- A glass container with lid (you can use plastic, just make sure it's a heavy duty PET plastic, 'cause remember essential oils degrade plastic, so you need a heavy duty plastic that can stand up)
- Cut up an old t-shirt/blanket/towel/etc. into rags the size of the container and enough to fill the container 3/4 way full (once you do this initially, you will keep re-using the rags so it gets easier-lol!)
- 1 cup distilled water
- 1 TBS carrier oil (I like fractionated coconut oil (aka-FCO)
- 10 drops Lavender essential oil
- Add the rags to the container.
- Add the FCO & Lavender essential oil to the water, give it a stir, pour over rags, and let it sit until rags soak up water.
What are essential oils?
Essential oils are secondary metabolites produced by plants as part of their health and defense systems. I like to think of them as the blood of the plant. We get essential oils in most cases by steam distilling parts of the plant which separates out the essential oils.
Why do we want to inhale, you ask?
Well, plain and simple, most essential oils have an amazing aroma, but more than that, when we inhale, we absorb these essential oils and their evaporating constituents into the brain.
The sense of smell is connected to the limbic system of the brain. This is where emotions, memory, and certain regulatory functions of the body are found. Thus, essential oils work quite well and quickly on the emotional level. Wake up on the wrong side of the bed-turn your mood around in 5 seconds or less by simply inhaling the aroma from an essential oil (give lavender, orange, or lemon a try )
● Simply remove the lid and inhale directly from the bottle for at least 5 seconds ( that's about the time it takes to make it into the limbic system)
● Make a scent tent by applying 1 drop of essential oil into your palms, rub together, and then cup your hands over your nose and inhale deeply,
● Put your favorite essential oil in an ultrasonic diffuser which disperses essential oils without heating or burning that can cause the essential oil to be less effective. The atomized essential oil can remain suspended in the air for several hours. (Follow instructions on the label of your diffuser)
Quality matters! Why?
The Essential Oil market is highly unregulated for the most part. It is overseen by the FDA. The FDA only requires as little as 5% of essential oil in a product, to be labeled 100% pure. Hmmm🤔…. the rest to be made up of whatever the company chooses, usually solvents, scent balancers (so the aroma is standardized), or carriers to dilute the oils for cost/yield benefit. Dogs, and animals in general, are more sensitive to aromas, and in certain species, how they metabolize an oil. I don’t know about you, but I think we use enough chemicals without adding unnecessary ones. I have also found that a low quality oil just doesn’t work as well. The cliche ‘you get what you pay for’ really does apply here! I use Young Living Essential Oils because of their Seed To Seal guarantee!
Their farms and partner farms abide by very strict guidelines to fulfill their promise to send pure products to your home.
- They select the strongest seeds from strong thriving plants.
- They hand-weed and use their own oils on plants for pest control to avoid the use of toxic chemicals.
- They harvest at peak times to ensure quality oils are produced.
- They distill on site without chemicals.
- They test every batch. If it does not meet their standards because of weather conditions or for any other reason, they do not bottle it up
Check out more about their Seed to Seal promise here!
Excited to learn even more about getting started safely and easily using essential oils with your dog? Be sure to grab my free quick guide that will walk you thru, step by step, all you need to know to get started safely and easily, click HERE!
