Your ritual needs a boost. You’ve tried meditating, those meds just aren’t always enough, your conversations have been fruitful but there is something missing from your wellness practices and you can’t quite put your finger on it.

Put your finger on a bottle of essential oil!!

Essential oils are a great addition to your overall wellness routine. As Summer mentioned in her blog post about essential oils last week, these are not tools to replace your current mental wellness practices: they are complementary. There will never be a universal cure for anything or anyone, but essential oils sure do help. And they smell fucking fantastic, obviously.

I wanted to write a lil post for y’all today to review some key oils everyone should have in their cabinets and let you know about the healing benefits of each of them. So here it goes.

lavender

I would rank lavender as the #1 oil to have at your disposal. This oil works such wonders - with its calming effects and ability to de-stress, it helps with your anxiety, depression, and inability to sleep. It’s also good for helping with minor burns, skin rashes, insect bites, and helps disinfect cuts and scrapes. Like, what doesn’t lavender do?

peppermint

I get sooo many headaches. Peppermint is great for headaches and has cooling properties that help with aches of all kinds. It even helps with cramps when you rub it into your skin around the area. Generally speaking, this oil is energizing and uplifting, and is therefore great to smell throughout the entire day.

Fun fact: this is why we created our peppermint lip balm, so that the uplifting effects of the essential oil can be inhaled throughout the entire day, impacting your mental wellness without you even trying. Our lip balms are made of all-natural ingredients and can also be used to rub onto your temples when you’re having a headache. Cool, right?

tea tree

This oil is known for its cleansing properties. I’m going to spend less time on discussing the mental and emotional impact of this oil and focus moreso on the value of utilizing this particular oil in your skincare regimen or when treating different ailments.

This oil truly is a superstar in the medicinal realm, helping with skin issues such as acne and oily skin. It also helps with eczema, cold sores, and many other things, really. It’s a great disinfectant and can be added to your existing cleaning spray for your countertops. And for my campers: it also helps with relieving itchiness, so it’s a great oil to have in your First Aid Kit for camping for bug bites and what not.

orange

This friend helps boost your mood - it is uplifting and freshening. It helps with anxiety and also has cleansing properties.

bergamot

Good for helping with anxiety and oily skin, bergamot is another energizing essential oil with purifying properties. Also good to use as insect repellent!!

putting your essential oils to use

Okay, so you know some thangs about a few very key essential oils available to us. So you buy a bottle (or six) and now you’re sitting there staring at it in awe. What the hell do I do with you!? Heal me, oil gods.

apply topically: dilute your essential oil with a carrier oil (i.e. jojoba oil, coconut oil, almond oil, etc.). Please practice safe blending and do a bit of research to see how much essential oil should be mixed into the carrier oil, as if you put too much essential oil you may irritate your skin. Also check your oils to ensure they are safe for your skin - some may not be recommended to apply directly onto the skin and some essential oils should be avoided during pregnancy. If I wrote all of that information here this blog post would be way too long, I’m sorry, friends.

Always test on a small part of your skin first to ensure you do not have a negative reaction to the oil.

inhale: adding a few drops of essential oil into a cloth and inhaling its aroma is one way to absorb its magic. You can also add a few drops to some water and do a steam inhale.

mist: dilute your essential oil and make a linen spray and spray your concoction onto your pillow before you sleep, or onto your clothes or something in the morning.

in the bathtub: add a few drops of essential oil to your bath. Easy peasy.

diffuser: add essential oil to your diffuser! Don’t have one? Buy one. Life-changing.

Now that you have some information on essential oils you can use and how to use them, I’m sure you want to run out and get some (who am I kidding, online shopping rules all). Remember to take care of your essential oils: storing them in a cool place away from heat and light is how your oils should be stored in order to preserve them.

In friendship,

~Sage