Essentials Oils Blog Post

Hey Family! As we all know, I’m super passionate about the use of essential oils for healing the body and symptom reduction. However, I’ve noticed that there’s a lack of knowledge in the black community regarding this age-old natural medicine. So today, I’m going to discuss essential oils, what they are, their uses, and their benefits.

Essential oils are compounds that are extracted from plants such as grass, roots, flowers, and leaves. These compounds give off a smell, aroma, or fragrance and In nature, they’re used by plants to aid in protection and encourage pollination. Once extracted, we can use essential oils to help boost the body’s natural healing functions. All use of essential oils falls under the umbrella of Aromatherapy.

Before we dive into how to use essential oils, it’s important to recognize that even though they’re 100% natural, these are chemical compounds that can cause damage if used incorrectly. It’s recommended to use carrier oils when applying essential oils to the skin or when ingesting them. These are a type of oil that is safe to place on your body without risking any type of reaction. Examples of carrier oils include sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, coconut oil, or even olive oil! Make sure to test a small portion of the mixture on your skin to ensure you don’t have any allergies. Additionally, always research any essential oils before you ingest them.

When mixed with carrier oils, essential oils can be used for a number of topical applications. For example, they can be used in personal care products for skin care and hair maintenance. Some essential oils have anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties making them useful for tending to cuts, scrapes, eczema, and acne. One of the most well-known uses for essential oils is with a diffuser that uses steam to disperse the scent of the oil throughout a room. Additionally, simply inhaling from the bottle is a great way to quickly make use of their scents. Enjoying the fragrance of essential oils is a fantastic way to relax, wind down, and release stress.

In addition to their topical uses and lovely scents, essential oils can help alleviate discomfort from symptoms due to illnesses or medical conditions as they help with inflammation both inside and outside of the body. Essential oils can even help elevate your mood by alleviating depression and anxiety. You can ingest essential oils by using them while cooking or by enhancing your water with a drop or two of your favorite flavor.

As you can see, essential oils have some amazing benefits! I plan on going more in-depth about these benefits soon, but I wanted to touch on this topic specifically to introduce this information to the African American community as we tend to have the least support from the healthcare industry. Essential oils can be a great alternative to some treatments, allowing us to forgo the modern Western route which uses chemicals and medications that have severe side effects.