Skincare, beauty and cleaning with essential oils
This is where most essential oils actually get used: a facial oil, a bath, a surface spray. None of it requires expertise — it requires a carrier oil, a measuring habit, and knowing which oils do not belong on a face.
On skin: the numbers
Face is 0.5 % — one to two drops in 10 ml of carrier. Body is 1–2 % — three to six drops in 10 ml. That is the whole formula; everything else is which oil.
Oils that suit facial use are the mild ones: lavender, frankincense, geranium, Roman chamomile, helichrysum. Oils that do not: oregano, thyme, cinnamon, clove, lemongrass — and the expressed citrus oils, which make skin photosensitive for around twelve hours. A lemon facial oil applied in the morning is a bad idea in any month with sun in it.
Patch test on the inner forearm and wait a day before putting a new blend on your face.
The articles
Gesichtsöl selber machen
A facial oil from scratch, with quantities per skin type. In German.
A lip treatment
Peppermint and a carrier, in the amounts that are pleasant rather than painful.
Bath bombs
An afternoon project — and the reason oil goes into the mix rather than the bathwater.
Allzweckreiniger selber machen
An all-purpose surface spray that works and costs almost nothing. In German.
Your own signature scent
Top, middle and base notes, and how to build a blend that lasts more than ten minutes.
Cleaning: why it works, and where it does not
Essential oils are useful in cleaning for two ordinary reasons: they cut grease, and they smell good enough that a home-made spray gets used instead of abandoned. Lemon, tea tree, eucalyptus and pine are the usual four.
What they are not is a disinfectant claim. A vinegar-and-lemon spray cleans a worktop; it is not a sanitiser, and this site will not tell you it is. Where something must be disinfected — a chopping board that met raw chicken — use a product sold for that purpose.
Two practical notes: oil and water separate, so shake before every use and add a splash of unscented washing-up liquid or high-proof alcohol as a dispersant; and citrus oils can dull some sealed stone and varnished surfaces, so test on a hidden corner first.