Essential Oils: Everyday Use

Essential oils are a staple at the Wittekind homestead.  Whether it’s for medicinals, fragrance, cleaning products, or even bug repellent, you’ll never find us without our essential oils!

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Peppermint Oil

By far, the most commonly used essential oil at my house is peppermint oil.  It’s so versatile, and we use it for:

• digestive issues — A drop of peppermint oil in a large glass of water will cure whatever ails your belly (in my experience.) Last week in Episode 879 of The Survival Podcast, I learned that 1 drop of peppermint oil equals 26 CUPS of peppermint tea! No wonder the stuff works so well for me!
• spider killer — We’ve been finding more than our fair share of black widow spiders lately, and my husband deals with them immediately and effectively with peppermint oil.  He takes a Q-tip dips it in peppermint oil.  Then he draws a circle around the offending spider.  Finally, he touches the spider’s body with the Q-tip.  They die instantly, and he can dispose of them without worrying about them jumping or biting.
• insect repellent/killer — According to a list I found on the Internet, peppermint oil is an effective repellent/killer for ants, aphids, beetles, caterpillars, fleas, flies, lice, mosquitoes, moths, and spiders.  I use peppermint oil in our homemade bug spray, and it works great!
• regaining energy and clarity — If I’m feeling sluggish, I’ll grab my peppermint oil and take a few deep breaths.  Before I know it, I feel revitalized and clear, as if I’ve had caffeine (without the jittery side effects.)

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Lavender Oil

I LOVE the scent of lavender oil.  Some of our favorite uses include:

• insect repellent/killer — I add lavender oil to my homemade bug spray.  It’s effective on chiggers, fleas, flies, mosquitoes, moths, and ticks.
• first aid for burns and cuts — I was dubious about this one, but just the other day, I had a chance to try it on a small grease burn.  I was shocked at fast the lavender oil relieved the pain and swelling, and the next day, you couldn’t tell I’d been burned.  I’ll be using this on skin issues a lot more in the future.
• scent for homemade laundry detergent concentrate — It doesn’t take a lot of lavender oil to scent 5 gallons of laundry detergent concentrate, and it smells so nice!
• air freshener — Lavender seems to do a great job of neutralizing bad smells in the air.  One drop, and you’re good!

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Clove Oil

The active ingredient in clove oil is eugenol — a substance that’s found in “natural” insecticides.  While I use clove oil most often in that capacity, it’s also commonly used for dental issues and pain.  It’s a component in my homemade bug spray, and it really makes things smell nice (if you don’t go overboard.)

Other Essential Oils

Also present in my essential oils toolkit are things like oil of oregano, spearmint oil, wintergreen oil, lemon oil, and citronella oil.  I’m sure I’ll add more as the opportunity presents itself, but for now, the oils that I have on hand always seem to get the job done.

Some Quick Notes About Using Essential Oils

Some essential oils can be extremely irritating if they’re applied directly to the skin without a carrier oil.  Mix no more than 1mL essential oil into 1oz of carrier oil (like coconut oil or olive oil.) Use lower concentrations on small children.

For body sprays, use 1mL of essential oils for every 2 fluid ounces of water.  Shake well before you use it because I’m sure you remember the rule about oil and water from back in grade school.

100 Pure Essential Oils seems to have some great references for the novice.  There are also a lot of great books out there.  If you’ve never considered essential oils before, I encourage you to give them a try.  I think most folks are quite surprised about the results they can achieve with these powerful chemicals.