Essential oils are available in abundance with nearly a hundred options present out there. The most common oils include but are not limited to; olive oil, lavender oil, castor oil, and tea tree oil. What other oils do you know? You can save your answer for another day. For now, let’s take a deep dive into something else about these organic oils that are extracted from plants.
The Incredible Uses of Essential Oils
Essential oils have served many important purposes in everyday life for centuries. Experts believe that the usage of these oils dates back to 4500 B.C.E when ancient Egyptians used them mainly for mummification purposes. What uses of essential oils do you know? Or, better yet, what do you use your essential oils for? As we wait for your feedback in the comment section below, here are some of the amazing purposes served by the oils in our everyday lives;
1.Cooking
Cooking is one of the primary uses of essential oils. Characterized by sweet, savory, potent flavors, these oils will give an extra dose of flavor when used in cooking foods.
Needless to say that there are many different ways through which essential oils can be incorporated into food. For example, they can be added to food through frying, marination, sautéing, seasoning and baking.
To learn other ways in which essential oils can be used in cooking, I suggest you start by subscribing to a good meal delivery service. For me, I use Dinnerly. I love the company because it does a great job at sending to me ingredients alongside recipes for making different dishes that taste really good. Nonetheless, cooking many of the dishes entails using essential oils in different ways.
Before you subscribe though, don’t forget to read the 2021 review of the company. Dinnerly is praised for supplying mostly organic ingredients, promoting the health of its subscribers. You won’t easily find those ingredients in your local grocery stores because most farmers produce food using chemicals.
2. Beauty and Personal Grooming
Nevertheless, essential oils can be applied to make the skin look great, contributing to beauty. Examples of oils that are commonly used for that purpose are; pure argan oil, grapefruit oil, lavender oil, and more.
If that’s not enough, essential oils can also be used as shaving oils. Applying a good essential oil after shaving will definitely protect the shaved area against microbes. This will make sure your skin continues to be smooth, beautiful, and healthy instead of developing rashes and all kinds of skin conditions.
3. Manufacturing
Another important purpose for which essential oils can be used is; manufacturing. These oils are incorporated into the making of a wide range of products out there. The products include fragrances, skincare oils, soaps, moisturizing body wash, and shaving products. Other products that are made using essential oils are food ingredients(additives), plastic resins, body scrub creams, hand sanitizers, hair care products, pharmaceuticals and so much.
4. Therapeutic
What’s more, essential oils are thought to be a good alternative medicine even though studies are still ongoing. Their use is very common in aromatherapy as they directly contribute to a mood boost, relaxation, good sleep, stress and pain relief, as well as recovery from nausea.
Examples of essential oils commonly used for this purpose include lavender, ginger, rose, rosemary, lemongrass, citronella, palmarosa, and jasmine. The rest are but not limited to orange blossom, ylang ylang(extracted from a tropical tree native to India), petitgrain, patchouli, geranium, and vetiver.
However, the use of some oils may cause harm including irritation and allergic reactions to the skin. Therefore, you should approach with caution the use of essential oils as alternative medicine.
5. Body Preservation
On a sad note, the preservation of dead bodies is one of the earliest purposes for which essential oils were used. Many ancient communities around the world used these oils to preserve their dead. They did so due to the oils’ antimicrobial antioxidants, antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic properties.
Examples of communities that did so include ancient Egyptians, Chinchorro( a hunting and fishing people who lived between 10,000 and 3,400 BC on the Pacific coast of South America),
Up to date, many communities around the world still use essential oils for this purpose.
6. Cleaning and Scenting Homes As Well As Institutions
As said earlier, essential oils have strong antibacterial and antimicrobial characteristics with tea tree, lavender, lemongrass, and eucalyptus oils topping the list. Those characteristics make them great, natural cleaning solutions for homes and institutions. What’s more, since these oils have a pleasant natural smell, they can help with scenting homes as well as commercial premises, making the spaces smell awesome. Actually, a good number of cleaning and scenting products out there contain essential oils as one of the active ingredients.
7. Eliminating Unwanted Living Organisms
Lastly, essential oils can serve as natural pesticides. For example, tea trees, citronella, peppermint, and lemongrass all will help deter mosquitoes. Eucalyptus and tea tree oil both will help get rid of roaches from the house. Rosemary, basil, peppermint alongside eucalyptus all serve as good natural remedies for flies. Nonetheless, lavender, peppermint, and lemongrass all will rid your home of fleas. Lastly, spearmint, lemongrass, and peppermint all will help keep ants at bay.
Essential oils are useful organic oils that serve so many important purposes. For example, these oils that are extracted from plants provide cooking, beauty, personal grooming, as well as manufacturing solutions. What’s more, they serve therapeutic, body preservation, cleaning, and scenting, not to mention pest-elimination purposes.
Taking the above functions of essential oils into account, it is safe to say that these oils are very useful everyday products for homes as well as business premises alike. Do you have one in your kitchen? If so, for what purpose do you use it? Cooking food, scenting the house, keeping away pests, or what purpose? Please, feel free to comment below and let us know. With nothing more to add, good luck with that.
