Oils can be used as drops in the bath, in a burner, dabbed on the pillow, mixed with massage oil and massaged into the neck and shoulders.
Top tip: When burning oils, first light the tealight inside the burner, then add the water. Leave the water for a few minutes before adding a drop or two of your oil. This will enhance the aromatic experience without wasting precious oils.
(oils are concentrated and best used often but sparingly)
When choosing a blend, think of how you'd like to feel and consider present state of mind and health. Do you get headaches? Are you pregnant? happy? healthy? sporty? stressed?
Knowing how you feel now will help you know how you might want to feel, for example:
- If you can't switch off at night, you might enjoy lavender's calming influence.
- Busy with exams, deadlines or demanding meetings may benefit from some peppermint clarity.
- Chamomile works a treat on newborn babies and mothers, gently soothing muscle aches and pains.
- Rose oil is superb for the face and body, as each tiny drop it enriches the skin with the sweet, soft and sensuous oil from thousands of rose petals.
If you want to go that little bit further, take your mum down to an Aveda store, where she can sniff and choose her own personal oil fragrance and have it blended into a shampoo, body wash or perfume.
At all costs avoid cheap oils. Check your oils are organic, in date (they do go off), ethically sourced where appropriate, and contain what they claim. Avoid cheap fragrance oil. They contain harmful products for your skin and environment, and just like cheap perfume - when mixed with your own hormones and pheromones - they can smell bad. There's no substitute for quality premium oils that burn or massage well and induce healing properties.