Natural Body Guru

Before washers and driers, our ancestors laid their clothes on lavender or rosemary plants to dry so that the scent would permeate the garments. Today we can use essential oils in the washer, dryer, drawers, and closets to keep our clothes smelling nice and to receive even more benefits.

Add 3-5 drops of lemongrass or lavender to your rinse cycle water for wonderfully fresh smelling clothes. For a more alluring fragrance, add ylang-ylang essential oil to the final rinse. During the cold and flu season rinse your bed linens with eucalyptus, rosemary, or pine essential oil to relieve coughs throughout the night. Use a rinse of peppermint essential oil when your children have whooping cough. If insomnia is a problem, rinse linen and nightwear with marjoram, chamomile, or sweet orange blossom essential oil to aid sleep.

Add 2 drops of essential oil to a 4 inch square piece of material and put it in the dryer with your clothes. To infuse your garments with a fresh scent use lavender, rosemary, or bergamot; for a floral scent use geranium, or palma rosa; for a romantic or exotic scent use ylang-ylang, jasmine, or rose essential oil.

Other uses for essential oils with clothing include:

• Making a natural moth repellent by placing cotton balls with lavender, lemongrass, camphor, or rosemary essential oil on them between clothes in drawers.
• Making fragrant drawer liners with no chemicals by cutting blotting paper to drawer size and dotting it with essential oils. Brush the paper with orris root powder which acts as a fixative and then shake the powder off and place the liner in your drawer.
• Making a synergistic blend of 3 drops lavender, 2 drops sage and 5 drops of rosemary essential oil to add to sneakers and repel odor. Add this blend to a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and mix well. Sprinkle the mixture into sneakers and leave overnight for fresh smelling shoes the next morning. Don’t forget to tap the soda out in the morning or you will be walking around with puffs of smoke coming out of your shoes.

Kitchen smells run the gamut from the wonderful aroma of freshly baked cookies to the stinky smell of burnt popcorn. Kitchens have a trash area where garbage is tossed, a spot for wet coats and muddy boots, and a corner for dog bedding and the cat’s litter box. Essential oils are a natural alternative to commercial air sprays because they cleanse the air for you instead of masking odors; they are harmless to food, humans, and the ozone; and many of them are antibiotic and antifungal so they may even help keep you from getting sick.

• To cleanse kitchen surfaces add 4-6 drops of any one of the following essential oils to one pint of water: eucalyptus, lavender, lemon, lime, grapefruit, pine, or lemongrass. For a kitchen synergistic blend combine the following essential oils: 10 drops lavender, 15 drops lemon, and 5 drops eucalyptus. This mixture is disinfectant, antibacterial, and leaves a lovely fragrance when used on kitchen surfaces. You can add 8 drops of this formula to 2 1/2 cups of water in a plant spray bottle to spray the air or surfaces.
• To kill germs on dishtowels soak them in a bowl of boiling water and 1 drop of eucalyptus, thyme, tea tree, or lavender. Let the towels soak  until the water is cool then wash as usual. This will keep your towels germ and bacteria free.
• To lighten the chore of dishwashing and uplift your spirits at the same time, add 5 drops lime, 3 drops bergamot, 2 drops lavender, and 1 drop orange essential oil to your dishwashing liquid. The natural aroma of these essential oils will make a boring task take on a much lighter note. If you use a dishwasher, simply add 2 drops of lemon essential oil to the detergent you use in your machine and stir it before closing the door.

Essential oils lose their therapeutic properties after about two years but do not toss them out! Put two drops at a time down kitchen drains to create a nice scent when hot water runs down. Also use them in the water you use to wash windows and trashcans both inside and out. Essential oils make kitchen work safer and much more pleasant.

Many rooms in a home or apartment open onto the hallway and the scents from each room mingle to form a unique aroma that is distinct to that home. Most hallways have no windows so smells linger and fill the area with stale air creating a kind of aroma smog. Hallways need a fresh pleasant fragrance rather than the spicy herb scented aroma of the kitchen or the heavily scented oils that might be used in other rooms.

A good suggestion for a hallway fragrance is the citrus oils of grapefruit, lemon, lime or bergamot essential oil. Any of these oils can be blended with lavender to give an uplifting aspect or geranium to impart a calming effect. Use the geranium when company is coming because it will make them feel good as soon as they enter your home. If someone has a cold or flu, add 2 to 3 drops of rosemary to the citrus base using a total of 8 drops of essential oil in 2 1/2 cups of water in a plant-spray bottle. Spray the carpet and stairs in your hallway to help freshen up the entire area.

Hallways get a lot of traffic and are likely  to gather dust and scuff marks. Washing down the paintwork and baseboards is much more pleasant when you use the uplifting aroma of citrus essential oils, especially when you know that they are also antiseptic, disinfectant and can play other useful roles.

In today’s world most of us are very conscious of what we are doing to the earth’s ozone layer with commercial aerosol air fresheners. When you use essential oils to scent your home, you are providing your family with a much better option and your home will have a delightful aroma. You can scent your home with essential oils in the following ways:

• Use  about 8 drops of essential oil to 2 1/2 cups of water and spray as finely as possible towards curtains and carpets. Test curtain and wood materials before spraying to avoid water stains.
• Purchase a light bulb ring or use one drop of essential oil directly on a light bulb in a standing lamp. Make certain the light is turned off before applying the oil because essential oils are flammable. Once the oil is applied, turn on the light and the heat from the bulb will release the scent into the room.
• Turn a log fire into a fragrant event by applying one drop of essential oil (try cypress, pine, sandalwood, or cedarwood) to each log. Your guests will think you are using imported wood for your fire!
• Diffusers are an easy effective way to scent a room. Wipe them clean before applying a different oil or blend. If you don’t have a diffuser, place a bowl of boiling water with 5-6 drops of essential oil in a centrally located place in the room. Remove the bowl when the water cools and keep it out of the reach of children and pets.
• Add 4 drops of essential oil to a cotton ball and place it close to your heat source in winter months or put as many drops as you like in a humidifier.

The first impression of your home is the aroma that greets guests as they enter. This first sniff says a lot about your household, whether there are pets and smokers, the kind of food cooked there, etc. Real estate agents are becoming more aware of the importance of aromatherapy and have started advising their clients to create a homey atmosphere when trying to sell their house by baking cookies or bread and putting on a fresh pot of coffee when expecting home viewers.

If you are not a baker, you might want to know that a few drops of clary-sage or lemon essential oil will put your new home buyers or any guests at ease. They might comment, “Your home has such a lovely relaxed atmosphere, we don’t know why.” You can rest assured it is because of the scent of clary-sage or lemon essential oil that you have in your diffuser!

Essential oils are extremely potent and most of them must be diluted with a carrier or base oil. Oils used in aromatherapy penetrate the skin, so they need to be diluted  properly so you reap the best benefits from your massage session. A carrier oil is basically used to carry the essential oil and open the gateway for them to make an entry into the skin and render the health benefits from your aromatherapy session. These carrier oils are also referred to as cold-pressed vegetable oils and they are easily absorbed into the skin. Some types of aromatherapy carrier oils include almond, coconut, jojoba, grape seed, aloe vera and olive oil. Almond oil is also a great moisturizer and suitable for all skin types.

Most of the oils that we find in grocery stores are heated, and not cold pressed, so they have less health benefits. You or your therapist has to balance your aromatherapy carrier oil with the essential oil to maximize the health benefits of your session. Of course, there are also many recipes for essential oil use and the recipe usually gives you a choice of the carrier oil to use plus how much essential oil and carrier oil to use.

Everyone knows to put sunscreen on when you go to the beach, but what about every day? Even in the winter, your skin is exposed to harmful UV rays. In fact, it’s the everyday sun rays we get that can cause the most damage. UV rays damage your skin and lead to premature aging. In fact, too much sun exposure can zap moisture from the skin, making the oil glands work overtime, which leads to pimples and acne.

Babysitting for my daughter is something I gladly do whenever she has weekend classes to get continuing education points or to update her chiropractic license. The last time I went to her home to babysit, she was all stopped up and had a sore throat but she went to the class anyway because she felt she had to. Well, a couple of days after I got back home, I started sneezing and my throat felt scratchy so I knew she had passed her germs on to me.

I started to treat my cold symptoms right away by using essential oils to raise my immunity levels and also fight the cold virus. First, I swished  5 drops of tea tree essential oil, 2 drops of lavender essential oil, and 2 drops of thyme essential oil into my bath water. When I got out of the tub, I massaged my chest, neck and back with 2 drops of tea tree essential oil and 3 drops of eucalyptus essential oil diluted in 1 teaspoon of sweet almond oil and got directly into bed.

To dispel cold germs in the home, I use a diffuser in the living area and also spray the bedroom with thyme and lavender. For the spray, add 8 drops lavender and 6 drops thyme to 1 cup of distilled water in a plant spray bottle and simply spray the air. Drink plenty of liquids and make a special tea by using 1 drop of clove essential oil and 2 drops of lavender essential oil blended with 1 teaspoon of honey in a cup of hot water. Sip this drink slowly to sooth your throat and help ease your symptoms. Colds have to run their course but you will feel much better and the symptoms won’t last as long if you follow this regimen.

Moist, supple skin is the product of hydration and a good skin care regimen. I know it is sometimes hard to do, but not drinking eight 8 ounce glasses of water per day could lead to dry, sagging skin, eczema, cracked flaky skin, acne and pimples.

If you simply hate water, add water rich foods to your diet to help you stay hydrated. Some of the best water-rich foods are:

• Cucumbers – 97% water
• Tomatoes – 95% water
• Zucchini – 95% water
• Peaches – 87% water

Grains, beans, and pastas are also good sources of water because they absorb a lot of water as they cook. Use a good quality, chemical-free, natural moisturizing product to keep your skin moisturized on the outside too.