Essential Oils: What Are They and How To Use Them

Feb 10, 2022 | Healthy Living

What if adding one little thing to your life could dramatically improve it for the better?

Essential oils make for great aromatherapy and they offer a host of other awesome benefits. Unfortunately, many people don’t even know what an essential oil is, much less what these oils can do for them.

Are you curious about essential oils and want to learn more about how they can improve your life? Keep reading to discover the answers!

What Are Essential Oils?

Our guide is going to tell you everything you need to know about essential oils. And that means we need to start by answering the obvious question: what are these oils, exactly?

Essential oils are oils that have been extracted from a particular type of plant. Many different plants produce these oils, which is why there are many different types of essential oil for you to choose from.

Because so much plant material is used in the oil, the final product is sometimes more expensive than new users think. Fortunately, you can get many essential oils at very affordable prices once you find the right vendor.

Busting Essential Oil Myths

Now you know the basics about essential oils. And before we go any further, we need to bust a couple of persistent myths about essential oil.

The first myth is that essential oils are somehow artificial or unnatural. While it’s true that we extract the oil through manmade means (including steam distillation and supercritical C02 extraction), the oils themselves by the plants themselves to do things like keep insects away, cure wounds, control humidity, and much more.

The second myth is that essential oils feel oily (to be fair, “oil” is right there in the name). But we only call them “oils” because these products contain the original plant’s oil-soluble chemicals. Not only can you safely and easily put the essential oil on your skin, but this is one of the primary ways to experience the oil’s benefits (more on this later).

Understanding Aromatherapy

We’re going to touch on some of the many different benefits that essential oil has to offer. First, though, we need to do a deeper dive into the benefit we most associate with these oils: “aromatherapy.”

There are different ways to experience the benefits of these oils, including applying them to your skin or even ingesting them. But the easiest and most popular way to access these benefits is to simply smell the oil. You can smell the oil directly, but you’ll get better aromatherapy benefits from diffusing it.

At its heart, “aromatherapy” is exactly what it sounds like: smelling certain things as a therapeutic technique to improve your mood, reduce your stress, and so on. Not all essential oils intended for aromatherapy necessarily smell good (if you have any doubts about that, go sniff some chamomile). But some of the most popular oils offer both great benefits and great smell.

Other Essential Oil Benefits

Above, we outlined a bit of what essential oil can do, including improving your mood and reducing stress. But what are the other benefits these oils have to offer?

Aromatherapy can help make you more alert and attentive. This can help you perform better at work and also have more energy to spend time with your friends and family.

These oils can help you get a better night’s sleep. That is partially due to the fact that the oil helps to lessen both anxiety and pain (which are great benefits on their own). 

Speaking of pain relief, some who use essential oils experience reduced inflammation, headache relief, and reduced nausea. Finally, these oils can help to kill things like viruses and bacteria.

Now that you know more about what essential oils can do for you, we’re going to explore some of the ways you can start using these oils.

Diffusing Oil

No matter how you use essential oils, it’s important to not use too much all at once. In fact, you only need a few drops to get major benefits. And if you’d like to get the most out of your oil aromatherapy, one of the best ways to do so is to use a diffuser.

Basically, you combine your chosen oil and a bit of water in a diffuser. The diffuser puts the special scent into the air, helping you feel better with each breath you take.

Obviously, there are other ways you can access aromatherapy benefits, including putting drops in steaming water or simply sniffing the bottle. But a diffuser can help you take your aromatherapy game to the next level.

Rolling Oil On

You don’t necessarily have to smell essential oils to get the benefits we outlined before. It’s possible to apply the oil directly to your skin. But you need to be very careful when doing so!

If you apply pure essential oil to your skin, and especially if you do so repeatedly, it can irritate your skin. But you can avoid that by diluting it with something like coconut oil before putting it on your skin.

Once you get good at blending these oils, you can place that blend into your own rollerball. This is a great way to get essential oil benefits “on the go” when you are far away from your diffuser.

Ingesting Oil

The final way to receive essential oil benefits is by ingesting them. But as with applying oil to the skin, there are certain precautions you need to take.

If you ingest too much at once, or simply ingest essential oil frequently, it can damage the lining of your mouth. One of the safer ways to ingest this oil is by using recipes that call for essential oil and following the dosage used in the recipe.

Should you ingest the oil directly, we recommend only doing one or two drops at a time and doing so infrequently. As always, you should consult with your doctor if you have any concerns about how this could negatively impact your health.

Get the Best Essential Oils Today

Now you know all about what essential oils can do and how to use them. But do you know where to find the oils you need?

Here at OilySimple, we specialize in improving your life, one essential oil at a time. To start experiencing all the benefits essential oil has to offer, all you have to do is contact us today!

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