Better Living with Essential Oils

Practical formulas you can use in personal care and your environment.

Personal Care

What Essential Oils Can Do for Your Skin:

Penetrate lower skin layers to work on moisturizing and healing.
Stimulate and regenerate skin cells, to heal skin damaged by sun, burns, wrinkles, or injury.
Destroy infectious bacteria, viruses, and fungi such as those associated wit acne and other skin problems.
Reduce inflammation and puffiness.

Drop Equivalent

20 drops = 1/5 Teaspoon = 1 ml.
100 drops = 1 Teaspoon = 5 ml.
300 drops = 1 Tablespoon = 15 ml.

Facial Formulas

Dry Skin:

Avoid cosmetics with alcohol and harsh soaps. Diet: May be helped by Vitamin A supplement. Helpful oils: sandalwood, rose, neroli, rosewood, palmarosa, lavender and myrrh.

For Sensitive Skin:

2 drops chamomile, 1 drop myrrh, 1 drop rose, 2 ounces jojoba or almond oil. Combine oils and store in amber bottle to preserve from light damage.

For Mature Skin:

2 drops frankincense, 2 drops myrrh, 2 ounces jojoba or almond oil. Combine oils and place in amber bottle.

For Acne:

15 drops tea tree, 10 drops lavender, 2 ounces jojoba or almond oil. Combine and store in amber bottle.

Whole Body Skin Soother:

In a large cup mix the following: 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, 2 drops of spearmint, 2 drops of lavender, 1 teaspoon olive oil. Run a WARM (not hot) bath. When the water is done filling the tub add the above mixture and stir. Soak and relax as it soothes your irritated skin.

Hair Formulas

Dry Shampoo:

Washing your hair too often can strip it of it’s protective acid mantle.

Between shampoos or when short on time, use this dry shampoo: 1 drop rosemary, 1 tablespoon orris root powder. Mix ingredients. Part hair in sections and sprinkle mixture on. Leave on 5 minutes, then brush thoroughly.

To Stimulate Hair Growth:

10 drops rosemary, 8 drops bay, 7 drops cedarwood, 50 ml. jojoba. Add essential oils to jojoba, apply to scalp, cover with towel or shower cap and leave on overnight. Wash your hair the next morning. Store in amber bottle to prevent light damage.

Household Uses for Essential Oils

Herbal Disinfectant:

2 cups hot water, 10 drops thyme essential oil, 1/4 cup borax. Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well. Spray on surfaces and wipe clean with a damp cloth or sponge.

Mold Deterrent:

1/4 cup white vinegar, 3/4 cup water, 2 drops cinnamon leaf, 5 drops patchouli, 2 teaspoons tea tree and 2 drops tagettes. Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle. If you already have a buildup of mold or mildew, allow the spray to “rest” on the surface for a few hours. Wipe with a soft cloth, re-spray the area and let dry without rinsing.

Lavender Soft Scrubber:

3/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup powdered milk, 1/8 cup liquid castile soap, 5 drops lavender and water. Combine baking soda, milk, castile soap and lavender in a squirt-top bottle. Add just enough water to make a smooth paste. Shake or stir to mix. Apply to surface, then wipe area clean with a damp sponge or cloth. Rinse Well.

29 Ways to Use Essential Oils

Essential Oil Blending Recipes for the home:

1. Make scented candles by adding a drop to the pool of melted wax around the wick. Light a candle, blow out after a few minutes. Add oil to melted wax. Do not add while candle is lit as the oils are volatile.

2. Freshen sneakers and shoes. Place cotton balls dabbed with geranium, lemon or tea tree into shoes overnight.

3. Gently scent a room by adding a few drops of to a pan of water simmering on a burner or wood stove. Even easier, use an essential oil diffuser.

4. Scent linens and towels. Add a few drops of your favorite to a piece of terrycloth and add to your clothes dryer for a natural dryer sheet.

5. Repel flies: Dab lavender on door and window sills.

6. Get rid of musty food odors. Add one drop orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, bergamot or mandarin oil to a cup of water. Rinse surface of icebox, freezer, oven, trash cans.

7. Add a few drops of to a small spray bottle of water to make an air freshener.

8. Repel mice. Place peppermint oil on cotton balls in problem areas.

9. Make your own carpet freshener. Add 10 drops to cornstarch or baking soda let sit for 24 hours. Sprinkle carpet and vacuum after about an hour.

10. Doggy odor? Add a few drops of rose or geranium to dog collar, and to a cotton ball placed inside the vacuum canister of your vacuum cleaner. Make a safe, effective flea collar: Saturate a soft rope with tea tree oil, the rope into a bandana to tie loosely around the doggy’s neck.

Essential Oil Blending Recipes for the Body

11. Tired muscles and aching joints? Add one part each eucalyptus, sage and basil oil to 4 parts Jojoba or your favorite oil. Massage into area as needed.

12. Make your own deodorant powder: add 2 ounces cornstarch, 1 ounce baking soda, and a few drops essential oil. See precautions about skin contact.

13. Make home-made massage oil. Add 10 to 12 drops of your favorite to 1 ounce jojoba oil. See precautions about skin sensitivity.

14. Repel mosquitoes and black flies by placing a few drops of citronella on tablecloths at picnics, or cap.

15. For a hangover: blend juniper, cedarwood, grapefruit, lavender, rosemary, lemon or fennel. Add 6 to 10 drops to a hot bath and soak it away.

16. Speed healing of minor burns and scratches: Add 1 drop tea tree to oil from Vitamin E capsule, apply directly to affected area

17. Long Drive Ahead? Stimulate attentiveness! Place peppermint or rosemary on cotton ball near the car heating/cooling vents for a refreshing scent.

18. Insomnia? Place hanky sprinkled with chamomile and lavender oil under the pillow.

19. Going on vacation? Add a few drops of chamomile and lavender to travel-sized mister. Spray in guest or hotel room.

20. For athletes foot: dab toes with tea tree to soothe burning, tired feet.

21. Aid memory by placing a drop of rosemary on a light bulb in a study area.

22. Ease headache pain: Massage one drop rosemary/lavender blend to back of neck.

Make Great Gifts with Essential Oil Blending Recipes

23. Make lavender water by placing 1 ounce alcohol, 1 teaspoon lavender oil and 1/2 cup rosewater into a clean bottle. Let sit for a month and shake the bottle frequently, then pour into perfume bottles or buy one of our all natural floral waters.

24. Make scented stationery: Add a few drops of your favorite scent to paper and envelopes, then seal inside a plastic bag for 24 hours. Place in a wooden box afterwards.

25. Make aromatic sachets: Add a few drops of to dried flowers or herbs then tie or sew them in decorative cloth bags.

26. Make herbal potpourri gifts: Fill glass jars or decorative boxes with dried flowers scented with a few drops of of your favorite scent extract.

27. Make your own perfume blends:. Add 25 drops your favorite to 1 ounce jojoba oil. Let sit in a tightly capped bottle for two weeks before using.

28. Make herbal bath oils by adding a few drops to a bottle of apricot or almond oil and shaking thoroughly. Pour into smaller bottles.

29. I use 10 drops of our blend, Summer Cooler, in each water tank of my humidifier in the winter to deter bacteria. The aroma also gives an uplifting feeling during the cold winter months.

The Author:

Gerald F. McCarthy holds a patent on the unique diffuser used in all ESSENTIAL AIR models. Over the years McCarthy of Leyden House has accumulated seventeen patents in the field of energy and health related products. A speech pathologist by profession he was intrigued by the beneficial effects of natural healing and began searching for ways to deliver essential oils more effectively.