Aromatherapy is the natural choice for skin care and stress. Many essential oils have the unique double action of caring for your skin while soothing your mind. Oils such as lavender and geranium help balance skin sebum (oil) levels while harmonising your emotions, and the chamomile oils alleviate inflamed or irritated skin conditions while soothing your thoughts.
Skin-Friendly Benefits
Essential oils have a wide range of skin-friendly actions. They are analgesic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, soothing, cooling, calming, stimulate circulation, clarify and deep cleanse, nourish, restore and revitalise. Whatever your skin type or condition there is an essential oil to suit.
Mood Enhancers
The same can be said for your moods. Aromatherapy works for many emotional states - sad, tearful, stressed, anxious, tense, restless, frustrated, depressed and/or lethargic. Working through your sense of smell, the aromatic properties of essential oils can cheer, uplift, calm, comfort, energise and balance.
The Stress-Skin Cycle
Stress can often exacerbate skin conditions by making them worse and even delaying the healing process. For example, sufferers of acne or eczema may experience particularly severe outbreaks during times of stress, which also last for a prolonged period and are slow to heal. The stress-skin reaction can be a difficult cycle to break - you get bad skin, you get stressed that you have bad skin, your skin gets worse, you get stressed that your skin gets worse, and so on.
Aromatherapy skin care works on two levels to help break this cycle:
- it physically cares for your skin and tackles skin problems at the source
- it works at a subtle level to help soothe troubled emotions and allow your skin to heal from within.
Case studies have shown that stress can delay or block barrier repair in the skin's surface and make conditions harder to heal. By reducing stress or other unbalanced emotional states, skin can repair itself more quickly.(1)
Mind, Body, Spirit Blends
Below are three aromatherapy blends that can be used for facial massage. The blends combine physical and emotional benefits such as soothing skin while calming your mood. To make each, blend the ingredients in a dark glass 30 ml bottle and shake well. Each blend uses jojoba oil as its base, but you can substitute this for olive oil or sweet almond oil, which are cheaper. The essential oils are added at a dilution of 3%, which is safe to use for most skin types.
To use, apply a teaspoon amount to cleansed skin and massage with small outward circles using your fingertips. Avoid the eye area.
Recipe 1: Skin Balancing And Mood Harmonising Blend
- 30 ml jojoba oil
- 6 drops lavender oil
- 6 drops geranium oil
- 6 drops roman chamomile oil
Benefits: lavender and geranium balance levels of sebum (oil) in the skin to ensure skin is not too oily or too dry. Lavender is helpful for treating outbreaks of spots and acne, and also can be used for eczema. Chamomile is anti-inflammatory and soothes skin outbreaks, preventing the condition from worsening by bringing down inflammation. Combined, the fragrance of these oils harmonise your mind, soothe overactive thoughts, and deeply relax.
Recipe 2: Nurturing And Anti-Aging Blend
- 30 ml jojoba oil
- 6 drops frankincense oil
- 6 drops rose oil (absolute or otto)
- 6 drops neroli oil
Benefits: frankincense has long been renowned as an ingredient in anti-aging skin lotions, while rose and neroli are also recognised in aromatherapy for their skin-renewing and skin-softening properties. Combined, the fragrance of these oils are uplifting, comforting and nurturing.
Recipe 3: Uplifing And Clarifying Blend
- 30 ml jojoba oil
- 3 drops bergamot oil
- 6 drops grapefruit oil
- 6 drops mandarin oil
- 3 drops ginger oil
Benefits: the citrus oils help to clarify and freshen skin, they are particularly helpful for oily skins. Ginger oil peps up your complexion by boosting circulation and giving your skin a warm glow. Combined, the fragrance of these oils bring cheer and energise, lifting you out of the state of restlessness and lethargy often caused by prolonged stress.
Contraindications: do not use these blends if you are pregnant. If you have sensitive skin carry out a patch test 24 hours before use.
Storage and shelf life: store your aromatherapy blends out of direct sunlight and in a cool dark place. The shelf life of your blend is between two to three months.
Reference:
- Janetta Bensouilah and Philippa Buck, 'Aromadermatology. Aromatherapy in the treatment and care of common skin conditions'. 2006, Oxford, Radcliffe Publishing.
 |
