The benefits of grapefruit essential oil include its uplifting and energizing scent, its immunity-boosting effect on the lymphatic system and its ability to fight bloating. Grapefruit essential oil comes from cold-pressing the peels of white or pink grapefruits to express the volatile oils. Apply grapefruit essential oil to your skin through perfume, soap, bath salts and massage oil to reap the benefits of this citrus-scented healing tool.
Massage Oil
Grapefruit essential oil's many charms include its diuretic properties, making it a good choice for treating cellulite and premenstrual bloating. Diuretics help remove excess water from the body. Aromatherapist Jeanne Rose's formula for cellulite massage oil combines 1 oz. lemon essential oil with ¼ oz. grapefruit essential oil. Add these essential oils to 3 oz. sweet almond oil. Begin by dry massaging your skin with a loofah or dry brush for five minutes. Follow by massaging the lemon-grapefruit body oil firmly into your skin. You may wish to focus on problem areas, but whole-body massage helps by using grapefruit oil's properties to flush the whole body of toxins.
Bath Salts and Body Scrubs
Soaking in the tub with grapefruit-scented bath salts gives you the detoxifying benefits of the bath salt and grapefruit oil on your skin combined with the inhaled vapors of the essential oil for general revitalization. The National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy suggests blending ¼ cup each Epsom salts and sea salts with 5 drops essential oil---in this case, grapefruit---and adding the salts to the bathwater.
Consider using additional grapefruit bath salts to massage directly into your skin while standing. Yoga Journal recommends a mixture of equal parts salt and sunflower oil, to which a few drops grapefruit essential oil are added. This treatment "encourages the movement of the lymph and the blood," according to Yoga Journal. Massage the salt scrub into your skin from the feet to the heart, then from the hands to the heart, before reclining in the tub and soaking for about 20 minutes.
Oily-Skin Soap
To combat oily skin and acne on the face and body, use a soap containing grapefruit essential oil. Jeanne Rose also considers grapefruit essential oil valuable for stimulating "dead or lifeless-looking skin." If making your own homemade cleanser, add a drop of grapefruit essential oil to your normal amount of liquid face wash, or 2 to 3 drops to your body wash. If you make your own soap, consider soapmaker Melinda Cross' greasy-skin, "morning after" grapefruit soap recipe, which uses 1 tbsp. grapefruit essential oil and 1 tbsp. grapefruit peel for every 2-lb. soap batch.
Perfume
Because the scent of grapefruit has a cheering affect on most people, wearing the scent in perfume allows you to carry that uplifting effect all day. It's also considered a reviving scent, according to perfumer Mandy After, so consider spritzing on a grapefruit-scented perfume at midday to combat post-lunch slump. Alternatively, make your own solid perfume that travels well in a compact or lip-balm tin. Blend 20 drops of grapefruit essential oil with 4 ml jojoba oil. Grate ½ tsp. beeswax into a small glass saucepan and melt the beeswax on low heat. Add the grapefruit-jojoba mixture, stir and quickly pour into a compact, locket or small container.
"My favorite grapefruit oil is cold-pressed from the peel of pink grapefruit," Aftel notes in her book "Essence & Alchemy." "It is yellowish in color, with a fresh, citrusy, rather sweet odor---lighter and yet somehow more complicated than that of white grapefruit." If desired, replace some of the grapefruit essential oil with a few drops basil, lavender or cedarwood essential oils.
References
- "Herbal Body Book"; Jeanne Rose; 2000
- Yoga Journal: Growing Awareness
- National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy : Methods of Application
- "The Handmade Soap Book"; Melinda Cross; 1998
- "Essence & Alchemy"; Mandy Aftel; 2001
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