I have been using essential oils for about eight years now. I pretty much fell in love with them the moment I brought them into my home. About 2 years ago I was introduced to doTerra and I fell more in love. Then earlier this year I became a Wellness Advocate for doTerra. Today I want to share a little bit of why I love essential oils.
Natural Lifestyle
The first reason I love essential oils is that they let us bring natural alternatives into our lives. Essential Oils are derived from plants – roots, leaves, fruits, and flowers. As an organic gardener, I know that plants are healing and need to be an important part of our lives. Therefore, why not harness the power of these plants thru using essential oils.
As a cancer survivor I want to cut down on toxic chemicals in any way I can. Essential oils provide natural alternatives for me to do that. I have been able to replace cleaning supplies, beauty supplies, perfume, bug spray, hand sanitizer, air freshener, and so much more.
Essential Oils can be traced back to ancient Egypt, Persia, and India. Also, Greece and Rome had extensive trade of oils and ointments with Asia. They are even mentioned in the bible. Does Frankincense and Myrrh sound familiar?
Replacing My Cleaning Products
Have you ever looked at the ingredients in your cleaning supplies? When you have a minute pull one out and read it. Then look up the ingredients online and see how many are toxic. I guarantee you will be surprised. We come into so many toxins out in the world that it really helps to make our homes as toxin free as possible.
Instead I use my essential oils to clean. One of my favorite cleaning solutions is 2 cups filtered water, 2 TBSP white vinegar, and about 10 drops of oil. My favorite oil for this is Lemon but sometimes I mix it up and use other citrus oils such as wild orange. This spray is great for cleaning just about anything. P.S. it costs a lot less than buying cleaning products from the store.
Makes My Home Smell Divine
We live in the era of home scents. Where it is all about the latest smells in the form of room sprays, wall plug in scents, and scented candles. I used to be a big user of those products but I finally realized they mad me congested and gave me headaches. For me I much prefer to use natural essential oils to scent my home. Again, they are less toxic than some of those other sprays are.
I always have different oils going in my diffuser. One of my favorites is 5 drops cinnamon, 1 drop clove, and 1 drop ginger for a nice fall scent. Smells like pumpkin pie. Another of my favorites for Summer is 3 drops lavender, 3 drops lime, and 1 drop spearmint. The beautiful thing about mixing your own diffuser blends is that you have more control over the scents you like and don’t like.
Another way I make my home smell divine is by making my own room sprays. I use this bottle to create them. All it takes is about 20-25 drops of oil, 2 Tbsp. rubbing alcohol, and water. Some of my favorite oils to use are lavender, eucalyptus, and wild orange. We use it in our bathrooms and I also use it as a linen spray when making the beds. Oh and can you say stinky boy shoes.
One last place where I use essential oils to scent my house is in the dryer. I use wool dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. I will place two or three drops of essential oils on one of the balls before starting the dryer. Again, this is a money saver in not buying dryer sheets and it reduces toxins in another area of our home.
Manage Mood and Emotions
I think we can all agree that smells affect our moods and emotions. The smell of coffee, baking bread, or your favorite meal. Isn’t that why we buy the candles and the other home scents?
Here is a little bit about the science behind essential oils. When we diffuse oils the tiny oil molecules travel to our nose and transmit messages to our brain. They communicate with our limbic system which is responsible for emotion, behavior, motivation, memory, and learning. Since each oil is made up of different molecules, they have different affects on our body and brain.
Here are a few oils we use in our home and why:
- Mint oils like peppermint and spearmint are energizing and calming
- Citrus oils like wild orange and lemon are uplifting and revitalizing
- Tree oils like fir, spruce, and vetiver are grounding and balancing
- Florals like lavender are calming and reassuring
- Herbs like rosemary and cilantro are comforting and soothing
- Spices like cinnamon are renewing and intriguing
The beauty of essential oils is that you can mix oils in your diffuser and the separate molecules travel to your nose. For example in the afternoon when the kids come home from school I like to diffuse peppermint, lemon, and fir. This blend helps energize, calm, uplift, and ground us all at the same time. Which is a great thing for kids trying to do homework after a long day at school.
Swapping Out My Medicine Cabinet
People have used essential oils and plants for their health for centuries. I have always been drawn to herbal remedies and growing medicinal herbs in my garden. I do grown them, but using essential oils gives me more options.
For example, lavender is a great soother. In recent years we have seen a lot about lavender in bath and skin products. I love to use lavender to soothe minor skin issues like scrapes, scratches, and bug bites. My daughter and I have several skin allergies and lavender and rose come in handy.
Peppermint is another great oil. It is great to diffuse for stuffy noses along with eucalyptus. Peppermint oil can also help with minor upset tummies. I also find it helps lessen the strength of a headache.
Please Shop Responsibly
Truthfully, I could go on and on about all my favorite oils like frankincense, oregano, lemon, clove, tea tree, and on and on. Anyone who knows me, knows I love my oils and will talk about them for hours given the chance.
However, I would like to say to anyone using or considering using oils is that not all oils are created equally. And just like other products we buy not every company out there producing essential oils is reputable.
This is why I love doTerra essential oils because they care about the purity of their oils and even go as far as third party testing them. Therefore, I trust them to be natural and not contaminated with other impurities like some other essential oils on the market can be.
So just be careful when buying oils. Look at the labels and do your research. Thanks for stopping by Small Steps Homestead today and finding out why I love essential oils. I will occasionally be sharing more on essential oils, so please stop back again. You can also check out my Pinterest board on essential oils where I find inspiration. And if you would like to talk more about this or any other topic please reach out to me on Facebook.