One of the most powerful essential oils that should not be missing in your medicine cabinet is lemongrass essential oil. Full of powerful bioactive constituents, this essential oil possesses a wide range of medicinal uses. Lemongrass essential oil offers a variety of applications in aromatherapy and has wholesome benefits to both the mind and the body. Little wonder, many people refer to it as a superpower essential oil.
Essential oils are highly concentrated oil extracted from plant parts. They are usually rich in bioactive constituents and do have diverse therapeutic benefits to the human body. Lemongrass essential oil is obtained from (you guessed it!) lemongrass, a grass-like plant that commonly grows in subtropical and tropical regions. The oil has a remarkably fresh and refreshing citrus-y fragrance.
Like most essential oils used in aromatherapy, lemongrass essential oil contains several potent chemical compounds that are useful to health and wellness.
Health Benefits of Lemongrass Essential Oil
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Bacterial Infections
Several studies have proven lemongrass essential oil to have powerful antibacterial properties. It contains citral and limonene, which are potent antibacterial compounds that can destroy and stop the growth of many species of bacteria. Lemongrass essential oil has been demonstrated to be effective in fighting bacterial diseases such as UTI (urinary tract infection), pneumonia, bacterial blood infections, staph infections and even some drug-resistant bacterial infections.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Fungal Infections
This oil is a potent natural remedy for fungal infections like athlete's foot. It is used in natural medicine to treat thrush and yeast infections. Scientific studies have also shown lemongrass essential oil effectively stops the growth of some fungi including Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, and Aspergillus niger.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Inflammation and Pain Relief
Lemongrass essential oil helps to reduce inflammation and relieve pain. Certain chemical constituents found in lemongrass oil like citral, geranial, and limonene exhibit strong anti-inflammatory actions, and are responsible for the anti-inflammatory properties of the oil.
Applying lemongrass essential oil diluted with a carrier oil topically on the inflamed part of your body quickly brings the inflammation to a stop. Research shows that lemongrass oil decreases pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis. Massaging diluted lemongrass essential oil on the belly helps to relieve menstrual cramps and discomfort.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Body Aches
Another amazing health benefit of lemongrass essential oil is its ability to soothe aching joints and sore muscles. The oil helps to alleviate muscle spasms, improve blood circulation, reduce inflammation, and thus provide quick relief from muscle aches and soreness. Add its calming and soothing fragrance to the mix, and you'll begin to understand why lemongrass essential oil is good for soothing body aches. Next time your muscles feel like it was run over, you now know what essential oil to pull out from your first aid kit.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Headaches and Migraines
This oil is a safe and natural home remedy for headaches and migraines. Lemongrass oil contains eugenol, a compound that has proven ability to alleviate headaches.
You can massage diluted lemongrass essential oil directly to your forehead, temples, nape, and/or neck. Make sure to avoid contact with your eyes.
Lemongrass Essential Oil as Antioxidant
Various research works have shown lemongrass essential oil's effectiveness at scavenging harmful oxygen radicals away from the body. In fact, the chemical compound citral has been demonstrated to have strong cancer-inhibiting properties.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Digestive Issues
Lemongrass oil is very good for your digestive health. It relaxes the abdominal muscles, reduces stomach ache and cramping, and decreases nausea. Use the oil to massage your stomach to alleviate symptoms of indigestion, stomach ulcer, diarrhoea, and other gastro-intestinal ailments. However, bear in mind that essential oils should never be ingested.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Reducing Cholesterol Levels
Lemongrass oil effectively reduces high levels of cholesterol in the blood. This enhances your heart's health and helps to prevent a number of heart problems. In addition, lemongrass essential oil is a good vasodilator. It promotes unrestricted blood flow through your arteries thereby regulating your blood pressure.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Stress and Anxiety
The fresh and relaxing citrus scent of lemongrass oil is a stress reliever on its own. This calming and soothing effect of lemongrass oil is one of the benefits that many people are in love with. Breathing in a whiff of this lemony fragrance provides an immediate calming effect that drives away anxiety and lifts your mood. Lemongrass is good for improving mental wellbeing. A lot of people dealing with stress, depression and anxiety disorders have found lemongrass essential oil an indispensable companion. You can inhale lemongrass essential oil using a diffuser, placing it on your pillow or rubbing on your palms and inhaling deeply.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Insomnia
The calming and soothing effects of lemongrass essential oil makes it an excellent natural remedy for insomnia. Why count sheep or pop pills when the calming fragrance of lemongrass oil can get you to dreamland faster for a quality night sleep.
Lemongrass Essential Oil for Skin Care
Looking for an all-natural beauty product that would make your skin glow? Search no further, lemongrass essential oil is exactly what you need. It has potent antibacterial properties to stop any infection on your skin, antiseptic activities to eliminate dirt and germs from your skin, and an astringent effect to unclog your pores and tone your skin. Not only your skin alone will benefit from these, your hair and nails too will. A few drops of lemongrass essential oil added to your shampoo helps to prevent itchy scalp and hair loss. The pleasant citrus smell it adds to the hair is another plus.
Likewise, lemongrass essential oil is very good for acne treatment. It effectively controls excessive oil production, but does not dry out the skin like some chemical astringents are known to do. To use lemongrass oil for acne, mix one drop of the oil with a tablespoon of carrier oil. Use a cotton ball to dab it onto the acne spots. Leave for at least an hour before washing off, or better still you can do this at bedtime and wash off in the morning.
Lemongrass Essential Oil as Insect Repellent.
As agreeable as the scent of lemongrass oil is to humans, most insects are repelled by the smell. Hence, this essential oil is highly effective as an insect repellent. A few drops on your clothes or the picnic mat will send those pesky insects running away from you. Drizzling a mixture of 2-4 drops of diluted lemongrass essential oil in 15-30 ml of water over your furry friend can keep fleas off its fur. The water/oil mix is sprayed as a mist using a spray bottle. Even though the oil and water won't mix together, as a spray it's easier to deposit on your pet's fur than rubbing it with your hands.
Easy Ways To Use Lemongrass Oil At Home
First and foremost, you should never ingest lemongrass essential oil, or any other essential oil. Neither should you apply the oil directly onto your skin without proper dilution in a carrier oil like jojoba oil, coconut oil or sweet almond oil.
Also, before applying essential oils to your skin, you need to test the oil on a patch of your skin. This will help you check how your skin would react to the essential oil. Dab a little bit of the diluted essential oil on the back of your hand, and check if there was any allergic reaction. Don’t apply on broken or damaged skin, and avoid using it on sensitive skin. Always use essential oils as recommended to avoid skin irritation. Lemongrass essential oil should be used with caution on pregnant women, as lemongrass oil is known to stimulate menstrual flow and could induce a miscarriage.
The following ways are how you can safely use lemongrass essential oil at home.
Inhaling Lemongrass Essential Oil
You can enjoy the full benefits of lemongrass essential oil through inhalation. Use a diffuser to make inhalation easier and long lasting. Add about 4-6 drops of lemongrass essential oil to 100ml of water. Relax and breath in the healing and refreshing scent of lemongrass oil.
Alternatively, you can add 3-5 drops of the oil to a bowl of warm water and inhale the steam. Sprinkling about 2 drops of lemongrass oil on a clean handkerchief or a cotton ball and inhaling it, works as well.
Topical Application of Lemongrass Essential Oil
Dilute 2 drops of lemongrass essential oil in a tablespoon of carrier oil, and gently massage it on your skin. Carefully avoid contact with your eyes.
Lemongrass Oil Recipes To Try
In aromatherapy, it is a normal practice to blend two or more essential oils together to enhance a desired health benefit. Here are some of our favourite lemongrass oil blends.
To Reduce Stress And Anxiety:
2 drops of lemongrass essential oil
2 drops of patchouli essential oil
1 drop of lavender essential oil
Diffuse, relax and inhale for at least 10-30 minutes.
To Relieve Muscle Soreness And Body Ache:
2 tablespoons of carrier oil
2 drops of lemongrass essential oil
2 drops of eucalyptus essential oil
1 drop of patchouli essential oil
Mix properly and massage onto the sore body part or the whole body, as the case may be.
DIY Lemongrass Oil Deodorant
2 tablespoons of carrier oil of your choice
3 drops of lemongrass essential oil
1 drop of lavender essential oil
Mix evenly and dab on your armpits, neck and wrists.
Lastly, it's quite important to note that there are a lot of questionable oils being touted as essential oils out there. A fake or adulterated lemongrass essential oil will definitely not deliver the health benefits mentioned above. Therefore, ensure you purchase your essential oils from credible sources only. Here at D:FUSE Aromatherapy we sell 100% pure essential oils only. The quality and purity of our oils are genuine and can be trusted.
