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Best Essential Oils for Body and Hair Care

The best essential oils for body and hair care depend on factors such as your skin and hair type, your sensitivity to a particular essential oil, and personal scent preferences. Most importantly, you must avoid skin-irritating oils.

Making your own aromatherapy body and hair care products lets you avoid the potentially toxic ingredients of commercial products. Plus, you get to customize the scents for your personal needs and tastes.

Photo of soap, bath salts, and other body products. | Essential Oil Recipes for Body Care and Hair Care

Here are some starting essential oil suggestions from Authentic Aromatherapy:

Dry skin: lavender, patchouli, roman chamomile, rose
Oily skin: geranium, juniper, lemon, tea tree
Mature skin: clary sage, lavender, myrrh, neroli, rose, sweet orange

An essential oil can benefit more than one skin type, as many oils have adaptogenic properties.

More of the best essential oils for body care from The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy:

Sensitive skin: german chamomile, roman chamomile, lavender, mandarin
Dry skin: carrot seed, german chamomile, clary sage, frankincense, geranium, ho wood, jasmine, mandarin, neroli, petitgrain, rosewood, sandalwood
Oily skin: bergamot, clay sage, cypress, frankincense, ho wood, jasmine, juniper berry, lavender, lemon eucalyptus, myrrh, neroli, niaouli, palmarosa, petitgrain, roman chamomile, thyme linalol, ylang ylang
Normal skin: all the aforementioned oils except myrrh and thyme linalol

Dilution of Essential Oils for Body Care

When making body care products, you generally want a one to three percent dilution, depending on the essential oils you use, your sensitivity to them, and how strong you want the scent. Guidelines:

1% = 6 drops essential oil in 2 tablespoons carrier oil
2% = 12 drops essential oil in 2 tablespoons carrier oil
3% = 18 drops essential oil in 2 tablespoons carrier oil

Example: If a recipe contains 1 cup (8 tablespoons) carrier oil, and you want a 2% dilution, you can add up to 48 drops essential oil.

Remember, stronger essential oils need to be more highly diluted.

This website offers many options in the following body and hair care articles. Go here for essential oils for facial care.

Jump to:

Hair Care

Essential Oils for Hair (with blends for normal hair)

Essential Oils for Dry Hair

Essential Oils for Oily Hair

Essential Oils for Dandruff

Essential Oils for Hair Growth

Bath Aromatherapy

Essential Oils in Bath Water
Aromatherapy baths for muscle soreness, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and more. Includes DIY shower gels and bath oils.

Aromatherapy Bath Salts and Essential Oils for Bath Bombs
How to make aromatherapy bath salts and bombs/melts.

Essential Oils for the Shower
How to make aromatherapy shower steamers and shower gels.

Best Essential Oils for Body Care

Essential Oil Body Lotion
Make your own aromatherapy body lotion.

Essential Oil Body Scrub
Salt and sugar aromatherapy body scrub recipes you can use to exfoliate your skin and leave it feeling smooth and refreshed.

Essential Oil for Nail Care
How to use essential oils for conditioning or strengthening your nails and to get rid of fungus.

Essential Oils for Body Butter
Body butter recipes and body butter essential oil blends.

Essential Oils for Hand Cream
Make your own aromatherapy hand cream.

How to Make Body Powder
How to make body powder with essential oils.

How to Make Hand Scrub
Hand scrub recipes with essential oils.

Natural Essential Oil Deodorant
Ten natural deodorant recipes for rub-on, stick, and spray-on deodorants using essential oils.

Natural Shaving Cream
Seven ways to make your own shaving cream (for women and men).

Foot Care Aromatherapy

Essential Oils for Feet
How to use essential oils to do foot massage and help treat bunions and corn. Also includes recipes for a rough foot cream and foot powder.

Homemade Foot Soak and Homemade Foot Scrub
DIY homemade foot soaks and foot scrubs using essential oils to relax, pamper, and heal your feet.