Complete aromatherapy detox

 A detox usually concentrates on food and drink but aromatherapy offers a detox of a different, more holistic and enjoyable sort!

Below you’ll find ideas for:

• Top detox essential oils
• Cleansing and detoxing your skin
• Breathing easy – oil diffuser blends
• Detox massage blends
• Aromatic bath: time to rest body and mind
• Complete aromatherapy detox spa day
• Inhalation oils

Try out the ideas that appeal to you or create your own aromatherapy detox spa day!

IMPORTANT: Remember that before you use essential oils you should check their contraindications and health and safety information (more details are at the end of this post). If you have any medical conditions we recommend you consult your doctor and/or a professional aromatherapist first.

TOP DETOX ESSENTIAL OILS

In need of some help with a detox? How about using some essential oils?

Black pepper, geranium, ginger, grapefruit, fennel, and lemon are fabulous oils to help with your detox. Use them in a bath, as a steam inhalation, in your oil burner/diffuser and even better as a massage oil or body butter for your abdomen!

My top blends

• Grapefruit 3 drops, geranium 2 drops, black pepper/ginger 1 drop (oil burner/diffuser).
• Grapefruit 3 drops, geranium 2 drops, black pepper/ginger 2 drops (bath).
• 5ml sweet almond oil – 1 drop each grapefruit, black pepper/ginger, geranium (massage).
• You could also try grapefruit, lemon and ginger; or grapefruit, lemon and fennel.

CLEANSE YOUR SKIN

Cleanse your skin with this amazingly delicious body scrub! At room temperature the coconut oil will start to soften and you can help this along by gently giving it a stir with a spoon. Then add your essential oils and continue to stir before finally adding your unrefined brown sugar. Give this a good mix with a spoon or fork – no need to whisk – and you are good to go.

This will smell absolutely delicious! Sweet, refreshing and zingy!

This body scrub will unblock the pores, remove dirt, dust, grime and potentially harmful microbes, cleanse the skin and leave it feeling silky smooth. The smell is absolutely divine too!

You could also check out Attic Teas www.attictea.com because they have a wide range of amazing teas to help with cleansing, hydrating and detoxifying the system!

BREATHE EASY

Using essential oils keeps our respiratory system happy and healthy and I’d like to present some ideas you can try at home to give yourself an aromatic boost!

 

Oil diffuser/burner

Using an oil diffuser or burner is a wonderful way of creating an ambience for your home or office. The smell of the essential oils opens our breathing pathways, helps to bring us into the present moment and to lift our spirits, stay focused, relaxed and calm. Essential oils also kill airborne microbes which stop the spread of infection.

Place 6-8 drops of your chosen essential oils into your oil diffuser or burner.

• Positivity: 3 drops of grapefruit, 3 drops of  geranium, 2 drops of black pepper
• Balance: 3 drops of geranium, 3 drops of bergamot, 2 drops of lavender
• Refreshing: 3 drops of lemongrass, 3 drops of lavender
• Relaxing: 4 drops of lavender, 3 drops of frankincense, 1 drop of chamomile
• Stimulating: 4 drops of rosemary, 2 drops of lavender, 2 drops of ginger

Steam inhalation

Place three drops of your favorite essential oil (rosemary, peppermint, eucalyptus for the morning, lavender or frankincense for the evening) into a bowl of very hot water. Put a towel over your head and put your head over the bowl for approximately one minute at a time. Do this three to five times, placing two drops of essential oil into the bowl each time.

A steam inhalation is particularly effective at giving our lungs a bit of a clear out and it also helps to cleanse the skin on our face! I do this once a week as a regular routine to kill any potentially harmful microbes, remove excess mucus from the system, unclog the pores, open the breathing pathways and to deepen the breath. It’s really easy to do and only takes 5-10 minutes. It’s also a very effective way of getting essential oils into the system and it’s a fantastic stress buster!

Inhalation oil

Breathing is one of the most important functions of our body and we don’t even think about it very often, but the air that we breathe, as well as its quality, has a direct impact on our overall health and happiness. The wonderful thing about aromatherapy is that we use our breath to inhale the wonderful aromatic qualities of essential oils that also help us to stay well and be happy and healthy.

Try placing a drop of essential oil on a tissue or cotton wool pad and sitting quietly and inhaling the scent for a few minutes. For the morning you might enjoy rosemary, peppermint, lemongrass or eucalyptus and for the evening, good choices are lavender, chamomile or frankincense.

 DETOX MASSAGE BLENDS

Massage oils can be very effective at helping to soothe and stimulate internal organs and filter and eliminate waste products. I’ve listed my key detoxifying oils further down the blog. My top blend would be grapefruit and juniper, with either lemon or black pepper. Apply this blend to the abdomen and/or soles of the feet for optimal detoxifying effect. Here are two blends for you to try out and they should each last for three or four massages.

Stimulating and awakening blend (daytime)

• 10ml grapeseed oil/sweet almond oil
• 3 drops juniper
• 2 drop grapefruit
• 1 drop lemon or black pepper

Relaxing and calming blend (evening)

• 10ml grapeseed oil/sweet almond oil
• 3 lavender
• 2 geranium
• 1 juniper

By gently and slowly massaging the abdomen in a clockwise direction the internal organs are soothed and stimulated helping the flow of digestion and urination. The essential oils are also absorbed through the skin into the bloodstream where they then help to improve the functions of the respective body systems. Essential oils are absorbed very quickly into the bloodstream when massaged onto the soles of feet which makes essential oil massage here very effective indeed.

You could make up your own blends using some of the following oils that I would recommend for a good abdomen detox.

Another tip I have picked up along the way is to drink plenty of water and where possible, warm/hot water (from a heated/boiled kettle). Apparently this is absorbed into the bloodstream much faster and helps to remove toxins more easily. This is not my field of expertise so I would advise researching this yourself first.

You could also check out Attic Teas too and ask them for detox advice using tea – www.attictea.com

AROMATIC BATH: TIME TO REST BODY AND MIND

It’s time to put your feet up, put some candles on, and relax in a nice warm bath with beautiful smelling essential oils. A bath is an amazing way of resting, relaxing, unwinding and retreating from the outside world.

Aromatic bath salt solutions

• 4 tablespoons of Epsom or Dead Sea salt
• 4 drops juniper, 3 drops grapefruit, 2 drops black pepper

OR

• 4 tablespoons of Epsom or Dead Sea salt
• 4 drops juniper, 2 drops lemon, 1 drop grapefruit, 1-2 drops fennel

Place the salt into a dish and add your essential oils then mix thoroughly with a spoon. When your bath is ready, add the bath salts, step into your bath and relax.

The bath brings warmth to our bodies during the colder and wetter winter months, alleviates aches, pains and stiffness, encourages local blood circulation, slows the heart rate and blood pressure, and deepens and lengthens the breathing.

Whilst in a greater state of relaxation, our body can then work more effectively on its job of homeostasis (balance) which it does by filtering and removing waste, among other things. Essential oils are the perfect combination because they help us to relax, rest and recuperate, to lower blood pressure and heart rate, to deepen and lengthen the breathing, to alleviate aches and pains, and to filter and remove toxins from the system.

COMPLETE AROMATHERAPY DETOX SPA DAY

Aromatherapy detox home spa! Give your mind a rest. Come back to the here and now. Return to the present moment. Leave your emotional baggage at the door for someone else to carry. Turn your inner TV off and give the drama a rest for a while… everything can wait. For now give your feet, legs, heart, lungs, back and brain a rest.

For this spa day you might like to enjoy:

Body Scrub – Face Mask – Oil Burner Blend

Bath Salts – Anointing Oil – Herbal Tea

First make your body scrub, then face mask, then bath salts and finally the body oil. Decide what oils to use in your oil burner and get the oils ready. Once the products are all made and ready, apply the face mask, then prepare the oil burner, light the candle, run a nice warm bath and close the door to keep the aroma inside the room.

Make your cup of herbal tea and when your bath is ready, take your cup of tea, bath salts and body scrub into the bathroom. Add your bath salts to the bath and step in. Take a spoon with you so that you can take the body scrub out of your dish with something clean and dry. Leave the anointing oil for later! So now then, what products to make how to make them?

Lemongrass and lavender body scrub

• 
  30g of coconut oil, 55g of unrefined brown sugar, 10 drops of lemongrass, 10 drops of lavender.
• Soften the coconut oil by gently stirring it with spoon at room temperature. Add the essential oil drops, and finally add the sugar mixing thoroughly all the time.

 

 

Face mask

Face masks are very easy to create and gorgeous to use! Find some ideas here.

Oil burner blend

Select your favourite essential oil(s) and when you are ready to run your bath, place six to eight drops into your oil burner. Close the door to the bathroom allowing the smell to fill the room.

Aromatic bath salts

• 
  4 tablespoons of Epsom or Dead Sea salt
• 4 drops of juniper, 3 drops of grapefruit, 2 drops of black pepper or lavender or geranium
• Place your salt into a dish and add the essential oil drops then mix thoroughly. When your bath is ready, add the salt and step in. Please note – do not allow water to get into your product prior to adding to the bath!

Anointing oil

This is really simple and you can either make a body oil or a perfume oil. A perfume oil is stronger and should only be used on small points on the body (wrists, temples, behind the ears, solar plexus, the heart and third eye – middle of forehead) whereas the body oil is less pungent and can be massaged over the whole body. Here are a couple of options for each:

 

Body oils

• 10ml cold pressed sunflower oil + 2 drops benzoin, 1 drop ylang ylang and 1 drop lavender
• 10ml cold pressed sunflower oil + 2 drops Geranium, 1 drop bergamot and 1 drop lavender

Perfume oils

• 10ml cold pressed sunflower oil + 4 drops benzoin, 3 drops lavender, 2 drops grapefruit, 1 drop ylang ylang
• 10ml cold pressed sunflower oil + 4 drops geranium, 3 drops bergamot, 3 drops lavender

 INHALATION OILS

Give your mind a rest and come back to the here and now.

Smell a number of essential oils and choose your favourite. For the morning or lunch time you might like strong smelling oils that are stimulants such as lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary, or eucalyptus. For the evening you might like to choose some strong smelling oils that are more relaxing such as lavender, chamomile, marjoram or frankincense.

Place a drop of your chosen essential oil on a tissue or cotton pad.

Find a nice quiet place to sit for 5-10 minutes and take a two to three deep breaths. Close your eyes, hold your tissue or cotton pad to your nose and inhale deeply then exhale slowly. Repeat this for a few minutes just focusing on the smell of the oil without judging or thinking about or analysing it too much.

After a while, you’ll notice that your inhale will become deeper and your exhale longer and you could try to add a two-second/count hold after each inhale and each exhale. This will just allow to sit for a moment with nothing happening and just the smell of the oil in your mind.

 

IMPORTANT HEALTH AND SAFETY INFORMATION

If you have a medical condition we advise you to seek advice from a professional aromatherapist and/or your doctor before using essential oils. Please remember to always check the health, safety and storage information as well as the contraindications of any essential oil before you use them to make sure they are safe for you to use. You can do this by checking the information on Aromatic Therapeutics’ website by clicking the links below:

Health, safety and storage – click here

Essential oil contraindications – click here

This post is by Gareth Despres

Gareth Despres is an Aromatic Specialist, IEB certified Aromatherapist and a member of both the Aromatherapy & Allied Practitioners’ Association (AAPA) and International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists (IFPA).

Gareth is co-Director of School of Natural Skincare and passionate about the healing power of essential oils.