In this article, we’ll be covering the top ingenious uses for four of our most popular essential oils, lemon, peppermint, rosemary, and lavender.
What Are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are highly refined, concentrated extracts of plants. They have strong smells and properties. These oils have been used for thousands of years across ancient civilizations all over the world for health, beauty, and lifestyle purposes, especially aromatherapy.
What is Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is what most people use essential oils for – it’s therapy through scent!
Our sense of smell is the strongest sense that we have, so it’s no surprise that certain smells might alter our mental and emotional states.
Remember that scent of grandma’s cookies baking in the oven when you were a kid? How do you feel now? Comforted? That’s aromatherapy.
Because essential oils have such distinct scents, they can be aroma therapeutic to humans. Various oils can help you relax before bed, keep you alert while writing an important essay, or even potentially reduce feelings of depression and anxiety.
To learn more about essential oils and aromatherapy, check out our How Aromatherapy and Essential Oils Will Improve Your Life article.
Four Of Our Top Essential Oils
Here at PURA D’OR, we have 11 4 oz. essential oils that you can purchase individually to mix and match in your aromatherapy closet. Each oil has been certified organic by the USDA and is 100% pure, ethically-sourced, and fair trade.
Lemon
Who doesn’t love the sweet, citrusy scent of lemons? This fresh-smelling lemon essential oil is great for uplifting your mood. If you mix it with a carrier oil, it can be used as a natural perfume.
Peppermint
Peppermint is often associated with the cold winter months, but the truth is that peppermint essential oil is great for clearing congestion caused by a cold, hay fever, or seasonal allergies. No more runny noses and tissues scattered on the floor!
Rosemary
Rosemary essential oil is one of the more popular oils since it boosts antioxidant creation in the body to fight free radicals and to strengthen the immune system. Additionally, it’s a great stress reliever for those days when you don’t even feel like getting out of bed.
Lavender
The purple flowers that lavender essential oil is derived from have a highly relaxing scent. Lavender oil is great for increasing the depth of your meditation sessions, improving sleep quality, and giving you clarity in times when you need it most. Lavender oil is surely the most popular essential oil on the market.
Uses for Each Oil
Now that we have a little more background information on each oil, let’s take a look at some fun uses for them.
Humans make a lot of trash. Whether it be food, yard, or general waste, that trash can stink up your trash bins and your homes. This hack is simple and effective and will have your living space smelling clean and fresh in no time!
When it’s time to take the trash out, pull out the existing bag from the can, but don’t replace it. Put 3-5 drops of lemon essential oil in the bottom of the trash bin, and then replace the garbage bag. Repeat this process every time you take the trash out for the best results!
Dissolve Gunk
Lemon oil acts as a natural glue dissolver, which is why many natural household cleaning products contain it. By dropping a few droplets over stuck gum or sticker residue, you can efficiently scrub off any gunk to save time and your fingernails. Just be sure to wear gloves before handling the liquid oil, as the highly concentrated essential oil could irritate your skin.
Car Freshener
Nobody wants to drive their kids, pets, or friends around in a musty car. This life hack only takes a few minutes, but you’ll reap the benefits for weeks!
What you’ll need:
- Clothespin
- Cotton balls or felt balls
- Hot glue stick + hot glue gun
- PURA D’OR Lemon Essential Oil
Steps:
- Start by warming up your hot glue stick in the glue gun. Wait until the glue has melted.
- Put a few drops of hot glue on the top of a clothespin and quickly stick cotton or felt balls on top.
- Put a drop or two of lemon oil on each ball.
- Clip the clothespin to an air vent on the dashboard of your car. Every time you turn the AC or heat on, the lemon oil will circulate through the car, deodorizing any nasty smells.
- Every month or so, put new drops of essential oil on the cotton/felt balls to rejuvenate the scent.
Peppermint
Relax with a Foot Soak
Even though we’re on our feet all day, the majority of us rarely give our feet any love. Keep your feet smelling great and kill any bacteria with this hack!
Fill up a tub, bowl, or container with enough warm water to cover your feet. Add in about two tablespoons of your favorite carrier oil (check out our article on carrier oils to learn more) and five drops of peppermint essential oil. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon, and stick your feet in.
Enjoy the foot soak for no more than ten minutes.
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Fill the spray bottle halfway with unscented witch hazel.
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Fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water.
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Drop around 35 drops of peppermint oil into the bottle.
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Close the bottle and shake well. Use as needed
Stay Awake For Drives
Peppermint is best known for its energizing abilities. As such, it’s great to have on hand for long road trips.
You can do the same clothespin hack as the lemon oil car freshener and just use peppermint essential oil over the cotton or felt balls instead of lemon, or you can sniff the scent from the peppermint oil bottle as needed to give yourself a pick-me-up.
Rosemary
Got an important exam coming up that you urgently need to study for? Keep a diffuser and rosemary oil on your desk to help keep you concentrated.
Boost Hair Growth
This trick has recently blown up in the beauty world of social media, but thereare still many people who don’t know about it.
Rosemary oil is a gentle exfoliator that unclogs hair follicles and contains a ton of vitamins and minerals that boost hair growth.
Mix five drops of rosemary essential oil with a tablespoon of lightweight carrier oil, such as jojoba oil, and slowly massage it into your scalp an hour (or more) before you shower. Many users report lower rates of hair shedding in the shower, too!
Make Your Own Deodorant
Generic deodorants that you can buy at the drugstore contain dozens of harmful chemicals, which is why many people have turned to all-natural alternatives.
However, natural deodorants are often significantly more expensive. So here’s a recipe that is cost-effective, simple, and fun!
What you’ll need:
- Two tablespoons of organic beeswax granules
- One and ¼ tablespoons of organic shea butter
- One and ¼ tablespoons of organic coconut butter/oil
- ½ tablespoon of all-natural bentonite clay
- ½ tablespoon of aluminum-free baking soda
- PURA D’OR Rosemary Essential Oil
- PURA D’OR Lemon Essential Oil
- Old, clean deodorant tube
- Small saucepan
- Wooden stirring utensil (NOT metal)
- Glass or plastic bowl (NOT metal)
Steps:
- In a small saucepan over very low heat, gently melt the beeswax, shea butter, and coconut oil until completely combined.
- Pour the mixture into a non-metal bowl and stir in the clay and baking soda. Wait about five minutes for the mixture to cool down slightly.
- Stir in ten drops of lemon essential oil and six drops of rosemary essential oil.
- Pour the liquid into your old deodorant tube. Put it in the refrigerator with the cap off for 10-20 minutes or until the mixture has hardened.
- Once hardened, use your new homemade deodorant stick as normal!
Stress can do a number on your mental and physical health by causing irritating headaches. The scent of lavender may lower blood pressure, decrease oxygen consumption, and help reduce the effects of adrenal fatigue.
Diffuse lavender essential oil whenever you feel a headache starting to come on, and lay in a pitch-black room for at least ten minutes.
It’s important to note that if the headache intensifies and persists for multiple hours, you should contact a healthcare provider for further instructions.
Create Scented Letters
Writing letters is a forgotten art in the 21st century, but you can reignite the flame by adding a lovely scent to your stationery.
What you’ll need:
- Small misting bottle
- Water
- PURA D’OR Lavender Essential Oil
Steps:
- Fill your small misting bottle with water.
- Add two drops of oil per ounce of water. For example, for a four-ounce bottle, you’d add eight drops of essential oil.
- Screw the lid to the bottle back on and give it a good shake.
- Mist your stationery with a spritz of the mixture and wait for the paper to dry before starting your letter.
Mild Pain Relief
One study in 2015 found that users who were experiencing mild pain could effectively relieve their discomfort by topically applying lavender essential oil topically on the area with a carrier oil.
To apply lavender oil (or any essential oil) directly onto the skin, it is important to dilute it in order to prevent skin irritation. We recommend starting with one to three drops of oil per tablespoon of carrier oil and then transitioning to four for best results.
Another study in 2013 found that children who had their tonsils taken out and inhaled the relaxing scent of lavender shortly afterwards had to take significantly less acetaminophen for pain relief.
To inhale lavender essential oil, you can either sniff the scent straight from the bottle, while ensuring that you don’t touch the bottle to your nose, or you can diffuse the oil in a high-quality diffuser. Most diffusers have instructions that tell you how many drops of oil to mix in with a tank of water.
BONUS: Homemade Sleep Salve
Struggling to get a good night’s sleep? This DIY foot salve will help you calm down to regulate your circadian rhythm and sleep cycle.
What you’ll need:
- ¼ cup of organic coconut oil
- ¼ cup of organic extra virgin olive oil
- One tablespoon of organic beeswax
- ⅛ teaspoon of organic Vitamin E oil
- 2.5 mL of PURA D’OR Lavender Essential Oil
- Small saucepan
- Wooden stirring utensil
- ½ pint glass jar
Steps:
- Put the coconut oil, olive oil, and beeswax in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until completely melted.
- Pour the mixture into your jar and mix in the Vitamin E oil and 2.5 mL of essential oil.
- Put the jar in the fridge for 20-30 minutes or until the salve has set.
- To use, apply the salve generously to the bottoms of your feet and put on a pair of comfortable socks.
About PURA D’OR Essential Oils
As previously mentioned, PURA D’OR takes aromatherapy seriously. With all-natural, 100% pure, fair trade, ethically sourced, USDA Certified Organic oils, you can rest assured that you’re getting the real deal.
To learn more about our process and our oils, read our blog post, Essential Oils: The World in a Bottle article.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced adventurer in the dimension of essential oils, we hope that you found some unorthodox uses for your favorite oils to make your home and your life brighter.
Visit our Homepage to discover a whole new world of skin, hair, nail, and body care, plus aromatherapy, to revitalize your life and your living space. You can also Contact Us if you have any burning questions; we’re happy to help!
*PURA D’OR is a brand of cosmetic and personal care items, and as such, we make no medical claims. Our products and brand do not claim to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent medical conditions.