Healing Skin Without Scars Using Essential Oils
Pure essential oils have a long history of use in natural skin care. These wonderful phytochemicals provide a great breadth of natural, medicinal components well-known for healing damaged skin, as well as reducing the appearance of old scars from wounds, acne and other incidents. Essential oil blends for these applications are gentle, safe for regular use, and have a wonderful aroma to boot!
There are a few primary oils used in skin repair; additional oils may be added to your liking (to improve aroma, or add further skin-supportive properties), but here, we’ll concentrate just on the commonly used oils for skin damage. First, and possibly most important, is Helichrysum Italicum, also known as Everlasting. This oil with a lovely earthy aroma is distilled from the brightly-colored, daisy-like flowers of a strongly aromatic herb native to the Mediterranean region. Helichrysum is one of the most highly regarded oils in aromatherapy for it’s broad range of healing properties for body tissues. It is strongly anti-inflammatory, and has a high concentration of regenerative diketones found only in this oil. It is a bit more expensive due to it’s low yield in processing, but produces it’s wonderful effects in very small doses.
Helichrysum is the foundation of many blends for healing the skin, and can be used by itself in a synergistic carrier oil such as Rosehip seed. This combination may be all that is needed to speed the healing of recent wounds - though often a little Lavender oil is added as well. Kurt Schnaubelt, one of America’s leading aromatherapists notes in his quintessential guide “Advanced Aromatherapy” that Helichrysum essential oil and Rosehip seed can “heal wounds with minimal or no scarring”.
As mentioned above, Lavender is often included in skin care blends - it has gentle anti-inflammatory and tissue regenerative properties, along with very soothing, anti-anxiety aroma. Lavender essential oil itself began the modern aromatherapy revolution when a scientist burned his hand in a laboratory accident, and after cooling the wound in a beaker of Lavender found the wound to heal remarkably quickly. It is also thought to ’synergize’ or improve the efficacy of other essential oils in combination.
The essential oil distilled from the leaves of common Sage is included in blends where the wounds are old - where the healing happened some time ago and has left some unsightly scarring. This can work on keloid scars, acne scars, etc., though application need be regular and should continue for 3 to 6 months. The sage oil is included in essence to break up the scar tissue and to stimulate regeneration with it’s powerful components. Sage oil should be used with great care and in small amounts. While it is called for in formulas for stretch marks, it should only be use after pregnancy, and not during by expectant mothers.
Rosemary is an essential oil with a wonderful aroma that is used in many skin care blends. The Verbenone chemotype is called for here as, like Helichrysum and Lavender, contains regenerating ketones (the Cineol type does not). Rosemary will also stimulate cellular metabolism, improving the nutrition and waste cycling of skin cells.
All these oils but Lavender should be diluted in a carrier before use (Lavender CAN be used directly on the skin, but will be used in diluted form in the following blends). Many studies have shown the great efficacy of essential oils at low concentrations - so in Aromatherapy, ‘less is more’ is a general rule. Two highly regarded carrier or ‘base’ oils used for skin treatment are Rosehip seed, cold-pressed from a plant native to the mountain regions of South America, and Hazelnut oil, which is suitable for all skin types. These oils will help the essential oils absorb into the skin, and can provide their own nutritive properties. Rosehip seed contains a wealth of fatty acids, plus a compound similar in action to the pharmaceutical preparation ‘Retin A’. without the drying side effects. Hazelnut oil has mild astringent properties, and will not leave the skin feeling greasy. It is appropriate even for acne prone skin.
Now for the recipes. For effective wound healing of recent cuts and scrapes (and has been used successfully on surgical incisions), to 1 ounce Hazelnut oil and 1 ounce Rosehip seed oil add 1 milliliter of Helichrysum essential oil and 1 milliliter of Lavender essential oil - apply twice a day for 7 to 10 days. For older scars from wounds or acne, including keloid scars, replace the Lavender in the previous recipe with Sage essential oil. Apply regularly for 3 to 6 months. For the healing of stretch marks, post partum, use 1 ounce Rosehip seed and 1 ounce Hazelnut oil with 1 milliliter Sage essential oil and 2 milliliters with Rosemary Verbenone essential oil; again use for 3 to 6 months.
This is a summary of a particular aspect of using essential oils for natural health, wellness and beauty. These are effective, tried and true recipes used for their specific, wound healing applications. With some research, you will find there are wonderful recipes using essential oils for a broad range of skin care applications - they work, and they’re heavenly to use! As with all aromatherapy use, go slowly, watch for any (rare) skin reactions, and remember that less is more with essential oils - almost all have been noted to work in very low, well tolerated concentrations.