How to mix essential oils for specific health applications

Essential oils usually are mixed and diluted with carrier oils also known as base oils such as sweet almond oil, olive oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, sesame seed oil, flax oil, or walnut oil. Mix oils and essential oil spices together such as cinnamon and sage essential oils with lavender and tea tree oils. Lavender goes well with all the other oils. Use it to make a sachet to hang in the closet. For definitions and instructions, also see the Simply Essential Oils blog.

To make a bath oil, first you take a 1/2 cup of carrier oil such as olive, grapeseed, or almond oil. Use a glass jar. Put 10 drops of your favorite scented essential bath oil in the jar of carrier oil. Sandalwood or rose oil scents are good choices. With an eye dropper add a few drops of oil mixture to your bathwater. Don't add so much oil to your bath that you slip trying to get out of the tub.

Make your own lavender sachet. Or visit the lavender farm (video) on Veria. Watch another Veria video clip on aging gracefully with aromatherapy (essential oils) and the other uses of lavender. A different Veria video clip explains how lavender enhances other essential oils. There's also the California Lavender festival noted on the video, a festival devoted to one plant.

Lavender also is mixed with aloe vera and is a healing moisturizer for chapped hands. Lavender is a flavor added to oils, and also to chocolate candy, ice cream, and to jams. Lavender is said to go well with any other oils, scents, or tastes. Think of lavendar-hibiscus flavored ice cream or chocolates.

Add lavender to your choice of essential oils. It blends well with most other oils. To fight a slight skin infection, try neem oil, clove oil, or tea tree oil mixed with apple cider vinegar. Dilute a dozen drops of tea tree essential oil to three ounces of apple cider vinegar. Don't use white vinegar.

You can add four drops of clove oil to this mixture. It's an anti-microbial combination of oils. Don't mix the neem oil with the tea tree oil. Use the neem oil alone or the tea tree oil diluted with the apple cider vinegar. Clove oil (four drops) may be mixed with 12 drops of tea tree oil before you add the apple cider vinegar.

Lavender and peppermint goes together well, or lavender and lemongrass combined, make a fragrant essential oil. You can use one to two drops for a base oil of sweet almond oil or olive oil.

Then add 10 drops of lavender oil and six drops of peppermint oil. Jasmine oil can be mixed with sweet almond oil. Interesting combinations are coffee essential oil mixed with lemon essential oil to be used to clean kitchen appliances or to wipe around kitchen surfaces. Do not use on marble countertops.

You need to learn from the various aromatherapy sites where you can use the oils once they are mixed. Are they suitable for skin massage, treating a sinus infection, or only to be used to clean appliances? Or are the oils to be used with a spray pump bottle as an air freshener, dog-deodorizer, or as a bath oil?

According to the Health Zone site, you can make your own foot bath with essential oils to disinfect and cleanse, using the warmth of the water to aid in penetration of the oils. The ingredients are 10 drops of eucalyptus essential oil, 10 drops of tea tree oil, and 5 drops of peppermint.

These are all anti-bacterial/anti-viral oils. To make a foot bath, put warm water in a plastic tub or foot spa. As the water runs into the container, add the oils a few drops at a time. Fill only 2/3rds full. Take a towel with you and sit in a comfortable chair. Put your feet in the water up to your ankles for about 15 minutes. When the water cools, dry your feet.

Foot Bath Recipe for Tired Feet: (Watch the video on this recipe at "Step-by-Step Guide: How to Make Bath Salts.")

Step 1: Mix Epsom salts and baking soda in equal measures.

Step 2: Add the essential oils, a few drops at a time. Most are potent. The total amount of scent needed will vary based on the oils used. Begin with just sandalwood and vanilla, or rosemary and peppermint.

Step 3: If you're giving away bath salts as a gift, place the mixture in a colorful decanter that you might decorate yourself. The foot bath recipe on the video site also suggests that you can create artistic designs on the decanter.

Aromotherapy Astringent (according to the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site).

Daily use of this astringent treats and soothes the infected areas of your feet or nails. Thyme, cloves, and tea tree oil are antimicrobial oils. Keep this mixture away from your eyes or any internal parts of your body. Astringents also can be antimicrobial oils, such as tea tree oil or oil of clove.

Ingredients

* 12 drops essential oil of tea tree
* 8 drops essential oil of geranium
* 4 drops essential oil of thyme
* 4 drops essential oil of clove
* 2-3 oz apple cider vinegar

Instructions

Add essential oils, one by one, to clean, dry, airtight 3 ounce bottle. Fill to top with apple cider vinegar and close tightly. To combine, place bottle between your palms and roll back and forth. Mix this way before every use. Store in a cool, dry place. To apply, put a few drops of the mixture on a cotton ball or beauty pad and swab affected area daily.

Anti-Fungal and Anti-Microbial Oils for Athlete's Foot

* 14 drops essential oil of eucalyptus
* 8 drops essential oil of geranium
* 5 drops essential oil of sage
* 3 drop essential oil of peppermint
* 1/3 cup cornstarch

Massage on your feet or use in the foot bath water. Dry feet thoroughly. Carrier Oils are base oils such as almond oil, olive oil, or grapeseed oil. For more recipes and blends see the Aroma Thyme site. Essential oils recipes that you can make at home are on the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site. Sweet almond oil is a carrier oil. So is melted coconut oil, sesame seed oil, or extra virgin olive oil.

Anti-Microbial Bathroom Air Spray (according to the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site)

Fill a pump-spray bottle with 500ml of distilled water then add the following essential oils: Note that essential oils made from spices such as sage and cinnamon can be mixed with essential oils that come from lemon or sage. The spices are essential oils of the spice, not the ground, dry spice.

According to the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site, mix together the following oils: (Note the essential oils mix spices in oil form with such oils as lavender and citronella or bergamot.)

* 5 drops Cinnamon essential oil
* 5 drops Eucalyptus essential oil
* 5 drops Lemon essential oil
* 5 drops Sage essential oil
* 5 drops Thyme essential oil
* 10 drops Bergamot essential oil
* 10 drops Citronella essential oil
* 10 drops Lavender essential oil
* 10 drops Tea-Tree essential oil

Shake this mixture well before each use. Spray the air in your bathroom with this mixture. Be careful with tea-tree oil. It's not supposed to be put on the skin unless it's diluted. With oil of oregano, dilute the oil with olive oil or it will burn your lips or other skin areas. Oil of oregano is used as an anti-microbial oil as is clove oil. Dilute the oil before testing it on your skin.

Unscented Liquid Soap with Essential Oils

Fill a soap pump dispenser with unscented liquid soap. Add 20 drops of lemon or orange essential oils. Combine with unscented liquid soap the following essential oils:

5 drops Coffee essential oil
4 drops Lemon essential oil
1 cup of unscented liquid soap

Combine the essential oils with the unscented liquid soap and stir gently to combine. Put in a spray pump. This recipe is on the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site, submitted by Kay in Australia. You also can use coffee essential oil as a body oil.

Dry Skin Remedy

In a pump bottle (glass lotion bottle with a pump dispenser) use a base oil also called a carrier oil such as almond oil, grapeseed oil, apricot oil, avocado oil, or sweet almond oil. Massage therapists often use sweet almond oil as a base or carrier oil.

According to the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site, "to each 100ml, add to this 10 drops each of Lemongrass, Juniper and Fennel." This oil mixture is a good body oil for moisturizing dry skin.

Kitchen Scents vs Bath Mix

You need to find out from an essential oils reference book or site which blended oil is a harmonious blend with other oils. For a bathroom, tea tree oil mixes well with pine and geranium, (according to the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site). Buy a glossary or dictionary of essential oils that contains information about which essential oil already comes blended with other oils and which essential oil actually makes a harmonious blend with other oils. For making a bath oil, olive oil or sweet almond oil mixes well with rose oil. Neem oil can be used alone on the skin and is antimicrobial.

Take These Oils on the Road--for your purse, wallet, luggage, or shoes

Put the following oils on a sponge, cloth, wipe, handkerchief, or ball of cotton. Keep the item soaked in oils in your purse, shoes, wallet, drawer, or other container to carry with you for a continuing fragrance. Or put in a box in your clothes closet or shoe, hat, or glove box or drawer.

* 3 drops Bergamot essential oil
* 2 drops Geranium essential oil
* 2 drops Melissa essential oil

Men's Peppered Orange Coriander Essential Oil Blend

* 2 drops Black Pepper essential oil
* 3 drops Coriander essential oil
* 2 drops Orange essential oil

Lavender Lemongrass Pantry, Furniture, and Wood Polish

Lavender and lemongrass make a good combination to keep in your pantry or kitchen cupboard. Soak the lemongrass in the lemon oil for a few days. Then save the liquid but not the old lemongrass. Another closet fragrance you can make at home includes mixing the following oils: 4 fl oz olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon essential oil.

Mix the olive and lemon oils. Store in a bottle. Shine wood items with the mixture of olive and lemon. Make sure the type of wood on which you use lemon oil will be able to stand up to the citric acid quality of the lemon. Otherwise use plain olive oil on wood furniture or cabinets.

Peppermint Closet Cleaning Oil and Air Freshener

3 fl oz filtered water
10 drops Peppermint essential oil
10 drops Rosemary essential oil
10 drops Lime essential oil

Mix the above ingredients into a spray bottle. Shake well. This oil blend may be used as an air freshener.

Lavender Tangerine Bath Oils with Chamomile and Marjoram

3 drops Lavender 3 drops Tangerine 3 drops Marjoram 1 drop Chamomile. Mix all these oils in a base oil such as olive or almond oil and apply to your bath water.

Dog Deodorizer (From Aromatherapy for Animals, Part 1: "Healing Blends for Dogs," by Françoise Rapp.)
According to the Aromatherapy Home Recipes site, pour the essential oils into a 1-oz spray bottle filled with water. Shake very vigorously several times before each use. Spray directly onto your dog, holding the bottle about 10 inches from him. Avoid spraying on the head and eyes. Start with 10 drops Lavender to which you add 10 drops Geranium and 6 drops Lemon essential oils.

Massage Oil

Place up to 10 drops of sweet almond oil or sesame oil in a glass container, along with 10ml of carrier oil such as sweet almond oil. Place the lid on the container and shake the contents to mix, then apply via massage. You can mix sesame oil with a fragrant oil such as rose oil.

Potpourri

Add up to 10 drops of essential oils of your choice such as rose oil to pre-made potpourri. Always use a natural, therapeutic grade of essential oils and carrier oils. Don't use the cheap fragrance oils because you could be allergic to any substance put in the oil. Also vanilla essential oil can be put on dried flowers.

Watch the uTube videos below on the basics of how to mix essential oils.