Today’s recipe is refreshingly easy to whip up, which is perfect considering it’s a Relaxing Essential Oil Roller, and it would be rather counter-intuitive to try and kick-start some relaxation with a crazy complex recipe. You can assemble this roller in no time at all (you don’t even need to leave your ingredient storage area to go to your making area if you don’t want to!) and jump straight into the relaxing. Aaaaah.
When you start researching relaxing and calming essential oils there’s certainly no shortage of suggestions, and while it’s always tempting to make a mega-melange of every essential oil anybody has ever thought was relaxing, I made a conscious effort to keep the blend relatively simple and accessible.
Lavender and bergamot star in the blend. Lavender is the classic relaxing, calming essential oil, and I’d recommend choosing a nice one for this roller—not 40/42. I used a lovely French lavender, and if you’re like me and have far too many kinds of lavender essential oil, this is a good chance to pull ’em all out, do a sniff test, and choose the one you think is the most relaxing and lovely!
I decided to commit to not using this roller on my skin before sun exposure so I could use proper bergamot rather than the variety that’s had its photosensitizing compounds removed. The whole stuff definitely smells more bergamotty, and since we’re going for the aromatherapy angle I though it was best to use the complete thing rather than the modified version. Bergamot is very photosensitizing, though, so after application you need to wait a solid twelve hours before going out in the sun! If you want the benefits of the roller without waiting twelve hours to go out, I recommend just smelling it from the bottle rather than applying it to your skin.
I’ve rounded out the blend with a solitary drop of each German chamomile and rose absolute. I find the chamomile to be very noticeable in the blend, even at just one drop, so I don’t recommend increasing that amount unless you are mad about chamomile. You definitely can use more rose if you’d like—I’ve kept the amount small to be cost effective.
To wrap things up, I’ve left room for you to add other essential oils you enjoy—it’s optional, but I think it’s rather fun to customize and play 😊 Once you’ve got your blend counted into your roller bottle, simply top it off with perfumery alcohol or a light carrier oil, cap, shake, et voila! That’s that. Time to relax 😉
Relaxing Essential Oil Roller
15 drops lavender essential oil
1 drop German chamomile essential oil
10 drops bergamot essential oil
1 drop rose absolute (or 10 drops 10% rose essential oil dilution)Optional: 10–15 drops of other relaxing/calming essential oils like ylang ylang, frankincense, clary sage, geranium, lemon, or anything else that strikes your fancy!
Perfumery 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
Count the essential oils into a 5ml roller bottle. Top off with perfumery alcohol, and shake to combine. Voila! That’s it.
To use, glide the roller across your pulse points.
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.
This blend is also lovely in an essential oil diffuser—just skip the dilution step and add a few drops of the blend to your favourite diffuser.
I have a relaxing blend I’ve used to make a few lotions/night face lotions – a mix of mostly Roman and German Chamomile (the 3% dilution from NDA), Helichrysum (3% NDA dilusion), and 2-3 drops of Sicilian Bergamot and Rose essential oil. I am ‘mad about chamomile’ so that makes up the bulk of the blend and it’s just heavenly.
Oooh, how lovely! I am mad about South African chamomile, but sadly it has become quite tricky to find, so I’m hoarding it 😛
Sounds lovely, thank you!
Thanks, Anna! 🙂
I must try this.
Thank you for charing
Thanks, C! 🙂
Hi Marie,
I *love* your website and recipes! I’m curious about alternatives to the lavender essential oil. I’m just not a fan of the fragrance at all, it triggers my allergies. Can you recommend a different EO to use instead?
Thank you!
Eh… not really. Not for here, at least. A lot of why this works is lavender is inexpensive and fairly gentle. A lavender sub is sort of like a chocolate sub; you’re generally better off looking for recipes that don’t use it. Sorry!
This inhaler is an incredibly high dilution for regular use. It made me very sad to find this article was so over-the-top in essential oil strength. This was a website that I had trusted to be auto-posted to several social media account of mine. I’m so terribly sad to have to remove you from that list because I can’t have people using my product (essential oils) in ways that can cause sensitization 🙁
I did do research and didn’t think this was over the top, given it is for application over tiny amounts of skin, and infrequently. Tisserand mentions neat use of lavender not causing irritation, and many of the tests he mentions that do cause sensitization are with groups of people who are already sensitized or other compromised, and he lists no maximum dermal amount. For bergamot, when not considering photosensitivity, concentrations of up to 30% are discussed as non-irritating when not looking at people who are already sensitized or other compromised.
I will readily admit I have not read the entire tome, but I do refer to the profiles of individual oils to try and use them responsibly. If you can refer me to some passages of essential reading I would really appreciate it.
A general rule of thumb for dilutions is usually 6 drops of Essential oil in 30 ml of carrier oil. that’s 1% dilution. 12 drops in 30 ml = 2% dilution and 18 drops = 3% dilution. You really don’t need to go higher than that unless there’s been an injury, or trauma etc.
1% best for kids & elderly
2% for adults
3% for remedies & specific issues
hope that helps !!
I’ve been reading Tisserand’s Essential Oil Safety for Professionals and am learning that even rules of thumb like this aren’t hugely useful as recommended maximums vary hugely from oil to oil, as do the densities. I highly recommend checking it out, I’m learning so much!
Tisserand’s dilutions tend to be on the higher side, but for the ‘general public’, staying within the boundaries of 1-3% dilution, you are also keeping your followers safe. There really is no need to make them stronger, unless you are a certified aromatherapist and treating a specific pathology. You can still benefit from the aromatherapy effects with low dilutions !(*you* as in everybody) You, as in YOU Marie, have such lovely, lovely items. Simply gorgeous blends and mixtures, there’s no need to overdue it with essential oils! I’m sure there’s a Certified Aromatherapist in your area that would love to go over your blends with you, or answer any questions !(I write my exam in a few months 😉 )
I so wish the backend of this website had a bit that told me who I was talking to and where they’re at! Sometimes someone will ask a seemingly simple question and not understand my answer as they don’t understand something basic like solubility, and then there’s you, schooling me 😉 I’m working on moving more into weights and smarter EO use this year—there’s always more to learn! This product has been one that’s rather misled me (and many others, I’m sure) in terms of EO rollers; as you can see it’s completely undiluted and yet they recommend direct topical application (to the face!).
Hey ! I’m in the ‘education’ mode, what can I say !! there is just so much wrong information out there ! I checked out that headache blend. I gasped at first, but after digging a little, it is diluted. I had to click on “how to use”. I held my breath when reading Eucalyptus because of potential over-exposure to 1,8-cineol, but they did have warnings to those who have epilepsy, but not asthma or heart condition (peppermint). Don’t know what their dilution rate is, but it is definitely diluted and they warn not to use undiluted essential oils. whoa, people actually pay that price for a 10ml bottle ? I’m getting into the right business 😉 lol ! ps I gave a friend of mine a jar of the Winter Wonderland Lotion I made and absolutely loves it ! And so do I !
Huh… if it is diluted then they are violating Canadian labelling laws whilst making tons of people think diluting isn’t important! Tsk, tsk 😛
That sounds lovely. I think I might try one with fractionated coconut oil and one with perfumer’s alcohol. It’ll be interesting to see – or smell -the the difference.
Enjoy!
I’d love to see a variant on this without the lavender, because it’s a huge migraine trigger for me. Thanks.
Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Hi Marie, I just received all my supplies to make foundation from your book. I wanted you to know how lovely it turned out. The book is wonderful, there are so many things I want to make. You have created a terrific book….thanks.
Thank you so, so much Lori! I’m so thrilled 😀
Fancy! I’ve always wanted to try a roller container. I’ve made this into a room spray while waiting for the roller container to arrive! A very interesting scent! Thanks for sharing! How much use is this getting at your house? I have to admit I used this like crazy this evening!
OOooh, lovely! I think I definitely should try this in a diffuser so I can live in a cloud of relaxation lol 😛
Hi Marie,
Could you tell me approximately how long the scent lasts if blended with a fast absorbing carrier oil?
Err… no. Sometime more than 20 minutes and less than 12 hours?
Gorgeous, can’t wait to try this one 🙂 Love to see that you buy your oils from New Directions too, I’m always so happy with their products and range!
Thanks! I’m so glad they have a Canadian location, too!