What is an Essential Oil?

Essential oils come from plants such as flowers, herbs, trees, leaves, etc.  Essential oils are widely known for their use in the perfume industry because of the smell.  Because our sense of smell is closely tied to memory, emotions, and stress response centers of our brain, the aromas of these oils have a strong impact on our lives.  This is known as aromatherapy.

However, in more recent times we've begun to realize that the benefits of essential oils go much deeper than aromatherapy and stimulating our sense of smell.  A single essential oil can be a mixture of hundreds of different chemical constituents.  Many of which have demonstrated properties ranging from antibacterial to anticancerous, antioxidant, stress relieving, anti-inflammatory and many, many more.  Because of this knowledge, more people have begun to use the essential oils topically (applied directly to the body) and even internally to aid in our body's natural healing process.


Before using and essential oil topically or internally, you want to make sure that it is pure, with no harmful chemicals added.


"In addition to being 100% pure and natural, dōTERRA's Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade essential oils are subjected to further quality testing that ensures the correct composition of the active natural compounds found in each oil. Even though an essential oil may be 100% pure, if the right species or part of a plant has not been used, or if the plant has not been grown in the right environment or harvested at the right time, or if it has not been distilled under the right conditions, the natural chemical makeup of the extraction will not provide as predictable and powerful a benefit. In some cases, the wrong plant harvested at the wrong time may result in an extract that contains harmful levels of some constituents.
dōTERRA's Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® essential oils are guaranteed to be 100% pure and natural and free of synthetic compounds or contaminates. They are subjected to rigorous mass spectrometry and gas chromatography testing to ensure extract composition and activity. dōTERRA's 100% pure essential oils represent the safest and most beneficial essential oils available today."  -from doterra.com

Laundry Soap Recipe

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha

½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder

(I used Serenity EO from doTerra.  Only about 20 drops and my laundry smells delicious!)

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.  Add
 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda
and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.
Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket.   Now add your soap mixture and
stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.

Finally, add your favorite essential oil, (would probably add 30-60
drops of oil. you may choose more or less) Some favorites are
Lemon, Citrus Bliss and Purify.  You can obviously use whatever
scent you want.  The EO will make the soap a more effective
cleanser, make the soap more effective at getting rid of bacteria
and microbes, and will of coarse make your laundry smell incredible.

Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.  You use ½ cup
per load. 

**A few things to note about the soap**

~The finished soap will not be a solid gel.  It will be more of a
watery gel that has been accurately described as an "egg noodle soup"
look.

~The soap is a low sudsing soap.  So if you don’t see suds, that is
ok.  Suds are not what does the cleaning, it is the ingredients in the
soap.

~If you have an old liquid laundry soap bottle, it is easy to put your home
made soap in it to take advantage of what is usually an easy dispenser.

~Because this recipe includes far less chemical than other laundry soaps,
ie, cleaners, dyes, fragrance, you will find it to be great for
allergies, and I feel better about it not being carcinogenic. 

{The cost of making this recipe of laundry soap was .71 cents for 2
gallons! With this 2 gallon size recipe you will have enough to do 64
loads of laundry.  That translates to about .01 cent a load. (and then
plenty of ingredients left over for MORE 2 gal. recipes)}

{{I got this recipe off of everythingdoterra.com}}