When you use Ylang ylang essential oil, you’re looking for love in all the right places!
This beautiful oil with its light-floral fragrance is uplifting and relaxing, both of which are wonderful for fostering self-love. But it doesn’t stop there: ylang ylang’s intoxicating scent is laden with all kinds of beneficial constituents that help to create a sensual and romantic environment, too.
The ylang ylang tree is a magnificent evergreen of the Annonaceae family which is also known as the custard apple or soursop family. Annonaceae is the largest family of the Magnolia order, also known as Magnoliales. In the Philippines, ylang ylang (pronounced ‘ee-lang ee-lang’, not ‘yuh-lang yuh-lang’) is thought to ward off evil spirits and create a peaceful charm.
The ylang ylang tree grows to upwards of 10 metres and bears flowers and berry fruits (edible but very tart and not widely used) for most of the year. Ylang ylang flowers are star-shaped with long petals that arrange themselves into a kind of bloom-fashioned miniature ballgown shape. When the flowers first open up, the petals are a pastel-green colour which ‘ripens’ to a lemon-yellow colour as they mature and grow ready for harvesting and steam distillation. Young Living – our preferred supplier for all essential oils – sources most of its ylang ylang from Madagascar and Young Living’s own farm in Ecuador. Talk about going straight to the source!
This is a very romantic flower in its story in so many ways. No wonder it’s so widely used as a wooing agent and also scattered over the beds of newly-weds.
For starters, the flowers are pollinated by night moths and their scent is strongest between the hours of dusk and dawn – typically the time when romance is afoot! Ylang ylang flowers are best harvested for distillation early in the morning when their scent is ripest for the picking.
But the romance doesn’t stop there. The name comes from the Tagalog language – the native language where it’s most commonly found – and means ‘flower flower’. Legend has it that after giving birth to a beautiful daughter named Ilang, her parents were told she should not seek a man. Alas, one night she was discovered by a fellow who declared his love for her and she promptly turned into a petite beautifully-flowered tree, upon which he wailed, “Ilang, Ilang!” and there you have it: ylang ylang. But don’t let that put you off the whole ‘finding love’ thing! Her misfortune is our good fortune. Let’s take a look at the benefits of this starry-flowered essential oil and how to use it.
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TURN YOUR ENERGY UP AND DOWN
Use ylang ylang with intention, as it’s both energising and relaxing. So you can use it to bring up your energy levels or quieten them down. Tricky, hey! And ylang ylang isn’t the only oil that”s both energising AND relaxing. They are amazing substances.
CREATE A CALM ENVIRONMENT
Diffuse Young Living Ylang Ylang to envelope everyone at home in a warm and calming environment. Use it on its own or with bergamot, grapefruit or lavender.
SET A RELAXING or ROMANTIC PRELUDE TO BEDTIME
Set the mood for bed-time by applying Young Living Ylang Ylang essential oil to the soles of your feet and setting your diffuser with ylang ylang on a timer in the bedroom to start five minutes before you go to bed and finish a quarter to half an hour afterwards. Funnily enough, ylang ylang is inspiring to both romance and sleep. Ours is not to reason why.
You can also have a wonderfully relaxing bath before bed by adding a generous handful of Epsom salts and several drops of ylang ylang essential oil to the tub. We also like to add a good splash of Young Living V-6 Enhanced Vegetable Complex, which is a gorgeously pure carrier oil. It helps the essential oil to disperse more evenly through the water.
NURTURE YOUR LOVE WITH A MASSAGE
Give your special someone a nurturing back massage by adding ylang ylang essential oil to a pure carrier oil like Young Living V-6 Enhanced Vegetable Complex, sweet almond or jojoba oil. It’s a pampering experience for the skin and soul and will have you feeling fondly for each other as well. Or should we say fondly feeling for each other? Maybe both!
FROM ATTRACTING TO REPELLING: NATURAL INSECT REPELLENT
Go from attracting soul mates to repelling insects without switching fragrances: ylang ylang is a natural bug and insect repeller and also very comforting when applied to insect bites. When it comes to protecting your clothes, wouldn’t you rather them smell like ylang ylang when you retrieve them from their storage bags and boxes than nasty old mothballs? That’s a big Yes from us here at The Good Oil Daily! Add several drops to cedarwood balls or old socks and place them inside your woollens storage box or down the sides of your wardrobe drawers. Top up ylang ylang oil regularly. It takes a little TLC to keep the fragrance alive but worth it!
DEODORISE YOU AND YOUR HOME NATURALLY
Ylang ylang makes a wonderful unisex deodorant by applying a drop to each underarm. Dilute 1:1 with carrier oil or as needed. Its floral scent is appealing in both men and women. You can also add it to baking soda in a jar, shake it well and sprinkle over your carpets and rugs. Allow to sit for 10 minutes then vacuum up. Test first on delicate or pale-coloured floor coverings just to be on the safe side.
PAMPER HAIR AND SKIN
Ylang ylang’s benefits are legendary for both skin and hair. You can enhance your youthful glow by adding a few drops of authentic ylang ylang essential oil to your favourite facial serum or moisturiser and applying to your face and décolletage as usual.
As for your hair, add several drops to sufficient organic argan oil to well-cover your hair, work generously through your hair and massage your scalp gently with your fingertips for a good 10 minutes. Wrap your oiled hair up in plastic wrap and a towel (be sure to put the used cling wrap in your ‘scrunchable plastics’ recycling bins at the local supermarket afterwards) and leave for as long as you can before washing. This makes a super-duper divinely-scented hair mask at least once a week that you’ll love.
For both skin and hair, ylang ylang is also lovely when blended with lavender, sandalwood, rose, frankincense and jasmine.
And for an extra-luxurious treat from your pantry – for your hair, not to eat! – try this simple recipe.
DIY NOURISHING YLANG YLANG HAIR MASK
- Put 2 tblesp good quality plain thick yoghurt in a small bowl
- Combine 1 tblesp honey with 1 tblesp olive oil in a saucepan and gently bring to ‘just-warmed’
- Combine the above with the yoghurt and blend in 2 drops of authentic ylang ylang essential oil
- Work the mask into your hair from scalp to ends and massage your scalp gently and thoroughly for a good while
- Allow mask to remain in your hair for 30 minutes or so all up then rinse thoroughly
Essential oils are potent, so as always, please follow directions on the bottle and the usual guidelines for safe use of authentic essential oils.
Please ensure you are choosing a brand with complete transparency from seed to seal, such as Young Living. You can learn in this short video why we only ever recommend and choose Young Living oils and love them so much!
This will also connect you up with The Good Oil Team for our personal support and coaching. We'd love to help you on your journey to vibrant well-being the natural way!
Any questions? Please get in touch via our Contact page.
