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About three years ago I didn’t know much about Essential Oils and I thought that peppermint was only something in toothpaste, gum or candy. Little did I know that finding out how to use peppermint essential oil for headaches would save me from the awful headaches that I get a few times a year. When I would get headaches, I would have done anything to get relief and that used to include taking over the counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen.
But, I soon found out that taking these causes horrible side effects. NSAIDs, which include ibuprofen, are not only not good for you because of their chemicals, but are damaging to the body, especially the longer you take them. All NSAIDs I took upset my stomach and made me feel much worse. When I began researching why ibuprofen caused stomach aches, I found that stomach problems are actually common.
Concerns About Using Over the Counter Pain Relievers
There is much documentation that NSAIDs can damage the stomach lining and cause significant damage in the gut as they stop healing and reduce the protective mucus layer. This can even lead to leaky gut and contribute to triggering an autoimmune disease.
Did you ever really look at the warnings and precautions listed for NSAIDs? They are too numerous to list here, but include stomach bleeding, liver damage, fatal gastrointestinal bleeding and damage to kidneys. So if at all possible, it’s best to avoid these pain medications.
Over the past few years, any time I took ibuprofen, it gave me a bad stomachache. So, I was glad I discovered how to use peppermint essential oil for headaches and had good results with it.
I turned to Essential Oils
I was so happy when I found peppermint essential oil and tried it for my headache. It is truly a miraculous solution for headache pain and gives relief in less than 30 minutes. And it’s all natural! Essential oils have been used for centuries; they were used by the ancient Egyptians for medicinal purposes and beauty. Since the 20th century essential oils have gained popularity and today many people reap the numerous health benefits.
There are so many great ways to use essential oils for natural remedies, beauty products, and even cleaning.
How do Essential Oils Work?
Essential oils are extracted from plants and are basically the “life blood” of the plant because they help cleanse breaks in the tissues of the plant, help deliver nutrients and oxygen and protect the plant from bacterial and viral infections. They help the plant to survive!
Essential oils are made up of very tiny molecules, in fact, in one drop of essential oil there can be nearly 40 million trillion molecules. This is what enables us to smell the essential oils so easily and the smell of the essential oil seems to fly right out of the bottle.
Essential Oils have an enhanced ability to penetrate the skin. In fact they can be applied to your foot and dispersed to all the cells in the body in nearly 21 minutes!
I Was Convinced!
One night, I was suffering with a bad headache and my mom started researching online natural remedies for headaches because I knew I didn’t want to take ibuprofen, which gives me stomachs. She found people commenting about how to use peppermint essential oil for headaches and their great results. She remembered that she had some! It was pure luck that my mom had picked up a bottle of peppermint essential oil because she wanted to use it to keep spiders out of our garage.
At that time, I didn’t even know what essential oils were and when I first starting reading how they help many common ailments, I was highly skeptical at first. I thought no way rubbing some of this oil on your skin would help a headache! Apparently, all I had to do was rub some peppermint essential oil on my forehead near the scalp line and it would relieve the headache.
But, seriously, when I tried the peppermint essential oil, I was in shock at how powerful and effective it was! However, I made a mistake as a newbie user. We had no idea how to use essential oils, so I used way too much that time and it turned my skin pink… but we’ve become much more experienced now. But even so, in less than 30 minutes my headache was completely gone.
Why Using Peppermint Essential Oil for Headaches is Now My Go-To Remedy
After my first time using peppermint essential oil for my headache, I thought it was like a miracle! But, I wasn’t fully convinced until using it for over a year. I’ve been using the same method on 3 separate occasions when I’ve had headaches. And it worked every single time!
So, now anytime I get a headache it’s my go to remedy and I tell anyone who has one they have to try using peppermint essential oil for headaches! Why not, it’s all natural and so simple to do, plus it really works! Not even just for mild headaches, but worse migraines as well.
Above I shared with you a quick description of how I used it, but just so you don’t make the same mistake I initially did by using it too highly concentrated, here’s the simple directions for how to use peppermint essential oil for headaches effectively.
How to Use Peppermint Essential Oil for Headaches:
What you need:
- 3 drops of peppermint essential oil
- 1 tablespoon of water or carrier oil, such as coconut oil
- bowl or cup to mix them in
- cotton ball or cloth to apply it to your forehead
Directions:
1. Add the water and peppermint essential oils to a container, I just use a glass cup and mix them.
2. Dip a cotton ball into the mixture and rub it across the top of your forehead right next your hairline. I always do it along my hairline, but some say to also put it around the temples.
3. I usually dip the cotton ball back in the mixture again and reapply it 2 or 3 times in the same way.
This should provide relief in about 30 minutes. If within an hour you’re not getting relief from your headache, you can reapply the peppermint essential oil using the same method.
Note: Peppermint essential oil is highly concentrated and not recommended for infants or small children.
It is extremely important that whichever brand of essential oils chosen, they are third party tested and the test results are made available through public records where you can enter the batch code printed on the bottle and see the report to ensure that the only thing in the bottle is pure therapeutic grade essential oils.
To say “use any oil” is dangerous and uneducated, a company can print “contains pure/organic essential oils” on the label and only require that less than 1% of the contents be such as advertised, the rest of the bottle can be synthetic fillers and it is not required that these ingredients be included on the packaging.
It is very dangerous suggesting to mix essential oils with a tablespoon of water, oils and water will not mix. The oils will float on top of the water and will expose the skin directly to undiluted oils which is extremely unsafe and can cause severe skin irritation. Another harmful statement is to say to reapply as often/much as needed. Please, if you would like to use essential oils as a natural remedy, research how to safely dilute and apply essential oils. Recommendations for ADULTS without chronic illness is 2% dilution which is 2 drops of essential oils per 1 teaspoon of carrier oil such as coconut, almond, jojoba etc. even olive oil will work. This ensures that the oils will be properly and safely diluted as to not irritate the skin as well as helps them to absorb into the skin. Dilution percentages differ for individuals such as babies, children, elderly and those with chronic illness. There are guidelines for maximum amount to be used within a 24 hour period and if an individual has a chronic illness or is taking any medications they need to consult with their doctor and pharmacist to ensure there are not adverse reactions between the medications and essential oils. There have been studies showing that peppermint essential oil acts as a convulsant triggering seizure activity in those with seizure disorders.
Don’t get me wrong, I love essential oils and use them daily, but please take the time to do your own research and educate yourself on the importance of using pure therapeutic grade quality essential oils (you will not find these at grocery, chain stores, or drug stores- those essential oils are cheap because they contain synthetic ‘fillers’) as well as how to use them safely before giving unsafe advise to others.
I do believe that you mean well, but your lack of educating yourself puts those taking your words as truth and doing as you suggest, at worst, in harms way, and at the least spreads misinformation.
I get migraines and use peppermint essential oil,my sister made it for me in a rollerball bottle I place it behind my ears, the back of my neck,my temples above my brows,and my temples and within minutes my migraine is gone.
So happy to hear it works for you too!
I have 30 ml bottle. I’m a beginner I wondered how much peppermint and lavender drops to carrier oil plz help
I would use 5 to 10 drops depending on how potent you want it.
It also works for a stiff neck for me. I get empty roll on bottles from the health food store, dilute the peppermint oil in jojoba oil, roll it on the back of my neck and massage it in. Also mixed with lavender& tea tree cut with water in a spray bottle helps a sunburn. I didn’t even peel.
Thanks for sharing! That’s great!
I have been shopping around for the peppermint oil but how do you know what brands work best?
I linked the one I use above. I use therapeutic grade from reliable sources.
Hi Dawn
I honestly prefer young living oils. A friend of mine introduced them to me. They are the only ones that are pure 100% oil. They are they only oils safe for ingestion. The store bought oils are not pure. I won’t say they don’t work, because I personally haven’t tried them. But i feel much for safe and confident using Young Living. If you have any questions about them let me know. I try to be as open and upfront about my existences. Good luck with whatever you choose.
I have been having the same headache for 5 days. I have been using the nature’s truth brand from Walgreens and it helps some but not always. Any other suggestions?
Hope you feel better really soon! Lavender essential oil has also helped me. Sometimes I do a scalp massage and apply a cool cloth to my head.
Im using the aura cacia brand but it was just in the cabinet. I have no idea where it was purchased from. I had a bad sinus headache for almost 2 days and when I put this on it literally made it pretty much go away within like 10 mins. Im amazed.
So happy it helped you!
Sorry I might be being silly but do you add water to the peppermint and coconut oil if so how much water as making it for a friend and want to get it right. Many thanks xxx
No, you do not add water, as the oil and water don’t mix, the oil is used as a carrier oil to dilute it, peppermint oil is considered a hot oil and can irritate sensitive skin, a few drops goes a very long way, hope this helps
If you’re using coconut oil, then you don’t need to add water.
how many times can you use it in the day
I tried Peppermint oil and it does work I do feel a difference but my migraine Is not gone completely bhow many times can i use it for the headache to completely go away?
You can reapply it as needed. I’ve applied it a second time after about 20minutes.
When adding it to coconut oil do u melt the coconut oil to liquid or just use the hard form. I just bought some peppermint oil to try tonight and want to make sure I’m using it right
I melt it so that it is easier to mix together.
Use fraction ed coconut oil. Buy it liquid stays liquid
I get mine from Amazon. The radha brand seems to work well as does majestic pure. I love Essential oils.
Read the ingredients. If it is 100% it will only have the one ingredient. The lavender and the peppermint both only have the one ingredient. That’s my 2 cents. HAHA
lol Thanks!
Just because it says 100% pure doesn’t mean it is. FDA and USA does not regulate essential oils. As long as it has 1% of the oil in there, they can mark it 100% . Please look into young living essential oils. They have a seed to seal guarantee that ensures the entire bottle is as pure as it can be.
I tried using peppermint oil today for a hormonal migraine and unfortunately it didn’t help. Read that all essential oils are however not created equal… Do you have any suggestions on brands that have worked for you? The kind I used was the vitamin shoppe brand.
The brand I bought my wife was nature’s bounty at walmart. She uses the lavender most. I put a few drops on a q tip and rub it on her temples. It’s not immediate but it does help. We also have the diffuser and she puts thay right by her side. I have used and my non believing son has used the peppermint. Use one tablespoon of water and a few drops of peppermint. Rub it at your hairline. It worked on both of us. Good luck. They must be pure 100% essentials.
Not water. . Must be with a carrier oil, to prevent skin irritation.
I purchased the Natures Bounty Brand from WalMart. With the peppermint, we also bought the Lavender. They both work well and we have even used both at the same time. My wife, who suffers from severe migraines, uses one drop of lavender placed on a q tip and rubbed onto the temple. Repeat for the other side, I have used the peppermint using one to two drops into a tablespoon of water and then rubbing it along the hairline. Its not n immediate cure but it does help. Even my skeptic son used the peppermint and had it work for him as well.
We also purchased the diffuser at walmart to help the senses. She places a few drops of lavender on the diffuser when she rubs the temples, So far so good.
I’m curious about the same thing! It’s hard to find very good information about the brands and processing. I’ve been happy with using the aura cacia brand.
Thanks for the replies! I get headaches often and hormonal migrains monthly even after seeing many specialists for them. I was really hoping the peppermint oil would work so I could limit the amount of pain meds needed. But I won’t give up yet, I will try again next time with some lavender oil as well. Thanks!
Keep us posted 🙂
Hi. I was having the issue of it not working well too when I only applied it to my forehead area. So I drizzled it all over my scalp and it worked!
You should look into Young Living. They have a Seed to Seal promise. I absolutely love the products! I’d be more than happy to introduce you. You can catch me on Twitter @jenuinelysimple. Look forward to hearing from you!
Hi Lori!
Just used peppermint oil last night for early start of a migraine, relief was almost instantaneous.
You are correct in saying it’s hard to find info on quality control. I am a trained aromatherapist who using Young Living essential oils. The e/o’s are outstanding and I was particularly interested in their ‘seed to seal’ process, farms and rigorous testing for quality.
If you have any questions at all or would like to chat oils or learn more about YL please contact me on Instagram @CapricornAndClove
So glad it helped you too! Peppermint essential oil is always my first go to remedy when I have a headache.
Where can I purchase this peppermint oil? Any stores?
Any health food store should carry it.
I purchased mine at walmart in the pharmacy section. We also are trying lavender essentials for headaches. My wife gets severe migraines and is on Treximet, 9 tablets a month for $650. I am searching for something that works. I boiled the lavender and after about 45 minutes she claimed it was reduced. That was an indirect inhaling because your supposed to inhale the steam from the pot. She didn’t even know I was boiling it. May be a coincidence. I also rubber a drop of peppermintt on my hairline because I had a slight pressure headache from the weather outside, it to is gone. I hope I am on to something with this natural healing. Even if its on occasion Ill be happy.
OMG, don’t use oils from WalMart! There is no need to use the MLS companies either (doTerra and Young Living are two). They are far more affordable at Rocky Mountain Oils and they are top quality.
**MLM** not “MLS”
I’m a believer of peppermint & lavender oils, but sometimes I need treximet, but I don’t buy the brand. You can get generic sumatriptan & take it alongside generic aleve & it’s the exact same thing as treximet yet very affordable.
I saw this *after* I applied a drop of peppermint oil to my temples. Rubbed it in well and then “wiped off” as I was feeling a bit if icy burn. Still feel it though it’s tolerable now. But the headache eased almost immediately!! I take way too much Advil for regular headaches but no more!! This is amazing! I will try the coconut oil next time. Thank you for your “how to” post!! ?
So happy to hear it helped your headache! 🙂
After lying in bed all day with a migraine, my husband just said to me. Can’t any of those oils you get help. He wanted to add something to our diffuser. I googled it and came to your article. We put the peppermint oil in the aromatherapy diffuser and rubbed it across my forehead, Im here 15 mins later pain free. This was after consuming ibuprofen,Tylenol,and narcotic pain meds. Nothing was working. I’m now a believer! Thank you!
So glad to hear it worked for you! Thank you so much for sharing your results with it 🙂
Wow what a relief good old peppermint oil as done the trick
It’s amazing how well it works!
Great advice. I have found that putting a drop on a q-tip and rubbing inside both nostrils works wonders very quickly.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing
Just tried this after being totaled fed up with NSAIDs. And having a menstrual migraine for a day and a half. Mixed the peppermint oil with coconut oil and rubbed some on a paper towel and rubbed it across my forehead, especially where the pain is and within 15 mins I felt relief. Thank you!
So glad it helped you!
Using water with peppermint essential oil makes it hotter. Always use a carrier oil like young living’s v-6 oil.
Young Living Distributer member# 1672746
I was just about to comment the same thing as you lol totally right, definitely always use a carrier oil
Yes absolutely not water! Oils and water do not mix, essential oils must be mixed with a carrier oil! And look into scientific articles about what ingredients are actually in Wal-Mart’s ‘essential oils’, they have been broken down in a laboratory and you might be surprised that the actual plant material that provides the healing qualities are almost non-existent in the oils you sre buying at Wal-Mart, which explains the lack of immediate relief.
I used water to.mix it. because this is my first time using it. it’s burning. like a cold burn. is that normal? it helped my pain. but I have an icy burning sensation going on on my forhead now.
You were misinformed by being told to mix essential oils with water. Oils and water do not mix, so you ended up with undiluted peppermint oil in direct contact with your skin. While peppermint essential oil will cause a cooling sensation, it should not be the burning you described. I realize this was quite some time ago and hope you realized that for proper use you need to mix the essential oil with a carrier oil such as coconut oil, even olive oil will work. And if it’s too strong after applying you need to add more of the carrier oil to further dilute and never add water! I’m sorry you were misinformed to mix essential oils with water, that is super unsafe to suggest!!!
I wrote a similar post on how to combat pressure headaches from seasonal allergies and peppermint oil was one of the three oils used. It has some wondrous affects. Pinned and shared. =)
Awesome! It’s amazing how effective essential oils are for common aliments! Thank you for sharing!
Hi 🙂
I am a qualified aromatherapist and would like to share with you an important information. Essential oil and water will never mix together (as mentioned in the recipe). It will sit nicely on the surface after stirring. So it is best to mix it always! with carrier oil. Otherwise it can cause i.e skin irritation and sensitivity. Essential oils are potent 100% extracts from plants and its power should never be ignored.
Warm regards,
Weronika
I have used many essential oils for so so many things for at least 10 years now….
Clary sage oil works quicker for me with headache! I just tip the bottle of the essential oil and with my finger place a drop beneath my nose and around the outside edge of my nose and within 10 minutes pain is gone!
Peppermint oil works for myself and my family also for aches and pains…. But we keep peppermint oil mixed with filtered water in a spray bottle to spray around the kitchen to rid our counters, floors, and home of ants….and also fruit flies! And well ALL bugs, and smells so good too! Also grow assorted mint plants around the outside of your home and never be bothered with creepy crawlers of ALL kinds! All herbs are packed with essential vitamins and minerals our bodies need! Look it up! Eating mint provides Vitamin C to your diet! ALL herbs are a wealth of health when consumed regularly.
I have to share this with you too!
My daughter is pregnant and we never use any pharmaceuticals….but we looked for natural relief online for a reoccurring ear ache she repeatedly experienced only during her pregnancy, as she never suffered from this before. Well, we read that if you saute approx. 12 chopped garlic cloves and 1 whole onion mixed with pure olive oil AND Coconut oil! Just enough to cover the mix, on the stove med-low heat for approx 15 minutes, dont burn! Let it cool….And take cotton balls and rub this oil/ goodie mix onto THE BOTTOMS all over your feet! Also take just the oil slurped up in a dropper and we placed approx. 6 drops in bother her ears.
(AND I ATE THE REST! yum! antibacterial, anti-inflammatory & more internal health with eating garlic and onions every every day!)
After a good nights sleep! She woke up with no pain and these earaches did not come back!
These seed bearing plants to be used as our meat! And medicine are truly a gift from Our Creator!
And are AMAZING!