Category Archives: Essential Oil Education

Cedarwood Essential Oil

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So I learned something today that makes me super excited about Cedarwood essential oil!

20140502-083644.jpgYou all know how much we love and use vetiver around our house, and the properties and chemical constituents of Cedarwood are VERY similar! These oils are both very high in sesquiterpenes in their chemical composition which makes them very effective at getting in and relaxing your mind, assisting with sound and deeper sleep. People are using Cedarwood in sleep blends with fantastic results and since the cost is lower than vetiver this could be a good ā€˜substitutionā€™ for people to try.

Many have mixed it with lavender alone if they just have the basic oils, or I would try combining it with either serenity, or my favorite blend of roman chamomile, ylang ylang, frankincense, lavender & clary sage or marjoram.

Not to mention the added benefits of Cedarwoodā€¦

ā€¢ Before exercising, massage one to two drops into
your chest to maintain vitality throughout your
workout.
ā€¢ After a difficult day, diffuse Cedarwood to relax
the mind and the body.
ā€¢ During your facial routine, add one to two drops
of Cedarwood to your facial toner or moisturizer
for added clarifying properties.
ā€¢ After noticing a fresh skin imperfection, directly
apply one drop to affected area to immediately
improve the appearance.
ā€¢ Place a drop on a cotton ball and place in closets,
storage boxes, or other areas to keep moths at bay.
ā€¢ Add to mulch or topsoil to naturally repel insects.
ā€¢ When a child wakes up scared, apply to the
bottom of feet to return a peaceful feeling.
ā€¢ Take internally to promote relaxation.*
ā€¢ Naturally repels insects

With Fatherā€™s Day just around the corner, Cedarwood is a favorite among the men for itā€™s woodsy, musky smell and with its skin benefits, it is an excellent choice for shaving and facial creams for the guys!

Going to use a little Cedarwood on the boys tonight and catch up on some good sleep šŸ˜‰

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Road trip!!

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Ok, so I have a whole new level of appreciation for my oils thanks to the road trip we have embarked on today.

keychain
First of allā€¦.packing up toiletries/meds/first aid stuff was AWESOME! I grabbed my little 4ml spray bottles of our daily used oil blends, a few soft gels (just in case), and my little keychain of 8 oils I thought we might need. I put everything in a makeup bag, and it was still mostly empty! In the past it took 3 bags to bring along all the ā€˜stuffā€™ we thought we might need!

Simplifying is a beautiful thing!!

The biggest win has been having the oils on hand while on the road. They have saved the day FIVE times within the first 60 miles!!

  • Kids hungry and hadnā€™t washed handsā€¦.no problem! We have a powerful blend of oils like clove, cinnamon, melaleuca, rosemary, eucalyptus and orange to the rescue!
  • 2 year old started crying of a ā€˜really really bad tummy acheā€™ thanks to car motionā€¦..a blend of awesome oils like peppermint, ginger, caraway, fennel, anise and coriander saves the day! I mean seriously. Handed the little vial to my toddler and he ā€˜sprinkledā€™ it on his tummy, rubbed it in, and within 2 minutes was back to laughing and not crying. The blend of oils I have that supports healthy digestive system is amazing. Didnā€™t even have to pull the car over!
  • baby starts screaming (this one usually sends me over)ā€¦.instead pull out lavender oil and stick it under his nose! He gets distracted, relaxes and weā€™re all good!
  • pull off for a pit stop and above mentioned 2 year old wipes out while ā€˜racingā€™ down the sidewalkā€¦all better (and disinfected) with owie spray!!
  • 4 year old removes shoes in front of the air ventā€¦.WHAT!?! How do 4 year old boys already have stinky shoes!?! Wishing I would have grabbed the disinfecting and odor-be-gone spray (it is now on my ā€˜to packā€™ for any future trips), but instead whipped out a blend of spruce and woodsy oils and smelled fresh trees instead of stinky shoes

Not sure what I did before we had these, but we will certainly NOT be leaving home without them!

If you donā€™t have any of these oils yet, shoot me a message and I can give you more info about where to get them!

Owie Spray

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Today I needed to whip up a batch of Owie spray for the kids. This is a must-have in any house with little ones, but especially this house full of boys!!

Owie_bottle
OWIE SPRAY:
7 drops melaleuca
7 drops lavender
7 drops frankincense
3 drops helichrysum
2 drops myrrh

Put into a 2 oz glass spray bottle and top off with fractionated coconut oil.

(This recipe is approximately a 2% dilution which is fairly standard and what I generally start with for use with our family. You can increase or decrease the increments of each oil if you desire a stronger blend or need more dilution)

BENEFITS

  • melaleuca: fantastic cleansing properties
  • lavender: soothing and calming to the skin
  • frankincense: supports healthy cellular repair function, reduces the appearance of blemishes and rejuvenates the skin
  • helichrysum: supports healthy tissue repair and reduces blemishes
  • myrrh: soothing to the skin; promotes a smooth, youthful-looking complexion

Just RELAX {and sleep deep}

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I have had several amazing moments since I started using essential oils, one being the time we discovered roman chamomile and vetiver! These oils have powerful properties that promote relaxation and calm the mind.

My first experience with these oils was using them to support calm and relaxation for someone experiencing intense emotions from a traumatic experience. Just 1 drop of Roman Chamomile onto the bottom of each foot (diluted in a bit of fractionated coconut oil), and they slept a solid 6 hours for the first time in a week. After discovering vetiver oil, they did the same application (1 drop on each foot over fractionated coconut oil) and you could literally see and feel their body relaxing. That night brought a full 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Nothing short of a miracle!

Vetiver is a key player to quiet anxious feelings, emotional distress, and mental chatter. It has also been used with great success on children struggling to improve focus and relax.

We put together this ā€˜Relax Blendā€™ and it has been amazing to help ā€˜settleā€™ both the kids and grown-ups alike and support deep and restful sleep.

Hereā€™s my ā€˜Relaxā€™ blendā€¦
10 drops of vetiver
4 drops of ylang ylang
3 drops of roman chamomile
3 drops of frankincense
3 drops of lavender
2 drops of clary sage
1 drop of marjoram
Fill the rest of 10 ml roll-on with Fractionated coconut oil and rub on bottoms of feet!

The oils are a very safe, yet powerful way to help calm the body and mind!

Melaleuca magic

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Melaleuca is truly a magical essential oil ā€“ great for cleansing and rejuvenating the skin and protecting against environmental threats, but did you know itā€™s also great for scrubbing off those ā€˜permanentā€™ stains on pots and pans!?

Bonus to clean with something so strong yet 100% all natural and safe ā€“ no harsh chemicals!

Yay!
Pic on the left was taken after scrubbing with Dawn dish soap.

Pic on the right was taken after scrubbing with a few drops if straight melaleuca essential oil.

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**These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

essential oils are in the air!

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I must say, I put off buying a diffuser for awhile. There are a lot of ways you can diffuse essential oils into the air and a LOT of benefits to doing so. When using 100% pure essential oils, you want to make sure you use a NON-HEAT method of diffusing as the heat can break down the properties of the essential oil and alter their therapeutic benefits. Sure they will still smell great, but then again so do candles šŸ™‚ If youā€™re going to diffuse essential oils you may as well get all the amazing benefits they provide WHILE making your house smell great!

Diffusers are definitely worth the money, and now we have one in almost every room of the house! People spend a LOT of money on candles ā€“ could you imagine how much some of those jar candles would go for if they also had therapeutic benefits?

DWb5-02_KIT_tL-5

Here are a few of the oils that Iā€™ve diffused just in the past 2 days, and why I love them:

Elevation: this stuff smells AMAZING! It is a blend of elemi, lavandin, lemon myrtle, melissa, osmanthus, sandalwood, tangerine and ylang ylang, and as silly as it may sound, it will make you happy! šŸ™‚

Lavender: What a great way to relax and go to sleep with soft lavender oil subtly being put into the room at just the right amount throughout the night!

Citrus Bliss: When having to wake up at 6 am and function with little to no caffeine, this blend is a great invigorating blend to help wake up and get you moving without caffeine, and literally purifies the air at the same time! Wake up to the sweet citrus scents of bergamot, clementine, grapefruit, lemon, mandarin, tangerine, vanilla, and orange!

On Guard: The environmental threats are high. While my kids arenā€™t in school yet, with a new baby on the way we need to make sure our immune systems stay strong this fall. This blend smells like fall, but while scenting the air with essential oils of cinnamon, clove bud, eucalyptus, rosemary and orange, itā€™s also protecting our immune systems! It doesnā€™t get much better than that!

Breathe: This stuff is the BEST if you need any respiratory support, which with two toddlers happens a LOT around here. A blend of laurel leaf, peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree, lemon and ravensara it maintains feelings of clear airways and easy breathing!

bentonite clay + essential oil ‘facial’

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bentonite clay + essential oil facialSo Iā€™ve had a ton of questions about the bentonite clay ā€“ what it is and what it does. Itā€™s a really fine all natural grayish colored clay that is super absorbent and full of minerals. A lot of it comes from areas in WY. Itā€™s great at pulling toxins and heavy metals out of your body and in place depositing beneficial minerals. As to not completely re-invent the wheel, Wellness Mama has a great blog post that gives a ton of information on it. I ordered my bentonite clay (affiliate link) on amazon.com and itā€™s a good mix of calcium bentonite and sodium bentonite so as not to get all of one mineral and none of the other!

As Iā€™ve stated before, Iā€™ve simplified my face cleaning regimen down to 100% all natural honey and oils and I LOVE it. Iā€™m on month 3 of this now and itā€™s the longest Iā€™ve gone since starting middle school without having some crazy breakouts! I am NOT one of those who was blessed with naturally smooth beautiful skin. at. all. I only wished Iā€™d known about these methods about 20 years ago. I would have saved A LOT OF MONEY and A LOT OF CHEMICALS from going into my body!

So hereā€™s a short 3 step 100% all natural, detox, repairing mini facial!

1) wash your face with 100% raw honey (the more crystallized the better as it nicely exfoliates while you scrub). Just rub the honey on your face and wash with warm water! yum!

2) for the mask, mix the bentonite clay with apple cider vinegar (you can use water if you donā€™t have ACV, but it is not as smooth or potent). Make sure not to mix it in, or with, anything metal as it will alter the properties of the clay! Make a paste out of it and spread it on your face! Let it dry completelyā€¦.it will tighten up quite a bit and then rinse off with warm water. Add a drop of 100% CPTG melaleuca (tea tree) essential oil to also help boost the skin cleansing properties.

3) moisturize, hydrate and rejuvinate with essential oils! I immediately followed the mask with good hydrating blend of fractionated coconut oil and doTERRAā€™s Immortelle anti-aging 100% essential oil blend. This stuff is AWESOME! I have been using my own blend of fractionated coconut oils, frankincense and lavender essential oils (which I still love and highly recommend), but if you can at all get your hands on an Immortelle oil blend, it is amazing!Immortelle

Immortelle is doTERRAā€™s anti-aging blend that contains a powerful mix of some rare oils like frankincense, Hawaiian sandalwood, myrrh, lavender, helichrysum and rose. Send me a message me if you want to get your hands on one of these!

The results = smooth awesome skin that is being pampered, detoxed and cleansed with 100% pure all natural basic ingredients!

Ā 

Ā 

{DIY} essential oil bath salts

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This is SUCH an easy {DIY} project that not only has great therapeutic properties while relaxing and de-stressing your body, but also makes great gifts for friends and family. Keep these salts in mind as the holidays are quickly approaching!

{DIY} bath salts with essential oilsTo make your own bath salts, simply use the following ratio:

  • 1 cup salt
  • 5-10 drops essential oils (depending on how strong you want it)

STEP 1: choose which salt you want to use. The coarser the salt, the slower it will dissolve. Some great options are epsom salts and dead sea salts. I frequently use the epsom salts as they are easy to find, inexpensive, provide a great detox and the magnesium sulfate is great for your health. You can use a combination of salts as well.

STEP 2: Pick the essential oil or blend that you want. There is an endless variety! Here are some of my favorites:
Lavender (relaxation), dōTERRA Balance Blend (grounding), Geranium (skin), Cypress (healthy circulation), dōTERRA Citrus Bliss Blend or any Citrus Oils (invigorating, but still great for night bath), Peppermint (great foot soak), dōTERRA Elevation Blend (smells AMAZING and lifts mood)

STEP 3: Mix the salt and oils together thoroughly until itā€™s well blended

STEP 4: Pour into glass jar or container for storage. Thrift stores are awesome for this sort of thing! You can get endless varieties of glass bottles with character (dark glass is best for long term storage of any essential oil products). Make a cute tag, tie some twine or ribbon on and you have a unique gift!

Step 5: Fill your bath and throw in several scoops of your scented bath salts! Relax and enjoy!

VARIATIONS:
1) You can drop in a few drops of food coloring (if you donā€™t care about keeping it ā€˜all naturalā€™ for a nice color effect. mix it into the salt and stir until thoroughly blended.
2) Add some dried flower petals, herbs or spices for some extra color and texture, though keep in mind they will float in the tub when used!

Quick tips:: Freshen up your home with essential oils

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For a quick pick-me-up around your home, a little essential oil can go a long way! Here are some simple ideas to naturally freshen up the areaā€¦.and get diffused therapeutic benefits of the oils while youā€™re at it!freshen your home with essential oils
  • Put a drop of essential oil on the front of your osculating fan and let the scent blow through the area
  • Put a drop into any humidifier to diffuse through the room
  • Drop essential oil into the middle of your toilet paper roll (in the tube). It will absorb into the paper and offer a natural fresh scent to the bathroom!
  • Put some essential oils on a tissue and place in your vacuum bag to freshen and deodorize as you vacuumā€¦or put 5-10 drops in a cup of baking soda and sprinkle around carpets prior to vacuuming!
  • Use any of the {DIY} oil ā€œspraysā€ you can make as an air freshener ā€“ just spritz around the room and enjoy!
  • Add a drop of essential oil to your steam cleaner tank to boost cleaning power and smell great too
  • Put essential oils into your fabric softener spot (see post on {DIY} fabric softener with vinegar and essential oils)
  • Add a drop of your favorite oil to your dishwasher soap to boost cleaning power and smell amazing (lemon and citrus oils are great for the dishes)!
  • Put a drop of essential oils onto a lightbulb to quickly scent a room (great right before guests arrive). The heat will break down the therapeutic properties, but the smell will definitely fill the air!
  • make your own all natural air freshener with essential oil and baking soda that actually fights odors, not masks them!
  • heat a cup of water, drop 2-3 drops of your favorite oil to diffuse into the air (also great trick prior to guests arriving)! dōTERRAā€™s OnGuard is an amazing spice scent for fall, and it supports healthy immune systems too!

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days like today need BALANCE!

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dōTERRAā€™s Balance Grounding Blend was created for days like I have had today šŸ™‚ Iā€™m pretty sure the theme of the day is ā€¦.ā€If it can go wrong, it will go wrongā€ 15ml_balanceWe all have these days, but instead of keeping emotions high or overindulging in chocolate and wine, dōTERRA has an awesome blend of oils called Balance.

A blend of Blue Tansy, Frankincense, Rosewood, Spruce, these oils combine to lower stress levels, calm anxious feelings and promote relaxation and grounding!

Diffusing is one of our favorite ways to enjoy Balance grounding blend, but topical application with massage to the feet, neck and back can be effective. Balance is also great for relaxing the kiddos after a busy day at school. Just dilute a drop into some coconut oil and rub on their shoulders or feet.

**These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Lavender Spray: don’t leave home without it!

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My lavender spray has quickly become my go-to product for so many things! This stuff is SO useful. Just a mix of filtered water and lavender essential oil (8 oz water & about 12 drops EO), this refreshing spray has endless uses and is something that we donā€™t leave home without!

Here are just a few ways that we daily use this multi-purpose spray:lavenderspray

  • spritz linens and bed pillows at night for relaxing more restful nightā€™s sleep
  • instantly freshen up a closet, mattress, room or car
  • spray on skin before heading outdoors to naturally repel bugs and mosquitos
  • sooth occasional skin irritations by spraying it on topically
  • after a hot day outside, spritz on neck and chest to relax and feel refreshed

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