Essential Oils And Aromatherapy For Health And Wellness

Aromatherapy essential oils are used for skin and hair care

August 5th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Essential oils are often used in commercial skin and hair care products. They’ve been used in this way for hundreds of years, and commercial manufacturers are well aware of their benefits. Be aware however, that the amount of oil used in commercial preparations are usually tiny: you can get better results when you create your own products.

It’s important to understand a bit about your skin and hair type. Each plant’s essential oils provide a number of different therapeutic benefits so knowing about your skin and hair will help you match up your needs with the appropriate ingredients.

Moisturizing your skin is as easy as adding suitable carrier oil into an essential oil that’s appropriate for your skin type and then massaging the combined treatment into your skin.

Aromatherapy skin and hair care products can cause problems for people who have sensitive skin or allergies. If you have a bad reaction to a product, whether it’s store-bought or homemade, discontinue use. If you’re unsure how you will react to an essential oil, test it on a small area first for a few days and see what happens.

If the problem you’re trying to alleviate isn’t going away, the products may not be working. If necessary, consult with a specialist for advice on how to proceed.

Which aromatherapy oils should you use for skin and hair care and how do you use them?

For normal skin, try using rose, lavender or chamomile essential oils. Chamomile also works well on dry or sensitive skin and skin that is prone to acne or eczema. To use any of these oils, add several drops into your favorite fragrance-free face mask and use as directed. Or add right into your bath water.

Tee tree and cajeput oils also can help with acne. A good carrier oil to mix with these essential oils is grapeseed. You can also mix several drops with rose water to create a toner.

Sandalwood oil is effective at reducing some visible signs of aging such as wrinkles and dry skin. Rose oils, frankincense, neroli and geranium oils are also effective in treating mature skin.

Palmarosa oils are commonly used in both skin and hair care products. These oils have moisturizing and hydrating qualities and they stimulate cell regeneration.

Used neat or combined with carrier oil, the essential oils mentioned above can be massaged into skin or added to bath water. Besides mixing essential oils into carrier oils, you can also mix them into creams and lotions containing lanolin as long as these products don’t contain a fragrance. Then just gently massage into skin.

When excess exposure to the sun is a problem, massage affected areas with lavender or chamomile oils blended with carrier oil.

A good final rinse for hair is a mixture of apple cider vinegar, lemon essential oil and water. In a container, mix 4 teaspoons water, 2 teaspoons vinegar and 3 drops lemon oil. Massage into hair and rinse well.

One-half cup dry rosemary leaves mixed with 1/2 cup olive oil makes a good hot oil treatment for hair. Mix ingredients in a pan and heat. Strain. Coat hair with mixture then wrap in plastic for 20 minutes. Wash thoroughly.

Make your cosmetic products fresh for each use

Essential oils lose their good effects when exposed to light and air. So the closer you create your preparations to use, the more effective they will be.