What an amazing and generous plant is the bitter orange! Indeed, from bitter orange, scientific name citrus aurantium, three different types of essential oils and a floral water are obtained, all products well appreciated both in cosmetics and aromatherapy. From the peel of the fruits of this plant the bitter orange essential oil is extracted, from the flowers the well known neroli essential oil is obtained but also leaves and branches are important! In fact, through steam distillation of leaves and branches of bitter orange another, very interesting, essential oil is extracted, the petitgrain essential oil, which is the topic of the article of today.
Anti inflammatory and antiseptic
Petitgrain essential oil is anti inflammatory and antimicrobial thanks to the contained substances belonging to the terpene family, a type of antioxidants, such as linalool, linalyl acetate and alfa-terpineol (Chouhan et al, Medicines, 2017 - Sarrou et al, Molecules, 2013). Thanks to these characteristics the petitgrain essential oil can be used in case of oily skin and acne. For example, you can prepare a sebum balancing and antiseptic mask in this way. Mix 1 tablespoon of ventilated green clay and as much water as it is needed to obtain a cream. If available, you can replace the water with bitter orange floral water. Add two drops of petitgrain essential oil, stir and apply on cleaned face for 10 minutes, then rinse and apply your daily face cream. The petitgrain essential oil, since it is antimicrobial, acts also as a deodorant, for this reason you can add a few drops to the foot bath.
Anti stress and useful for concentration
Petitgrain essential oil is able to bring calm in case of stress and helps improve attention and concentration. In fact, according to a scientific study, diffusing the essential oil of petitgrain in a workplace has been demonstrated to be useful to rebalance the autonomous nervous system by reducing the levels of stress, thus improving the mental and emotional condition, and, at the same time, by increasing the levels of attention and concentration (Huang et al, J Altern Complement Med, 2017). You can diffuse the essence in the room by using an oil burner, a drop each square meter, this will help counteract stress and nervousness but also anxiety and insomnia. In alternative you can also prepare a relaxing bath. Pour 10 drops of essential oil on a handful of sea salt and add to the water of the bath, stay in for 15 minutes.
