Rosemary
This plant belongs to a set or variety of plants that humans like to have planted (either on pots or directly on the soil) in their homes for their fragrance.
In addition, this plant’s essential oil has a lot of uses both in the cosmetic and medical industries. Originally from the Mediterranean region is now a worldwide location plant. Mainly considered a herb, this plant can grow up as big and tall as a tree with all the same characteristics and remain small like a bush or petite as a herb.
This is the most likely reason for the rosemary to be such a well-liked plant. In terms of medical and health issues, rosemary is used for memory improvement, indigestion, arthritis-related pain, hair loss, and a plethora of other conditions. Some have a solid medical investigation that backs them up while others have been debunked and a few others are still in the realm of “maybe” as they have been transmitted from friends, coworkers, and well-intentioned advisors.
In terms of food, rosemary is used as a spice that gives a musky taste to most foods. It is particularly well used in broths and concoctions. In perfumes, it is, evidently, used for its fragrance and you can find it both in perfumes, creams, and soaps.
Regarding insects, it is believed that the mere fragrance will suffice in detouring insects from your garden and yourself. In the use's case of the essential oil for application to the skin, be it human or non-human living being; it is a necessity to dilute the oil in an excipient oil such as soybean, avocado, almond or similar oil as the use of the rosemary essential oil directly can cause a rash, and other skin conditions.
When you decide to use rosemary as part of your home-made insecticide recipe, always consult with your physician and/or veterinarian. The exposure to some essential oils can be hazardous to the elderly, children, people with health conditions, and pets.
Tea tree
In the past years, the tea tree gained momentum and fame. It was used for almost everything, from “cancer miraculous remedies” to “skin-perfecting solutions”.
While this plant, the “tea tree” provided sailors from the XVIIIth century with nutty scented tea, it is not the same plant from which black and green teas are made from.
Tea tree is mostly applied directly to the skin, though there have been reports by individuals who state that the tea tree essential oil has produced rash and unconformities.
Tea tree’s abilities make it an insect-bite healing oil rather than an insecticide or an insect deterrent. But as with the Rosemary essential oil, tea tree is best used with a dissolution oil such as almond or even mineral.
Always check with your physician or veterinarian before applying the tea tree oil dissolved or undissolved to prevent health issues.
Cypress
The cypress essential oil. is one of people’s favorite oils for people to have in their homes. This particular essential oil has been regarded as the perfect assistant to get rid of moths and other unwanted insects in your home. It is logical to use this essential oil as an ingredient of homemade insecticides.
Cypress oil is often used to deter insects at camping insecticides.and verandas. While it is not recommended that you use it to anoint your skin if you still plan to use this essential oil in areas that might be in contact with your skin or that of your family... Then consult your physician or your veterinarian.
Rose geranium
Another essential oil that is very popular in the use of home-made insecticides for both deterring and avoiding insects is the Rose Geranium. This essential oil is both used for healing, cosmetics in terms of scents and home use such as the insecticides we are discussing today.
The scent of the rose geranium is very much like its name: A strong rose smell.
Mostly the rose geranium essential oil has been used for alternative medical uses, whether these uses have success or if they have been medically proven or disproven is not a part of this site. What we are interested in is the insecticide and insect repellent properties of the essential oil.
Rose geranium apparently has anti-inflammatory properties which are something to be sought when seeking relief on insect bites such as mosquito bites. On this matter, it is also believed that rose geranium has analgesic properties that will soothe and numb the bite area. However, it is also believed that the essential oil does not have such properties, and it is the reaction of the brain to the strong Rosey-scent of the rose geranium acting up.
What about preventing the bites? In 2013 rose geranium essential oil was first tested in terms of tick repellent activities and the study seems to prove that this essential oil is effective in particular against the lone star tick.
This effectiveness hasn’t been proven or disproven against any other insect such as bed bugs, fleas, mosquitoes, and other ticks. Nonetheless, it might be worthwhile to include this essential oil in your home-made insecticide recipe.
Of course, and as always, before using the essential oil as an ingredient and/or applying it to your clothes, surroundings, and body as well as using it on your loved ones (including pets) consult first with your veterinarian or physician as this essential oil, like so many others, also has a negative side.
Bergamot
This essential oil comes from the rinds of the citrus bergamia, which is a citrus fruit and is commonly used to flavor the Earl Grey Tea. Its origins are rooted in the Southeast of Asia, though it is now currently cultivated everywhere in the world as the consumption of the Earl Grey Tea and other products that also use bergamot is widely spread.
Bergamot is not used as much as an insecticide as you would like it to be. However, it is known for its anti-inflammatory properties and, since they also know it for its scent, it is sometimes used as a perfume for homemade preparations.
Besides its anti-inflammatory properties, bergamot essential oil also is known for its analgesic qualities. As a result, it is not recommended for any insecticide or insect deterrent home-made concoctions yet, if you like the smell of the bergamot you can add a few drops of this essential oil into your preparation.
If you plan to use it as a soothing agent to treat insect bites (even those that sometimes get pus in them such as often happens with mosquito bites) then you would need to make a preparation with bergamot essential oil and a carrier oil such as almond or mineral oil.
Regardless, it is imperative for you to contact your physician or veterinarian if you plan to use bergamot oil in any concoction near or on the body of your family and pets.
Lemon
This essential oil is one of the easiest ones to get, so much so that you can acquire some of it yourself at home. This essential oil is harvest through cold-press process on the peels of fresh lemons. Much like as you would squish a lemon peel for a martini or a highball.
This essential oil traditionally has been used to scent concoctions and to flavor meals and beverages. The uses and benefits of the lemon essential oil as many and as varied as people who swear on them are active.
However, whether this essential oil works as people believes is still to be researched and verified. Nonetheless, there are a few things that have indeed been proven about this essential oil.
Lemon essential oil can be used as an analgesic as it changes the way our pain receptors capture the information that we are–at that moment- in pain. Yet, this does not work for everyone and it can be that in some individuals the opposite effect comes to pass.
Nonetheless, there are problems with using lemon essential oil directly on the skin. This essential oil creates phototoxicity, which means that it can stain the skin if you apply lemon essential oil and then expose yourself to the sunlight.
The phototoxicity can vanish in a few days OR it can remain a permanent mark on your skin. In addition, as the sun blemishes the skin a feeling of burning can sometimes happen.
Carrier oils
Carrier oils are oils that you can apply to your skin or the skin of your pets and loved ones without worrying about any harmful reactions or chemical burns on their skin.
We will discuss them in another post, but for the time being let’s state them as the part that’s used in home-made insecticides, insect repellents, and insect bites ointments.
These are of the utmost importance as their role is to “dilute” the essential oil and make it safe to apply to your skin, garments, and surroundings. An excellent rule of thumb when mixing essential oils and carrier oils is to add 12 drops of essential oil per ounce of carrier oil.
Before mixing make sure that the essential oils, as well as the carrier oils, are both active and not rancid. In addition, it is imperative that you keep both carrier oils, essential oils, and the resulting concoction between them away and protected from sunlight.
This is usually accomplished by storing the oils in a dark-colored bottle. The darker the bottle, the better. Still, it is important that the oils are kept away from sunlight and heat sources.
And just as we have said with every essential oil in this post, before using any of them, consult your physician and/or veterinarian to ensure that they are safe.
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