Many people are not familiar with the term Vetiver. It is also called Khus-Khus and is often used in beverages, perfumes, and cooling. Vetiver is a perennial grass of the Poaceae family that is native to India. It grows up to 4.9 ft. (1.5m) with purplish-brown flowers.
It is also cultivated in tropical regions for its cooling effects. This plant has a pleasant and earthy smell that can soothe both the mind and the body. Vetiver plants and roots are placed in the side panels of window coolers to provide a freshening effect and a pleasant scent in the air.
Vetiver is also used as curtains for windows and doors to cool down the room during the hot season in India and other tropical countries. It releases fragrance throughout the room while keeping the insects from entering the house. This is why the demand for vetiver increases during the hottest seasons, especially in tropical countries.
Vetiver is also a medicinal, aromatic plant in Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and West Africa. Vetiver plants are traditionally used for treating joint and back pain, scars, fever, and sprains. It is also a natural remedy for bladder infections, muscle pain, headache, arthritis, gout, and malaria.
Vetiver Essential Oil
The many benefits and uses of vetiver show how effective and multipurpose this plant is. It is even more powerful when used as essential oils.
Vetiver essential oil is achieved through steam distillation of the vetiver’s roots. The roots contain a powerful aroma which is described as earthy, smoky, woody, and herbaceous.
The main components of the vetiver essential oil are beta votive, vetiver, alpha votive, furfurol, and benzoic acid. This incredible essential oil is used for body perfume and room fresheners, soaps, cosmetics, foods and beverages, and coolers.
8 Benefits and Uses of Vetiver Essential Oil
Essential oils are well-known in aromatherapy and provide health benefits. Like most essential oils, vetiver essential oil also offers effective benefits.
1. Emotional Benefits
Essential oils are extracts derived from the leaves, seeds, roots, and flowers of herbal plants. Vetiver essential oils are derived from the distillation of the vetivers’ roots. The roots of vetiver plants are rich with more than 150 known compounds.
The chemical compositions of the roots provide a pleasant and earthy aroma with a huge amount of therapeutic components. Vetiver essential oil is commonly used for aromatherapy to eliminate stress and promote deep relaxation. Inhaling the scent of the vetiver can reduce depression, nervousness, panic, and trauma.
If you think that you need to calm yourself down for any reason, having a bottle of vetiver essential oil can soothe nervousness and panic. Add few drops of the essential oil to your essential oil diffuser to allow it to disperse in the air. You may also smell the oil’s aroma from the bottle to relax your nerves and uplift your mood.
2. Insomnia
If you have insomnia or cannot sleep early, vetiver essential oil can help you sleep right away. It can also relax your mind and body to achieve a better sleeping experience. You can massage the oil on your chest before going to bed or use an essential oil diffuser to disperse the scent around the room.
Having an essential oil diffuser can also benefit your family members as they can also experience the great effects of vetiver. Patients who have insomnia found relief with vetiver essential oil.
3. Effective Antioxidant
Another great benefit of vetiver essential oil is it acts as an effective antioxidant. It can protect the cells from any damages, especially free radicals. These free radicals can accelerate aging, which leads to the early appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
It can also make the skin look dull, dry, and itchy. Consuming foods and beverages rich in antioxidants can make the skin healthier while slowing down the signs of aging.
According to a study by the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, vetiver oil contains a powerful rummaging activity of free radicals compared to normal antioxidants like alpha-tocopherol.
4. Boosts Nervous and Immune System
Vetiver essential oil is considered a natural tonic. This means that it can tone the functions of the body and boost both the nervous and immune systems. Studies have shown that vetiver oil also performs as the body’s shield against free radicals and other unwanted toxins. It can also decrease the toxic accumulated from cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug for treating the lungs, bladder, testicles, and ovaries.
With its calming and restorative properties, vetiver essential oil can enhance the immune system and support the nervous system. During stressful days, heart rate increases, and blood pressure, breathing, cortisol, and adrenaline.
More glucose is produced and goes to the bloodstream. When these happen, the immune system, together with reproduction, digestion, and others, slows down. Every time we feel stressed or nervous, the body function slows down.
Getting rid of the stress in your life has great impacts on your immune, nervous, cardiovascular, and digestive systems. Like other remedies for stress or anxiety, vetiver essential oil is very effective. It has the ability to calm irritations and emotional outbursts like anger, epileptic, apprehension, and agitation.
5. Treatment for ADD and ADHD
Another great benefit of vetiver is that it can treat ADHD as well as ADD. These two are disorders among children and adults, described by lack of concentration, irritation, impatience, and restless behavior.
According to a study, children from six to fourteen years old with ADHD used an inhalation device during bedtime to inhale the essential oils lavender, cedarwood, and vetiver for thirty days. The children inhaled the essential oils about 3 times a day when necessary.
Lavender essential oil provided great results with a 53 percent improvement in performance. Cedarwood essential oil showed 83 percent improvement, while vetiver essential oil provided 100 percent improvement.
The soothing properties of vetiver essential oil helped the patients to fight the symptoms of ADD and ADHD.
6. Acts as an Aphrodisiac
Both physical and mental stress results in to decrease in sex drive or libido. Living in stressful areas can also affect testosterone levels and lead to loss of sex drive or sexual desires. Lack of sleep can also lead to hormone imbalance and can decrease the level of testosterone.
It has been proven that vetiver essential oil has the ability to relax both the body and the mind. It can calm down the organs of the body and keeps the normal balance of hormones. Inhaling vetiver essential oil can also help you sleep better.
This is one reason why the incredible oil is also called the “oil of tranquility.” It can treat both stress and insomnia. Getting an adequate amount of sleep allows your body to raise testosterone levels and increase sex drive.
Aside from increasing the level of testosterone, vetiver essential oil also has a gentle effect on estrogen. It benefits the female reproductive system while balancing the hormones. It can also treat premenstrual syndrome such as breast cramps, exhaustion, mood swings, and bloating.
7. Heals Wounds and Removes Marks
Scars and other skin marks can be annoying as they leave patches on the skin. Some skin marks can be big and visible to others. Since most people want to get rid of their scars, many skin products promote skin healing.
However, some of these skincare products are not very effective. The good news is that vetiver oil is also considered a cicatrisant. This means that this incredible oil can heal scars so you can say goodbye to skin marks.
Vetiver essential oil aids in skin regeneration. It can eliminate brown spots and acne marks. It can also eliminate marks left by chickenpox. Because it combats free radicals, it can also prevent the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
Some people also use vetiver oil to remove stretch marks and other skin disorders. Women who have stretch marks after giving birth are safe to use vetiver essential oil on their skin.
You can add few drops of vetiver oil to lotion or body soap to enhance your skin complexion. Aside from healing scars, vetiver essential oil also serves as a natural remedy for wounds, burns, and acne. Since tropical countries and other humid places allow bacteria and microbes to grow very fast, mother Earth is kind enough to give natural remedies in the right places.
8. Keeps Termites Away
Many essential oils can repel termites such as eucalyptus, cedarwood, cassia lead, lemongrass, clove bud, and geranium essential oils. However, vetiver essential oil has been proven to be the most effective against termites for its long-lasting performance.
Aside from termites, there is also a study that proved vetiver oil can repel mosquitoes responsible for malaria, yellow fever, dengue, and filariasis. It can also remove lice and eggs from the hair.
This only means that vetiver essential oil provides health benefits and keeps us away from dangerous insects that carry different diseases.
Easy Ways to Use Vetiver Plant and Vetiver Oil
Vetiver essential oil can be purchased online or from your local stores. Search for organic brands that show 100% essential oil. You can easily prepare your own vetiver at home. Here are some of the easy methods to do it:
- To have your own vetiver water, you can soak the vetiver roots in water. Make sure that the water has been boiled to kill bacteria and other contaminants. Soak the roots of the vetiver in the water for at least two hours and cover it. This water can calm your body and cool you down. It can also boost your immune system, nervous system, and others. The vetiver water can also be used for washing your hair to achieve a refreshed feeling.
- If you have dry skin, you can moisturize your skin with vetiver oil. You can mix it with jojoba oil and apply it to your skin. This can keep your skin moisturized while giving you peace of mind.
- To uplift your mood or create a great ambiance at home or office, use an essential oil diffuser and add few drops of vetiver essential oil. This benefits all the people in the room as the essential oil is dispersed into the air.
- After baths, you can add five to ten drops of essential oil to your water for calming results. This can provide a fragrance and refreshing effect. It can also allow you to sleep right away.
Possible Side Effects
Vetiver essential oil is very safe to use as it does not leave any irritation from all users. It is natural and non-toxic. It is also safe to drink vetiver water in small doses. However, it is best not to use it during pregnancy and when nursing.
