Our family LOVES essential oils, and so many of you have sent me questions on how they work or how you can work them into your routine. We started using them as a way to help support our immune systems & encourage better sleep habits for our family, and to say that they have done so much more than that, is really an understatement. So I wanted to share how we use our oils every single day and why we love them!!

1. For a better night’s sleep. There is a reason that every baby product on the planet contains lavender. We first started using oils for sleep (we had already used them for everything else, but for some reason I hadn’t thought of them for this yet) when Claire was about six months old and waking EVERY. HOUR. We added Lavender & Cedarwood to her diffuser and it completely changed her sleep habits. For the first time ever, she slept a full six hours, and it only got better after that. I have also never been one to fall asleep quick (compared to my husband who falls asleep in the middle of a sentence once we get in bed), until oils. There are SO many oils that can be worked into a bedtime routine to encourage a healthy nights sleep, I don’t know where we would be without them.

2. For healthy, glowing skin. I used to bounce around between moisturizers, eye creams and all sorts of serums that promised to make my skin better. I never found anything that I really loved, until essential oils came along. I now use a few drops of jojoba oil with a drop of Frankincense as my moisturizer, it supports healthy, glowing skin without the chemicals, plus as an incredibly grounding, calming oil, it is amazing to apply to skin right before going to sleep! I also love to roll lavender under my eyes, apply copiaba or tea tree to blemishes & use grapefruit with coconut oil + shea butter as a full body moisturizer.

3. For immune support. One of the first reasons we started using oils was for immune support, if you have toddlers (especially ones in daycare, preschool, etc.) you understand. It felt like week after week, we were all run down & passing it around. Adding oils to our daily routine has been life changing, every mom needs this.

4. To make our home smell amazing. I’m not sure I can ever give up candles for decor, but after reading about how toxic they are to burn, we have turned to diffusing oils instead. The best part? They have added benefits! So while Wintergreen + Orange in the diffuser smells amazing (like sweetheart candy!), it is also uplifting & mood boosting! Blends like Lavender + Stress Away (vanilla-lime) smell heavenly, especially when diffused at bed time, they are also highly relaxing & calming.

5. For chemical free cleaning. I have always hated traditional cleaning supplies, the smells are always so overwhelming & they are a hazard to keep under your sink or around your kids. The Young Living line of cleaning products, specifically Thieves Cleaner, is 100% effective, all natural, and safe around kids. I am safe to wipe down high chairs or play tables with it, knowing my girls will eat off it immediately after. There are hundreds of ways to use oils themselves for cleaning as well, like using lemon oil to remove sticky residue (like in an instant, it’s incredible), or lemon + thieves oil with some baking soda to make an amazing soft scrub to get stains out of sinks, pans, etc. Good stuff, folks!

6. For balanced moods + emotional support. The science behind it is simple. Essential oils are extracted from plants by distillation, and have the essential aromatic & chemical properties of that plant, they are made up of tiny molecules that are very easily absorbed by our bodies. When you inhale an essential oil, receptor cells of the olfactory organ receive the aroma, and send signals to the brain which is the center of our emotions & memory. This controls our blood pressure, breathing, hormone balance, heart rate & so much more. So simply inhaling certain oils, or applying oils to your wrists or behind your ears, can be extremely calming, uplifting & grounding. One of my favorite blends we like to call Happy Mama (made up of Orange, Peace & Calming, Joy & Ylang Ylang) is one we love for any emotionally draining time, perhaps every day during witching hour or on every road trip with kids, and is amazing for things like post-partum emotions.

7. For all the best DIYs. Grapefruit lip scrub, hair detangler, muscle cream, outdoor spray, you name it, there’s an oil for that! It never fails that on any given day, I am googling things & find an oily solution. Dry cuticles? Done. Ants on the porch? Done. It is an amazing feeling to have a safe, natural (and easy!) way solve problems, you know, the way your grandma would have done it! 

8. For flavor + added benefits. Young Living essential oils are all 100% therapeutic grade, and the vitality line of oils can be used to naturally flavor food & drinks! I love a drop of peppermint in my morning water, lime or grapefruit in sparkling water and basil or rosemary in olive oil when cooking! A drop of lemon oil is more potent & has more benefits since it is produced from the rind of the lemon instead of the pulp. One drop in your water each morning acts as a powerful antioxidant + stimulates metabolism, without the acidity that can upset a sensitive stomach or damage your enamel on your teeth. Incredible, right?!

I hope this is helpful for anyone who isn’t sure how to use their oils or for those of you considering getting started! As always, you can find more information on how to get started using oils for your family here, or you can follow along on my Grapefruit & Gold page for lots of oily goodness!