50 Little-Known Uses for Essential Oils for Your Lungs, Skin, Sleep and MORE

There are a lot of common uses for essential oils. We put them in baths and rub them on our skin. Aromatherapy is where most essential oils get put to use. But we gathered up a list of other ways to use essential oils and have tucked them into a list for your convenience.

Make sure to pin this or save the link. It’s going to come in handy. I research uses for essential oils all the time and some of them surprised even me!

Cleaning

1. All Purpose Cleaner – three drops of tea tree oil, three drops of lemon oil and three drops of clove or oregano oil in two cups of water. This can work as a floor cleaner, even hard wood. You can also put it in a spray bottle (and shake it vigorously) then spray it on countertops and let it sit. Then wipe it up.
2. Shower Cleaner: Mould, mildew, and soap scum is just 4 drops each of eucalyptus and tea tree oil with a cup of water and spritz it over your shower.
3. Carpet Cleaner (and freshener!): 20 drops of tea tree oil and 10 drops of lavender oil mixed with a box of borax on your carpet. Sprinkle onto your carpet, let sit as long as you can and then vacuum it up.
4. Fridge Freshener: When you wipe out your fridge, use lime, lemon or grapefruit oil to keep bad smells at bay.
5. Spot Banisher: Dishes coming out of the washer spotty? Add a few drops of lemon essential oil to banish spots.

Beauty

6. Improve Skin Health: Add 10-15 drops of peppermint or sweet birch oil to your bath to cool inflamed skin and promote healing. (It also helps keep you cool after a bath in summer.)
7. Facial Toner: 1 drop each of tea tree oil, orange and lemon oil with ½ a teaspoon of coconut oil and apply to face.
8. Facial Mist: Add three drops of lavender oil to a small spray bottle containing water.
9. Scented Lotion: 10 drops of essential oil to your favourite moisturizer for a personalised scent.
10. Perfume: 10 drops of your 3 favourite essential oils to alcohol for your own unique scent.
11. Hair Freshener: 5 drops of essential oil to your hair brush will enliven unwashed hair.
12. Sugar scrub: There are numerous essential oil recipes online.
13. Deodorant: A great recipe here.
14. Chapped skin: 1 or 2 drops of lavender oil on the affected skin.
15. Nail Strengthener: 2 drops of frankincense oil with ½ a teaspoon of coconut oil and rub into nails to strengthen them, repeat once a week.

Home Use

16. Bug Repellent: One drop each of eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil, citronella oil, and lemongrass oil. Use a tablespoon or a carrier oil (coconut, avocado, grape seed, jojoba) and apply it to your skin.
17. Bug Killer: Keep your tomato plants safe with orange and clove oil (undiluted) in a spray bottle. (Also, great for getting cats to stop eating leaves of plants).
18. Relieve Stress: Lavender oil diffused in a room or a bath or on a light bulb before bed can make falling asleep so easy.
19. Produce Cleaner: Two drops of lemon oil in a sink full of veggies will kill any bacteria on the outside of your veggies.
20. Kitchen and Bathroom Freshner: A cotton ball soaked in oil and tucked in an out-of-the-way place can keep a small space smelling fresh and covering any other unpleasant odours.
21. Smoke BeGone: 4 drops each of tea tree, eucalyptus, and rosemary oil in a cup of water. Shake thoroughly and clear out any lingering smoke smells.
22. Freshen Shoes: Clean your shoes. Spray the soles and interior with 2 drops tea tree oil and 1 tsp. of water.
23. Remove Garbage Odour: 5 drops of your favourite essential oil to a cotton ball and put it in the garbage bin. When the scent fades, replace the cotton ball.
24. Remove Stickiness: Leftover sticker residue and other sticky messes can be removed with 5 drops of lemon oil.
25. Pest Repellent: Get rid of spiders, mice, and house centipedes with cotton balls soaked in peppermint placed near the places you see them most frequently.
26. Ease New-Paint Smells: Add 10 drops of peppermint to your can of paint, mix in and paint away.
27. Air freshener: 10 drops of your favourite essential oil in a cup of water. Spritz on anything that needs freshening.
28. Fire enhancer: use 10 drops of essential oil on a log before burning (citronella works great in outdoor fires to keep mosquitoes away)
29. Dryer sheets: 1 cup of vinegar and 10 drops of essential oil. Soak some fabrics strips in the mixture and then toss them in the dryer (no, your clothes won’t smell like vinegar).
30. Custom Bath Salts: There are numerous recipes on custom salts baths using essential oils online.
31. Wood Polish: ¼ cup of vinegar, 1 tbsp. of olive oil, ½ tsp. lemon oil, and 1 ¼ cup of water in a spray bottle. Shake and spray. Wipe off with dry cloth.
32. Soap and Shampoo: When making soap, add a few drops of peppermint oil for a tingling wake-me-up.
33. Homemade Candles: add 10 drops of your favorite essential oils to a melted candle.

Medicinal

34. Medical Kit: Keep tea tree, lemon, oregano, and frankincense for cuts and scrapes, and lavender for calming frayed nerves or shock.
35. Anti-Nausea: 10 drops of peppermint, lemon, and fennel oil along with 5 tbsp of carrier oil in a bottle. Rub gently on someone who is sick.
36. Ease Sore Feet: 10 drops or peppermint and 10 drops of vetiver to a tbsp. of Epsom salt. Put that in warm water and soak your pain away.
37. Hand Sanitizer: Use 2 drops of your favourite scent: clove, oregano, lemon peppermint with 2 tbsp. of grapeseed oil. Apply when needed.
38. Cramp Relief: 2 drops of basil, rosemary, and clary sage with a tbsp. of carrier oil on your tummy.
39. Headache Remedy: a drop each of lavender and peppermint in a tbsp. of carrier oil applied to your temples. (use an old lip chap tube and coconut oil and shea butter for carrier oil to get to a solid)
40. Clear Chest Congestion: 2 drops each of fir oil and spruce and a tsp. of carrier oil. Apply to your chest and back between your shoulder blades.
41. Fever Reducer: one drop of peppermint, lavender, and eucalyptus oil in ¼ cup of water. Apply to forehead, neck, back and any other areas to help bring down a fever.
42. Energy Boost: Rub grapefruit and bergamot in a tsp. of carrier oil on your hands and pulse points to reawaken your senses.
43. Sleep Aid: A few drops of chamomile or lavender on your pillow will send you off to a comfortable night’s sleep.
44. Bruise Remedy: 1 drop of clove and 4 drops of lavender in 1 tbsp. of carrier oil applied to a bruise speeds recovery.
45. Poison Ivy Remedy: 1 tsp of carrier oil and 2 drops of wintergreen essential oil applied to the affected area will reduce redness and inflammation.
46. Bee stings: 1 drop of lavender oil to reduce pain and swelling of bee stings.
47. Motion Sickness: 1 drop of peppermint in a tsp. or carrier oil on pulse points and hands helps ease nausea.
48. Wart fighter: Apply oregano essential oil to a cotton ball, place over the wart and cover with a bandaid. Keep reapplying the oil until the wart is gone.
49. Joint relief: Find recipes online.
50. Concentration Aid: A few drops of sage on the back of your neck will help you focus.

These are just some of the ways you can use essential oils. How do you use them? Tell us in the comments!