How do I use Essential Oils? {DIY}

When I had posted my haul last week, many of the requests were on how to use the essential oils. The answer to that is that I use EO's practically in everything. So, let me just share some of my tips.

Skin Care

• I use couple of drops of EO's if I make my own scrubs any time. For example, today I made one - yogurt + besan after long long time and I used 10drops of ginger and 10 drops of Bergamot. But, that's actually a lot. Limit it to 10 at max. 
• I am using Fig and Honey moisturiser currently. So, I added a couple of EO's to it. I have around 150ml bottle of the moisturiser left so I could add up to 3ml of EO's (that's 60 drops of EO's). The math is done here. I added Patchaouli, Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Rosemary, Cedarwood, Frankinscence in equal drops (10 each). And, that's a lot, trust me. You can see a layer of oil over the moisturiser when you add. So, don't go overboard!!! 
• I add at most 10 drops of any EO to my bath sometimes if I want to relax. I have used Lavender, Neroli and Ylang Ylang till now. 
• I have made a toner using the EO's. I will post the recipe soon. 

Hair Care

• Let's start with the hair oil. I have added ginger, cinnamon bark, rosemary to my hair oils as they help in hair growth.
• Moving on, the next product is shampoo. I had added 20 drops of Rosemary EO to my Dove Shampoo and now, I have added 20 drops of Rosemary and 20 drops of Ylang Ylang to my Pantene shampoo. 
• Similarly, I added essential oils to my Liz Earle Botanical Shine Treatment and L'Oreal Total Repair 5 Masque. Though, I haven't used them since I have added the EO's coz of the treatment. 
• Also, check out my DIY aloevera scalp gel for hair growth which is entirely based on the efficacy of the essential oils. 

So, those are some of the tips on how to use essential oils in day to day life. And, of course, my perfume oils too. So, how do you use the EO's or plan to use them??

Aloevera Scalp Gel for Hair Growth {DIY}

This is my first DIY which includes essential oils and are the heart and soul of this DIY after the perfume oil DIY.

Ingredients

• Aloevera Gel
• Rosemary EO
• Lavender EO
• Cinnamon Bark EO
• Ginger EO

Method

I used the Rustic Art aloevera gel for this recipe. I would not recommend fresh aloevera gel because of two reasons - first, preservation issues and second, you are not sure of how much quantity you have and how many drops of EO should be added. Thus, its better to use the commercially available aloevera gel. Take 100gms of the product and remember my guidelines to using EO's. 

In skin or hair care, you should use only 1-2% concentration of EO's and do not exceed as it can actually be allergic and harmful. So, for 100gms of aloevera gel, we can add 2 gms of EO and we use the equivalence of 1ml = 1gm though that's strictly not true. So, according to the 2% concentration, we can add 2ml of EO's. 1ml has 20 drops so 40 drops of EO per 100ml/gm of any product.

Add 10 drops of each essential oil to the aloevera gel. Mix it and leave in a dark place for 24 hours. Rosemary takes care of dandruff, Cinnamon and Ginger stimulate hair follicles and increase blood circulation and Lavender is conditioning for the hair besides helping in hair growth. Do not use more than 3-4 EO's per DIY as too many EO's might interact negatively with each other and can make the product extremely potent as well.

Results

Apply this gel on your scalp right after you finish with your entire hair wash and shower. Do not apply it when you hair is dripping. Wait the hair to get dry a bit and then apply to the scalp so that it doesn't cause breakage. There are two advantages - your scalp is clean so the product gets absorbed quickly and without any fear of trapping dust and since the base of the product is aloevera, it moisturizes the scalp nicely and prevents itching, flaky scalp and other scalp problems.

I made this DIY before I left for Delhi and have used it just once. Now that I am on a hair treatment, I am not using anything except the products prescribed. That's mainly to test the efficacy and worth of those products. But, I can vouch for one thing that this scalp gel does help in hair growth. Why? Remember the ginger tonic I mentioned? 

We are using ginger essential oil in this recipe and when I had applied this gel, it had tingled my scalp and gave me the feeling of warmth more than that ginger tonic does. Don't worry regarding the tingling. Its just coz of ginger. Even if you apply ginger juice or onion juice, the scalp tingles a bit and also makes the scalp warm meaning the blood circulation has increased. And, the gel doesn't make the hair heavy or greasy or anything. In fact, it keeps the scalp moisturised and the hair around the roots soft. It can be applied daily as well.

And, I am really hoping that you will give it a try :)