Best essential oils for the sauna

Walk into a German spa during an Aufguss and the room might smell of orange, mint or pine. In a Finnish cottage sauna it's more likely to be birch leaves or wood tar. Scent is half the pleasure of a sauna for many people. Below are the classic choices, how to use them without starting a fire, and what aromatherapy can honestly claim.

The classic sauna scents

• Birch. The smell of the Finnish sauna. Fresh birch whisks, the vihta or vasta, perfume the air with a soft, green, woody smell, and birch scent captures the same thing in a bottle.
• Pine and fir. Resinous and forest-like. A good choice if you like a sauna to smell like a sauna, only more so.
• Tar. Smoky and a little medicinal, an old Finnish favourite. Not for everyone.
• Eucalyptus and peppermint. Cool and sharp. They make your nose feel clearer, though they don't really open it. We cover both in detail in our guide to eucalyptus in the sauna.
• Citrus. Orange, lemon and grapefruit smell fresh and light, and suit people who find pine too heavy.
• Lavender, mint and rosemary. Herbal and gentler. The British Sauna Society names these three as herbs for infusions.

Harvia, the Finnish heater maker, sells its own range in exactly five scents: eucalyptus, peppermint, birch, pine and tar. That's a good snapshot of Finnish taste. Spas that run Aufguss sessions often use a much wider range. Our guide to what an Aufguss is explains the ritual.

Essential oil or sauna fragrance?

They're not the same thing, and it matters for how you use them.

Sauna fragrances are sold specifically for saunas, usually in larger bottles. They contain essential oils, but they're made to mix into the water in your bucket. You add a little to the water and pour it on as normal.

Pure essential oils are concentrated and don't mix with water. Add them to a bucket and they float on top, so the first ladle carries most of the oil onto the stones. The British Sauna Society warns that this is a fire hazard and leaves residue on the stones and benches.

Whichever you use, the British Sauna Society's guidelines say to choose 100% natural oils with the plant's botanical name on the label, and to avoid synthetic "essences". Never use carrier oils like almond, coconut or jojoba in the sauna: they're for skin, not stones.

How to use oils safely

1. Never put oil straight on hot stones. Most essential oils give off flammable vapour below 60 °C (140 °F), and sauna stones are far hotter.
2. Mix outside the sauna. Dilute your fragrance in the bucket before you bring it in. One Austrian maker, Styx, prints this warning on its sauna oils, with a dose of 15–25 drops per litre of water. Other products differ, so follow the label.
3. Try an ice ball. Cool the stones with a ladle of plain water, then put a ball of ice with a few drops of pure oil on top. The scent comes off slowly as it melts. This is the method the British Sauna Society recommends.
4. Or skip the stones. A few drops in a bowl of water under the benches, away from the heater, give a gentle scent with no risk.
5. Keep glass out of the sauna. Prepare your water outside and leave the bottle there.
6. Less is more. A strong dose stings eyes and throats. Start small and air the sauna out afterwards.

In a shared or public sauna, don't add scents yourself. That's the staff's job, and not everyone wants your lavender.

Oils in an infrared sauna

Infrared cabins have no stones and no water, and the heat comes from panels in the walls. Never put oil on the panels or let it soak into the wood. Instead, put a drop or two on a damp flannel or towel before you go in and keep it beside you, or use a small diffuser if the studio allows it. Sunlighten, an infrared maker, suggests leaving the bottle outside the cabin and avoiding warming oils such as ginger and black pepper. More on the cabins themselves in what is an infrared sauna.

What aromatherapy can and can't do

The honest answer: not much has been proven. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says little rigorous research has been done on aromatherapy for sleep, for example. In one study it describes, lemon scent improved people's mood, but neither lemon nor lavender changed measurable signs of stress or helped with pain.

That doesn't make scents pointless. A smell you like makes a sauna more enjoyable, and if a familiar scent helps you switch off, that's worth something. Just treat oils as a pleasure, not a medicine. They don't "detox" you, and they don't add to the benefits of the heat itself.

Who should be careful

• People with asthma. Asthma Australia and the American Lung Association both warn that strong scents, essential oils included, can irritate the airways and trigger symptoms. Check with your doctor.
• Children. Keep strong oils like eucalyptus and peppermint away from young children, and don't scent the sauna when they're in it.
• Pets. Cats are especially sensitive to essential oils, and the ASPCA lists eucalyptus as toxic to cats and dogs. Keep pets away from a scented home sauna.
• Pregnancy, medical conditions and medicines. Essential oils are biologically active. Ask your doctor or midwife first.
• Skin. Never rub undiluted oil on your skin, and keep even diluted oils off your skin in the sauna.

This guide is general information, not medical advice.

Where to find a herbal sauna

Find My Sauna lists 163 places with a herbal sauna, where scent is part of the design. These cities have the most:

Sauna im See

Leipzig · Herbal sauna and Aufguss

Niederrhein-Therme

Essen · Herbal sauna

bellamar Schwetzingen

Mannheim · Herbal sauna

Frequently asked questions