By now you’ve probably heard of essential oils and are wondering which essential oils are best, and so we bring you this useful essential oils guide including the top 10 best essential oils and their uses. After reading this guide, you’ll likely realize that you too could make use of some of the many benefits of essential oils in your life.
- See related Top 10 Essential Oils Diffusers
- See related Top 10 Essential Oil Bug Sprays
Continue reading below for useful information discussing what are essential oils, benefits of essential oils, essential oils uses including aromatherapy. Let’s start with the 10 best essential oils recommended to have in your home.
Top 10 Best essential Oils Guide
There are literally hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of different kinds of essential oils from various plants. The list of essential oils and their uses is really long. Here we bring you an abbreviated list of the top 10 best essential oils guide, of the more commonly known or used essential oils that you might encounter in and around your home.
1. Lavender essential oil.
This is a useful essential oil to have at home. In various products it is used primarily as a fragrance, and also used as an insect repellent. But at home, you can apply it to the skin for rashes, acne, or insect bits. Add a few drops to your bath to help soothe your frayed nerves, or add a few drops to your laundry’s rinse cycle to help with odors and give a nice scent.
2. Tea Tree essential oil.
This happens to be one of the most beneficial oils, which can be used to treat so many common ailments. It is never to be consumed, but applied topically for athlete’s foot, eczema, acne, cold sores, warts, and insect bites, among others. Or, create a natural disinfectant spray by mixing a teaspoon of tea tree oil into a spray water bottle, and use it on counter tops, door handles, and pet area.
3. Lemon essential oil.
This is another great one to have at home, with so many uses. You can add it to dish detergent, homemade laundry soaps, floor cleaners, and spray cleaners to give that citrus clean smell. Mix a couple drops with a glass of water to gargle and relieve bad breath, or add a few drops to your shampoo to control dandruff. It’s also great in a diffuser to fresh air.
4. Peppermint essential oil.
If you have nausea or an upset stomach, a cup of peppermint tea (made with EO) will do the trick. If you have cough or bronchial congestion, mix some peppermint oil with eucalyptus and massage oil, and rub it on your chest to breathe in. To help with odors around the house, such as stinky sneakers, mix peppermint oil into a water spray bottle.
5. Eucalyptus essential oil.
Living in Southern California, this is one of my favorite scents I enjoy while walking around. Take a deep breath of eucalyptus to alleviate chest congestion. This also has excellent disinfectant properties to naturally eliminate germs and odors.
6. Clove essential oil.
This one is has been used for dental issues and is one of the best natural treatments for toothaches, cold sores, and canker sores. Note that it is highly concentrated, and will need to be diluted. It’s also good for insect bites, and can repel mosquitoes if used with a diffuser.
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7. Chamomile essential oil.
Chamomile is of course known for its soothing and calming effects, and its use goes all the way back to the Romans. Drink a cup of chamomile tea to calm frayed nerves, and to help you sleep. Like the others mentioned above, this oil too can be used topically on the skin for treating eczema, acne, and insect stings.
8. Frankincense essential oil.
You may be familiar with this ancient oil, which was known to the Egyptians (as it was even found inside King Tut’s tomb). The story of the three wise men is a testament to its value. It was considered useful for various skin ailments, acne, warts, and scrapes (it’s an excellent disinfectant). It’s great in a home diffuser, to help with migraine headaches, and alleviate stress and anxiety.
9. Grapefruit essential oil.
I love eating grapefruit, and love the essential oil just the same. Like lemon essence, this is also antibacterial and great to mix into your cleaning spray. Spray around your dog’s bed to repel fleas. You can apply it topically for oily skin and hair, or massage your temples and forehead to soothe your headache.
10. Oregano essential oil.
With an impressive list of properties, including being anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-parasitic, anti-microbial, and antiseptic, oregano essential oil is great to use around the house and on your body. It should always be diluted.
- See related Top 10 Skin Care Oils
doTERRA – Best Essential Oil Brands
In our experience, doTERRA is one of the best essential oil brands that you can count on, for excellent quality and effectiveness. doTerra is a great essential oils company, that guarantees its products and provides great customer service, based on the many high quality reviews of their essential oils on amazon.com
Two favorites products, especially for the beginner, are the following:
doTERRA Intro Kit
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See amazon for detailed more Doterra essential oils reviews. You’ll love this kit as a starter for yourself, or as a gift.
Doterra Home Essentials Kit
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For more Doterra essential oils reviews, see amazon.com. You will enjoy this complete package, which comes with 10 essential oils plus diffuser. With doTERRA, you can trust the quality you will get. This one is more expensive, but gives you everything you need. This kit includes: Frankincense (15 mL), Lavender (15 mL), Lemon (15 mL), Melaleuca (15 mL), Oregano (15 mL), Peppermint (15 mL), Breathe (15 mL), DigestZen® (15 mL) On Guard® (15 mL), Deep Blue®(5 mL)
What are Essential Oils?
Next time you are in the piney woods, take a deep breath and you will smell the pure essence of the pine trees. This is the essential oil of the pine as it wafts through the air. It is called “essential” meaning that it is contains the “essence” of the plant’s fragrance. Note that they all come from various plants of various sorts.
An essential oil is a concentrated liquid containing the aroma compound from plants, the oil of the plant. This oil is extracted from the plant usually through a distillation process (involving heat and steam), or through cold pressing (like olive oil). Just like you can have “virgin olive oil” which comes from the first pressing, you can see that the method of production can affect the final outcome, in terms of purity or quality.
It is important, when shopping for essential oils, to consider the source and how it was produced, which will determine how effective it is. If you intend to use essential oils for health care purposes, as opposed to using for household cleaning supplies, then you should do your homework and invest a few extra dollars to get high quality, organic essential oils.
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Benefits of Essential Oils
Essential oils have been used for centuries, for various medicinal and health purposes, and their recorded history goes back a thousand years. Several ancient texts describe the many benefits of essential oils, which many cultures have utilized.
In modern medicine, certain core compounds, such as methyl salicylate from “oil of wintergreen”, are recognized as having medicinal value. Some essential oils seem to provide antibacterial qualities, and are seen as more natural replacements to other artificial antibacterial agents. Today, many practitioners of alternative medicine espouse the use and benefits of essential oils for different ailments, and there are many firm adherents who swear by them.
Essential Oils Uses
Throughout the years, many essential oils uses have been documented and passed down. They have been used to treat various skin conditions, by mixing the essential oils to make natural lotions and creams. Today, many recipes exist for homemade essential oils skin treatments. Certain essential oils serve as effective ingredients of natural bug repellents.
More commonly, they are used in everyday products around the house, such as perfumes, cosmetics, and soaps. You’ll find that essential oils are used to add scents to household cleaning products (especially pine and citrus essential oils), and also used to make incense.
Also, you’ll find essential oils being used as natural flavorings for different foods and drinks. Note however, due to their high concentration, it is generally not a good idea to ingest essential oils in their pure form, and some could be harmful to your health if consumed in large, concentrated quantities. Remember, generally a small quantity goes a long way.
Perhaps the most popular and well known uses for essential oils is for aromatherapy, which you may experience while getting a massage or acupuncture. Aromatherapy essential oils are believed to have curative effects when breathed in and absorbed. Indeed, they have a calming and relaxing effect, at the least, and help clear the sinuses and clear the mind.
How to Use Aromatherapy Oils
Next time you get a massage, you may experience the relaxing therapy from eucalyptus or some other such plant. To begin with, the concentrated pure essential oil may be diluted into another oil, like massage oil for example. It may be too concentrated to use in its pure form, so it usually gets diluted a bit.
The most common way to use aromatherapy oils is with a diffuser, which is also known as a nebulizer. This handy device typically plugs into the wall and gently heats up the oil, slowly and continuously releasing its fragrance. Some nebulizers operate with a low-power fan which mixes the oil and air and helps carry it further.
Other common ways to use aromatherapy oils include putting it on a small dish and lighting a candle underneath it, or soaking a cotton ball and just letting it sit. Lastly, they can be burned as incense, but some argue that this may not be good for the lungs.
