Red mandarin essential oil is so gentle and calming it is also called the children’s oil and happy oil. It is cold pressed from red mandarin rinds. The botanical name for the red mandarin tree is Citrus reticulata var. mandarin or C. nobilis.
This oil is wonderfully soothing to the body and mind. It has a sweet, floral citrus fragrance all its own. Red mandarin oil has antifungal, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antitumoral, cholagogue, cicatrisant, circulatory, cytophylactic, depurative, digestive, diuretic, hepatoprotective, relaxant, sedative, stomachic and tonic therapeutic properties.
1. Calm Anxiety
Soothe anxiety with a red mandarin essential oil aromatherapy session. Add 2 drops of red mandarin oil to your diffuser, along with about 1/4 cup of distilled water, and run the diffuser for 30 to 60 minutes. It will quickly calm those anxious feelings.
You can also massage the back of your neck, shoulders and chest for relief. Blend 2 drops of red mandarin essential oil into 1 teaspoon of carrier oil to make a very relaxing massage oil.
If you suffer from anxiety attacks while you are away from home, keep a bottle of red mandarin essential oil with you. When you begin to feel anxious, just take a few deep inhales directly from the bottle.
2. Improve Your Mood
Practice red mandarin essential oil aromatherapy to improve your mood and brighten your day. It has the ability to induce a generally happy, joyful state of mind. Massaging a 2% red mandarin oil/carrier oil blend into your skin will also lift your spirits.
Put a few drops in your hands, rub them together, apply the oil to your chest and wrists then cup your hands over your nose and inhale. You will be amazed by how quickly you will begin to feel better.
Keep a bottle of a 2% blend with you so you can reapply it throughout the day. You can add 1 to 2 drops of sweet orange essential oil for an even more uplifting blend. It’s like bottled sunshine.
*A 1% to 3% dilution rate (1 to 3 drops of essential oil per teaspoon of carrier oil) is fine for everyday use of red mandarin oil. Stronger dilution rates can be safely used but only for 10 days to 2 weeks at a time.*
3. Get a Good Night’s Rest
Put a few drops of red mandarin essential oil in your diffuser and turn it on in your bedroom when you are ready to go to bed. It will relax you so you can drop off to sleep quickly and sleep soundly throughout the night.
I have found that 1/8 cup of distilled water will keep my little diffuser going for about two hours at night. Then it shuts off automatically. That is plenty long enough. In fact, most experts will tell you not to run a diffuser for more than 60 minutes at a time.
4. Reduce Hyperactivity
Practice red mandarin essential oil aromatherapy to calm hyperactivity. You can also massage a few drops of a 2% red mandarin/carrier oil blend into your chest, temples and the back of your neck for this benefit.
*Use red mandarin oil when you can stay home for a few hours the first few times you use it. It might make you sleepy, due to its sedative therapeutic properties.*
5. Alleviate Digestive Disorders
Red mandarin essential oil can be ingested for relief from digestive disorders like flatulence, bloating and cramping. You don’t need to take more than 1 to 2 drops, though. I have found the best way to take essential oils internally is to mix them with unrefined, virgin coconut oil and chill them in the refrigerator.
I usually mix 6 to 9 drops of essential oil into 2 tablespoons of coconut oil then divide that up into 1/4- to 1/2-teaspoon portions in an ice cube tray. That way you end up taking only about 1/4 to 1/2 of a drop with each candy. I’ve found that is plenty of essential oil for great taste and improved digestion.
The coconut oil sets up within 15 to 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Don’t try to use fractionated coconut oil to make candies. It won’t set up in the refrigerator. You can also mix the essential oil into a small amount of honey or put it into a vege capsule along with 1 drop of olive oil and just swallow it down with some water.
Red mandarin essential oil is actually mild enough to put in water or tea and drink it, but I prefer to dilute essential oils with a bit of oil or honey. Red mandarin EO aromatherapy is also good for improved digestion as well as massaging the abdomen with a 2% red mandarin/carrier oil blend.
*Make sure you get high quality red mandarin essential oil for ingestion.*
6. Improve Your Appetite
Use red mandarin essential oil to boost a sluggish appetite. Aromatherapy with a diffuser or essential oil nebulizer at mealtime is great for this benefit.
7. Relieve Colic Distress
Use red mandarin essential oil to give your baby some relief from colic. It is especially effective for nighttime relief. Dilute the red mandarin EO at a rate of 1/2 to 1% then apply 1 to 2 drops of the blend to the baby’s feet or belly. Do not use any essential oils on babies under three months old.
Cover the baby’s belly or feet with clothing right away to make sure he or she won’t get the oil on his or her fingers. Babies should never ingest essential oils. You can also diffuse 1 to 2 drops of mandarin oil in the baby’s room, rather than applying the oil topically.
8. Treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Practice red mandarin EO aromatherapy or massage your belly with a 2% red mandarin/carrier oil blend to reduce IBS symptoms. You can also make red mandarin essential oil bath oil and take a soothing warm bath for relief.
Use a lighter carrier oil like Abyssinian oil, grapeseed oil or rosehip seed oil when making essential oil bath oils. You should always mix your essential oils with carrier oils before putting them in the bathwater. Otherwise, the essential oil will coat your skin at full strength which could be irritating.
9. Alleviate Nausea
Practice red mandarin essential oil aromatherapy or massage your abdomen with a 2% red mandarin EO/carrier oil blend to get relief from nausea. If you tend to get motion sickness, get an essential oil diffuser for your car or keep the essential oil bottle with you and take a few inhales through your nose when you begin to feel anxious. Just make sure it doesn’t make you, or whoever is driving the car, too sleepy to drive, first.
*Place a drop of a 2% red mandarin essential oil/carrier oil blend on an inconspicuous area of skin. Wait for at least a few hours to make sure you aren’t sensitive to it before using it topically on larger areas.*
10. Lose Water Weight
Massage a 2% red mandarin EO/carrier oil blend into your skin to alleviate edema or water weight. Simply apply the blend anywhere that you tend to carry excess water. Red mandarin oil also has depurative properties, which help your body get rid of toxins along with the excess water weight.
11. Get Rid of Cellulite
Massage a 2% red mandarin EO/carrier oil blend into your skin to get rid of cellulite. The oil will help your body break the cellulite down naturally and flush it out of your system.
12. Treat Acne
Apply a 2% red mandarin EO /carrier oil blend to pimples. Its antiseptic properties will clear up the pimples and speed healing. Red mandarin oil also has cytophylactic properties. That means it enhances skin cell regeneration. Argan oil and jojoba oil are both excellent carrier oils for treating acne.
*Be careful not to get essential oils in your eyes or nose. They are very irritating to sensitive mucous membranes. Apply diluted essential oils no closer to the eye than the outer ridge of the eye socket.*
13. Prevent Signs of Aging
Use a 2% red mandarin EO/carrier oil blend to reduce or prevent the signs of aging. You can apply the blend to your face, throat, chest, arms and anywhere else that you want to slow the aging process. It also reduces the appearance of scars.
Was this list helpful to you? All of the citrus oils are good for digestive disorders, but red mandarin essential oil is different. If you have tried other citrus oils and found them to be too strong, this one might be exactly what you need.
It is much milder than orange, lemon or even tangerine. Red mandarin oil that is cold pressed or expressed from the fruit peel is not phototoxic. If it is made from the leaves, it is phototoxic, so be sure to get the cold pressed mandarin oil if you are going to put it on your skin and go outdoors in the sunlight.
Please leave a comment to let me know if this list helped and share your own personal experiences with red mandarin essential oil. We can all learn from each other’s experiences and add to the on-going list of its great uses. Be sure to share, too, so that others can become aware of all the uses for this essential oil.
References:
1. Organic Facts: 11 Surprising Benefits of Mandarin Essential Oil
2. Hopewell Essential Oils: Mandarin Red (Peel)
https://hopewelloils.com/mandarin-red.php
3. Ayurvedic Oils: Mandarin Essential Oil
http://ayurvedicoils.com/tag/mandarin-oil-in-ayurveda
4. Dr. Axe: Mandarin Essential Oil Improves Skin & Even Helps Combat Cancer
https://draxe.com/mandarin-essential-oil/