Aroma Corner
essential oils at home, with care
Aromatherapy at home: a calm, safety-first guide
Most people meet essential oils through a gift set or a shop shelf: a row of small brown bottles, a diffuser breathing out a thin plume of mist, a label that promises calm. The oils are real, concentrated plant material. Used with a little care they can make a room, a bath or a long evening more pleasant. Used carelessly they can burn skin, bring on headaches and, if a child gets hold of a bottle, poison. This corner of the site is about the careful version.
What aromatherapy is, and what it is not
Aromatherapy is the use of aromatic plant extracts, mainly essential oils, for comfort and wellbeing. The oils are distilled or pressed from flowers, leaves, citrus peel, wood, resin and roots, and they hold the plant's scent in a very concentrated form. Rose oil, for example, takes such a large quantity of petals to make that a few millilitres can cost more than a good dinner. That concentration is the whole point, and also the whole risk.
At home, people use oils in two broad ways: they breathe in the scent, or they apply a well-diluted blend to the skin. Everything in the guides below comes back to those two routes.
What aromatherapy is not is a medicine. It does not cure illness, and no bottle of oil should replace treatment you have been given. The research is real but thin. Summaries from the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health describe mostly small, short studies with mixed results: some suggest a modest effect on anxiety, sleep quality or nausea, while others find little difference from a pleasant scent with no supposed effect at all. Part of what people feel is the pleasure of a smell they like, plus the simple act of stopping for ten minutes. That is worth having. It is not a reason to put off seeing a doctor about pain, weeks of poor sleep, or a low mood that will not lift.
In Japan, essential oils are usually sold as general household goods rather than as medicines or cosmetics, which is why the bottles in a variety store carry no health claims on the label. The guides below include one on the laws that apply.
Five ways to use oils at home
| Method | How it is usually done | Good for | Take care |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tissue | 1-2 drops on a tissue, held a little below the nose for a few minutes | Trying a new oil; scent on a commute without filling a room | Keep the tissue off your skin and away from small children |
| Diffuser | 3-5 drops in a water diffuser, or as the maker advises; run 30 to 60 minutes, then rest | Scenting a living room or bedroom | Ventilate; leave a door open for pets; switch off if anyone gets a headache or starts to cough |
| Full bath | 4-6 drops mixed first into a tablespoon of carrier oil or unscented bath base | Winding down at night | Skip peppermint, citrus peel and spice oils; the tub gets slippery |
| Hand or foot bath | 1-3 drops in a teaspoon of carrier oil, stirred into a basin of warm water; soak about 10 minutes | Cold feet, tired hands after gardening | Test the water with your elbow first |
| Massage blend | 1 to 2 percent in a carrier oil (2-4 drops in 10 ml) | Shoulders, hands, feet, a back rub | Patch test; use less for the face, older people and children |
A tissue is the best place to begin. It costs nothing, it uses one drop, and if you dislike the smell you can throw it away. Many people keep a folded tissue with a drop of lavender or sweet orange in a small zip bag for a crowded train.
Diffusers are where most people overdo it. The scent should be faint enough that you stop noticing it; if it reaches the next room strongly, use fewer drops. Run it for half an hour to an hour, then turn it off and open a window. Cats, dogs and birds cannot tell you a smell is too much, so make sure they can leave the room.
Baths need one extra step, because oil and water do not mix. Drops added straight to the water float on the surface and land on the most sensitive skin first, which is how people end up with stinging. Blend the oil into a tablespoon of carrier oil or unscented liquid soap first, then stir it in well. A Japanese ofuro (home bath) is deep and usually run at around 40 to 42 degrees, so stay at the low end of the drop count. In many homes the whole family uses the same water in turn, and some families reuse it for laundry, so think about the youngest or most sensitive person who will get in after you.
Hand and foot baths are a gentle middle ground, pleasant on a cold evening at the kotatsu (heated low table). If you have diabetes or reduced feeling in your feet, be wary of hot water, because you may not notice a burn; your doctor or nurse can advise on foot care.
Massage blends are where dilution matters most. The dilution chart gives drop counts for every common bottle size. For carriers, plain sweet almond, jojoba, sunflower or rice bran oil (easy to find in Japanese supermarkets) all work. People with nut allergies should skip almond.
Some readers lean over a bowl of hot water with a drop of eucalyptus for a blocked nose. If you try it, use hot rather than boiling water, close your eyes and stop after a few minutes. Steam is not for children (scalds are a real risk) and can set off coughing in people with asthma.
The five safety rules
- Never swallow essential oils. Keep bottles out of reach of children, with the dropper insert in place and the cap done up. A small mouthful can be dangerous for a child.
- Dilute before oil touches skin. Undiluted oil can irritate, and repeated use can sensitise you, so that a rash appears whenever you meet that oil again, including in perfumes and cleaning products.
- Patch test anything new. Put a little of the diluted blend on the inside of your forearm, cover it with a plaster, and check after 24 to 48 hours. Redness, itching or swelling means that blend is not for you.
- Keep oils away from eyes and the inside of the nose and mouth. Wash your hands after blending. If oil gets in an eye, rinse with plenty of clean water.
- Take extra care with the people most at risk. That means pregnancy, babies and young children, pets (cats in particular), epilepsy, asthma and anyone on regular medicines. Cold-pressed bergamot, lemon, lime and grapefruit are phototoxic: keep skin they touch out of strong sun for 12 hours.
One habit sits alongside the rules: keep oils fresh. Citrus and pine oils change quickly once opened, and oxidised oil is more likely to irritate. Store bottles upright, capped, in a cool dark cupboard, and write the opening date on the label. Most citrus oils are best used within about a year; many others last two or three years.
Where to go next
If you are completely new, the beginners' course takes you through six short lessons, each ending with a small task. When you want the botanical name, scent and cautions for a particular oil, the essential oil dictionary covers about forty of them. The blending guides below (scent profiles, blending factors, good pairings) are easiest read in that order. And if you would like the essentials on your phone, the pocket guide keeps them to one short page.
Two or three oils you like, a small bottle of carrier oil, tissues and a notebook are enough to start. Two oils made in Japan are pleasant first choices: hinoki (Japanese cypress), which smells like a traditional wooden bathtub, and yuzu, the winter citrus that families float whole in the bath at the winter solstice. As with any pressed citrus oil, check how a yuzu oil was made before using it on skin.
Before you start, know when to stop. Wash off any blend that stings or reddens the skin. If a rash spreads, blisters or has not settled after a day or two, show it to a doctor or pharmacist. Wheezing, a tight chest, or swelling of the lips or face after using any oil needs urgent help: call 119 in Japan, or your local emergency number. If someone swallows an essential oil, phone a doctor or poison advice line at once and do not try to make them vomit. And if you notice you are reaching for lavender every night because sleep has gone wrong for weeks, that is worth raising with your doctor too.