10 Ways to Use Essential Oils: How to Guide and Recipes
Did you just dive head-first into the world of essential oils? Were you gifted a single bottle of essential oil from a friend, or did you just unpack a starter kit? No matter how you’re starting, learning the ways to use essential oils can seem daunting.
The world of essential oils is vast. And it is intriguing and intimidating all at the same time! It’s not uncommon to have a million questions swirling around your head. Such as:
- How do you use essential oils?
- Do essential oils really work?
- Where do you apply essential oils?
- What essential oils are good for what?
- Do I need to be a DIYer or a bohemium to use them?
- Can I use essential oil every day?
This is me throwing you a lifesaver into the Bermuda Triangle of essential oils – take hold, I’ve got you!
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How Do You Use Essential Oils?
Not only are the types of essential oils vast, but each is also incredibly versatile. From aromatherapy to skincare, haircare, wellness, cleaning, better sleep, and more – essential oils can benefit our daily lives.
So, it should come as no surprise that the ways to use essential oils can’t be summed up in one sentence or one essential oil guide.
But, to begin understanding how to use essential oils, you first need to know there are two main categories that essential oil uses fall under:
- Aromatically – This category is the one most are familiar with. If you walked into a spa today your nose would likely be greeted with essential oils being used aromatically. It basically means to diffuse or release them into the air.
- Topically – However, for those of us who already use essential oils daily, the topical category is most popular. The benefits of essential oils can be absorbed right through the skin using a carrier oil with proper dilution.
Related: FAQS Essential Oil Guide
What Can Essential Oils Be Used For?
The ways to use essential oils will always fall under one of the two categories above. Many like lavender, lemon, and tea tree will traverse into both categories as these essential oils can be used for many things. Calming the skin and freshening the laundry, for example, are two ways I use lavender essential oil, crossing over both categories.
The same can be said for hundreds of essential oils, and this is why you’ll find the same essential oil listed as an ingredient in laundry soap, face wash, or a candle.
But don’t let that overwhelm you. Instead, let it be a lesson in how valuable and convenient using essential oils can be!
Coming from experience, the best way to learn how to use essential oils is to try many applications using either the same oil or a small group of oils. Young Living’s starter kits are designed exactly for this because they ease you into all the ways you can use essential oils without overwhelm.
And this list of 10 ways to use essential oils every day will do the same. Let’s start building your knowledge and experience one method at a time.
Related: 25 + Essential Oil Blends for Kids
10 Ways to Use Essential Oils Everyday
It’s no secret learning how to use essentials can be confusing. What essential oils are good for what? And where do you begin?
Start with the first on this list of ways to use essential oils daily, or pick one that interests you most. Then move on to the next after you’ve gained confidence in the first. Give yourself time and grace. You don’t need to learn each of these in a day, or even ten days, for that matter. Pin this guide now to come back to when you are ready to move on to the next on the list.
And remember, essential oils are potent. A single drop goes a long way (print our dilution chart for easy reference) and make sure you store them properly to keep their potency.
#1 Make Your Own Perfume
Whether you’re looking for a perfume to support your natural lifestyle or the store-bought options give you headaches, creating your own perfume with essential oils is so much fun! Just about any essential oil can be used to make perfume, but a well-structured perfume has a base note, middle note, and top note.
Take a look at this detailed list of essential oils in each aroma category to create smooth, complimentary essential oil blends. Print out this essential oil perfume notes chart and a blending wheel from the Oily Chic Library to use as a quick reference for what oils pair well together. Then put it together with these simple steps to make perfume.
#2 Clean Your House with Essential Oils
If you ask me, cleaning doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We can do many simple things that don’t involve much effort.
Everyone likes a clean, fresh-smelling home, and the best essential oils for cleaning can do just that! What essential oils are good for cleaning? We’ve narrowed down the very best essential oils for cleaning to quickly and easily clean and freshen your home. You’ll find a printable of all of essential oil cleaning blends as well as five of our favorite DIY essential oil cleaner recipes here.
#3 Get Better Sleep
I have been a light sleeper for as long as I can remember. Maybe I owe it to a weak bladder or sharp ears, but waking up 3 to 4 times a night used to be my norm. I tried numerous things, and nothing has been more effective than using essential oils! An aromatherapy pillow spray has been the easiest way to put the best essential oils for sleep to use. It’s made with a combination of essential oils shown to support sleep. Pick from my five recipes for pillow sprays and check out our top 10 tips on how to use essential oils for better sleep.
#4 Scrub Up with DIY Foaming Hand Soap
If you’re looking to learn how to make foaming hand soap so you can stop buying hand soap refills and fill a pretty foaming hand soap dispenser instead – you’re in the right place.
Choose from 8 foaming hand soap recipes, grab an essential oil printable, and learn how to make foaming hand soap in a flash with the best smelling essential oil blends for soap!
#5 Relieve Stress with Essential Oil Bath Salts
No matter your age, career, or relationship status – stress is a part of life and will pop-up from time to time. The good news is, we can live with less stress by finding effective methods to reduce it. Bath salts are an easy way to use essential oils to melt stress.
Slipping into a bath with just the right ingredients can make the most of the limited time many of us have for relaxation. Helping to relieve the stress weighing on our minds and bodies. Beginning with mineral-rich natural salts and the perfect combination of essential oils to de-stress the mind and body. Create essential oil bath salts to target your needs with one of these 8 recipes!
#7 Create a Room Spray or Reed Diffuser
If you were to knock on my door to borrow a cup of sugar or more likely an essential oil, chances are you would find an essential oil candle lighting the entryway and a diffuser humming in the living room adjacent. It’s no secret that I love personalizing a space with scent.
But, when it comes to fragrances in our home, we go as natural as possible and it’s easy to do with essential oils! Take room sprays, for example, I can’t get enough of their freshening power. Just a spritz or two and they make our home smell fresh, clean, and cozy… even if it’s a mess.
I’ve been making essential oil room sprays for years. After trying several different room spray recipes and using each daily I discovered a few things you’ll want to know. Check it out here including a handful of cozy room spray recipes.
While I enjoy the freshness of a room spray and the comfort of glowing handmade candles and pillowy clouds from the diffuser, some spaces just don’t have room for a diffuser. And you shouldn’t leave a candle burning when you can’t keep an eye on it. So when I want to create a subtle ambiance for those spaces in our home that aren’t ideal for candles or diffusers (and I’m feeling t0o lazy to reach for a room spray) I turn to an essential oil reed diffuser.
They are basically an effortless way to enjoy aromatherapy. Who doesn’t love a constant scent that requires no electricity, flame, or getting off the couch? Make one of these essential oil reed diffuser recipes to fragrance your home effortlessly.
#8 Glam Up with Essential Oils
However you like to call it – bronzing spray, glow mist, or body glow spray, a body shimmer spray is used to add a gentle touch of color and shine to the skin. This body shimmer recipe will give your skin a hint of warm color, softness, and a natural glow. It’s easy and quick to apply with a fine mist bottle and there’s no greasy mess!
What woman doesn’t want long eyelashes? Be it Liz Taylor, Sophia Lauren, or Audrey Hepburn – one of them is definitely to blame for our desire to have luscious lashes! If you weren’t born with the fullest or longest of eyelashes either, have no fear! A DIY eyelash growth serum may be just the thing you’ve been looking for.
No matter if your weather app is displaying cold or hot temperatures, you may find yourself in need of an essential oil lip scrub to exfoliate lips quickly. Because nothing looks grosser or ruins the purpose of lipstick than dry, flaky, chapped lips! Am I wrong?
The easiest way to exfoliate lips is to start with a simple DIY lip scrub made with just three ingredients. Together these ingredients shed dead skin cells and restore moisture to the lips.
So, if you’re struggling with dry, chapped lips look no further than what nature has already provided us – essential oils! In fact, the best essential oils for the skin are incredible for soothing and nourishing dry lips quickly. And it’s as easy as adding a few drops of one more to a lip scrub essential oil recipe.
#9 Apply Essential Oils with a Roller Bottle
If you’ve ever used essential oils before, I am sure you’ll agree essential oil roller bottles are one the best ways to apply essential oils. They are quite simple to make with an essential oil dilution chart and a great carrier oil.
And the beauty of it is, you can make an essential oil roller bottle recipe with just a single oil or a blend of oils geared toward your needs. But, when it comes to essential oils, there are 10 standard roller blends every woman needs!
You bet, we’ve got all the details on how to make essential oil roller bottle recipes from start to finish including a handy printable.
#10 Make A Splash with Essential Oil Bath Bombs
Everyone deserves a fancy bath soak and DIY essential oil bath bombs are among my favorite ways to achieve it! There’s nothing like spending a relaxing evening at home after a busy day and pampering yourself in a really good soak. The kind that leaves your skin feeling incredibly soft, your muscles completely relaxed, and your mind at ease.
Yep, I’m talking about a spa-worthy bath soak.
Like bath salts and lip scrubs, bath bombs are fairly easy to make at home and the essential oils in each recipe are more than just a whim. No need to worry if you never made bath bombs before. It’s just a matter of mixing ingredients in the right order. And once you’ve made your first batch you’ll quickly see how great they are for gifting too so check out these amazing DIY essential oil bath bomb recipes, find your favorite, and give it a go!
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These 10 ways to use essential oils is just the beginning of how to incorporate them into your day. We want to know, what are your favorite ways to use oils daily? Which of these have you tried? Tag #oilychic on Instagram to share it with us.