Summertime Must-Haves: Essential Oils

When you're heading outside this summer, don't forget sunglasses, plenty of water and…essential oils?

You bet.

If you haven’t discovered the benefits of essential oils, hold onto your beach chair.

Marcie Howard was just like you. She started using essential oils for basic purposes like removing the smell from clothes left too long in the washer. Or adding a non-toxic fragrance to the room. But when she got to reading—books and whatever else she could find online about essential oils—she discovered thousands of uses for the oils.

She learned there were oils for her brother to help with hair growth. There were oils for her grandmother that could help improve her heart health, and oils to help her mom sleep better.

Marcie headed to her own bathroom and cleared out deodorants, shampoos, face wash, shaving creams and moisturizers. She had discovered essential oils could help there too.

Now she teaches classes in and around her small northern Maine town on the therapeutic benefits of these plant-based oils. Using Young Living essential oils, Marcie shares recipes—everything from lip balms to hair detangler. She’s made more than a hundred items herself but asserts there are thousands that can be made using pure essential oils.

“I want to let others know they have a choice in what they are using in their home and for their families,” says Marcie, who is studying for her aromatherapy certification.

Here Marcie shares three all-natural remedies to help you get through the summer.

 

Pesky Outdoor Spray

2 oz. glass spray bottle

15 drops lavender essential oil

15 drops eucalyptus essential oil

15 drops cedarwood essential oil

15 drops rosemary essential oil

15 drops lemongrass essential oil

1 oz. distilled water

Witch hazel

Add all of the oils and distilled water to the spray bottle. Fill remaining bottle with witch hazel. Shake to combine ingredients.

 

After-Sun Spray

2 oz. glass bottle

6 drops peppermint essential oil

20 drops lavender essential oil

Fractioned coconut oil

Add essential oils to the bottle. Fill with fractionated coconut oil. Apply liberally after too long in the sun. Follow with aloe.

 

Sun Cream

Glass jar or squeeze bottle

90 grams coconut oil

65 grams apricot oil

29 grams beeswax

27 grams shea butter

40 grams (non-nano) zinc oxide

½ tsp. vitamin E

20 drops lavender essential oil

10 drops carrot seed essential oil

Kitchen scale

Add all ingredients except zinc ozide and essential oils in glass or metal bowl. Put bowl on scale and press “tare” button. Add all ingredients (except zinc and essential oils) and hit “tare” in between each item. Rest bowl over pot with shallow water but not touching water (this creates your own double boiler) and gently stir until all ingredients are melted. Place bowl back on scale and hit “tare.” Slowly stir in zinc; cover your nose and mouth with mask or other barrier as to not breathe in the fine particles. Stir in essential oils. Pour into container.