Herbal Body Spray

Scents are powerful. 

Enticing, healing, romancing, and influencing; they are one of nature’s most precious gifts–and are cherished by many.  (Myself included).

I like to think I experience the world first through scent, and then by sight, sound, taste and touch.  Most people have a sense that they are most aligned with, and mine definitely is my sense of smell.

I have a deep appreciation for aromas of all kinds, sometimes even offensive ones…  Alternately, I am deeply effected and affected by smell and most often by synthetic ones.

There have been more times that I can count that my poor husband has suffered his incorrigible wife’s scent~sory issues.  Like the time where we “scored” a motel room somewhere in Arizona where the previous tenant had “accidentally” smoked in the room before us.  I drug DH out of there at dawn against his will…  Or, when we bought a new mattress and I begged him to haul it back outside to “air out” in the front lawn because I couldn’t handle the off-gassing.  Or, the many times when I linger too long at a rosebush– only to become intoxicated with one of my favorite scents. O,r when I demand he drive slower through the mountains of Eastern Washington and Oregon while I roll down all of the windows so I can drown myself in the rich aroma of “sun-baked pine.”

Poor guy.  He sure  is patient and kind 🙂

A natural progression for me in my love affair with anything olfactory was/is to explore the vast world of essential oils.  With so many different applications, effects and options to chose from, there is a lot to learn.  One thing I have truly enjoyed doing with them is making sprays of all kinds.  Particularly body sprays.

I do a basic recipe for body spray which includes witch hazel, distilled water or hydrosol/flower essence, glycerin, and essential oils.  I like to use witch hazel for its healing and refreshing properties, but vodka can also be used, if you can spare it.  (Just kidding).  Glycerin is great for moisturizing but also helps the oils retain their scents on your skin.  Hydrosols/flower essences are more fun than plain water and carry additional scents and healing benefits as well.  (If you are not familiar with hydrosols, a crude definition of them is “a very weak essential oil.”  They are a product of the distillation process and are suitable for many applications when an essential oil would be too strong.  My favorite, and most widely known hydrosol/flower essence is rosewater, which has been used historically for perfumes and many other body care applications and culinary uses as well).

Herbal body sprays are easy to make, but don’t have a crazy-long shelf life.  Since the ingredients are easy to come by, fairly inexpensive, and have a multitude of uses around the home, you don’t have to be judicial with their use.  I like to use mine to clean my yoga mat, spray my pillow for added relaxation, for perfuming my hair, clothes and skin, for making bug spray and  hand sanitizer and for other miscellaneous aroma-therapies.

I usually make a 2-4 oz. bottle because I like to have a bunch of different scents to choose from at once.  I recommend using glass bottles, because the essential oils may cause a plastic bottle to leech.  Yucky.

The method is simple, just gather ingredients, funnel into a bottle, shake, and spray.  Pick your favorite scents and combine them to create endless combinations.  These make great gifts too.

Here is a basic recipe for a 2oz. bottle:

• 1 oz of rosewater (or other hydrosol) ~or~ plain distilled water
• 0.5 oz of witch hazel
• 4 t glycerin
• Essential oils of your choice~ 25-30 drops (1/4 t) per 4 oz. is a good rule of thumb

Last night I made a new spray combination that I dubbed “Flower Child”  using the above basic recipe and

• 13 drops rose geranium oil
• 2 drops lavender oil
• 10 drops ylang ylang oil
• 5 drops clove bud oil

It was a scent-sation!  Admittedly, the ylang-ylang was a bit overpowering, and next time I might try to go just a touch lighter on it, like maybe just 8 drops instead of 10.

Other happy combinations are:

Earthy:

• Pine
• Cedarwood
• Frankincense
• Cypress

Refreshing:

• Peppermint
• Sweet Orange
• Lime

Clarifying:

• Clary Sage
• Grapefruit
• Sandalwood

Romantic:

• Vetiver
• Rose
• Jasmine
• Patchouli

Relaxing:

• Lavender
• Lemon Balm
• Vanilla

Bug Repelling:

• Eucalyptus
• Citronella
• Lemon Grass

Do you have a favorite combination?  Share it with us in the comments below!

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