What it smells like
Medicinal, green and slightly camphorous — the smell people either take to immediately or never quite do. It is not a perfume oil. It smells of the thing it is, which in a cleaning cupboard is an advantage.
Three things to actually do with it
1. A bathroom and bin spray
Eight drops with four of lemon in 250 ml of water and a small squeeze of unscented washing-up liquid. The lemon does the work of making it bearable. Shake before use.
2. A spot blend at 1 %
Three drops in 10 ml of jojoba, applied with a cotton bud rather than a finger. Jojoba rather than coconut because it sits better on skin that is already oily. Patch test on the inner forearm and wait a day before it goes near a face.
3. On the washing-up brush and the bin lid
A drop on the brush head between washes, a drop under the bin lid when the bag is changed. Neither is a disinfectant claim — it is a smell, doing what smells do.
What it blends with
Citrus, above all — lemon and wild orange both round it off far better than you would expect. Lavender softens it in a skin blend. Eucalyptus reinforces the medicinal side rather than balancing it.
Getting the amount right
In the European range this oil is supplied for topical and aromatic use and is not labelled as a food flavouring — it does not go in food or drink, in any amount. Dilute on skin: 1 % for general use, less on the face. It is not photosensitising.
Tea tree oxidises with time and air, and oxidised tea tree is noticeably more irritating than fresh. Keep it capped, dark and cool, and replace it rather than finishing a bottle that has gone sharp. Full safety notes.
Questions people ask
Can I use it neat on a spot?
It is the most common thing people do with tea tree and the most common way they end up sensitised to it. One drop in a teaspoon of carrier does the same job without the risk.
Is it safe around cats?
Do not apply it to a cat, and give any animal in a diffused room a way to leave. Cats metabolise these compounds poorly.
Why does mine smell harsher than it used to?
Oxidation. It is a sign the bottle has aged, not that the oil was different when you bought it.