Green Mentha spicata plant is used to make spearmint essential oil, which gets its name from its pointed, spear-shaped leaves. Spearmint is a breath-freshening, minty flavoring ingredient typically found in oral hygiene products such as gum and sweets, leaving a cold, tingling sensation that leaves the mouth feeling clean.
Spearmint, the oldest of the Mints, has been used for centuries to aid digestion and is frequently administered with or just after eating to avoid or alleviate bloating, indigestion, nausea, and gas. Spearmint oil is a stimulating and revitalizing oil with therapeutic effects. This essential oil is popular for alleviating headaches, migraines, tension, aching joints, and muscle spasms.
The plant consists of a subtle aroma that certain people compare to peppermint, however, with no such strength, making it suitable for people who perceive peppermint as too powerful smelling. Spearmint, which originated in the Mediterranean, was frequently used as an aphrodisiac in Greece. Users often scented bathwater with it, plus it was utilized to heal sexually transferred infections, clean the throat, and heal hiccups. Continue reading to learn everything there is to know about spearmint essential oil.
Major constituents
GC/MS and GC were used to identify a sum of nineteen chemical components in spearmint essential oil. Cis-carveol (24.3%) and Carvone (51.7%) were the most prominent components, accompanied by cis-sabinene hydrate (1.0%), carvyl acetate (2.1%), cis-dihydrochalcone (2.2%), 1,8 cineol (4.0%) and limonene (5.3%).
How it’s made
The stems, flowering tops, and leaves of the Spearmint plant are used for steam distillation in order to produce Spearmint Essential Oil. The extracted spearmint essential oil is clear and colorless to pale yellow or pale olive in hue. It has a light, vegetal fragrance.
What are the benefits of spearmint essential oil?
Promotes digestion
Among the most powerful properties of Spearmint oil is how it aids digestion and reduces stomach distress. Dilute a drop of Spearmint essential oil in 4 fl. oz. of water and take when suffering from occasional stomach pain or just after a large meal. Internally, you can consume this oil by placing it in a Veggie Capsule and swallowing it.
Mood lifter
Utilize Spearmint oil directly to produce a sense of focus after lengthy periods of studying or reading. Diffusing Spearmint essential oil can also help you focus and feel better. Add 3 to 4 drops of Spearmint essential oil to your diffuser of choice for the finest benefits, and experience the minty scent as it lifts your mood and mind.
Relieves nasal congestion
Spearmint Oil is used in aromatherapy to relieve nasal congestion produced by an accumulation of mucus and phlegm in the throat and nose, allowing for better breathing. It improves mood, focuses, and energizes the skin, giving it a renewing, energy-inducing impact on the body. Its refreshing, calming scent helps raise one’s spirits and alleviate emotional tension.
Anti-inflammatory
Anti-inflammatory properties of spearmint essential oil are believed to help lessen the symptoms of inflammation by cooling red, puffy, and itchy skin. It helps tighten the skin and cleanse the pores, which might speed up the healing of small abrasions. Spearmint essential oil has long been used to help with stomach issues. It’s also employed to treat menstrual problems, including irregular or skipped periods.
Minimizes skin flaws
Spearmint Essential Oil’s antioxidant properties help minimize skin flaws, including discoloration when used topically and cosmetically, and for reducing wrinkles. It is said to assist in the emergence of a fresh layer of skin, boosting the skin’s elasticity and resilience. Spearmint is an excellent skin cleaner due to its antibacterial characteristics. Spearmint Essential Oil can help alleviate itching caused by dryness and skin irritations by providing a cooling feeling.
How to use
- Take Spearmint essential oil directly to produce a sense of focus after lengthy reading or studying periods. Diffusing Spearmint oil can also help you focus and feel better. Add 3 to 4 droplets of Spearmint essential oil to your diffuser of choice for the finest benefits, and experience the minty scent as it lifts your mood and mind.
- Use Spearmint oil on the toothbrush before brushing your teeth before leaving the house. You’ll be prepared to face a whole day with minty breath and a trace of freshness on your tongue after you’ve brushed. Because of its capacity to refresh breath and clean the mouth, spearmint oil is an excellent oil to use in dental care regimens.
- Add Spearmint oil to the cooking creations to delight your taste, senses, and stomach. Add one or two drops of Spearmint oil to any dessert, drink, salad, or entrée for a wonderful, minty taste. When applied to uncooked or non-baked dishes, Spearmint oil not only adds flavour but also aids digestion.
- Spearmint Essential Oil may be blended with fluid castile soap, warm water, and baking soda to make a natural but efficient antibacterial household cleaning paste that you can use on surfaces like bathtubs, sinks, and countertops. Let the mixture stay on the area for some minutes before scrubbing it with the help of a sponge, and then rinse it away with water. Lice and ants will be repelled by sprinkling Spearmint Essential Oil mixed with water throughout the home, particularly around doors and windows. You may use spearmint oil with water and vinegar to make a cleaning solution for a floor suitable for wood, tiles, or concrete.
Strength of initial aroma
The initial aroma of spearmint essential oil is quite strong and overpowering.
Aromatic description
The scent of spearmint essential oil is minty, maybe fruity, and fresh. It has a milder flavour than peppermint.
Blending and uses
In a carrier, oil or cream
Before using spearmint essential oil, it is recommended to do a skin test first as there’s a chance that it may trigger skin sensitivities. You can accomplish this by diluting any carrier oil such as coconut oil, almond oil, or olive oil in the spearmint essential oil and applying a little quantity to the region of your skin that is non-sensitive.
Spearmint Oil, when used topically, can help with itching, bug bites, and skin conditions like Athlete’s Foot. It can be used in a massage to ease pains and aches, including abdominal and menstrual discomfort, as well as muscular spasms when dissolved in carrier oils like Grapeseed, Almond, Evening Primrose, Sunflower oils. To relieve fever, weariness, nasal congestion, and inflammation, dilute a few drops in bathwater. Spearmint Essential Oil helps unclog pores and promote cleaning in moisturizers like lotions, making the skin feel rejuvenated and cool.
In a diffuser
Diffusing Spearmint Essential Oil can help alleviate headaches, lessen cough symptoms by releasing phlegm and improving breathing, and alleviate flatulence when you’re having digestive issues. It can help to relieve tension and anxiety when breathed. While studying, diffuse Spearmint Essential Oil to improve attention and minimize anxiety.
Can you ingest spearmint essential oil?
Orally or by inhalation, you can ingest spearmint essential oil. All that is required is a few drops. Spearmint essential oil is considered a gentle oil that offers various same advantages as peppermint essential oil does but without the harsh negative effects.
Cautions, safety, and side effects of spearmint essential oil
Avoid spearmint essential oil near the inner nose, eyes, ears, or on such regions, specifically on the very sensitive areas, as it could be harmful. Refrain from inhaling the spearmint essential oil for lengthy periods of time when you are diffusing it since overexposure can lead to emotional instability, lightheadedness, nausea, irritations, skin irritations, and headaches. According to Young and Tisserand, Spearmint Oil is considered a possible mucous membrane stimulant. They also warn about the prospect of a small risk of skin sensitivity and propose an optimum dermal concentration of 1.7 percent.
When taken in large doses at the time of pregnancy, spearmint is potentially not safe. There is insufficient trustworthy evidence on the appropriateness of ingesting spearmint during breastfeeding. To be safe, don’t use in levels that are higher than those present in food. Spearmint includes a substance that might make you sleepy or drowsy. Sedative drugs are those that make you sleepy or drowsy. The combination of sedative and spearmint medicines may produce excessive drowsiness.
Is spearmint essential oil safe during pregnancy
Pregnant women should not use spearmint Essential Oil because of its emmenagogue qualities, which might result in miscarriage. Spearmint Essential Oil should not be used by pregnant or nursing women or those on prescribed medications without first seeking medical counsel.
The oil must always be kept out of reach of children, particularly those who are below seven years old. Spearmint essential oil has almost the same advantages as Peppermint essential oil; however, it is a gentler alternative for stomach distress or sensitivity that might develop during pregnancy.
Does spearmint essential oil stain?
A spearmint essential oil that is pure does not stain. Because the spearmint essential oil is volatile, it evaporates without forming a grease mark on garments or fibers, unlike carrier oil.
Is spearmint essential oil toxic?
When eaten in amounts usually found in cuisine, spearmint essential oil is likely safe when taken orally. Spearmint is Potentially Harmless when consumed as a medication by mouth for a short period of time. Negative effects are quite rare. Spearmint can cause allergic reactions in certain people.
What to look for when choosing spearmint essential oil?
One must check if the essential oil is of high quality or not, and for that, he must have a strong sense of smell. Moreover, the Latin and common name of the plant used in the production of this essential oil must be written on the label. In addition to this, the place from where it is sourced should be explicitly mentioned on the label.
What substitutes are there?
Peppermint essential oil can be seen as a substitute for spearmint essential oil, and it can be blended with peppermint so that you can tone down the overpowering effect of menthol. Even though spearmint oil is a bit fainter than peppermint essential oil, you may utilize it for comparable fragrancing purposes.
Bottom line
Spearmint is a longstanding plant that blooms to a height of eleven to forty inches and thrives in temperate regions. Because of their minty flavor and ability to stimulate fresh breath, they are commonly used in sweets, dental goods, and gums. The plant consists of a subtle aroma that certain people compare to peppermint, however, with little of its strength, making it suitable for people who perceive peppermint as too powerful smelling.
For millennia, spearmint has been utilized orally for its digestive advantages. Its uplifting, sweet, refreshing fragrance is great for diffusing whilst studying or working. Spearmint essential oil differs from Peppermint essential oil in the context that it’s a gentler alternative for youngsters and individuals with delicate skin. Spearmint is commonly used in beverages, sweets, and salads in the kitchen, but it may also be utilized to make homemade marinade meats and salad dressings.
