Best Places to Apply Essential Oils: Debunking the Feet Myth | Essential Oil Absorption Guide

Are the soles of your feet the best place to apply essential oils?

Your feet are one of the most porous areas of your body, so that would mean that adding essential oils to the bottom of your feet would be the most optimal place for the oil to absorb. Right?? 

Well, it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. While it’s true that your feet are super porous, those pores are mostly sweat glands that are not a reliable delivery method to the blood. In addition, the stratum corneum (the outermost epidermal layer of the skin.) are the thickest on the soles of our feet, which actually makes it more difficult for essential oils to penetrate the cell membranes.

So, where is the best place to apply essential oils to your skin?

The stratum corneum is significantly thinner on the arms, back, legs, and abdomen, so they prove to be a much more effective location for the absorption of essential oils.

While you may have experienced positive results from applying essential oils to your feet to help you sleep, or to help with things like anxiety or depression, this is likely due to the fact that you are *also* inhaling the essential oils during the application process.

And finally, we would be remiss to not mention that there are times applying essential oils to your feet. Using essential oils on your feet would be an option if the joints and/or muscles in your feet were sore, and you were using the oils to help relieve them!