Essential Oils Archives - Simply Me DIY

May 21, 2020May 21, 2020

Essential Oil Spray For All Occassions

You can use an essential oil spray for all kinds of things. I have one for me, one for dog babies, one for the curtains/carpet/house…

**NEVER USE ESSENTIAL OILS ON CATS

These kind of sprays are most often used as a deodorant of some kind.

What you want to use them for will determine what oils or carrier you may want to use.

There’s a few things to remember when you’re putting together an essential oil spray.

First – NEVER use essential oils on cats.

If you have a pet other than a dog or cat, please do your research. Some animals just can’t handle essentials oils at all.

Second – Quality Counts

Clove is supposed to be great for a
tooth ache.

Here’s a great place to learn about and find essential oils. There’s information here on what the different oils are good for and if you feel so inclined you can buy them here too.

Wherever you decide to buy your oils, be sure you are buying 100% pure essential oils. You don’t want a fragrance. And just remember, if it’s cheap, it’s probably not good quality oil.

A good quality essential oil will usually cost a little more, but that’s because you usually only need a few drops of it. A quality oil is pretty potent and frankly, it’s worth the money.

Make sure whatever you use with your oils is of just as good a quality, especially if you’re using it on your pet or your own skin.

Third – Essential Oils Are Stout

If you’re going to use it on your canine fur baby, only use a few drops. We have about 6 million smell receptors in our nose but your furry baby has about 300 million. A light smell to us is a giant smell to them and we don’t want to overwhelm them or cause discomfort.

I spray a cloud and walk my pups through it. That way it’s just a very light mist. I usually pet them afterwards to help it soak into their coats.

And I make them their own separate spray with very little essential oils in it. Remember it don’t take much.

Here’s a few things to decide on when you’re putting your spray together.

Essential Oils

Orange and orange oil — Orange smells awesome.

We all know that different essential oils, just like herbs, are used to support all kinds of different things.

Some will help you relax, or maybe invigorate and wake you up. Others may be supportive of a body function, help alleviate an allergy or other condition or just support your general wellness.

Knowing the purpose for your spray will help you choose the essential oil you’ll want to use. Or maybe you just like the smell of a specific oil or oil blend and want to use it as an air freshener.

Whatever your purpose is, your homemade essential oil stray will be much better than what you would buy at a store. You’ll know exactly what’s in it.

Here’s a few oils to look at, some of which you probably already know about (and remember you can always find more here):

Lavender

We all know lavender is great for supporting relaxation and easing a weary mind. Find out more about lavender here.

Citrus (orange or lemon)

A citrus scent is perfect for lifting your spirits. When you smell citrus it just makes you feel good.

*Note: If you spray a citrus spray on your skin, wait a while before you go out into the sun. It can make your skin sensitive to the sunlight.

Peppermint

Peppermint is great in helping to relieve headaches or migraines. It’s also been used to temporarily suppress the appetite.

Sandalwood

This has been used for thousands of years to enhance your mood.

Rosemary

Helps to reduce nervous tension & occasional fatigue.

Cedar

Cedar has a warm homey smell. It’s great for using in your house after work to just sit back and relax (especially on a cold night) and it’ll help ground you.

Bonus: insects hate all those oils with heavy smell like cedar, rosemary, basil, and lavender. All those ones we LOVE to smell.

The carrier spray

This is the liquid you will want to put the oils in. This can be water, witch hazel, or a combination of both. You might want to add a touch of a carrier oil too if you’re using it for a person or a dog. Something like almond or coconut oil, depending on what you’re wanting to do.

Water

Adding your essential oil to water is the easiest way to go. After you spray on yourself or carpet or curtains, the water will evaporate leaving the essential oil to do it’s thing and to smell awesome.

Witch Hazel

Lavender oil and a flower — Lavender is great for relaxing.

This is an astringent, meaning when you use it on your skin, it tones and tightens, (think pores). It’s also an antibacterial. When we sweat it’s the bacteria that creates and puts off a smell. You can use Witch Hazel with a few drops of your favorite scent to kill that bacteria which helps remove the smell and then replace it with whatever essential oil you’re using.

I use this as a deodorant. Pair it with the essential oil of an herb that’s also an antibacterial, say….lavender, and you’ve got a pretty good thing going on.

A few drops of carrier oil

This can be any kind of oil really. Olive oil, coconut oil, almond oil, just to name a few. In 8 oz of water or witch hazel, you’d only need about 1/8 of a tsp. This oil will help hold the moisture in and it also gives the essential oils something to spread in when you rub it on your skin.

This isn’t really necessary, but it’s a nice luxury that doesn’t cost much to add. You’ll want to make sure you don’t spray this on any cloth or it’ll show and won’t be real easy to wash out.

Mixing Your Essential Oil Spray

Ingredients for a spray for a person — What you need for a spray for a person. Change the witch hazel to
regular water for a room spray.

I found out the hard way, that if you mix too much and leave it in your spray bottle, you’ll be using that same essential oil in that bottle forever.

I don’t remember what I originally mixed it for, but I mixed water and lavender oil. Then didn’t use it all. I left some in an 8 ouch spray bottle.

At some point I decided I wanted to use a citrus spray for something and tried washing that bottle out. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. So I bought another bottle.

Tip– Make small batches and use them. Then rinse out your container. If you do that you should be able to use different scents in the same bottle.

So, that means I would say use an 8 oz bottle for a room/carpet/home deoderizer. You might start out with 5-7 drops of essential oil and if you feel you want more, add more. But, remember it doesn’t take much.

Bergamot — A very relaxing floral scent.

If you’re spraying it on curtains or carpet, remember that oil will attach itself to the fabric and it will stay there after the water evaporates. Even if you don’t continue to smell it in the air the next day. Stick your nose to the curtains or carpet, it’s there.

If you’re using it for your dog, I’d use about a 2 oz bottle. I have 5 dogs, so I still use an 8 oz bottle. So that kind of depends on what you have.

Using your spray

For my personal use, I have a 2 oz spray bottle. It’s out of one of those little airline carry packet things you can pick up at the store. It’s a perfect size and has a lid. I use about 3 drops in that.

One thing you need to remember every time you use your spray is to shake it.

Oil and water don’t mix, so every time you use it, you’ll need to mix it together so you get a good mix each time you spray.

Remember to experiment. As you use more oils, look for blend recipes. They’re everywhere. You may find a blend that you really enjoy better than any single oil.

And if you find one, let us know. Maybe we’d like it too.

Hope you all enjoyed this one. I love using my various sprays. Share what you with come up with everyone in the comments.

Until next time…

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

August 6, 2019June 14, 2021

The Virtues of Lemon Balm

Lemon Balm is one of the easiest plants you’ll ever grow with a bonus of the awesome lemony smell. It’s the Balm! (Yeah, that was a bad one I know, but I couldn’t resist).

Lemon balm tea blend. — Lemon balm and lavender tea blend.

The plant itself and the essential oil have many uses and all of them are enjoyable.

Lemon balm tea has a soothing, mild taste that I love. Because of this, I add lemon balm to a lot of my tea blends. Don’t miss my article on making your own homemade herbal teas here.

Another good way to enjoy the taste of lemon balm is to crush the leaves up, which releases the essential oils, then add them to your ice water. This gives the water an ever so slight lemon flavor that’s really good, plus you get the benefits of the herb too.

A little Lemon Balm history.

This herb dates back to the ancient Romans and Greeks, with one of its first recorded uses being a wine infused liniment.

The Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus (1493-1541) believed that Lemon Balm was the “Elixir of Life” and that it would increase strength and lengthen life.

The botanical name for Lemon Balm is Melissa Officinalis.

The word Melissa comes from the Greek word for honeybee. Lemon balm was given this name because bees love this plant.

“Melissai” was the name for a group of nymphs in ancient times, known as the nymphs of honey bees. They were credited with the discovery and use of honey and were believed to be able to morph into bees.

Lemon balm was traditionally used to uplift the spirits and used in spells to heal broken hearts and attract romantic love. It was said to balance feelings and emotions.

Ancient texts recount folk medicine practices using lemon balm tea as a support for heart health, and to promote healthy skin. It was common practice to use lemon balm externally or internally for it’s relaxing effects.

Today, many of its uses are the same.

Just running your hands through the plant and inhaling that scent will make any day more relaxing.

If you’re just looking at it, it looks like any mint plant. But run your hand through it and you’ll know the difference immediately.

Some of Lemon Balm’s relaxing qualities.

Once known as an herbal cure all, Lemon Balm supports the body in several different ways.

It’s most known for it’s relaxing properties. It’s used to help reduce stress, anxiety and depression because of its uplifting, yet calming tendencies.

Lemon balm and lavender tea. — A cup of lemon balm and lavender tea.

It’ll help reduce anxiety and promote sleep when insomnia is an issue.

Of course, this virtue is also going to help the support the body in reducing all the effects of anxiety and stress like headaches and nervous stomach issues.

The vasodilating properties, properties that allow the relaxing of blood vessels, allows for good blood flow. Another reason it’s good for headaches and migraines. Constricted blood vessels are usually the root cause for throbbing headaches.

Some of Lemon Balm’s “anti” properties.

Lemon Balm has a lot of “anti” properties.

It’s known as a mild anti-spasmodic helping to reduce muscle spasms. This includes things like leg or stomach muscles as well as bronchial tubes where asthma is an issue.

It’s anti-viral properties are good for helping to heal or prevent cold sores, among other things. And it’s considered an anti-oxidant, helping to prevent free-radicals from floating around in your body.

Now, this isn’t to say that Lemon Balm is going to cure any of these issues. But what it does say is that it may lessen the affect of these issues in duration and intensity.

A few unusual uses I ran across.

One thing I found, that I HAVE to try is making jelly. I’m not sure why, but this is something I wouldn’t have thought of.

It sounds awesome. And after trying dandelion jelly, this is something I have to try. I also read you could use it as a substitute for lemon in jams and jellies. This would be for the flavor only as there is no citrus acid in Lemon Balm. I haven’t done this either, but I’m sure I will now.

It was used to polish furniture in Europe. I’m sure this was a long time ago. But, can you just imagine how good your house would smell? Not sure how they did that, but it might be worth a try just because it would smell so good. I can see making a tea from it and using it as an ingredient in a cleaner or freshener.

It was also tossed on the floors, in the old days, to help freshen rooms. Can’t say I blame them. I’m guessing you needed a lot of smell good to cover all the other everyday odors of yesteryear.

Pollination is another thing lemon balm is good for.

A bunch of lemon balm. — A bunch of lemon balm

We read earlier how bees are really attracted to it. So plant it near where you need lots of pollinators, like a veggie garden or a flower garden.

BUT BEWARE–It is part of the mint family, so make sure you plant it in a container. As great as it is, it literally grows like a weed. So unless you have plenty of space for this plant to grow, you’ll want to contain it or it’ll take over everything.

I hope you found something useful and enjoyable here. Let me know if you’ve used lemon balm before. If you have, how did you use it? What did you think? Did you like it?

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe. There will be more herbal information coming in the future. Information for learning about the herbs and how to use them and to build your own personalized tea blends.

Thanks for stopping by.

Until next time –

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

Disclaimer

The article above is written using my research and how I’ve seen this herb work for me. It is for informational purposes only.
As I said above, every person is different. So just like anything else, herbs will react differently from person to person. What works for one, will not necessarily work for another, or it will work to different degrees. So don’t relay just on what one person says. Try each herb in small amounts and give it time to work or give your body time to react. Make sure it’s doing what you want it to do. Also remember that herbs are not like modern medicine. It’s not an instant result. Some times it just takes time and for other herbs it takes several doses (or several cups of tea) before you will notice anything.
If you have any medical conditions, always check with your doctor before using herbs as a medicine.
Drinking herbal tea for the enjoyment of it, is generally no big deal, unless you have an allergy. But if you are attempting to get some kind of bodily reaction from it, you should do your own research. The FDA hasn’t approved any of these statements regarding the use of herbs as medicine. So it’s up to you as to how and when you use an herb(s) for a specific purpose.

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019

Homemade Bug Spray

Homemade bug spray is easy to make. Your homemade bug spray can be as organic as you want it to be, there are no chemicals and best of all it works.

Homemade bug spray is not going to be near as long lasting as the store bought stuff. I don’t know what they use to make it stick to you so long, but this homemade bug spray doesn’t have it.

My batch of bug spray. Sorry for that crooked picture.

What we buy in the stores has so many ingredients in it we can’t pronounce that I’m just not willing to use on me and mine, if I can at all help it. And like so many things we buy these days we just don’t know where that stuff came from or how it was made.

I use this homemade spray on my grandkids, my furbabies, and myself so I want it to be as natural and safe as it can be.

Like most homemade stuff, it doesn’t have the staying power the industrial stuff you buy from a store does. You have to remember to reapply it every few hours especially if you are sweating badly or getting wet. But that’s okay because it smells good and it’s all natural so it can’t hurt you.

What Attracts Mosquitoes

There are several things that attract mosquitoes to the human body. Here’s a short list of the primary ones.

Carbon dioxide. This is the gas that we expel when we breath. This is what lets them know there is a food supply nearby.
Body Odor. If you sweat, make sure you wash off regularly to help prevent the growth of bacteria. The bacteria that grows from sweating is what creates the odor that attracts mosquitoes to you.
Secretors. Sounds terrible doesn’t it? Apparently about 80% of the human population are what’s considered to be “secretors”. These people secrete saccarides (a sugar based chemical) and antigens. These antigens indicate your blood type and mosquitoes like type “O” blood most and type “A” blood least. Who knew?
Lactic acid. We emit lactic acid through our skin through activity and by eating certain foods. So the more activity, the more lactic acid you will emit. Foods like soured milks, kefir, yogurt and some cottage cheeses contain the lactic acid your body emits.

The above items are all related to scent which is the primary attraction for mosquitoes. Some other things that attract them are heat, moisture, movement and color.

I found out that pregnant women are shown to exhale 21% more carbon dioxide and tend to be warmer in the belly area. So any pregnant ladies may want to wear light weight long sleeves and pants to avoid as much exposure as possible.

I also found out they like dark colors. I’m kind of fond of wearing dark colors too, so that’s a problem for me. I might have to change up what I wear when I’m home in the evening.

Most things you buy for any kind of bug control either contains or at least smells like citronella. And there’s a good reason for that.

Citronella

From what I read in researching for this post citronella works because it helps mask the carbon dioxide from our breathing and the lactic acid that we emit through our skin.

Lavender

I use lavender because I like the smell and for all the other reasons I mentioned in my previous post here. But I also found out that mosquitoes just flat don’t like the smell. I actually read they they will avoid it “at all costs”.

From what I’ve read, mosquitoes don’t like several of the heavily scented plants and herbs like geraniums, basil, several types of mints, and rosemary, just to name a few. You know, all those herbs that you can run your hands through and then smell the oils on them.

I like the smell of citronella and lavender, so that’s the mixture I’ve gone with. You can use the mix that you like best using the essential oils mentioned above. You can research other herbs too to find those that you might like that I haven’t named.

Homemade Bug Spray Recipe

This recipe is so easy. It consist of water and essential oils. The only caveat is that you use real essential oils, not the synthetic equivalents. They won’t have the same potency that the real essential oils have.

You can choose the potency you like best, but this is how I mix it.

About 1-1/2 to 2 Cups of water in a spray bottle.

I added about 100 drops of essential oils. 50 of Citronella and 50 of lavender.

Remember you’ll have to shake your spray bottle every time you use it. Oil and water don’t mix, so you need to help that along every time you use it.

There are several places you can get your essential oils. Most of the organic stores in your area will sell essential oils. I get my oils from doTERRA. I actually became a doTERRA consultant for the discounts because I found I used essential oils for so many things. You can see what all they have here, if you like.

Several different essential oils you can use.

There are several places to get your spray bottles. Depending on what was in it, you could reuse an old spray bottle. You’d want to make sure it never any anything kind of toxic or harmful liquids in it previously. Make sure you clean it thoroughly before using, including the sprayer nozzle.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. Experiment with different scents to find the one you like best. You could actually make specific scents for specific people. Play with it and have fun. Let me know what you come up with by leaving a comment below. I really would like to know.

Until next time –

Health, Wealth & Blessing ~ Tracey

January 29, 2019May 21, 2020

For The Love of Lavender

Everybody loves lavender, don’t they? Do you know anyone who doesn’t?

Last month I wrote an article about the gifts my granddaughter and I made for her teachers. You can find that article here.

Bundle of lavender — A bundle of lavender and wheat. Picture courtesy of
Prairie Lavender Farm.

In that article I told you I would go over the herbs we used in those gifts.

I thought I’d start by telling you some of the awesome benefits of lavender, a very old and well loved flower/herb.

Here’s just a few of the benefits everybody should know about this beautiful flower.

Everybody knows lavender for its beautiful scent and relaxing qualities. It’s said to relieve stress, lift moods and relieve the agitation that comes with dementia. I wish I had known that years ago.

Germany actually has patented a product called Silean that’s been shown to be as effective as Ativan in helping adults diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorders.

A drying rack full of lavender — Drying lavender. You can only imagine how lovely that lavender smells. Picture courtesy of
Prairie Lavender Farm.

Another study showed when the essential oils were used in nursing homes and was shown to decrease falls. Now that’s pretty cool, says the old lady writing the article.

All these things have long been Lavender’s claim to fame.

But did you know, there’s a lot more uses for lavender and some you might not have thought or heard of before.

It’s good when it’s used as an antiseptic and antimicrobial. Both of which help prevent infections and decrease pain.

I’ve used the essential oil to relieve a minor burn I got from pulling something out of the oven. I read about that somewhere and decided to give it a try and was shocked at how well it worked.

A few days later I read a little more on the subject and found out it promotes tissue healing too.

Lavender with a bee. — A bee and his lavender flowers. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Then I found this study that showed that kids who had their tonsils taken out took less Tylenol (or its equivalent) when they inhaled lavender essential oils after surgery. That’s pretty awesome, cause I know how bad that hurts.
**(“Evaluation of the Effect of Aromatherapy with Lavender Essential Oil on Post-tonsillectomy Pain in Pediatric Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology 77, no. 9 (2013): doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.07.014 )

Rows of lavender — Beautiful rows of lavender. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Lavender’s considered a warming herb which means it makes a great tea when you’re a little under the weather and have a bit of a chill.

And on top of everything else it can help promote digestion. Who knew!!

And here’s a little history.

Did you know Cleopatra was said to have used lavender as one of her secret weapons for seduction? It seemed to have worked on Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar.

Lavender with a butterfly — Looks like a sweet meal. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

And at one time, the sprigs were hung in doorways to protect against evil spirits. And added to baths to drive evil spirits and demons away from cranky kids, then used to rejuvenate adults (probably after giving those cranky kids a bath and putting them to bed).

There’s one more thing it’s good for.

Lavender is an edible flower and there are a ton of recipes out there, which is great since it’s so good for digestion.

Dried lavender flowers — Dried lavender. Great for teas and cooking.

What I love most and make regularly, is my most favorite way of using lavender and that’s in a loose leaf tea.

I use it together with a lot of different herbs but what I mix it with most is lemon balm tea. 3 parts lemon balm and 2 parts lavender is the best.

It doesn’t only smell divine but it tastes great.

So, the next time you need to kick back and relax, grab a cup of lavender tea. Enjoy the warm feeling it gives you and its lovely scent.

Enjoy these small things a little more.

Chairs in the shade under a tree — A lovely place to relax. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Remember to use organic UNSPRAYED herbs or flowers of any kind for whatever your using. You want to put the best quality products in and on your body that you can afford.

If you’ve tried anything lavender, let me know how it worked out for you and what you loved about it. I’d really like to know.

I want to thank Prairie Lavender Farms for letting me use the beautiful pictures taken on their farm. Please visit them online here and if you live nearby, I hope you can get by to see them in person.

Until next time…

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

January 15, 2019January 11, 2019

The Best Homemade Chapstick

So, have you ever thought of making your own homemade chapstick? Well, you should, cause it’s easy. And because 1 recipe makes a ton of chapstick.

The basic recipe includes 2 ingredients, almond oil and bees wax. That’s it, really.

Almond oil is used because it’s not as greasy feeling as coconut and some of the other carrier oils. You could always make it that much better and infuse your almond oil with calendula flowers and make it that much more nourishing for your lips.

Yep, it really is that simple.

Do you know What’s in Chapstick

Have you ever read the ingredients in chapstick? I just looked them up and it’s crazy!

Here is the list of inactive ingredients from the Pfizer website.

With the active ingredients listed as Avobenzone, Octinoxate and White petrolatum.

How many of those ingredients do you know?

Well, now you’ll always know what’s in your chapstick and it’s so inexpensive to make. I wanted to say it’s cheap to make but that really sounds bad, but anyway.

How To Make The Best Homemade Chapstick

Before you start, you’ll want to get your tubes and/or tins set up and ready. This is a cup of oil and 2 oz of wax and it made 25 1-oz tubes and 7 2-oz tins. Never hurts to have a couple of extra, just in case. I link below where I get mine.

Start with 1 Cup Almond oil

Mix with 2 oz Bees wax.

A side note about bees wax. You can see from the picture that I’m cutting from a block. The first bees wax I bought, I thought I was doing good by buying more for less. While this wax is just as good, it’s SO hard to cut up or shave off. This is where I buy my bees wax. It’s awesome wax and they have several different ways you can buy it. I highly recommend buying the pastilles or 1 oz bars unless you are making candles. Just my opinion, but I’ve used both and it’s SO worth it, trust me.

Melt wax and oil over a double boiler or very low heat. I’ve made my own double boiler. That’s a medium sauce pan with the glass measuring cup sitting on a canning ring. It’s easy to make something similar.

If you want to use essential oils, add them after you’ve removed the oils from the heat. It’ll take about 1 tsp, give or take. Start small and work up. You can always add more, but you can’t remove it.

Then pour into chapstick tubes or small tins. Sometimes this can be a challenge, but it’s doable. There are tube holders I’ve seen, but I haven’t found a need to buy one yet.

I’m sure there are a lot of places to buy these (or you could re-use tubes if you are keeping them for yourself), but here is where I’ve bought the tubes and here is where I bought the tins.

So there you have it. Simple homemade chapstick, that’s easy and inexpensive to make. Not often you find that combination. I hope you like this one and, if you need to, can adjust it to make it perfect it for you.

If you have a different recipe let me know. If you have an essential oil combination you love to use, let me know that too. Leave those ideas and recipes in the comments below to share with anyone else who may want to give it a try.

And if you know of someone who might want to give this a try, share it with them.

I hope you enjoy it. I make it and give it away during the holiday season to family and friends. It’s makes so much it would take me forever to use it up.

Until next week–

Health, Wealth & Blessings~Tracey