Aromatherapy For Men: Keep Your Skin Looking Youthful With These Formulas

When researching therapeutic essential oil formulas for “mature” skin care, one can find many designed with women in mind. But what about men? Aren’t they concerned about their skin’s appearance too? At least their girlfriends and wives are! So here, anyway, are the oils and formulas for both preventing premature aging of the skin, as well as smoothing lines, wrinkles and scars — designed with men in mind.

“Aromatherapy” actually provides the perfect ingredients for anti-aging skin care. Two primary processes are thought to contribute to the skin’s aging: inflammation and oxidation. Essential oils have been shown again and again in laboratory settings to be potent against both. Essential oils and the base oils they’re blended with are also rich in nutrients required for skin health. And, last but not least, the oils are regenerative — they speed the process of new cell formation, which otherwise slows as we get older.

Certain aromatic ingredients have a very long “track record” of anti-aging use; specifically the resins of frankincense and myrrh are highly regarded for this purpose. In aromatherapy, these are available both as “essential oils” and as “CO2 extracts”; for skin care, the latter is best, as it they are most similar to the actual medicinal resin. These oils have a range of properties, including all three that most interest us. They’re also perfect from a “men’s fragrance” standpoint, with their earthy scents.

The steam distilled essential oils of helichrysum and rosemary (of the “verbenone” chemotype) are also highly-regarded for their rejuvenative actions. These oils are found in nearly every formula for smoothing skin texture (particularly for scarring), as their ability to stimulate cellular turnover may be unsurpassed. They each contain unique ketones, which signal the production of new skin cells.

Then we have the CO2 extracts of carrot root, whole rosehips (not just the seed), and whole sea buckthorn berries. These are all VERY rich in nutrients for rejuvenating the skin, as well as antioxidant protection. Sea buckthorn was even studied for protecting the skin of Russian cosmonauts from radiation in space. This will leave your skin a little red while they absorb when used at high concentration; you might consider making a night time formula with lots of these in there — your skin will be happy for it.

Finally, we can put sandalwood in every skin care blend for men. Sandalwood is an exceptional oil for many reasons: it’s use is proven to prevent skin cancer. It is hydrating for dry skin, yet helps heal acne for those with oily skin. It also has a very much appreciated “bottom-note” aroma, that’s considered relaxing and grounding.

All these essential oils and extracts will be measured by the drop into the base of your recipe. The base is made up of “fixed” oils — vegetable, seed or nut oils that do not easily evaporate. These provide essential fatty acids and other unique nutrients for our purpose: Rosehip seed oil (not the same as the extract already discussed, but from the same plant), tamanu (also called Callophylum or Foraha), and argan (also called “Moroccan oil”). Mix these three together at equal parts for your base.

On to the recipes! Each recipe is for each one ounce of final formula. You can simply multiply these numbers for whatever amount you’d like to make. So, for those with “normal” skin, use a base of equal parts rosehip seed, tamanu and argan oils. For each ounce of blend, add 8 drops each of frankincense, helichrysum, rosemary verbenone, and rosehip essential oils. It’s that simple! This is an incredibly therapeutic blend for regular daily use. You an also consider adding myrrh, and any of the other carbon dioxide extracts mentioned to enhance your recipe.

For men with skin prone to acne breakouts, remove all rosehip from your formulas; it can exacerbate over-oily acne conditions. You may consider adding a little spike lavender to your recipe if you feel a little extra antiseptic support could be useful. For those with sensitive skin a few drops of lavender is an excellent choice.

Feel free to modify further! The only caution to heed is that it’s easy to use too much essential oils in your formula. Only four or eight drops seems like so little, yet if you use too much, you’ll find you can make your eyes water with the intensity. Imagine essential oils acting almost like signaling agents — just a little bit of them tells your skin cells what to do, and in this case, it’s to give you a healthy, smooth, youthful glow (yes, men can glow too)!

The author is a great fan of Ananda Aromatherapy, a source for world-class bulgarian rose oil, and educational tools like an essential oil use chart are available on this site.

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