I’ve got a disgusting cold right now, and this Essential Oil Cold and Flu Roller is my new favourite thing. It helps clear the sinuses, soothes my assorted aches, and helps cut through the pea-soup fog that has temporarily replaced my brain. Loaded with refreshing, anti-bacterial, and anti-viral essential oils, it’s easy enough to make when you’re so congested it feels like your synapses are on strike, and it’s downright lovely to have on hand when you’ve devolved into a sniffling, red-nosed, achy, whingey mess. Urgh. Colds stink.
This roller was inspired by my popular Essential Oil Headache Eraser, which I love. I was using it last night in combination with a hot bath and an early bed time, and got to thinking I’d like something that’s a bit more targeted at colds and flus. Something that works both topically and as aromatherapy, that clears the sinuses and helps with sore muscles and headaches. So, after a night of much-needed sleep and some nasal rinses I headed down to my essential oil cabinet to whip something up (Seriously, nasal rinses are amazing when you are congested—you’ll never need decongestants again! I use the squeezy bottle one instead of the pot and I have been known to take it to the office when I’m recovering from a cold and use it in the bathroom. No burning, and you can breathe again!).
I started with a handy 10mL (0.34oz) glass roller bottle that YellowBee (a Calgary based packaging company) sent me back in the winter. I’d been saving it for some sort of high-concentration essential oil project, and this one definitely fit the bill. Amazon also has some similar ones that look great.
These are the two menthol crystals I used, for reference.
The bulk of the essential oil blend is anti-bacterial, refreshing eucalyptus and tingly, fresh peppermint. Both help clear the sinuses, along with some crisp camphor and a hit of pure chilly menthol from some menthol crystals. Warm clove is antimicrobial and antiviral, and paired with wintergreen we’ve got some painkilling action for sore muscles. Uplifting lime brightens and sweetens the blend, bringing along some added disinfecting powder, while ravensara is a potent anti-viral.
Once everything is blended together you’ve got a fresh, clean, camphoraceous blend of essential oils designed to clear clogged sinuses, help soothe sore muscles, battle headaches, and help you feel at least a little bit less awful. I’m loving it on my temples, and the roller bottle is sturdy enough that I can give myself a fairly sturdy shoulder massage with the roller head (I tend to really cramp up through the neck and shoulders when I’m sick), which feels great at the time and leaves a lingering tingly cool sensation that I really like.
This blend would also be lovely in an ultrasonic diffuser while you’re sick, so there’s really no reason not to make it 🙂
I no longer recommend making this due to the very high essential oil concentrations.
Essential Oil Cold and Flu Roller
35 drops eucalyptus globulus essential oil (eucalyptus radiata is also a good choice)
30 peppermint essential oil (USA / Canada)
25 drops clove bud essential oil
2 drops wintergreen essential oil (optional)
20 drops lime essential oil
10 drops cajeput essential oil
5 drops ravensara essential oil or tea tree essential oil (optional)
2 menthol crystalsPerfumery alcohol or high-proof clear grain alcohol (minimum 140 proof/70% preferable) or a low scent, fast-absorbing carrier oil (the best choice for those with sensitive skin); to fill
10mL | 0.34oz glass roller bottle (Mine is from YellowBee, and Amazon also has them)
Count out the drops of essential oils into your roller bottle, and add the menthol crystals. This should fill about half of the 10mL bottle.
Use a small funnel or an eyedropper to top off the bottle with your filler liquid (I used perfumery alcohol from Saffire Blue), cap, and turn over a few times to combine. The menthol crystals will dissolve in about half an hour.
To use, roll the blend over anywhere that’s sore (I love it on my temples and neck), and inhale it to clear the sinuses and help refresh your mind. Enjoy, and feel better soon!
Makes 10mL (~1/3 fl oz). The shelf life should be indefinite, though if you use a carrier oil that will go rancid in a year or two, and the essential oils will lose their potency over time, so you should try to use this roller up within a year of making it.
Examples of low scent, fast-absorbing carrier oils include grapeseed, safflower, sunflower, sweet almond, apricot kernel, rosehip, camellia seed, and hazelnut. For more information, read this.
Looking for information on essential oil substitutions? Read this.
Wondering about essential oil concentrations? Read this.
Have a sore nose from all those tissues? These salves are hugely helpful.
This looks great Marie. Can’t wait to try it! On a related note: where do you recommend buying menthol crystals? Or camphor, for that matter (like in the Zit-Drying Lotion)?
Hey Laura! I end up getting most of my ingredients from New Directions & Saffire Blue, though they’re both Canadian shops and NDA specifically sells in such large quantities that they can be a rather intimidating choice for anyone who doesn’t want to set up a manufacturing plant in their home 😛 I’ve got a big list of places to shop here, and/or Amazon has menthol crystals and camphor powder, but as far as the camphor powder goes… I’d probably just get some camphor essential oil instead. It’s way easier to source (Amazon has it and pretty much everywhere on my resources page list will as well) and much more versatile. The zit drying lotion is one of maybe three places I’ve used the powder instead of the EO, and the EO will work just as well in the zit drying lotion with the help of some sort of emulsifier (either polysorbate 20 or Turkey red oil). Those emulsifiers will also come in useful in lots of other projects, and the camphor EO is fantastic in all sorts of things like tiger balm and diffuser blends, where the crystals/powder version doesn’t work.
Thanks for the tip and the links. That’s good to know about the camphor oil + emulsifier combo. I’ll have to give it a try!
Happy making! 😀
I really love all your ideas so I was wondering if you sell any of your great potions. It cost so much to buy all the essential oils.
Hi Loretta! I don’t at this time.
The roller bottles you suggest have a stainless steel roller ball. Is this recommended specifically for use with essential oils? Some others have plastic or glass. Just want to be sure I’m buying the best possible jars for the recipe.
Hey Cheryl! I looked at a few different bottles with stainless steel roller bottles and several different suppliers of ’em all recommend the bottles with stainless steel rollers specifically for EO blends, and reviewers say they’re great with EO blends as well 🙂 The one from Yellow Bee has a glass roller, which I also like, and I have used rollers with plastic balls in the past. I must admit I like the weight of the glass and stainless steel over the plastic—it has a different feel that I prefer… sturdier, perhaps? Or maybe I just associate things that are a bit heavier with being higher quality 😛 Hope that helps and thanks for reading & DIYing with me 🙂
That is way too much essential oil. Needs to be cut with a carrier oil. And why menthol crystals? The wintergreen/peppermint and eucalyptus would be more than enough menthol.
I should clarify. About 5-10% total of EO’s would be enough. Not 50%. They are strong enough as is.
Hey Annie! Have you read the FAQ article I linked to above on this topic? Because I wanted this roller to have a noticeable physical sensation, a higher concentration was necessary. Tiger Balm is typically at least 50% essential oils in order to get the physical sensations that it’s famous for. Blanket concentration recommendations for things as wildly varied as essential oils are good for general guidelines, but as with spices, they are SO different from one another that there’s no way to have a single hard safe limit for all essential oils.
Also, neither wintergreen or eucalyptus contain any menthol, though they do both have a cool, refreshing scent that is similar to menthol. You can check out the GCMS sheets for wintergreen and eucalyptus globulus for a more specific breakdown 🙂 So, that’s why I added the menthol.
You are certainly more than welcome to further dilute this recipe with alcohol or oil if you’d like, but you will find the tingly/cooling sensation for sore muscles is so diminished as to be mostly ineffective.
I’m concern of high % of essential oil. It can be dangerous.
Hey May! Have you read the FAQ article I linked to above on this topic? It contains a thorough discussion of this.
Can you use witch hazel instead of alcohol ?
No—witch hazel is basically water, so you will encounter solubility problems and spoilage problems, meaning you’d need to bring in an emulsifier and a broad spectrum preservative. Read this, this, and this for more info 🙂
Hi Marie — where did you get the teeny tiny metal funnel? I’ve only seen plastic ones that small. Thanks!
Hey Anne! I found it at Value Village as part of a set of three nesting funnels in a grab bag of random kitchen stuff, but these ones look pretty much identical 🙂
WARNING – PLEASE READ – While I get what you are saying about wanting a physical sensation from your EO mix here, I agree with Annie that this is waaay too high a concentration. I did read your faq on the subject and tend to agree on most points. But Wintergreen’s main constituent is methyl salicylate which metabolizes into an NSAID in your blood – that sounds good right – except that one tsp of methyl salicylate is equal to about 300 tabs of aspirin (not the baby kind either but the 100mg tabs). An Olympic athlete actually died from use of Bengay topically because it has wintergreen in it (or did anyway – idk if it still does) and she did an exercise after applying it which of course upped her metabolism plus the heat and moisture increases absorption and she got too big a dose at once. A tsp is 100 drops roughly so that 20 drops is equal to about 60 aspirin – not safe in my book when the whole mix is only 10ml. Most in the aromatherapy community do not consider it’s use at any amount to be worth the risk – at least not at home where you generally don’t have equipment that can measure out concentrations less than a drop in size or even if using a drop or more, reducers tend to not release equal size drops – basically measuring out safe amounts is not easy to do. But even without the wintergreen that mix I think would burn on contact with skin – and not in a pleasant fashion but in a run for the milk fashion because it would be painful (tip for those new to EOs – milk is the best way to wash off/out EOs that burn you or get in your eyes as milk has some fat in it and water will only move the EO around, not dilute it which is what you want to do – dilute it until it is gone or small enough to not be so painful, even damaging). Finally using a carrier of alcohol would just make matters worse – using the oil instead will at least protect your skin a little. One should always use a carrier that has some fat/oil in it so that you do not absorb the EO directly – only lavender and tea tree are ok to use NEAT – but here with an alcohol carrier you are effectively making the EO blend neat when applied as alcohol is so volatile it evaporates almost instantly and the added heat would just make matters worse. (I hope you’ll laugh with me here – The recipe is almost comical in terms of how well it demonstrates ways to misuse EOs. It may shock the cold right out of you!! So I’m not saying it is ineffective LOLOLOL 🙂 ) I really love your website but it bothers me when folks spread misinformation about EOs (not suggesting you did so purposely) because I worry about future regulatory problems and of course I hate the thought of folks getting hurt by EOs. Plus I know you are only trying to help so that it’s a shame that this recipe could actually cause VERY serious, even mortal, damage. Using oils neat will often cause sensitization – and these oils are especially likely to cause sensitization too because they are soo strong – generally for almost all the EOs in this formula one uses less than standard amount for healing which most consider to be approx 2%. The menthol crystals should give enough of the heat/cooling sensation as is and for things like antibiotic and antiviral there are better ways to go than clove which burns – say rosemary (which would be stimulating) or bergamot (which would have a mood-brightening affect). Just I think it would be good to go back to the drawing board on this particular formulation!! And please check my facts at wikipedia – see methyl salicylate and talk to an aromatherapist – there are facebook groups that have professionals in them where you can get good info. Or go to Aromahead.com and take their little course on EO use – free – while I think you are likely familiar with most of the content I think it would drive home my points here, give you a little refresher on EO safety. And PLEASE do publish this!! I think folks have a right to this info!!! The way you present your material makes it sound like you know exactly what you are doing and while I think you know alot about EOs I think in this case you were lacking some key info when you created this mix!! But my point is that without giving this info folks are likely to trust what you have to say because you state it well and perhaps not check your facts before going forward (and also on many other subjects you do have great info so that I would have trusted this if I didn’t know better!). OK? I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings. The point is to make EOs safe for folks to use and not end up causing them to be illegal to buy without a license due to too many mishaps because of all the misleading info on the web (it is a HUGE topic and takes several years to learn everything you need to know to move forward onto healing others. When treating others remember your very first priority should be do no harm right? So that really one needs to take the time to really learn everything necessary to go forward on this particular path.) Be well (and careful) and thanks for writing such an otherwise fantastic blog!!!
Cynthia S
Hi Cynthia—thank you for your well considered and rather verbose comment 🙂 I did research wintergreen, though, so I’m wondering why we drew such different conclusions:
Our math on wintergreen really doesn’t seem to add up, so I’m curious as to how we arrived at such different numbers. I weighed out 20 drops of wintergreen EO, and it weighed ~0.6g; that’s equivalent to about 600mg of methyl salicylate, which is equivalent to about two aspirin, which is considered a reasonable dose to ingest orally at a single time. Considering this roller bottle would be, at a minimum, 50 topical uses… this seems ok? How are our numbers so different?
I also referred to this study on it, and if you take the numbers that applied to rabbits, a 130lb person would have to apply 236mL of methyl salicin to their skin every day to reach lethal amounts. This recipe obviously contains nowhere close to that. Am I grossly misinterpreting this data?
I did take another look at the ingredient hotlist, though, and found methyl salicylate there (I’d been looking for wintergreen—rookie mistake!). It has a max use of 1%, so I’ve reduced the amount in this recipe to be well under that as part of the overall blend.
As somebody who has actually tried the blend, I can attest that this mix does not burn at all on contact with the skin; I wouldn’t have released it if it did! It feels nothing but cool.
Any idea of the weight of your crystals? I ordered through Amazon, and in my 97+F mailbox, I brought in menthol liquid crystals. They are cooling down now to solid, but not sure the sizing will be the same.
(I have been stalking your blog for a while now – this is the closest I’ve come to having all the ingredients for a current entry)
I just weighed some crystals and you’d be looking at 0.6–0.8g 🙂
Thanks for reading and DIYing with me! Happy making 🙂
Perhaps I overstated that. You are correct for sure for sure that I tend to be verbose LOL. I think it would be highly unlikely that someone should die using this formula and I have to admit I did not make it and test it on myself – so perhaps I should do so. I have not bought any wintergreen because I got scared off of it by others so that perhaps I am being misled by yet another group of folks (I belong to an essential oil safety group on FB that includes both Dr Tisserand and Dr Pappas. And I have been burned by peppermint – that WAS mixed with oil – once already LOL). Anyway I will definitely consider buying some and giving this a try at least (with the oil). (by consider – it means that I’m low on funds so that it will depend on some factors – NOT that I don’t wish to do so). Anyway I very much appreciate that you took my opinion on the matter seriously – it is actually moving when folks do so now-a-days isn’t it? – when so many get offended or take a person’s opinions, that are merely that, personally and not as insults! That you even gave me the time of day is a mark of good character and while I had a good opinion of you to start it has increased even more (not that you should give a hoot about such – rather I know it’s nice to hear validation and it’s true)!! Have a Great Day!! 🙂
Thanks so much, Cynthia 🙂 I always appreciate good discussion, and never mind being asked for sources! And if I’m wrong, I certainly want to fix it! I certainly don’t claim to know everything, and I’d hate to hurt somebody through being stubborn and/or dumb. Thanks so much for saying something and reading—it’s hugely appreciated! 😀
Hi Marie!
It’s been awhile since I visited your blog! Glad to see all these new recipes 🙂 When it comes to fighting colds and flu, I tend to just take some Cold and Flu tincture (homemade echinacea, sage and horehound in vodka). I use EO diffusers, where I add a few drops of some pure EO blend. I’m not an essential oil expert, but it’s been part of my Bath and Body cabinets for over 5 years now, I have a ton of them and I use them a lot! Whenever I do a recipe, I always do some research on each ingredient, then air on the side of caution (I use less then test if it works for me). Most of the recipes for roller ball EO blends I’ve come across with say typically anywhere from 1/4 to 1/3 of a 10ml roller ball, then filled with a carrier oil. But even that, I would use more of the ‘safer’ EO’s. Thanks for sharing! And agree with Cynthia! You’ve always demonstrated great character when responding to your readers’ comments. I’ve been to blogs where some comments are just deleted because the blogger didn’t like the ‘tone’. 🙂
Thanks so much, Annie! (You should check out my new YouTube channel, too, if you haven’t already!) Your tincture sounds lovely; do you steep it perpetually?
And I must say, deleting comments seems like a terrible way to encourage discussion! 😛
Copied part of your text;
Perfumery alcoholor high-proof clear grain alcohol (minimum 140/70% preferable) or a lowÂ
I think it should be 40%/70% ? 😉
Nope! 140 proof = 70% alcohol content 🙂
I will try to be brief LOLOLOL!!! I owe you an apology! I’ve learned a WHOLE bunch since I wrote you last on this subject. While there is nothing especially wrong with the info I passed along (or idk the numbers might be but I’m not going to do the math again as it’s pointless given the rest of what I have to say here) or with having an opinion, it was wrong of me to judge this formula as being dangerous. There is TONS of variation in how much folks differ in their reactions to EOs. Just because peppermint tends to burn me is basically meaningless in that I am only one person out of billions, pretty much all of whom are going to have different reactions, some find it burns but most actually find it cooling, (which would make this like an icy-hot kinda preperation). All these ingredients are used in commercial products at varying rates and while there was one reaction that was fatal with one of these ingredients there are TONS of people who die from taking ibuprofen or any other allopathic medication which are decidedly more “dangerous”, risk does not equal harm, just about everything in life carries risk, in treating an illness one must assess the benefit over the risk AND that is an assessment to be made by each person/care-giver individually- If one of your readers has a cold/flu, uses this then happens to compete in an Olympic competition they should exercise caution would be the only point of that tale. That was an unusual circumstance in the extreme and not likely to repeat and hence close to meaningless, in this context anyway (obviously noone’s death is meaningless in the larger sense). Finally having a rigid attitude about using EOs at certain concentrations as if there is a rule “out there” and as if there are no circumstances where different ones may be not only not dangerous but indicated makes for a factions of folks who are divided along pretty arbitrary lines and leads to less understanding not more. And so what would be the point of that. It is an interesting and creative formulation, and probably just the ticket for some folks. My only (unasked for) advise would be for folks to do a patch test (I didn’t read this a third time and do not remember if maybe you advise that anyway). I watched your Youtube videos – Good Job!! You’re doing awesome work here!! Go forth in peace LOL 🙂 – – Cynthia
Thanks, Cynthia, and sorry for the delay in getting back to you 🙂 I would tend to agree with everything you’ve said here—so much of DIY skin care is the ability to do exactly what you want, but with that power does come the responsibility of research and patch tests!
Wish I had had this last week
Yep, you guessed it. Fever, aches, sniffles, whining,dizzies etc. Wished I’d had this.
But I’m making it this evening as soon as I complete this comment because it’s mid November and who knows what is out there waiting to take us down.
Btw Marie……I’m still picking peppers and tomatoes from my garden. Heehee. Winter can kiss off!
Done!
I used sweet birch -or birch sweet as it’s labeled- instead of wintergreen, as I have no wintergreen but have read they’re almost interchangeable. True?
Thanks Marie!
Excitedly awaiting your book!
Nice! I hope you never need it 😉 And yes, birch and wintergreen are very similar and easily swapped for one another 🙂
I’m so envious of your garden/weather (not the cold!). It’s a stunning -3°C here. Sigh. At least it’s not snowing anymore!
Hi Marie,
Just love your website and I just recently began supporting your site at Patreon. I do have a question please. I love the oils in the bandits oil and this cold and flu roller. However, is one more effective than the other? I was thinking of combining both oils but I’m not sure if I’ll love the scents as much. I use both recipes either diluted with rosehip seed oil (my fav)for body application and the oils themselves when diffusing.
Thanks so much!
Jessica
Hey Jessica! I typically use the two blends for different things—this one for topical applications and whiffing whilst I’m sick, and Bandit’s for fending things off and general cleaning. Bandits is less awesome for topical application and definitely doesn’t clear the sinuses like the roller does, making the roller better for colds 🙂 I hope that helps, and thank you for your support!
Hi Marie,
This looks like an incredible recipe! Thank you! I have been looking for a way to re-create a rollerball my boyfriend bought in Thailand. One thing though, I can’t see the camphor in the list of ingredients. Is one of the other ingredients a type of camphor?
Thanks!
Hmm. Odd. And good catch! I wonder if I perhaps meant to say “camphoraceous”, in which case the cajeput would do that… or if I wrote cajeput when I meant/used camphor. I definitely don’t remember, and my hand written notes for this project are long gone, so in any event we’ll likely never know haha. You could use camphor instead of cajeput if you really want to include it!