Cooling Aromatherapy Oils

     In the dead of summer, cooling aromatherapy for the car, home, and body will bring sweet relief. Heat rash, heat exhaustion, skin irritations, dry skin, inflammation, and irritability can be healed with proper application of the following essential oils. Choose three or four from this list and work them into your daily or weekly routine to help you feel your best when the hot weather seems merciless.

1.  Chamomile

2.  Rose

3.  Sandalwood

4.  Cedarwood

5.  Juniper Berry

6.  Cypress

7.  Patchouli

8.  Basil

9.  Lavender

10. Rosemary

11. Mint

12. Eucalyptus

             Chamomile and Rose are two of nature's most potent anti-inflammatory agents! Both are much more costly than other aromatherapy oils, but well worth the expense. Chamomile essential oil is distilled from Chamomile flower buds. It's a thick, blue oil that smells nothing like Chamomile tea. Essential oil of Chamomile has a strong medicinal, apple-like scent. It's cooling and soothing for skin. It also reduces fever and relieves insomnia, anxiety, allergies, and irritated skin. Rose calms & beautifies skin, and is delicate enough for babies, cooling heat rashes and diaper rash. Essential oil of Rose is great for highly sensitive skin and hot heads.

           Both Sandalwood and Cedarwood essential oils are calming, grounding, good for dry skin, good for meditation, and effective for reducing excess heat in the joints. Both oils were used by ancient Egyptians in the embalming process. Cedarwood, great for eczema, is much less expensive than Sandalwood essential oil. Sandalwood, while not as cooling as most of the oils on this list, is wonderfully healing. Its sweet oil has a natural aphrodisiac effect for both women and men.

            Juniper and cypress make great air purifiers. Both heal summer colds, heat exhaustion, water retention, and poor circulation. Not good oils for sensitive skin, they each have a pungent odor and a very stimulating effect. Cypress is good for varicose veins.

            Patchouli's heavy balsamic, woodsy scent was wildly popular in the 1960's. You'll either love it or hate it. For those of you who enjoy the smell of Patchouli, it's a wonderful cooling agent for summertime. Patchouli is good for eczema, dry skin, dandruff, and fluid retention. It's also a sedative.

             Basil and Lavender make great nerve tonics, skin tonics, bug bite medicine, and fever reducers. Aromatherapy with Basil and Lavender is good for anxiety and agitation brought on by the heat. Lavender is the most versatile of all essential oils on the planet. (Read more about lavender in the previous blog post). Basil is good medicine for snake bites, also.

              Rosemary, mint, and eucalyptus have a higher percentage of menthol than most other essential oils. This gives them a magically cool, refreshing effect. All three have a brisk, penetrating scent. Rosemary's scent is sharper than most, while peppermint and spearmint essential oils smell a bit sweet.  The scent of eucalyptus is sharp and spicy. Choose any one of these three to purify the air in your home or to clear your head. Use together or individually in a bath, foot soak, or massage oil to revive hot, achy, and tired muscles -- a great choice for a car aromatherapy diffuser on long summer road trips. Eucalyptus effectively reduces fever.

               The benefits of the above mentioned oils extend far beyond summer ailments. Work aromatherapy into your daily grooming and self-care routines; home diffusers, car diffusers, scalp massage, ear massage, baths and foot soaks are some of the easiest practices to start with. I recommend using organic aromatherapy, if you can get your hands on it. We carry organic essential oils at Urban Sanctuary.

            Write in to urbie@urbansanctuaryspa.com, call us with inquiries at 706-613-3947, or let us know about your aromatherapy successes in our comment's section!