Essential oils are versatile substances with many applications and it’s great to learn how to use essential oils without a diffuser.
10 Ways on How to Use Essential Oils without A Diffuser
1. Add To Your Bath
A few drops of essential oil creates an aromatic, therapeutic bath.
It’s important to choose your essential oil carefully. Some strong oils such as cinnamon and thyme can irritate skin and mucous membranes; soothing lavender and chamomile are better choices for a relaxing bath.
To avoid skin irritation, any essential oil should be mixed with a carrier oil such as olive or jojoba; both are excellent for the skin and have a minimal odour, so they don’t interfere with the scent of your essential oils.
2. Improve Your Massage Oil
As well as smelling lovely, research suggests that using essential oils enhances the existing benefits of massage therapy, including pain management and improved mood.
Choose your oil carefully, as they have a wide range of effects: oils such as rose and clary sage calm anxiety, while oils like black pepper affect the digestive tract and nervous system.
3. All-purpose Cleaner
Lemon oil has a range of household uses.To make an effective oven cleaner, add a few drops of lemon oil to baking soda and vinegar and leave to soak. After fifteen minutes the mixture will have broken down the crusted dirt and made it much easier to wipe away.
Adding lemon and tea tree oil to water and using it as a spray makes a fantastic anti-bacterial surface cleaner for kitchen and bathroom surfaces, and is a great non-toxic alternative to bleach-based products.
4. Skincare
Many essential oils have great skin benefits. Tea tree is anti-bacterial, proven to be effective against acne, and is also a natural astringent, making it a great addition to any toner.
Rose oil is soothing, hydrating, and is used in many anti-ageing products – adding just a couple of drops to your favourite moisturizer will bring these benefits to you too.
A favourite trick of mine is to add cinnamon oil to my lip balm. It’s important to remember that a little goes a long way, but cinnamon oil increases blood circulation, so putting it on your lips is a great way to highlight their natural beauty.
5. Flavour Cakes And Biscuits
Lime and grapefruit oil can be used to add a citrus flavour to any recipe, and a couple of drops of lemon and orange essential oils can be used instead of zest.
Similarly in Italian recipes, the essential oils of oregano and thyme can be used in sauces instead of the herbs themselves – helpful if you’re running low or if you want a smooth texture instead of chopped herbs.
A more unusual flavour is lavender, which works beautifully in victoria sponge fairy cakes – perfect for an elegant afternoon tea with its lovely aroma and sophisticated flavour.
6. Give Your Clothes A Refreshing Scent
Adding essential oils to a few pieces of tissue or handkerchiefs and placing them in your clothes drawers allows your clothes to absorb your favourite scents.
Whether you want to smell fresh like lemon and peppermint or seductive and exotic as heady jasmine, perfuming your clothes with essential oils gives you an authentic signature scent without the hefty price tag of perfume.
You can also change which oils you use throughout the year, choosing autumnal scents like cinnamon and ginger through October and November, and bright scents like geranium throughout the summer.
7. Eliminate Pet Odours
Mixing geranium and lemongrass oils into your floor or carpet cleaner can help counteract those nasty odours our furry friends leave hovering around the house.
Lavender oil is great for removing the smell of ‘accidents’ from the carpet. After cleaning the area with water and vinegar, a few drops of lavender essential oil can be sprinkled on the carpet not only to remove the odour but also as an anti-bacterial.
8. All-natural Carpet Refresher
If your carpet could do with a refresher, add ten drops of a refreshing scent to 200g of baking powder, leave to rest in a container for a few days and then sprinkle over the carpet.
After a few hours, hoover up the powder and enjoy your fresh smelling carpet. Any oils can be used for this, but I would recommend lavender oil as it is very effective at removing odours and, as mentioned above, it is anti-bacterial so it can help prevent future odours from forming.
9. To Wash Fruits And Vegetables
Many fruits and vegetables have a residue of pesticide on them, and even for those of us that can afford to buy organic produce, it’s still wise to wash off the remnants of the great outdoors.
Instead of plain water try a mixture of cider vinegar, water, and just a few drops of lemon oil. The acetic and citric acids in these ingredients cut through wax coatings and lemon oil is particularly good for removing dirt and bacteria.
10. Make Your Own Hand Sanitiser
As well as smelling wonderful many of the most well known essential oils have antibacterial properties, which is why they’re added so frequently to acne-fighting skin products. This also makes them useful for making hand sanitiser free from harsh substances like alcohol.
Hand sanitiser can be made using a base of water, aloe juice and witch hazel plus ten to twelve drops each of two essential oils.
Among the best anti-bacterial essential oils are lavender, tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus, and cedarwood oil. I would recommend choosing from these for your first oil and choosing the second based purely on what scent appeals to you, making a completely individual hand sanitiser.
Can You Use Essential Oils Without A Diffuser?
Yes, you can use essential oils without a diffuser. They are versatile substances with many applications, from surface cleaner to a delicious baking ingredient.
Essential oils are wonderful in massages and baths, and many such as rose, tea tree and geranium are very beneficial to the skin and can be used to improve any toner or moisturiser.
A diffuser is a great way to use essential oils as an air freshener or mood regulator, but it barely scratches the surface of the many ways essential oils can be used.