We’ve all been intimidated by how to use essential oils. With a little practice and this simple guide, you’ll be an expert in no time.
To master your use of essential oils, you’ll need to understand a few things right off the bat. Typically, oils are used in one of three ways. This essential oil uses list will help you become a pro in no time!
Using Essential Oils Aromatically
Using essential oils aromatically is one of the most powerful ways to enjoy their benefits! Aromas are processed in the body before we are consciously aware of it, and they can set the mood and atmosphere in any environment. The sense of smell is directly connected to the limbic lobe of your brain, also known as the emotional control center. The limbic lobe is responsible for your mood, memory, behavior, feelings, and emotions, and it is connected to the olfactory bulb in the nose. When a scent arrives to the limbic system, your body responds by releasing unique chemicals into your brain, causing different reactions, depending on the aromas detected.
The same concept applies to aromas from essential oils! Those scents can set the mood or bring up memories before you are even aware of it. The sense of smell can have a profound impact on your emotions and inner desires.
Your sense of smell serves as a channel to connect to your inner systems. Next time you diffuse your favorite essential oil to eliminate odors, know that you are experiencing more benefits than just a good-smelling room!
Some ways you can experience the aromatic benefits of essential oils are:
Diffuse! Open up your diffuser and start using it today!
Put a few drops in your hand, cup your nose, and slowly inhale.
Apply to your wrists or neck for an aromatic boost throughout the day
Apply a few drops to your diffuser jewelry of choice.
Add 2-3 drops to cotton balls and place them around your home.
Make a linen spray or bedroom mist by mixing essential oils and water in a glass spray bottle.
Why diffuse essential oils?
Removes metallic particles and toxins from the air
Increases atmospheric oxygen
Increases ozone and negative ions in the area, which inhibits bacterial growth
Destroys odors from mold, cigarettes and animals
Fills the air with a fresh, aromatic scent
Disperses the benefits of the essential oils through the molecules being dispersed into the air
What does the ionizer on the diffuser do?
They reach our bloodstream - negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress, and boost our daytime energy.
Essentially, it helps purify the air and uplift moods. It’s what the rave of the Himalayan salt lamps are - because they are negative ionizers, as well.
Using Essential Oils Topically
Applying essential oils on your skin is convenient, practical, effective, and a great way to experience some of their many benefits! You can enhance your massage, apply to fatigued areas after exercise, smooth the appearance of wrinkles, support healthy-looking skin, and so much more! Try applying oils to your feet, adding them to a foot bath or massage oil, or adding them to your beauty products.
Face: Oils are amazing for enhancing your beauty routine. Frankincense and Lavender can help reduce the appearance of blemishes and fine lines for a more radiant glow!
Forehead, neck, base of skull, and temples: Use oils like Peppermint and PanAway ® for a cooling sensation on targeted areas.
Abdomen: Try applying oils like DiGize® and Peppermint over your stomach before and after meals
Wrists and chest: Apply your favorite scent as a natural perfume without all the harsh chemicals. Stress Away and Peace and Calming are some of our favorite relaxing scents.
Chest: Raven® is great to help freshen the airways. Mix with a carrier oil and apply to the chest!
Hair: You can support the appearance of healthy-looking hair with Lavender and Frankincense.
Bottoms of feet: The bottoms of the feet are a good place to apply oils because the skin on your feet is not as sensitive as other areas. Massaging your feet can also stimulate nerve endings, which can be very beneficial for your entire body. Try applying Valor or Lavender as you try to unwind after a long day.
When using essential oils topically, it is important to know a few safety guidelines:
We do not recommend using essential oils in your eyes, ear canals, and other sensitive areas.
Remember to dilute your essential oil with a carrier oil, especially if you are new to essential oils. Carrier oils will ensure that the essential oil applied is comfortable on the skin. These are fat soluble oils like Young Living’s V-6™ Vegetable Oil Complex, coconut oil, avocado oil, or jojoba oil. Diluting does not dilute the power or effect of the essential oil.
Look for specific dilution ratios on Young Living essential oil bottles. Once you are familiar with how your body reacts to essential oils, you can try applying gentle oils like Frankincense and Lavender directly on your skin without a carrier oil.
Stop using the oil if irritation or discomfort on the skin occurs, and do not rinse with water. Apply a carrier oil to the affected area. Oils are hydrophobic which means on a molecular level they repel from water molecules. So if you decide you no longer want an oil on your skin, washing it off with water will not work. Use a carrier oil to rinse and dilute essential oils.
What is a hot oil? Hot oils are oils that may have a tingling or burning sensation on the skin when applied undiluted or without a carrier oil. If you experience this, simply dilute the area with a carrier oil - not water!
Hot oils include (but not restricted to): Lemongrass, Exodus II, Cinnamon Bark, Thieves, Clove, Peppermint, Oregano, Thyme.Citrus-based oils and blends may cause temporary photosensitivity. This means they will make your skin more sensitive to the sun. Follow individual label instructions and avoid direct sunlight for 12–48 hours. We recommend applying citrus oils on skin that will not be exposed to direct light.
The skin is the body’s largest organ and it acts similar to a sponge--everything we apply topically gets absorbed into the body. This is just one of the reasons we should be using quality, plant-based products for our skin and in our personal care products.
Did you know?
At the end of an umbilical cord is the Pechoti gland which remains after birth. Every human has a Pechoti gland which is connected to more than 72,000 nerves that run throughout the body to various organs and tissues.
By applying essential oils or CBD oil to the belly button and utilizing the Pechoti delivery method, constituents have the ability to reach every part of your body. This is something that no other delivery method can provide.
Using Essential Oils Internally
Young Living’s Vitality line was created so you can enjoy the benefits of essential oils internally. This white-labeled collection of oils is specifically labeled for dietary or internal use; whereas, the “regular” essential oils are labeled for topical/aromatic use. The essential oil inside both bottles is the exact same pure essential oil—the label and recommended usage are the only differences! You can use the Vitality line in your cooking, to flavor your favorite beverages, create your own veggie capsules, and support many different body systems. Vitality essential oils are a great way to keep yourself healthy!
Young Living Vitality Oils are Non-GMO project verified. To receive this certification, all Vitality oils passed through third-party verification, auditing, and testing. This distinction is yet another example of our Seed to Seal quality commitment.
Vitality oils are the appropriate essential oils to use when sharing internal use practices and cooking recipes with others. Please remember that Young Living always encourages you to use products as labeled!
Below are few powerful ways you can use Vitality essential oils:
Add a few drops of Lemon Vitality to your water for antioxidant properties and immune and circulatory support.
Support a Healthy immune system by adding Thieves Vitality to a veggie capsule.
Put a drop of German Chamomile Vitality on your tongue or put in a capsule for mood support and to help calm occasional nervous tension.
Grapefruit Vitality supports weight management, the lymphatic and circulatory systems, and is cleansing, enhance the taste of your smoothies or veggie juice with this bold flavor!
Add a few drops of Peppermint Vitality to your favorite drink to support normal digestion.
Lavender Vitality promotes restful sleep, the feeling of calm and fights the occasional nervous tension.
Remember essential oils are potent, one drop goes a LONG way when cooking. Try dipping a toothpick in your bottle, swirl the toothpick in your dish, and then slowly add more oil to taste.
If adding oils to a drink, be sure to use a glass or stainless-steel bottle because oils will eat away plastic. Use caution when using an oil on any soft, plastic surface.
ABOUT CARRIER OILS
Jojoba
Mimics skin's natural sebum, making it a great option for your face!
Gentle, moisturizing, and absorbs quickly
Slightly nutty aroma
Perfect for DIY facial serums
Coconut Oil
No noticeable aroma
Absorbs well; leaves skin feeling silky and moisturized; non-greasy
High in essential fatty acids
Universally a favorite
Grape Seed
Light and thin consistency
Moisturizing and non-greasy
High in linoleic acid and vitamin E
Relatively short shelf life
Sweet Almond
Moisturizing for the skin, hair, and nails
Slightly sweet, nutty aroma
Medium consistency
Rich in vitamin E and oleic acid
Olive oil
Light and non-greasy
Perfect for cleansing and moisturizing
Stronger aroma
Good source of oleic acid (omega fatty acid)
Young Living's V-6
Combines fractionated coconut oil, grape seed oil, sweet almond oil, wheat germ oil, sunflower oil, and olive oil.
Moisturizes and nourishes the skin
There are a couple of ways one can be sensitive to essential oils, but an allergic reaction is not one of them, at least when we speak about Young Living essential oils. Allergies are erroneous immune responses to proteins, peptides, and amino acids - all nitrogen compounds, none of which are found in essential oils.
You can have an allergic reaction to a vegetable oil such as olive, corn, peanut, walnut, almond, etc., since these are cold pressed and can contain small amounts of proteins. For example, occasionally a person can develop an allergy to an oil blend such as Valor, which is sold by Young Living. The allergy is not due to the essential oils of spruce, frankincense, rosewood, and blue tansy in the blend. It is due to the almond oil in the blend. [valor blend has been updated] So read your labels. What may appear to be an allergic reaction to a blend of essential oils may be due to a carrier oil contained in the blend.
You can also have an allergic reaction to citrus oils which are cold pressed from the rind. However, while we refer to citrus oils such as orange, lemon, lime, and grapefruit as "essential oils," strictly speaking they are not. By definition, a true essential oil must be steam distilled, not expressed.
There are also oils extracted by solvents such as onycha, jasmine, and neroli. Strictly speaking, they too are not true essential oils. Technically, they should be called absolutes, not essential oils. One can have a true allergic reaction to these because, like the citrus oils, they have not passed through a distillation process and can contain traces of proteins, peptides, or amino acids.
Because of the nature of distillation by heat, steam, and water, that true essential oils must undergo, they do not contain the necessary compounds to trigger allergies because these compounds do not pass through the distillation process.
Hence, sensitivities to essential oils, in the sense of allergic reactions, are not possible. Allergic sensitivities are due to the body developing antibodies in response to certain nitrogenous molecules. No one has everfound antibodies in humans from essential oils. So if one has a reaction to an essential oil, it is something else. Not an allergy.
HOT OILS
There are oils that are naturally hot, such as oregano, thyme, mountain savory, cinnamon, cassia, and a few others. This is because of their phenolic compound content which cleanses our cells and paves the way to healing. Such oils can be taken internally via capsules or applied to the skin directly with caution or diluted with a fatty oil.
If burning or irritation occurs to the skin from such oils, prompt application of a vegetable oil layered over the essential oil will take care of the problem in short order.
The same thing applies if you get an essential oil in your eyes or if you swallow a hot oil, like oregano, and it burns your mouth and throat. Don't use water, use a vegetable oil for immediate relief. Pour it directly in the eyes or take it orally if your mouth or throat are affected.
DETOX REACTIONS
As for sensitivities to essential oils that produces a skin ash or other allergic-like symptoms such as headaches or nausea, this is always a detox reaction. While allergic reactions get worse and worse with each exposure to the offending substance (allergen), detox reactions eventually get less and less severe with each exposure to an essential oil until it disappears completely once the toxins are cleared from the system.
When one has a detox reaction from an essential oil (which is a good thing), they need to back off from using oils for a while and increase their water intake and, perhaps, get into a cleansing routine for a month or so, going light on the use of essential oils for a while. What is happening in this kind of sensitivity is that the oils are detoxing too rapidly for the colon and kidneys to handle so the toxins come out through the skin as the third avenue for excretion. It is better to keep the rate of detox down to levels that are flushed out through the kidneys and colon, if possible.
EMOTIONAL SENSITIVITIES
In rare cases, a person can react to a perfectly pure therapeutic grade essential oil as if it were an allergen or a toxin, but in reality the response is neither an allergy nor a detox. It is something else.
Another kind of sensitivity to essential oils has to do with emotions. In cases of extreme unresolved grief, which can be due to the loss of a loved one or other circumstances, one can become sensitive to anything, even the most harmless of things. In extreme cases, people can become universal responders, reacting to almost everything in what appears to be an allergic reaction. This malady is sometimes referred to as "Extreme Chemical Sensitivity" (ECS) or "Environmental Illness" (EI).
In such cases, some people have been known to react in an allergy-like fashion to even the purest of essential oils, such as those sold by Young Living. But healing from such an illness does not come by treating it as an allergy, because it is not an allergy in the classical sense. It is a spiritual-emotional disease and must be dealt with at that level.
The spiritual and symbolic message in this sort of reaction is that the individual is so depressed, unhappy, and unwilling to accept life as it has been given to them that they are rejecting all of creation and, thus, react negatively everything. There is a scriptural reference to this in Proverbs 17:22, "A broken spirit dries the bones."
The basis of our immune system is in the marrow of the bones where the T-cells and other white corpuscles are formed. Allergies and other environmental or chemical sensitivities are due to malfunctions of the immune system at the level of the white corpuscles (leucocytes). Hence, this Bible verse is actually referring to a negative autoimmune response originating in the bones caused by an individual's rejection of the world around them stemming from extreme grief or a broken spirit.
The solution to this spiritually rooted illness is to recognize the source of the grief, accept it, and deal with it. When that is done, the sensitivities disappear, usually within a few days and sometimes overnight. Applying selected essential oils for emotional purposes can assist in revealing and releasing the buried feelings that underlie such a malady.
ADULTERATED OILS
There is one other source of sensitivity that may be blamed on essential oils and that has to do with perfume and food grade oils. True therapeutic grade essential oils are grown organically, harvested in proper ways and times, distilled gently at minimum temperatures and pressures, and bottled without any ingredients removed or added. All of the essential oils sold by Young Living are therapeutic grade oils. However, the vast majorityof aromatic oils sold in retail stores and other places are perfume or foodgrade oils.
A true therapeutic grade essential oil contains hundreds of compounds, all of which are necessary in a proper balance for them to possess healing power. Since only a few of these compounds contribute significantly to aroma and/or taste, when essential oils are used for fragrances or flavors, the only compounds that matter to commercial users are the ones that have smell or taste. In some cases, this involves only 2 or 3 compounds in an oil, and the manufacturers and users don't care if these compounds are natural or synthetic so long as the smell and taste are there and the cost is cheap.
Hence, fragrance and food grade oils are always incomplete in their composition, containing only part of the chemical profile of a complete therapeutic grade oil. Furthermore, they are usually adulterated with synthetic compounds or diluted with petrochemicals to increase their volume and profitability.
One can have reactions to such oils, but these are not reactions to true essential oils. Such reactions are due to the adulterants in the oil. They are not caused by the natural essential oil components of the oil.
Under the microscope
Watch what happens to blood cells under the microscope after being exposed to various substances, including essential oils.
Commonly Asked Essential Oil Questions
I’m new to essential oils. How are they used?
Each bottle of Young Living essential oil is labeled with directions for how that oil can be used, and these directions vary based on location. Please consult with the product label for appropriate use directions.
I see the term “carrier oil” used in several places. What is a carrier oil, what does it do, and why should I use it?
A carrier oil is a vegetable oil such as coconut oil or grapeseed oil that can be used to dilute EO. Young Living's V-6 Vegetable Oil Complex is an excellent carrier oil for all applications. Carrier oils ensure that EOs applied topically are comfortable. Dilution with a carrier oil does not dilute the effect of the EO, and prevents waste due to excessive application. Vegetable shortening, butter, margarine or petroleum derivatives (petrolatum jelly) should never be used as carrier oils. Some consumers choose to avoid olive oil as a carrier oil because of its strong aroma and thick viscosity.
What if I experience skin discomfort or irritation?
If discomfort or irritation occurs, stop using the EO, and apply V-6 or other carrier oil to the affected area. Never use water in an attempt to flush the oil off the skin, as this may increase discomfort. If a rash occurs this may be a sign of detoxification; drink adequate water to encourage the release and removal of body toxins. Toxins present in petrochemical-based soaps and skin care products, detergents and perfumes may trigger some of the detoxification reactions. Consider discontinuation of these agents if a reaction occurs. Before using the EO again, perform a patch test (see above) and dilute with a carrier oil as needed. Water drives oil into the skin and the eyes. If EO gets in your eye, flush with V-6 carrier oil to alleviate any discomfort. Discomfort should be alleviated within minutes. If eye discomfort does not subside within 5 minutes, please seek medical attention. Be aware that some documents suggest diluting the oil with water. YL suggests that you dilute with carrier oil to ensure that discomfort is alleviated as quickly as possible.
Can essential oils be applied to sensitive areas?
YL recommends that you avoid contact with EOs and sensitive areas such as eyes, ears, genitals and mucous membranes. If you choose to use the oil in any sensitive area, dilute 1 drop of the essential oil to 5-10 drops of V-6 carrier oil.
How often can essential oils be applied? How much do I use?
Proper usage is indicated on each EO label. Please follow label instructions. The idea of “if a little is good, a lot is better” is not always correct. Essential oils are very potent and powerful– start low and go slow. In most cases 1-2 drops are adequate and using more may waste product. Depending on the EO you can gradually build up to 3-4 uses per day if desired. Excessive use of essential oils may increase the risk for adverse reactions.
Can essential oils be used during pregnancy or while nursing?
As with any medical condition it is strongly recommended that, prior to use of essential oils, you seek the advice and recommendation of a competent, trained health care advisor who is experienced in EO usage. It is generally recommended to avoid overuse and excessive use of Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea), Sage (Salvia officinalis), Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), and Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) as well as the blends and supplements that contain these oils.
Can essential oils be used on children?
Many EOs are appropriate for use with children, and they should be diluted prior to use. Some YL products are pre-diluted with carrier oil as indicated on product label and are intended for direct application on children. Children generally respond well to EO, and use of a carrier oil is recommended. One-2 drops of EO such as SleepyIze, RutaVala, Gentle Baby and Peace & Calming may be diluted in carrier oil and applied to the bottom of the feet.
How does exposure to sun affect essential oil use?
Some EOs, especially citrus oils, contain natural molecules that react with sunlight (UV light) and cause a sensitivity reaction. All YL EOs and oil blends that contain these compounds are labeled with a warning to avoid sun/UV light for 12 to 48 hours after applying. Caution should always be used when starting to use a new oil: use patch testing (see above), dilute and apply the oil to skin that is protected from sun/UV exposure to reduce the risk of sensitivity. YL beauty and cosmetic products are formulated to remove sun-sensitizing agents to reduce the risk of sun sensitivity.
What about the use of essential oils if I have a medical condition? Can essential oils interact with prescription medications?
If you have a disease or medical condition, or if you are using a prescription medication, it is recommended that you consult with a health advisor who has experience with EOs prior to using an EO. Seek the advice of the prescribing physician and a pharmacist about potential interactions between the medication(s) and the essential oil(s).
Could I be allergic to my Young Living essential oils?
“Allergies are erroneous immune responses to proteins, peptides and amino acids - all nitrogen compounds, none of which are found in essential oils.” -Dr. David Stewart, Ph.D, D.N.M.