Best Essential Oils for Camping
Do you love being out in the great outdoors? Summers spent camping always make for some great memories. This camping season, make the switch to all natural products to support your family. You’ll love learning about the best essential oils and natural remedies you can use for your camping trip. Use these toxin-free options to support everything from bug repellent, after sun spray, first aid ointment, sore muscles, and more.
This article covers safe, effective, and all natural essential oil swaps to use while camping, hiking, or just outside having fun.
I use affiliate links in this article. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission which goes towards the cost of running this website. Your price is not affected.
Best all Natural Bug and Insect Spray to use while Camping
First up, let’s talk about Bug and Insect Spray. It’s always a challenge to prevent insect bites while spending time outdoors.
Most bug repellents have a chemical called DEET in them. While some studies will report DEET as safe and non harmful to humans many other studies show otherwise. A study conducted in the late 1980s on employees of Everglades National Park looked into the effects of DEET found that a full one-quarter of the subjects studied experienced negative health effects that were attributed to exposure to the chemical. Effects included rashes, skin irritation, numb or burning lips, nausea, headaches, dizziness, and difficulty concentrating. In addition to this side effects long term use of DEET has also been linked to neurological and psychological effects.
Children and pets are also more prone to having symptoms and negative effects from DEET.
So what are some natural options?
You can make your own all natural bug spray if you have all the essential oils on hand. You can see the full directions – CLICK HERE.
A safe and effective natural option is a pre-made essential oil blend called Terrashield.
TerraShield contains essential oils known to ward off pests and keep you and your family bite free. TerraShield contains 0 DEET and the only ingredients are fractionated coconut oil and dōTERRA CPTG Essential oils.
Terrashield is a pre-made product that many people rave about. My sister is one of those people that mosquitos and no see-ums love. She gets eaten alive. She used to use a DEET spray and had so-so results with it. She still got lots of bug bites even when fully covered by the spray On a recent trip to Hawaii, she brought Terrasheild with her and said she only got 2 or 3 bites total after a full week there. Normally she would come home covered.
Best essential oils to use for trees + pollens while camping
Do you suffer from sneezing, runny eyes from all the trees and pollen when you’re spending time outdoors?
Store bought options for sneezing and watery eyes caused by being outdoors usually make you tired and can eventually decrease in their effectiveness when used on an ongoing basis. When you’re knocked out, you’re not going to enjoy your camping trip as much.
A natural option that my family uses and swears by is the combination of Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint essential oils. You can combine these into a roller and apply it to pulse points for quick, effective relief. You can see the full directions to make this roller on this post
The dōTERRA TriEase Softgels are a blend of oils known for their ability to soothe the body during times of seasonal change. They provide respiratory support with Peppermint and Lemon while Lavender is a natural remedy with no drowsy side effects. Learn more about TriEase from the link below.
Best all natural pain relief to take with you camping
Sore muscles from that hike?
There are many pain rubs or balms on the market. The biggest difference you will see with doTERRA Deep Blue rub is that it doesn’t just mask pain receptors. doTERRA Deep Blue Rub works at the source of pain to reduce inflammation and provide soothing relief.
Many other topical pain relief creams only mask pain by providing a tingling hot and cold sensation. Deep Blue not only offers the same soothing sensations but actually works at the root cause of your pain and inflammation. Learn more about Deep Blue Rub below.
Best essential oils to use to cool down when camping in the heat
Feeling Overheated and no A/C in your tent?
Peppermint to the rescue! Peppermint essential oil can cool your body temp down. You can find cooling relief with a spray bottle of peppermint water. Spray it on your face, the back of your neck, your chest, and down your back whenever you’re feeling too hot. It’s a lifesaver!!
- First, grab a glass spray bottle, like this one that I picked up from Amazon. Glass is always best when using essential oils because essential oils can break down the plastic. You could a PET plastic if preferred. PET plastic is safe for use with essential oils and this may be a better option for camping.
- Add about 3 – 5 drops of Peppermint to the glass spray bottle and fill the rest with distilled water. Keep handy and use as needed to cool down your body temperature.
Best essential oils to use when you can’t sleep while camping
Having a hard time sleeping in your sleeping bag?
Sleeping on the hard ground or in a sleeping bag can be hard for some people. If you don’t want to toss and turn in your sleeping bag all night, dab on some Lavender Essential oil behind your hears, on your wrists, around your neck and pulse points for some serious calming down.
You will also love these Herbal / Essential Oil natural sleep aid capsules. The Serenity Softgels are non-addictive, and 100% natural. They will calm your body and brain down to help you fall asleep and you won’t wake up feeling “hungover” the next morning like so many other sleep aids do.
Best essential oils to use for after sun while camping
After Sun Spray
It happens to the best of us. If you spent the day at the lake and your skin in now red and sore, this essential oil blend will cool, stop the burning, and start the healing. Your skin will look and feel so much better overnight. I’m super fair skinned and swear by this combination after a day in the sun, especially if I’ve over done it and my skin is red. Click here for the full blog post and directions
Best essential oils for cuts, scrapes and bruises while camping
Many of us have on hand first aid ointments or other skin balms for occasional cuts, scrapes, or irritations. A lot of these creams are petroleum based. While petroleum by itself isn’t a horrible health concern, Canada has deemed it a high health priority and has labeled it as expected to be toxic or harmful for human health.
The bigger concern is that most of petroleum is contaminated with PAHS. PAHS are Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and are often a byproduct of petroleum production. These substances are HIGHLY toxic and very harmful for your health. They bioaccumulate, meaning they are hard for your body to detoxify. They also cause Ecotoxicology, Endocrine disruption, and Organ system toxicity. This is why i tend to steer clear of any and all products containing petroleum.
Correct-X is a great option as a first aid cream, It contains soothing skin ingredients and essential oils known for skin healing properties. And the best part? Its preservative and petroleum free!
Hand and Surface Cleaner and Sanitizer
Store bought hand sanitizers often contain triclosan. Triclosan arguably has some serious impacts on human health. It has been studied and been shown to possibly contribute to a weakened immune system, and hormone disruption.
In addition most hand sanitizing gels contain fragrance. Which we know is also a harmful and dangerous ingredient that we are overly exposed to. Hand sanitizers can also be drying to your hands.
The On Guard Hand Mist has apple alcohol making it mild and moisturizing for your hands while also combining the powerful properties of On Guard essential oil for its disinfecting properties.
Outdoor Essential Oil Diffuser Blends for camping
It’s a great idea to bring a portable diffuser along on your camping trip. Set it up on your camping table or in your tent. A portable diffuser can help keep bugs away, can help you relax before bed, and energize you for that big hike in the morning. I recommend the super popular Pilot diffuser for your next camping trip..
Citronella essential oil is a perfect choice to diffuse in your portable diffuser due to it’s well known ability to repel insects and bugs.
If you’re looking for something that has a different aroma, try one of the following diffuser blends.
Here are some outdoor diffuser blends to use in your Pilot diffuser.
Wrapping up the Best Essential Oils for Camping
You can have an amazing camping trip while using natural, toxin-free options that are quite effective to replace common items like bug repellent, after sun spray, sleeping, sore muscles and pain, first aid, and more. Try switching out some of your products for these natural versions on your next camping adventure.
Be sure to get my free ‘Camping Survival with Essential Oils’ eBook for even more tips, tricks, and DIY recipes.
Before You Go, See What’s New On The Blog
Dawn Goehring
Dawn Goehring is the founder of Desert Naturals where she writes educational articles on essential oils, DIY’s on natural beauty products, homemade cleaners, and provides related essential oil accessories like planners, trackers, tshirts, and custom designed essential oil storage. She has been featured in articles on Porch.com, Redfin.com, MommyOnPurpose and more.
Dawn has earned an aromatherapist degree and has earned a doTERRA essential oil specialist certification which is a fancy way of saying she has learned a lot about the chemistry of essential oils and how they work in the body.