Using essential oils for skin care can keep your skin soft and young-looking while avoiding the harmful ingredients of commercial beauty products.
Unfortunately it’s an incontrovertible fact of life that we all grow old; there’s nothing we can do about that. That doesn’t mean we can’t still look great as we age though, if we treat our bodies with the respect and care they deserve.
One of the most visible signs of age is the appearance of your skin, for example dry skin, wrinkles and sagging skin, and if you want to continue looking good as you get older you’ll need to look after your skin carefully.
Many commercial beauty products such as soaps and face creams include artificial fragrances and other synthetic ingredients which can actually harm the skin and remove the moisture, and contribute to your skin aging.
So instead of your skin feeling lovely and soft after cleaning and washing it can feel dry, itchy and stretched.
Luckily there are some steps you can take to keep your skin looking young, shiny and fresh, one of which is treating it with natural essential oils. This article is going to take a look at the best essential oils for skin care, in particular anti aging essential oils. First we need to understand what essential oils are.
Essential oils
Essential oils are natural oils that are extracted from the flowers, seeds, bark, stems, roots and other parts of plants.
For thousands of years, different cultures have been using essential oils for skin care and cosmetic purposes, as well as for spiritual and emotional reasons.
Today they are used for a wide range of natural health and beauty purposes, with different oils providing different benefits. For example, they’re used to treat allergies, colds, neuropathy, hemorrhoids and even erectile dysfunction, among other things.
Our focus in this article is on anti aging essential oils, for example what essential oils are good for skin, and what is the best essential oil for wrinkles?
Carrier oils
Using neat, undiluted essential oils on the skin can be harmful and potentially cause severe irritation. Carrier oils are vegetable oils such as grapeseed oil or coconut oil that are used to dilute the essential oils.
Diluting the essential oils does not reduce their effectiveness and has the added benefit that your oils last longer.
Safety
Essential oils should be treated with as much care and respect as any other form of medication and should nearly always be diluted in carrier oils.
You should always patch test first on a small area of skin, for example on your inner forearm, to ensure you don’t have an adverse reaction to the oil.
If you do suffer a reaction to the essential oil, stop applying it immediately and treat the area with a carrier oil. Avoid using water to wash the affected area of skin because this may increase the irritation.
You can read more about essential oil safety here.
Below is a list of some of the best essential oils for aging skin which have characteristics that make them excellent for preventing and treating the signs of aging.
Best essential oils for skin
Myrrh
Myrrh oil is one of the best essential oils for wrinkles because it has excellent anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties making it great for maintaining skin elasticity and firmness, as well as skin tone.
It is also good for chapped and cracked skin, sun-damaged skin, and eczema.
Lavender
Lavender oil has powerful anti-septic and anti-fungal properties making it excellent for treating many different kinds of skin conditions, as well as being good for smoothing wrinkles. Overall, lavender oil is one of the best essential oils for skin care.
Neroli
Neroli oil is one of the most popular emollient moisturizers. It helps to maintain the correct oil balance and moisture in the skin, and makes the skin smooth and glowing making it one of the top anti aging essential oils.
It is also good for preventing and healing stretch marks.
Geranium
Geranium oil is a great essential oil for wrinkles because it has astringent properties which tighten skin, preventing sagging and smoothing lines and wrinkles, so preventing the signs of aging skin.
Patchouli
Patchouli oil is another of the best essential oils for wrinkles.
It has astringent properties that help to prevent sagging skin and muscle contraction. It is great for promoting new cell growth and smoothing wrinkles and lines.
Ylang Ylang
Ylang ylang oil is very effective at maintaining the oil balance and moisture of your skin, in addition to promoting cell regeneration, improving elasticity and smoothing wrinkles and lines.
Although ylang ylang is considered one of the best anti aging essential oils, one word of caution is that there have been reports of some cases of reactions such as headaches and nausea when taken in excessive amounts. When taken in normal amounts though, it’s considered non-toxic and doesn’t cause any problems.
Cypress
Cypress oil is another very good essential oil for wrinkles. It has astringent properties, making your skin contract and so helping to smooth the wrinkles and lines and preventing sagging while tightening up loose skin.
It also helps to prevent broken capilliaries and can improve the appearance of varicose veins.
Summary
Using essential oils for aging skin can make a great difference to its appearance and delay the tell-tale signs of aging by smoothing wrinkles, preventing sagging, and giving it a warm glow.
It’s never too early or too late to start caring for your skin – the best thing is to start straight away. And remember that everyone is different so experiment with the best essential oils for skin described in this article, and see which works best for you.
If you found this article useful, you may also enjoy my articles on essential oils for eczema and psoriasis.
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