tea tree) and lemon essential oil to a cotton ball and put the cotton ball at the bottom of a trashcan. Lemon and tea tree will disinfect and deodorize, keeping your trash can smelling fresh and clean!
Dry cleaning hack.
Do you have clothes that need to be freshened up, but you don’t want to send them through the wash? Put a few drops of essential oil on a clean cotton washcloth and toss that washcloth into the dryer on along with the clothing to be freshened. Run through the dryer on fluff cycle and your clothing will be as fresh as if you just picked it up from the dry cleaner.
Clean the microwave.
Splatters, grease, and gunk on the inside of your microwave? Microwave a bowl with about a cup of half water, half white vinegar water, and 5 drops of lemon essential oil for about 3 minutes. Use a potholder to remove the very hot bowl of water and wipe your microwave clean. Sparkling clean and your kitchen will smell great!
Goo-be-gone
A few drops of lemon essential oil will remove crayon and permanent marker from wall (be sure to test in an inconspicuous spot to make sure it doesn’t also remove or alter the finish of your paint). Lemon essential oil can also be use to get rid of adhesive sticky messes- like removing labels from bottles, unsticking stickers that your kids used to decorate your refrigerator, and removing gum.
Forgot the laundry? No problem!
Do you ever forget and leave your laundry in the wash for too long? Add 2-3 drops of lemon essential oil to the laundry and re-wash. And viola, laundry is as good as new! Not only does it smell fresh and clean, but it is fresh and clean.
Get rid of grease stains.
When someone gets a stain, act quickly! Put a few drops of lemon essential oil on the grease stain, gently rub the essential oil into start to break up the grease and toss it into the wash. Be sure to check the clothes when they come out of the wash to make sure that the grease stain is all gone. If it is, great! Put it in the dryer as normal. But if a little grease remains, repeat with a few drops of lemon essential oil, rub in and rewash before putting it in the dryer.
You don’t need to be an aromatherapy master to use essential oils and benefit from them. Real people use essential oils and can really benefit from them.
Christine @ The (mostly) Simple Life says
We use essential oils for cleaning and in the vacuum and in our air purifier. I love the idea of putting some behind the vents. I’ll definitely try that this winter. O, and we use them to keep bugs away and to help my husband’s allergies. Ingesting them kinds of freaks me out though. I love your list!
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Deb Hackerd says
Amazing article! Thank you for sharing.
Kathie R says
I use peppermint oil and water to get rid of ants in my yard. I spray the ant mound until it is soaked. So far it’s worked. I also use it in my trash bags to keep stray animals from tearing the trash open. I use orange oil on the pad for my steam mopped. Smells great.
Alley Miller says
Amazing article. And all of them are mainly DIY. That’s nice.
Yen says
Ok, you had me at your title. I thought it was really clever!
Then you backed it up with awesome suggestions to use essential oils. Absolutely love it.
Thanks for sharing, Caroline 🙂