73: How to Make an Aromatherapy Travel Kit with Essential Oils and Hydrosols

The raw, unedited transcript is below. For a clean, printable full-version transcript of this episode, as well as a PDF of the recipes in this episode, go to Patreon.com/AromaticWisdom. 

The printable transcript is a wonderful tool that you can add to other aromatherapy study materials, a resource binder, highlighting key points or simply making personal notes in the margin.

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RAW TRANSCRIPT

Liz Fulcher  [00:00:00]:
You're listening to the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast. This is episode number 73. In today's show, I'll be focusing on the topic of travel, keeping yourself healthy while you travel so that you can really enjoy your trip, your vacation, even if it's a work trip. You wanna stay well. I'm going to talk about how you can use both essential oils and hydrosols to keep yourself healthy, and share a couple of DIY recipes for travel goodies that you can make at home before you leave that you can take with you on your trip.

Liz Fulcher  [00:01:04]:
Hello, friends. Welcome back to the Aromatic Wisdom Podcast. If you're new here, welcome, and thanks for giving it a try. In this podcast, you'll hear all things aromatherapy. Tips, recipes, lots of stories from my 3 decades. I can't believe it, but my 3 decades of experience with aromatics. And I love to teach, and that's pretty much what I do in this podcast. What I like to do before I get into the main topic of the episode is to give a welcome shout out to any new patrons that support The Aromatic Wisdom Podcast.

Liz Fulcher  [00:01:41]:
Today, I have 2. I wanna say hello to Ray Bellows and Cathy Fisher. Thank you both for your support. Thank you to all the members of the Aromatic Wisdom Patreon page. I call them the Aromatic Wisdom Insiders. If you wanna learn more about supporting the podcast, you can go to patreon.comforward/ aromatic wisdom. Okay. Get out your notebooks, a cup of coffee, or lemon verbena iced tea, whatever you're drinking, as we talk about making an aromatherapy travel kit.

Liz Fulcher  [00:02:23]:
So I gave a lot of thought to this episode before I aromatherapy while you're traveling is a big topic, and at first, I thought, gosh, there's so many essential oils that are useful. There are hydrosols, and as usual for me, I was making it harder than it needed to be. I tend to overthink things, perfectionism, all that wonderful stuff that, a lot of us creatives fall into. When I realized, why don't I just talk about what I do when I travel, what I make? And so I always travel with an aromatherapy travel kit. It's 90% of the time the same stuff, but depending on where I'm going and what I'm going to expect or what I'm gonna be doing when I get there, I will change things out a little bit. So I'm just going to to give you the 7 or 8 things that I put into my kit, and then I'm going to make some recommendations of what those products should be made of, and then let you decide what you wanna put in your kit. I've already shared in other episodes how much I love making aromatherapy kits for myself, for gifts, and because I haven't done one in a while, here's my definition of an aromatherapy kit. An aromatherapy kit typically includes a selection a selection of premade blends or essential oils, in very small bottles and jars along with other materials that's going to support the purpose of the kit.

Liz Fulcher  [00:04:02]:
For example, if you want to give someone a kit, they've just bought a new house, and you wanna give them a green cleaning kit. It can contain all kinds of healthy sprays and scrubs, but it might also include some nice brushes and some gloves if it's a a gift. If I'm giving the kit as a gift, or if others besides myself are going to be using the kit like in the first aid kit I talked about in episode 72, I will then include a printout of what is in the kit, and the purpose of those things in the kit, and how to use it. In a minute, I'm going to share with you 7 or 8 blends or products that I typically include in my own aromatherapy travel kit. And again, they can change slightly depending on where I'm going, or what oils I'm in the mood for. And so feel free to adapt anything that I talk about to your individual needs, your essential oil or hydrosol preferences. The recipes for each of the blends can be found on Patreon. Now before I get into the specific items I put in my kit, I wanna talk for a minute about traveling with your kit.

Liz Fulcher  [00:05:15]:
Personally, I like to keep my kit with me when I travel. That's kind of the whole point. Something that you need with you, I have it in my purse. If I'm flying, I put it in my carry on. Any place in particular, buses can be an issue, or airplanes. When you don't have access to your luggage, you wanna have it right there with you. If I'm flying, I follow the three one one rule that has been set by the airlines. So I know there's not going to be any problem when I go through the security check.

Liz Fulcher  [00:05:46]:
So here's the 3 one one rule. 3 fluid ounces per container in a 1 quart zip top bag for 1 person. So 3 ounces, one bag, one person. 3 one one. In truth, 3 and a half fluid ounces, which is a 100 milliliters, is the official limit. But I always like to think 3, and very often it's for me personally, I usually just carry things in little 2 ounce bottles because they're easy to find, and that's generally all I'm going to need. As far as the containers, I always use plastic. PET plastic bottles and jars.

Liz Fulcher  [00:06:29]:
No glass, glass is really heavy, and of course it could always break. So go with PET, plastic. Now, in the last few years silicone squeeze bottles have become really popular. I've seen them all over Amazon. I've seen them in TJ Maxx when I've been shopping. I just I don't trust them in terms of the reaction with essential oils. I've never traveled with 1, I'll tell you the truth. And I really don't know how the silicone is going to react with the essential oil.

Liz Fulcher  [00:06:59]:
If the essential oil is going to, what's the word, degrade it and wear it down. So I go with what I know, which is PET plastic. It's a harder plastic. If you really love the silicone, use it for something that's unscented like a cream, or lotion, or oil. If you wanna take that, then that's fine. But again, I try to keep it simple, so I try to make pre make all my blends, and very often, if anyone has worked with aromatherapy or essential oils, you know this. Essential oils are really versatile, so you can make a blend for one thing and use it for 3 things. So that is why I like to pre make my blends and just keep things simple.

Liz Fulcher  [00:07:40]:
If I think there's a chance that anything is gonna leak, I will wrap it in a small plastic bag. True confessions here. When I'm at the supermarket, sometimes, you know, when you, there are little bags on a roll, and you tear it off to put in your apples and your whatevers to weigh them, your vegetables and fruit. Sometimes I use a couple of those because they're really, really lightweight, thin plastic, and sometimes I'll stick a bottle in there, and just knot it at the top or put a tie around it. Right. Alright, let's get into the 7 blends that I carry in my Aromatherapy travel kit. The first is nasal inhalers. These are so much fun.

Liz Fulcher  [00:08:22]:
They're so versatile. They're easy to make. They're lightweight. You can carry a bunch of them, but I always have at least 2 nasal inhalers in my travel kit. 1 is going to be relaxing. Travel is stressful. Even if it's just a little road trip, just to packing and getting in the thing, whatever the bus, car, train, whatever, and then getting to the place and then unloading and just getting settled in the place. It's stressful.

Liz Fulcher  [00:08:53]:
Even if you're excited and having fun, there's always an element of tension. I always make at least one nasal inhaler with some lavender and 2 or 3 other essential oils that help support calming the central nervous system. If you enjoy essential oil chemistry, look at anything in the, monoterp No. Monoterpenals, they tend to be very relaxing. Anything high in Linole Acetate or Linalol can be great. Lavender is a go to, and then I'll usually put in a couple others that for me personally are very soothing. I love orange. It kind of depends on my mood, what I'm into as I'm preparing to travel.

Liz Fulcher  [00:09:32]:
The same inhaler can be used to help me fall asleep. So anything that's relaxing. So for stress, if your travel partner's getting up your nose, no pun intended, just inhale and count to 10, and that way you won't pinch their head off. The second nasal inhaler I always have is something that's, the opposite. It's uplifting. So I like to carry an inhaler. It's gonna help me with jet lag, and also going to lift me up like in the morning. So whereas one is to calm me down and soothe me, the other one is to wake me up and energize me.

Liz Fulcher  [00:10:07]:
The energizing one, it can be for in the morning, it can be if you just have to move on to the next thing, if you're jet lagged. If you arrive at a destination, you have enough time to shower and change your clothes, then you get to the business meeting, you're gonna want an energizing inhaler. I always include rosemary, can be chemotype cinnial, chemotype camphor, it doesn't matter. Rosemary is very energizing, as is eucalyptus. They it's the camphor and the 1 8 cineal, anything that has those components. If you want a little spike lavender, may sound counterintuitive because it's lavender, but spike lavender has camphor in it. So I always make sure I have a a calm me down inhaler and a bring me up inhaler. Some other ideas are inhalers just for immunity.

Liz Fulcher  [00:10:54]:
Now I'll tell you that essential oils for the most part are really great for immunity, whatever you're inhaling. But there are essential oils that are high in d limonene, which is a component found primarily in the citrus oils that is really superb for boosting immunity. So if you are a person who tends to get sick when you travel, then you might wanna make an immunity inhaler. And let's see, I made a nasal inhaler one time for seasickness. So, well, I'll tell you the story now. So, we went to the beach and I knew that we were gonna do deep sea fishing, so I pre made an inhaler with peppermint and ginger. Man, was I glad I took it because it was a small boat and it was it took us an hour to get out where it was deep enough for fishing. And it was a very bumpy ride, and everybody was green around the gills.

Liz Fulcher  [00:11:44]:
But my inhaler really helped me keep from shooting my cookies, as my mom liked to say. Really did help. So if somebody suffers from motion sickness, a nasal inhaler with high in peppermint is really helpful. That's what I mean when I say about adapting your kit to your specific needs. If nobody's gonna get motion sickness, you don't have to include one of those. Put something else in there. You know, save the room for things that you're gonna use. Nasal inhalers are so incredibly versatile, and if you think of 10 different issues, you can make a nasal inhaler for it.

Liz Fulcher  [00:12:14]:
Even one for headaches, so forth. You can maybe make one for each of the kids, or have them help you make them You can maybe make one for each of the kids, or have them help you make them at home before you leave, and then they have their little nasal inhaler with them. Product number 2 that I carry with me always, always, especially when I'm flying, is a hydrosol blend for face and hands. When I'm flying, this is like one of the first things I pack. Because the first time I ever used one, I thought I am never not doing this again. It was so fabulous. If you don't know what a hydrosol is, I'll put a link to it in the show notes. It's aromatic water that is born out of distilling plants.

Liz Fulcher  [00:12:53]:
You have 2 products, essential oils and hydrosols. Do not say it is a byproduct because it is probably not if it's a good hydrosol. It could very well be the primary product. So when essential oil, I beg your pardon, when plants are distilled, 2 things come out, the essential oil and the water, and the water is a hydrosol. It's great because on an airplane, people can get really smell sensitive. In other words, if you're using essential oils, and I will tell you this happened to me once. I made myself a hand cleanser, and I had geranium in it, and the lady next to me did not like it. And she made sure I knew that.

Liz Fulcher  [00:13:27]:
And I kind of understood that. I thought that's not fair. It's kinda like smoking on the plane. Therefore, hydrosols are nice because they're aromatically very gentle, and although people may get a whiff of it for a minute, it's a water product, so it's just gonna evaporate into the air. So I always make sure I have 2 ounces of hydrosol, because I use it a lot. And I love peppermint hydrosol when I travel. Cucumber and lime hydrosols are also very nice and refreshing. If you imagine for a minute, let's just say you're flying, you go through security, there's that whole boarding business that's very kidney stressful, and there's a lot of waiting and standing and shenanigans with your suitcases.

Liz Fulcher  [00:14:08]:
And when you're finally in your seat and you're settled, you take a deep breath, you get out your little spray bottle of hydrosol, and you mist it over your face, over your hands, and even the back of your neck. Just relax it back and take a deep breath again. And, oh, it's so refreshing. It also feels sort of cleansing. And that's also a good time to use your hand cleanser, which I'll talk about in a minute. There's just something so refreshing and cleansing about a gentle mist of hydrosols, after one of those little ordeals, getting on a plane in particular. But it can be anything. Any it can be just getting in the car and getting settled before your, road trip.

Liz Fulcher  [00:14:53]:
Alright. The next DIY, little product that I wanna talk about is some sort of a pain away body cream. I call it pain away. Call it whatever you want. We tend to move more when we are on vacation, even when we are traveling for business. We just tend to move more when we when we travel. We carry heavy bags and suitcases, sometimes coolers with ice. If you're camping, you've got all the gear.

Liz Fulcher  [00:15:21]:
We just tend to move more than when we're home. So it is nice to have some sort of a remedy that's gonna absorb quickly for sore neck and and feet and legs and so forth. Personally, I like a base of a nice rich cream, unscented cream, that can absorb quickly. Cream absorbs faster than oil because it is water based. Lotion cream. It doesn't really matter the weight. That's kind of a personal choice. So I use a base of some sort of a lotion or cream, add my essential oils, pack it in a can be a jar, can be a squeeze tube.

Liz Fulcher  [00:16:00]:
Now with a jar, the one thing you have to remember is cross cross contamination, if that's an issue. Meaning, you put your fingers in, you rub it on, and if you're sharing it with someone, there's the issue of cross contamination. If it's just you, I wouldn't worry too much. If you are going to be sharing it with someone and that's an issue, put it in a squeeze tube. In which case, you're also gonna probably want a lighter lotion. Now, if you're going to be doing some hardcore movement, like going on a long hike, you're reveling down a mountain, then you might wanna make your pain away blend with a trauma oil. I talk about trauma oil in episode 52, but it's an incredible oil, olive oil based, so it's a bit heavy. But it is an infusion of 3 incredibly healing plants that are good for pain and bruising and inflammation and all those fun things.

Liz Fulcher  [00:16:48]:
I mean, you could bring the trauma oil if you're riding a bike ride and you think you might fall. Again, it's your choice. You might even wanna have just a little one ounce bottle of trauma oil without even essential oils. Pain oils that I'd like to use are wintergreen or birch, because of the methyl salicylate component, black pepper, ginger, margarine, a little spike lavender for the camphor. Black spruce is nice for pain. The oils that you like to use for pain are, all of them are good, And I would make it at probably a 3% dilution. Okay. The next product I like to carry with me when I travel is an antibacterial hand cleanser made with just 2 ingredients, essential oils and aloe vera gel.

Liz Fulcher  [00:17:34]:
When you travel, your hands touch everything that a 1,000 other people have touched. You're exposed to all kinds of bacteria and germs. So first of all, wash your hands often. Seriously, wash your hands every chance you get. However, sometimes you will want to clean your hands and you will not have the benefit of water. So that is where the antibacterial hand cleanser comes in. We know that essential oils are amazing for germ fighting power, and there are loads of essential oils to choose from to make your own hand cleanser. And it's dead easy.

Liz Fulcher  [00:18:09]:
You need 2 things, aloe vera gel and essential oils. Some people like to add, I don't know, vitamin e or soluble. Personally, I've always found aloe vera gel and essential oils to be sufficient. Just get a 2 ounce pump spray bottle, or a flip top squeezy kind of little bottle. They're both fine. I kind of like the spray bottle personally, but it's just, you know, it's a matter of personal preference. Add your aloe vera gel and your antibacterial essential oils. Now here's a, tip from my experience.

Liz Fulcher  [00:18:46]:
Make sure they are essential oils whose aroma you enjoy. Remember my story. I had made one with, geranium and used it on the airplane, and the lady next to me didn't like the smell. So make sure that it's not too strong, and make sure that it is something that you love. It's gonna be on your hands for some time. I like things that smell really clean. I love the conifer essential oils for this purpose. Your firs, and spruces, all the Christmas trees.

Liz Fulcher  [00:19:14]:
Eucalyptus isn't bad. Lemon and orange are quite nice. If you want to also protect your own immunity, this is this is one of those double duty jobs. It'll clean your hands, but it also boosts your immunity. Put in a drop of thyme essential oil. Thyme is vulgaris, chemotype, Linolol. For both killing bacteria, but also, as I said, to keep your immunity strengthened. To use it, just apply a little bit of gel on your hands, rub them together until your hands are dry.

Liz Fulcher  [00:19:46]:
Usually, it just takes about a minute. I want to say something about the aloe vera gel. It's very easy for a beginner to make a mistake in buying the gel. Do not go to the local drugstore or those big box stores like Walmart And, I well, like, Hemart's out of business. Who else is there? Oh, I guess that would be Boots. I don't actually know about Boots, what they carry. But you wanna get it from a really good aloe vera provider. I love the aloe vera that Mountain Rose Herbs sells.

Liz Fulcher  [00:20:21]:
And, that's actually the one that I use in my in my hand cleanser. So make sure you're buying a good aloe vera gel. And I actually have a link to aloe vera gel. I'll put in the show notes. I've done both a blog post and a podcast about it, so I'll put that in there for you. And, oh, also, the this is the other thing I wanted to say. I don't call this a hand sanitizer because we're really not supposed to use that term. I mean, I can say it to you.

Liz Fulcher  [00:20:51]:
I can say here, here's my homemade hand sanitizer. But but I'm just be careful using the term, especially if you're selling the products. The product, according to the, CDC, has to contain at least 60% of a 190 proof alcohol to be able to use that term. I do not like to use alcohol because it really dries my hands. So you'll find that, for these purposes, for your travel kit, aloe vera gel essential oils is plenty. The next product I've lost count. I don't know where we are. Maybe 5.

Liz Fulcher  [00:21:29]:
Is, the next product I like to travel with is a small 2 ounce bottle of frankincense hydrosol. My skin takes a beating when I travel. I I do wear sunscreen, but you're out in the sun, in the air, in the wind, you don't really sleep well. Sometimes you can look a little rough, and I love the way, frankincense makes my skin look. If any of you ever tried it, you'll know what I'm talking about. You spray a good organic frankincense hydrosol on your skin. It tones it immediately. The pores get smaller.

Liz Fulcher  [00:22:02]:
And overall, you just kinda look more refreshed. I mean, who doesn't wanna look good when they're traveling? Right? You're meeting strangers. You wanna feel pretty or feel handsome, and in a pinch, frankincense hydrosol is good for wound care. So if you have a scratch, and you spray it with a little bit of hydrosol. I always save it for my skin, or for my face, I really do. The next three items I'm going to recommend, there are so many more things that you can put into your kit. It really, you you need to look at your needs, where you're going, how long you'll stay, what are the things that you're gonna be doing to then determine what would be the stuff that would help you. But I would also recommend putting 3 small bottles of single note essential oils, and I would recommend lavender, tea tree, and helichrysum.

Liz Fulcher  [00:22:50]:
Lavender because it's great for cuts and wounds, and even if you have a little bit of sunburn. Tea tree if you have a bite or a cut. Again, it's a very quick healer. Now, the third one I recommend would be under certain circumstances. Helichrysum, which is out of this world for bruising and, again, for wound care. It depends what you're doing. Again, if you're going to be out doing some rough stuff, you may wanna bring a bottle of helichrysum. If you're simply on a cruise, you probably won't get hurt that you'll need Helichrysum.

Liz Fulcher  [00:23:25]:
That's pretty much my list, but I just sort of generically say, if you want to bring a little tiny travel diffuser, and then bring a little tiny bottle of, I I call it a mother bottle, where you make a blend or a premade blend to put in your diffuser, those are really nice in hotel rooms or wherever you are. I mean, if provided you have electricity. That is a really nice way also to make the room smell better and so forth. The other thing I do is I do carry essential oils with me. Well, the 3 that I mentioned, I would probably do this with lemongrass I beg your pardon, with tea tree. When I'm in a hotel room, I wet a washcloth, put sprinkle essential oil on it, whatever I have, and lay it across the heater or the, what's it called, the register, the thing where the air comes out and heats or cools the room. I never know how clean those ducts are, so I lay it across there. It puts humidity in the room.

Liz Fulcher  [00:24:22]:
It makes the room smell good. It's kind of like an improvisational diffuser. Right. That ends the segment about the Aromatherapy travel kit. Again, make it your own. Mine are just ideas. The things that I carry in my aromatherapy travel kit are unique to my needs, to my wants, to the things that I've learned really make a difference when I travel. I'd love to hear what you put in your travel kit.

Liz Fulcher  [00:24:50]:
If you want to talk to me, if you go to the show notes, so it'll be aromaticwisdompodcast.comforward/episode whatever it is. Today it's 73. And you'll see at the top it says text me, and you can text me. You can say I love the episode, I would love to hear this, this is how I use an aromatherapy travel kit. So there's a really easy way for you to communicate with me now. That's a new thing that my my host, my podcast host has added. How about now we transition into what I like to call smell my life. Toward the end of the episode, I always add a little segment called smell my life, in which I share some way that I used aromatherapy in my real life.

Liz Fulcher  [00:25:36]:
I kind of do that throughout the entire episode, but there's always a little bit at the end where I say, hey. I did this thing came up and this is what I did. So a couple of days ago, I actually had a woman come in who's a massage client, and she'd had 3 spots removed from her back. Three questionable areas on her back that her dermatologist wanted to test for skin cancer. So what I was faced with was a back with 3 wounds. And the first thing I did as she was telling me about it, because when people come in, I say, you know, what's new? Anything going on? She said, well, I've got these things on my back. And honestly I don't like to work on skin like that, because if there's an open wound, doing massage could put in bacteria, but they were scabbed over. And but they were tiny bit red, and redness can sometimes indicate it can indicate infection setting in, not necessarily, but I always put a little tea tree on it just to be safe.

Liz Fulcher  [00:26:30]:
So what I did with this woman was while we were talking and she shared this with me, I had her turn around, lift up her shirt, and I put Tea Tree on those spots. And when she was prone during the massage, I always start people supine, which means on their back, and when she turned over and she was prone, meaning her back was facing me, I then added Tea Tree again, did the massage, kind of avoided those areas, not completely, but I did, I was real careful about those little spots. Before I moved onto her legs, I added a tiny bit more, tea tree. Put some Put a towel over it, put these sheets on her. Completed the massage before she left. I had her lift up her shirt and I put a couple drops of tea tree on again. Might sound like overkill, but it's care. They they love the attention.

Liz Fulcher  [00:27:20]:
They I love caring for my clients, my friends, my family, and, and I figured, it's not gonna hurt. She had tea tree at home, and I told her, have your husband do exactly what I just did. So very simple, I just used tea tree, addressed 3 little topical wounds. I could have probably used lavender, but tea tree is what I had, and what I also felt intuitively that she needed. So, there it is. That was this week's smell my life. That's a wrap for aromatic wisdom podcast episode number 73. How to make an aromatherapy travel kit.

Liz Fulcher  [00:27:57]:
You'll find the recipes all laid out on a nice printable in Patreon. And again, if you want to chat with me, if you wanna make a comment, have a question, a suggestion, please just text me by going to, the aromatic wisdom podcast.comforward/73. As always, I'm so grateful for you. Every single one of you that listen to me, even if you never return, those of you who are loyal and listen to every single episode, I love you. And I bless all of you that you're well and having a great summer or winter, whatever the season is as you're listening. And until next time, be happy, be well.