When you hear people talking about sauna aromatherapy, they’re talking about the use of essential oils in a sauna. If you’re really into the sauna experience, adding buckets of water to your stove to increase the humidity and heat, we recommend diluting your oil first. We’ll cover that more later on.
Spending some time in a sauna is not only beneficial to your body but it also helps you to relax and reverse aging. While you can achieve these goals without any added products, using essential oils for sauna makes your sessions better and more productive. The art of using oils to relax the body — when using a sauna — is aromatherapy.
The natural smell of a sauna is tough to beat on it’s own. With that said, for those of us interested in aromatherapy that is second to none on this planet, experimenting with the best sauna oils is an experience unlike any other.
The term aromatherapy comes from aroma (which is a beautiful smell) and therapy (which is synonymous) with healing. Using essential oils during your sauna session is also therapeutic for your body.
Before we dive into some of our favorite essential oils for use in a sauna, it’s important that we talk about safety.
Can You Put Essential Oils On A Sauna Stove?
Yes, however, safety is a concern so don’t put essential oils directly on stove without diluting. We recommend putting essential oils in a cup of water, and then pouring them on your stove when you’ve first started or turned on your sauna.
If you put essential oils on a sauna stove after it’s hot, you run the risk of starting a fire on your stove.
Best Essential Oils For The Sauna
Alright, let’s jump into the oils most commonly used in a sauna. Not only are these the most common, these are the best smelling sauna oils out there. When it comes to true aromatherapy, experiencing the scent is everything, and not every essential oil works well in a sauna.
- Lavender – Lavender gives a sweet, floral scent. It’s known for its calming and relaxing benefits. Perfect for high stress, anxiety, trouble sleeping, or tense muscles. Taking a sauna with Lavender oil will leave you feeling relaxed and ready for a good night’s sleep.
- Eucalyptus – Eucalyptus is my personal favorite oil to use in the sauna. It’s great for helping clear sinuses. Terrific if you have or feel cold or flu like symptoms coming on. It is also lesser known that Eucalyptus is a natural stimulant, which is great if you take your sauna in the morning hours. Eucalyptus is described as a woody scent, with hints of sweet, mint, and citrus. If you don’t know where to start, start with this one!
- Pine – Pine is similar to Eucalyptus. The oil is energizing, promoting focus and awareness. Mix it with Eucalyptus and Lemon to lower inflammation, combat bacteria, reduce unwanted odors, and improve your mood. Pine oil brings the scent of the outdoors into your sauna.
- Peppermint – Similar to Eucalyptus and Pine, Peppermint oil is perfect for the morning sauna. It’s cooling and energizing properties are terrific for waking you in the mornings. It is also used to help relieve pain. Peppermint oil in the sauna can help with tension pain, headaches, inflammation, back and shoulder pain, etc. Peppermint oil is best described as minty.
- Lemon – Lemon oil is natural detoxifier and has antiseptic properties. It is commonly used to remove pore clogging oils from the skin, tighten the skin, and prevent wrinkles. All terrific for healthy skincare. Of course the fresh and clean smell of lemon will leave feeling in an elevated mood and rejuvenated after the sauna. In a different area, lemon can also be used as a cleaning solution in the sauna. Mix water, few drop of lemon oil, and white vinegar. Wipe the sauna wood down with a clean cloth, and boom! Your sauna is clean and smelling like fresh lemon.
- Ylang Ylang – Ylang Ylang provides a number of benefits, including reducing stress, feelings of sadness and symptoms of depressin. It is also a natural antiseptic and helps with pain relief. Its sweet flowery scent reminds me of springtime flowers. This is one of my favorite scents to use in the sauna.
- Cedarwood – Cedarwood oil is terrific to help ease stress and anxiety. It is a natural astringent and is great for your skin. It helps with skin inflammation and irritation, and is also a natural detoxifier. Cedarwood is described as a woody scent with citrus undertones.
- Frankincense – Frankincense is great for respiratory health by helping clear the airways in the body. It helps with allergies and strengthening immunity in cold and flu season. Frankincense is described as a sweet, piney, lemony aroma. Highly recommend trying Frankincense in your next sauna.
You should not drink or apply to your skin the water with oil in it. Different oils react differently when ingested in the body directly and it may not be safe. Do your research on each oil if you wish to use differently than adding a few drops to your bucket of steam water.
Whether or not you have been taking sauna for years, or have just started, introducing essential oils to your sauna routine is great! Great for additional health benefits and a richer experience.
How To Use Essential Oils In Sauna
After you have bought your favorite sauna oil set, the next important step is to understand how to use the oils. The usage has a significant impact on the results, especially if you are experimental in the usage. Some of the different ways to use the essential oils in an infrared sauna include the following.
Dilute Essential Oil In Water & Pour Over Heater
Most experts recommend this procedure in spicing up the sauna baths. However, you should ensure the mixture has the right propositions. For example, a few drops of sauna oils should be dissolved in a liter of water. Alternately, you can dilute the sauna oil in an oil dissolver.
When using essential oils, you should always avoid the following things.
- You should never apply undiluted oil, regardless of the nature of the oils
- Do not mix oil with generic liquids. Always mix essential oils with pure water or the carrier oil.
Why should you use essential oils in the sauna?
Regardless of whether the sauna is commercial or domestic, sauna oils are important for your body. Some of the key reasons why you should consider essential oils in sauna include:
Essential oils help in uplifting mood and relieving stress
People use saunas for many reasons. One of these reasons is to uplift mood and relieve stress. While sauna may help in achieving the two objectives, sauna oils make the process better. Therefore, when buying sauna oils, you should be specific to essential oils as opposed to buying any oil for your sauna session.
Essential oils treat minor ailments
Apart from relieving stress, sauna oils are unmatched when it comes to treating minor ailments such as respiration issues. The plant extracts in sauna oils are ideal in promoting effective respiration, specifically in people with difficulties in breathing.
The concept is aromatherapy. Thanks to these essential oils, it is possible to treat minor ailments without using the conventional medical procedures of medicine. However, you should use the recommended measurements when treating minor ailments. Excessive use of plant extracts may worsen the situation.
The oils improve the body’s absorption to sauna heat
When using a sauna, not all body parts get the right heat exposure. Due to this uneven distribution of heat, you may not achieve your goals, such as weight loss or reversing ageing. However, using the sauna oils helps the body to have an even heat distribution.
The sauna oils stimulate the brain.
Are you experiencing memory loss? Sauna oils may assist you in stimulating the limbic system and therefore stimulating your brain. While the sauna oils may not be the ultimate option for treating memory loss, they help in dealing with short-term memory loss. In addition, the sauna oils may help you to regain focus in life and your passions.
The Bottom Line
Sauna oils are an important component of your sauna experience. While there are tons of options when it comes to sauna oils, it is advisable to buy essential oils. The essential oils are plant extracts, and they help in recreating a natural feeling in a sauna session. Apart from distributing heating evenly to your body, they have many medicinal properties. Aromatherapy is now an accepted concept in the medical niches, and one of the best ways to experience this form of treatment is using sauna oils.
Although the sauna oils discussed above come with different packaging and brand names, they all have similar results. The golden rule when using the essential oils is to learn the art of mixing the oils. There is no standard procedure, and you can customize the process depending on what you want to achieve. In addition, the main reason why the products come with different price points is packaging and the number of bottles in each set.