Ultimate Guide to Essential Oil Blends For Diffuser

In today's scenario, we all are concerned about our health and are closely monitoring it. Essential oil offers relaxation and in the most easily accessible way. They boost our mental health, calms our mind, and helps in a good night's sleep. 

While buying diffusers for your home, remember that the quality of the output depends on the type of essential oil you choose, the right blend, and the diffuser quality. We try to elaborate not only on the health benefits but also take you through various steps to use and choose the best oil diffuser.

Essential oil for beginners:

First of all, essential oil is a useful CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) treatment. Over the decades, the quality and regulations of CAM have become more professional, leading to a growth in the usage. Essential oils are plant-derived complex compounds via distillation (water or steam). In some cases, the cold pressing process is also standard. These compounds, along with a carrier oil (usually almond oil and avocado oil), are the basics of aromatherapy. Essential oils can be toxic unless mentioned explicitly as edible; no essential oil is for internal use. Our skin absorbs these chemicals, or via diffusers through inhalation.

How does essential oil work? The aroma from the essential oil will stimulate the limbic region and create neurochemicals in the brain, creating different emotions like happiness, relaxation, sleep, and others. Do you remember smelling cinnamon and imagining cinnamon rolls or feeling hungry? It is because the limbic region can retain memory and trigger emotions with olfactory stimuli. 

The limbic region is also responsible for numerous involuntary bodily functions like blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing. According to surveys, many people have indicated that the use of essential oils can reduce pain, but there are no concrete studies to back it up.

Health benefits:

The essential oils and their health benefits help to treat or control numerous health conditions. However, if you have a severe medical condition related to lungs, skin, or other major life-threatening diseases, it is best to talk to your doctor about using them.

 Stress : 

• Aromatherapy involving essential oils helps to reduce anxiety and stress. 43% of people in a study experienced relief from symptoms of anxiety and stress. The essential oil can reduce stress by using it in a massage, but the effect stays only during the massage session.

Headaches:

• Peppermint, lavender, and chamomile oils show an effect in reducing problems or the intensity of migraine episodes.

  Sleep:

•  Some essential oils like lavender can help in good quality sleep.

Anti-inflammatory: 

• many essential oils can reduce inflammation or symptoms involving inflammation. 

Antimicrobial effect:

•  Many antibiotic-resistant strains of bacterial infection can get treated with essential oils. Recent test tube studies show that tea tree oil, peppermint oil, clove bud oil, and others have positive antimicrobial power.

Mosquito repellent:

•  if you wish to have a chemical-free mosquito repellent, you can use citronella oil.

Allergic reaction:

Natural products are more likely to cause allergic reactions than synthetic products. Thus, the chances of a person to be allergic to a specific essential oil are not uncommon. The intensity of these side effects is very less, and the results are not short-lived. Top allergic reactions are rashes and redness. However, people with asthma should not use essential oils, as some might induce an asthma attack. It is also not for pregnant women, pets, and small children.

How to make an essential oil blend for the diffuser?

• Always mix carrier oil to the essential oil before using it. The carrier oil to the essential oil ratio is 5:1

• Top carrier oils are coconut oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, and others.

• If the recipe says 1% blend, consider using essential oil up to six drops to one ounce of the carrier oil.

• You can use oils in sprays, massage, bathtubs, or rub it on your skin.

• Do not use citrus essential oils before getting under the sun. If you plan to do so, dilute it to 1.5% with a suitable carrier oil.

• The Lavender essential oil can be applied to the skin directly. 

How to choose high-quality essential oils?

If you look at the packaging of essential oil, you can see labels like medical-grade, organic, pure, etc. Did you know that none of those labels have any legal consequences! Like an edible brand labeling its product as delicious, essential oils can mark them as pure, medical-grade, and so on. So, how to choose the right essential oil?

Purity:

The purity of the oil comes from its ingredients. Check the list of components used in making the oil. If the listing is not available, it is best to reject that brand. Check the list for synthetic oil, additives, and other chemicals. A reputed branded essential oil can contain the carrier oil and the primary oil. For instance, lavender oil should contain Lavandula officinalis (the scientific name for lavender) and carrier oil (coconut oil or others).

Quality:

The quality of the oil depends on the quality of the ingredients and the extraction process. If the extraction process involves heat treatment or chemical methods, it is usually in-effective. The chemical and heat process allows manufacturers to extract more oil from lesser raw materials. Thus, check at the manufacturer’s website about the manufacturing process.

Essential oil vs. fragrance oil

Is the product you are about to buy an essential oil or a fragrance oil? Do you know that fragrance oil is more aromatic than essential oil? Fragrance oils are products made with synthetic scents with or without plant sources. These chemicals provide high aroma and are not safe for topical use. Essential oil is made entirely from plants and has medicinal values associated with the plants. If you want an aromatic essential oil, you can buy the best smelling essential oil blends from reputed markets.

Grades of essential oil::

The grades used for categorizing essential oil are to showcase the applications of the essential oil. For instance, Grade A is the medical-grade, which is best for aromatherapy. They are organic and high-quality. Grade B is a very-diluted version which is edible after diluting it with carrier oils, as per instructions. Grade C is perfume grade, which gives aroma, but not much of the medicinal effect. Grade D is floral water, which is the steam distillation output, and not effective.

The problem is the grading system. A manufacturer can grade, a Grade C product as Grade A. So, a Grade A essential oil diffuser blend for sinus does not mean it is a medicinal solution for sinus. There is no gold standard to grade the products or identify the quality of the grades. Thus, it is usually at the discretion of the manufacturer and its buyer-beware market.

How to choose the right essential oil diffuser?

Are you planning to buy an essential oil diffuser? 

Even if the essential oil blends for the diffuser is high-grade, a low-quality diffuser can nullify the goodness.

Type of Essential oil diffusers:

Misting:

•  It adds oil with water and vibrates it at high frequency. The oil mixture turns into mist, and it gets diffused. The diffusion process is less effective, and the olfactory effect is short-lived. Also, it is a bit noisy.

Heat Treatment:

• This diffuser heats the oil to 40 degrees C and diffuses the oil. It is a less-expensive type and does not make any noise. A good-quality heat treatment diffuser that maintains 40 degrees C is very efficient. However, some manufacturers create diffusers that heat the oil more than the threshold, and the quality of the oil is long gone before it reaches you.

Ventilation diffuser:

•  It uses cold airflow to diffuse the oil. It is efficient if you are using it in a small room. In the case of a standard-sized room, the effect is very short-lived. It is cheap, and since it does not involve misting, adding water is absent.

Nebulization diffuser

• It is a costly model, but worth the cost. It uses airflow and also breaks the oil into droplets by using air. It stays longer in the air and can cover larger spaces. It is also a noisy process.

There is no gold standard for the quality ranking of diffusers. Thus, choose a reputed brand with good customer reviews. Choose the right model of diffuser based on your budget and other requirements like room size, noise, etc.

Experts recommend blends.

Here are some of the essential oil combinations for diffusers that you can try.

• For concentration: Vetiver root + Rosemary+ Patchouli+ Lemon
• For refreshment: Ylang Ylang + Orange + Clove bud
• For immunity boost: Clove bud+ Oregano+ Eucalyptus+ Tea tree+ Cinnamon
• For calming: Lavender+ Grapefruit+ Petitgrain+ Ylang Ylang
• Antimicrobial and inflammation properties: Grapefruit + Orange+ Neroli + Pine+ Eucalyptus

Experts recommend you to choose the right combination of essential oil blend recipes based on the need. The effect of these synergy blends varies from person to person.

Essential oil is a very traditional medicine for treating medical conditions and improving mental health. They are powerful, and you ought to follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Do not use essential oil blends for diffusers and expect results overnight. It is a slow but effective process.