Top 10 Essential Bath and Shower Oils
USE ESSENTIAL OILS IN THE BATH TO REJUVENATE
Using essential oils in the bath or shower is a great way to enhance relaxation and elevate mood. Essential oils can also be used on dry and itch skin during a bath to help ease the symptoms.
Use this reference to help select the best essential oil for your bath.
Depending on your mood, you may wish to choose an oil that is more relaxing or just the opposite. For example, if you come home from work and are feeling terribly stressed, you might choose oils that are primarily relaxing. If, on the other hand, you just can’t seem to get up and are feeling fatigued, you may want to select oils that stimulate energy to get you prepared for the day ahead.
How to Choose the Right Essential Oil
Ideally, if you are planning on combining oils, you want to choose oils that have complementary effects. Oils are typically characterized as either therapeutic, relaxing, or stimulating. You could combine therapeutic oils with relaxing oils, or therapeutic oils with stimulating oils. However, you may wish to avoid combining relaxing and stimulating oils together if you are trying to get one response or the other as they may cancel out one another.
Top 10 Essential Oils in the Bath
Mood Elevation
Bergamot – 7 drops
Relaxing / Soothing
Lavender – 9 drops
Happy / Romantic / Pleasing
Rose – 8 drops
Sensual / Intimate
Sandalwood – 7 drops
Relaxing / Uplifting / Energizing
Geranium – 10 drops
Energizing / Invigorating
Patchouli – 6 drops
Calming / Mood Enhancing
Frankincense – 9 drops
Difficulty Sleeping and Itchy Skin
Chamomile – 10 drops
Mood Uplifting / Soothing
Neroli – 9 drops
Anti-Stress / Help with Fatigue
Jasmine – 7 drops
Bath Temperature
Not only can you use essential oils to get a therapeutic effect in the bath, but you can also vary the temperature of the water to intensify the therapeutic effect. For example, if you plan to do a quick in and out style bath, you may choose very hot or very cold water. If, however, you plan to linger in the bath, you may opt for warm or even tepid water.
Cold baths tend to be invigorating and are best done in the morning. Tepid water tends to make people drowsy and are best, and hot water leaves you weak and tired. Tepid and hot water work best at the end of the day since they are both relaxing.
Best Hot Bath Essential Oils
- Peppermint – 6 drops
- Geranium – 7 drops
- Lemon – 8 drops
Best Cold Bath Essential Oils
- Ylang-Ylang – 5 drops
- Neroli – 9 drops
- Chamomile – 7 drops
- Lavender – 10 drops
- Frankincense – 7 drops
Using Essential Oils in the Shower
Showers are not the most ideal way to use essential oils, but not everyone owns a bathtub or has the time to take a bath. Some people also refrain from taking frequent baths for water conservation reasons.
If you choose to shower, the best way to use essential oils is to blend them with the products that you will be rubbing on your body. Alternatively, you can mix them with a carrier oil and then apply them to your skin before entering the shower. Try to avoid getting wet at first and just stand in the steam which will open up your pores and allow the essential oil to penetrate your skin more rapidly.
If your shower has a deep enough basin, you can also plug it up while you shower to collect the essential oil that runs off. As you shower, the warm/hot water will vaporize the oil and make it available to you as you inhale.
Best Essential Oils for Showering
Mini-Baths: Hand Baths and Foot Baths
One of the nicest things you can do for yourself is to soak your hands and feet in warm water. Feet bear the entire weight of our bodies, and they are often swollen and sore from hours of standing. Hands are constantly at work – typing, grabbing, holding, etc. We don’t realize how much we use these two main body parts until we hurt them and cannot use them for a while.
Taking a foot- or hand bath warms and relaxes all of the muscles of the feet, ankles, hands, and wrists; improves blood circulation, which reduces swelling; soothes aches and pains; and can even release trapped nerves.
If you add an essential oil to a foot bath, it makes this treat even better. Not only do the essential oils penetrate the skin in the feet, but they also rise up with the steam so that you inhale them as well. Plan on using about 7-8 drops of essential oil for a standard-size footpath.
Hand- and foot baths are great for elderly people who are unable to climb in and out of the bathtub. They are also a good idea for people who may be disabled and cannot take a full aromatherapy bath.
However you decide to use any essential oils in the bath or shower, you are sure to be rewarded with a sense of rejuvenation and well-being.
Do beware, however, that if you are pregnant, there are some essential oils you will want to avoid.
