If your desire is to live a healthier, more natural life, then, when summer rolls around, there are certain essential oils that you must have in your repertoire to thoroughly enjoy the months of sunshine and outdoors.

Being an expert when it comes to essential oils, not only because I am a Certified Essential Oil Coach but through years and years of practical experience, I have learned to keep certain essential oils in my stash for the summer months. I want to share those oils with you and why they are beneficial to use during summertime.

Are you ready to learn?

Why It’s Beneficial to Use Essential Oils During Summer

When I was younger and really didn’t understand how potent and dangerous the ingredients I put in the air an on my skin were, I just went to WalMart or Target and bought the product with the nicest smell and the prettiest package. Sometimes, I purchased a summertime product like sunscreen or bug repellant because it’s what I saw others using. I determined, that the products must be good.

Well, as effective as the storebought items I used may have been, they were terrible for my health. As I learned over the years of my healing journey, most storebought products are filled with chemicals and preservatives that actually create disease in the body and break down our cells and organs.

Getting healthier and remitting my Hashimoto’s meant I needed to trash the chemical filled products that were toxic and start using natural, as close to God-made ingredients and products as possible. Upon that realization, I started using grade 1 essential oils for all my summer toiletries.

Summer Activities That May Warrant Using Essential Oils

• Camping or Hamping (Camping in your backyard Home+Camping = Hamping)
• Fishing
• Hiking
• Swimming
• Going to the Beach
• Getting Rid of the Bugs
• Backyard Entertaining
• Traveling Via Airplane
• Taking a Road Trip
• Going to the state fair
• Attending baseball games
• Enjoying a park day

Summer Problems That Arise Where Essential Oils Can Help

• Bug Bites
• Jellyfish Stings
• Sunburns
• Travel Anxiety (for animals and humans)
• Itchy Skin
• Sunspots
• Overheating
• Headaches
• Stomach aches from eating foods that don’t sit well
• Can’t wind down at night
• Germs in hotel rooms

Must Have Essential Oils for Summer Survival

Click on the headings to get your own

The Trio

For itchy eyes, skin, & throats as well as chest tightness. Bring it with you wherever there are allergens.

My 3 Way Outdoor Blend

To get rid of the pesky bugs and bug bites. Different bugs are repelled by different constituents which is why I developed three different blends to use for diverse bug preferences.

Lavender

A natural antihistamine and relaxer that is rich in Esters.

• Use this oil when you get a blister and need to soothe it.
• Make a spray for sunburns by combining 1-ounce aloe vera gel, 7 ounces of filtered water and 10 drops each of Lavender, Roman Chamomile and Peppermint. Place all in an 8-ounce glass spray bottle and use when your skin needs cooled and soothed.
• To reduce nervous thoughts while traveling, apply one drop in the palm of your hands and rub together. Cup your hands over your mouth and nose and breathe in deeply several times. Rub the residual on your neck and temples.
• For scared or tentative animals, apply diluted lavender to their ears to calm them down.
• Apply topically to a jellyfish sting to soothe the irritation

Peppermint 

• This is such a great cooling oil. During the summer and all year round, it can help to relieve headaches when you place a diluted drop on your temples (don’t get it in your eyes and if you do, use milk to wash it out).
• You can also make the sunburn spray I mentioned above for sunburn relief.
• When you find yourself overheated from the summer heat, apply one drop of peppermint to a damp washcloth and rub the washcloth on your arms and legs as well as the back the neck.

Lemon

• A refreshing oil that has a multitude of uses for summer. Use it to do cleaning inside and outside and for when you entertain.
• For an uplifting diffuser blend, combine 3 drops Lemon, 1 drop Grapefruit and 1 drop Peppermint in an ultrasonic diffuser
• Place one drop in your sweetened or unsweetened iced tea with some lemon slices.
• Use in a marinade for grilled lemon pepper chicken.

*Note- citrus oils contain furanocoumarins and when applied to skin make the skin more sensitive to the sun. Do not apply citrus oils to the skin and then go out in the sun. Wait 12 hours to go in the sun after application of citrus oils.

Melaleuca (Tea Tree)

This is always in my emergency oil stash and I bring it with me wherever I go.

• Use this essential oil when you get a bug bite that itches and swells. Apply one drop directly to the itchy spot to help relieve it and lessen the inflammation. Dilute when necessary.
• Use it diluted to cleanse skin after a day wearing sunscreen. Shower and then apply one drop with 5 drops Apricot Kernal Oil on to the skin.
• Keep my favorite Melaleuca Rollerball in your essential oil purse for when you’re out and about and the need arises to use it.

Purify

You’ll always want to have this essential oil blend on hand when you go outdoors since bugs don’t like it.

• Make your own outdoor bug-away candles by melting 8 ounces organic beeswax and adding 10 drops of Purify to it. Pour into an 8-ounce glass ball jar that you’ve placed a lead free wick in the center of and let it cool. Burn it to keep the bugs away when you’re outdoors.
• Add one drop to your laundry detergent to get the musty smell out of wet bathing suits.
• Add 2 drops to a cotton ball and place in the vent in your car to freshen the air.
• Diffuse in a room that has dampness. It will help repel mold and fungus and get rid of any musty smell.
• Apply 3 drops diluted with your favorite fragrance and chemical free lotion and rub on your body to keep bugs away.

TerraShield

This is a blend of oils that help keep the bugs away too but has a different smell than Purify. It has more of a powdery smell rather than citronella smell. Since it has different oils in it, it also helps to repel different bugs.

• Use in all the same ways you would use Purify above.
• Purchase a convenient spray to bring along with you on hikes and camping trips.

Top-Rated Chemical Free, Essential Oil Hand Sanitizer

Although making your own sanitizer is quite simple, this convenient pre-made spray is SO simple to keep with you at all times.

• I like to tuck it in my purse when I travel on the airplane to sanitize where I sit.
• It’s also great to keep in your purse when your out on adventures and you need to sanitize your hands, your kiddos hands or even a cart.
• Use on the remotes and switches in hotel rooms during your travels.
• It’s fun to keep the bottle and refill it with your DIY sanitizer.

Rosemary

This oil is great to help open up airways during the summer.

• I also love Rosemary because it helps support a healthy thyroid.
• Diffuse it in your car diffuser while you’re driving.
• Add to an Epsom salt bath at the end of the day to help relax and ground the soul.

Wild Orange

Although I caution against applying this oil to your skin and going out into the sun, I still use this during the summer.

• When you have nervousness from traveling on the airplane or in the car, apply one drop of Wild Orange to the palm of your hands and rub them together. Then cup your hands over your nose and mouth and breathe deeply to help reduce anxious thoughts. Do this as needed.
• Place a drop of this oil on your phone diffuser and breathe deeply to help relax.
• Use it in this Decadent, Grain Free, Orange, Ginger, Honey Cake that you serve to your guests.
• Add 1 drop to a pitcher of water and place sliced strawberries in that water for a refreshing, infused delight.

Roman Chamomile

This is one of my absolute favorite oils for relaxation. Summertime can be busy and sometimes make it hard to unwind at night because your mind is still spinning from the day.

• Diffuse 3 drops of this oil with 2 drops of Grapefruit or Wild Orange at night to settle down.
• If you’re really having a hard time sleeping diffuse 3 drops of Roman Chamomile with 1 drop of Vetiver for a good nights sleep. Alternatively, you could take Serenity Restful Complex for a good night’s sleep.

Helichrysum

This oil is perfect for all things skin!

• Apply one diluted drop daily to your face and decolletage to help reduce the appearance of fine lines.
• Using 1 drop with 1/4 tsp. Fractionated Coconut Oil as a carrier oil, apply to age spots, sun spots or scars to help rejuvenate the skin and make it glow again.
• Add 5 drops to the sun spray recipe in the Lavender section above to help repair your skin after spending too much time in the sunshine.
• Use on razor burn to help soothe the skin.
• Use Helichrysum along with AromaTouch or Deep Blue for an after-hike soothing muscle massage.
• To help block the UV rays of the sun, add 5 drops of this essential oil to your chemical free lotion and apply to your skin

Arborvitae

Naturally repels ticks, mosquitoes, spiders and other bugs using this oil.

• Place 1 diluted drop on your neck ankles and wrists to keep the pests away from your skin.
• You can also use this on dogs to repel insects. According to veterinarian Janet Roark, DVM use this rule of thumb:
  • For dogs under 15 pounds, dilute 1 drop oil in 1-2 mL of carrier oil, and apply topically.
    For dogs over 15 pounds, dilute 1 drop oil in 20 drops of carrier oil and apply topically.
• Diffuse outdoors when you’re entertaining to keep the bugs away.

Digestzen

With lots of potlucks and get-togethers and even travel during the summer, we are likely to come in contact with foods that our body doesn’t like and sometimes even a stomach bug. I always keep DigestZen on me in for these situations with my husband, kids or even myself. We’ve even shared this with a nauseous person on the airplane before!

• For stomach upset, apply one diluted drop to the abdomen and rub in. If you’re comfortable with internal usage, you can also place one drop in your mouth and chase it with water to help settle the stomach.
• If you want to travel without the liquid essential oil, get a pack of chewable essential oil tabs to help relieve the discomfort.
• To settle the stomach when you’ve overeaten, apply one diluted drop of this essential oil to the stomach.
• When you’ve gotten a stomach bug from contaminated food, use DigestZen internally and add these protective softgels to help kill the offender causing symptoms.

The Most Important Essential Oil Accessories for the Summer

Be Ready for Summer With These Essential Oil Must Haves!

As I mentioned in the beginning, switching from storebought summertime toiletries to using essential oils during the summer, really helped to improve my health and ditch the toxins I was using each year.

Now you have over 15 essential oils and oil blends to choose from to use for a variety of summertime needs with over 50 ideas.

Let me know how you plan to use essential oils this summer! I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Also, if you have any other ideas that I didn’t mention, please feel free to add them in the comments. It’s always fun to learn new ideas!