The Best Essential Oils for Dry Brushing + Cellulite

First, the bad news: Your cellulite is probably here to stay. Womp womp. But there is good news! One of the best ways to reduce its appearance is with dry brushing and essential oils.

You’ve probably heard about some of the benefits of dry brushing. It gets your lymphatic system moving, which in turn helps your body remove waste and can help smooth out cellulite. Plus, you’re getting an excellent full body exfoliation.

If you shower in the morning, dry brushing is an excellent way to shake off sluggishness and wake yourself up. A few minutes of dry brushing will rev up your circulation and help give you softer skin. And, as with most things, essential oils can make the routine more effective – and the experience even more awesome. Here’s a quick list of some of the best essential oils for cellulite.

Best essential oils for cellulite

Create your own blend with essential oils that have cellulite-fighting properties. The three main essential oil benefits for cellulite are helping the body release fluid, toning the skin, and stimulating the skin. Using a dry brush can help stimulate blood flow to the skin as well.

Reducing skin puffiness

Fennel, juniper berry, and geranium purify the skin and pare puffiness.

1. Juniper Berry

Juniper’s diuretic properties reduce fluid retention while its anti-oxidant properties stimulate circulation and the lymph system to help the body clear out waste.

2. Fennel

Fennel is often used to relieve digestive upsets, like indigestion, cramps and gas. Those cleansing actions also help flush out toxins and decrease water retention.

3. Geranium

Geranium acts as a diuretic and stimulates circulation and lymphatic flow to reduce puffiness and water retention.

Skin-toning oils

Rosemary, grapefruit and cypress help tone the skin to lift sagging tissue, improve the texture of the skin, and give a smoother appearance to the skin.

4. Grapefruit

Toning, tightening grapefruit refreshes the skin while toning sagging tissue. Grapefruit oil contains bromelain, an anti-inflammatory enzyme that can help promote skin health and decrease the appearance of cellulite. And inhaling grapefruit can also reduce food cravings.

5. Rosemary

A strong astringent, rosemary is used topically to stimulate circulation, clear out lymphatic blockages, and tone and tighten the skin.

6. Cypress

Cypress‘ astringent properties tackle the appearance of cellulite by drying, strengthening, and toning the skin. And like juniper, it clears out excess fluids and boosts circulation.

Stimulating oils

Coffee, lemongrass and black pepper stimulate and energize the skin and get the fluids flowing.

7. Coffee

Skin tightening coffee bean oil contains a small amount of caffeine that energizes and stimulates the body. Plus it has the same awakening aroma of your morning brew.

8. Lemongrass

The uplifting scent of lemongrass is refreshing and energizing. Used topically, the oil stimulates blood flow while also relaxing the muscles.

9. Black pepper

Spicy black pepper oil has natural skin-warming properties that get your blood flowing. That heat also gets you sweating, which helps reduce fluid build up and cleanses the body from the inside out.

10. Cedarwood

Cedarwood oil stimulates the circulatory system as well as acts as an astringent to tone skin.

Other useful oils include sweet birch, sage and lemon.

Cellulite Body Oil

• 1 ounce glass bottle
• Slightly less than 1 ounce of carrier oil (sweet almond, grapeseed, etc)
• 18 drops of essential oils for 2% dilution (see blends below)

Add essential oil drops to glass bottle then fill the rest of the way with carrier oil. Replace cap and shake to combine. To use with dry brushing, add 3-5 drops of oil to the palm of your hand. Glide the bristles of a dry brush across your palm, saturating the bristles with the essential oil blend. Start brushing with the feet and work your way upward, always brushing in the direction of the heart. Here’s a dry brushing video tutorial to show you how.

You can also apply to the skin by using as a massage oil or add a few drops to a bathtub of water. Rub any floating oil droplets into the skin as you soak.

Cellulite Essential Oil Blends

• 9 drop grapefruit
• 5 drops fennel
• 4 drops black pepper

• 8 drops rosemary
• 2 drops lemongrass
• 8 drops juniper berry

• 7 drops coffee
• 7 drops cedarwood
• 4 drops cypress

• 4 drops geranium
• 12 drops grapefruit
• 2 drops lemongrass

This post was medically reviewed by Dr. Holly Smith, a board certified physician in nephrology and internal medicine with a background in nutrition. Learn more about Hello Glow’s medical review board here. As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor.