Beauty and Skincare

Remember the scent of Thanksgiving or Christmas when you were a child?

Diffused essential oils can be used for stress management with the added bonus is that they make your house smell fantastic! Scents are strongly linked with memory, so filling your home with a warm comforting scent from childhood can really help relieve stress and bring you back to a relaxing and joyous time!

According to the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy, certain oils promote a sense of calm. I’ve used their recommendations to create recipes to promote Holiday joy and relaxation. All recipes are for a diffuser, but you can easily use the ratios here to make a spray or roll on by adding them to water (spray) or carrier oil (roll on). Please be cautious and use care and safety guidelines in selecting which oils to diffuse, spray, or roll on. I have included a safety link below to make that part easy!

Right click the image to download and print out the free recipes for diffusing calming and holiday scents!

**Note: Before using any essential oils, check with a medical professional if you have health concerns, or are pregnant or nursing.

**Also, please take time to understand safe practices with essential oils before using them. Here is a great guide to Aromatherapy Safety.

Do you get dry skin when it starts to get cold outside? I sure do! And it keeps up until spring. Once I was at a meeting and looked down to find the skin on my arm was dry and flaking, like some kind of scary arm dandruff. I was horrified and tried to hide my arms. I didn’t want that to happen again. So I started looking for something to moisture my sensitive skin. I like to use more natural products on my skin because it’s fairly sensitive. It’s hard to find products that are natural, non-toxic, and reasonable priced. So I turned to the kitchen, since most edible items are non-toxic. I found several combinations have worked well for me.

Fix Dry Skin with 5 Kitchen Items

1. COCONUT OIL and BAKING SODA

Remove that top layer of dead dry skin by exfoliating with equal amounts of coconut oil and baking soda. Just put a teaspoon or so of each in your hand and rub them together to melt the coconut oil before applying to your face or body. Use small circular scrubbing motions to exfoliate. I recommend using this no more than 2-3 times a week. I keep a jar of coconut oil and an old spice jar with shaker top in my bathroom for this use. Sometimes I just use water and the baking soda if my skin isn’t feeling very dry.

Bonus tip: add a drop of essential oil that is good for skin, or just smells good. Lemon, frankincense, or lavender might be good additions.

CAUTION: Use essential oils with extreme care! For example, citrus oils can cause extreme photosensitivity/burning in the sun. Lavender oil has been found to disrupt hormones of young men. Please take time to learn about any essential oil before use!

2. SALT, COFFEE, and ALMOND OIL

Salt, coffee, almond oil scrub for the body (works for cellulite and varicose veins too)

3 T salt dead sea salt, Himalayan, plain sea salt, etc.

1 T coffee or espresso grounds

1 t almond oil

Use as a body scrub in the shower. BONUS: This smells divine!!

Also: I like to extend the shelf life by mixing the coffee and salt ahead if time. I keep the container in the shower and add coconut or almond oil to my hand when I use it.

3. PURE OIL (OLIVE, COCONUT, ALMOND, etc.)

Moisturize your face and body with pure olive oil.

Just use it sparingly at night for a terrific overnight moisturizer. If olive oil is too heavy, try some coconut oil or almond oil instead.