Essential Oils for Warts: Let’s find a DIY wart removal using essential oils to seep into the skin for an effective treatment to kill the viral infections. We’ll use a combination of tea tree, oregano, apple cider vinegar and more to get it off!

Note: While I am an RN and I’ve seen a LOT of in-office wart remedies fail, I can’t recommend this until you talk with your provider. It may or may not work for you! There are no studies that this method will work (or not work). You may also experience some irritation from the method as well. So keep that in mind before you attempt it.

Warts.  They are so nasty.  And that’s coming from someone who’s seen a lot of nasties in her many years as a nurse.  But, when my son came to me with a “big lump” on his toe I was totally grossed out.  

Did he touch a frog, or did a witch kiss him?  Either way I knew that it would be super pricey to go to the doctor and get common warts removed (we have a super high deductible).  I started to mull over some natural wart home remedies.  And by jove, I found one that did it!

Before we get started– Hi, I’m Hilary — the curly head behind Pulling Curls®. I’ve been a nurse since 1997 (many people know me as The Pregnancy Nurse®) and I’ve seen a LOT of failed wart removals. We also have a really high deductible (learn more about our Christian Healthshare here) and I really wanted to avoid a doctor’s visit so I thought we’d at least try some stuff at home — and that’s how I found this recipe.

Want to get in better routines so you’re easily able to handle stuff like this? Join me in Family Routines!

Note: Before trying anything you should talk with your provider about anything particular about you or your needs, I am just sharing what worked for me and my family.

Wart Removal with Essential Oils

What are warts?

Warts are an infection of the top layer of the skin by a virus from the HPV (human papillomavirus) family.  It usually gets in through a small scratch.

HPV is everywhere, so it’s easy to come into contact with, and most people will get at least one common wart.

That means we need something with anti-viral, or antimicrobial properties in order to kill the virus.

Warts on your hands and feet are different types of warts than genital warts, but we don’t want to follow me down that wormhole.

BTW, if you’re looking to START with essential oils, I love this kit.  It may seem pricey but it includes all the stuff you’re going to want to try out to start!  The use of essential oils has been around for centuries and can treat a variety of conditions in natural ways, and have benefits for skin, hair, and more!

Back to the removal….

Natural Wart Remedy

So, in my searching on the internet, I found a few things that might help with treat warts.  I used a combination, as it was on his foot (and totally grossing me out). As a note, this wart was on his TOE not the bottom of his foot (like a plantar wart) — but we’ll talk more about those too.

Keep in mind that these treatments (especially the oils) might burn a bit.

ALSO, these remedies should only be used on the hands and feet.  Any more sensitive skin or part of the body and you could have skin irritation or a pretty serious reaction.  Also, not meant for genital warts.  Yes, I did just say that.

Be sure to take the medical advice of your doctor over any advice here at Pulling Curls.  You take your own responsibility by using a tool, like essential oils and this remedy.  Please contact a doctor if you feel like the wart treatment isn’t working or harming your skin.  

Note: All warts are caused by the herpes simplex virus (as far as I can tell). Depending on where the warts are, the type of Herpes it is varies, so we’re using oils and treatments that are anti-viral.

Wondering what ELSE essential oils can help — check out these posts:

• Apple Cider Vinegar for Itchy Scalp: Also includes Essential Oils & More
• Top Essential Oils: Top 5 to keep on hand for families
• Essential Oils & Essential Oil Uses
• Sore Throat vs STREP throat: How to tell the difference

Essential Oils to Get Rid of Warts

I made a mixture of oils (I used an old oil bottle to put this all in):

BTW, I’m not a fan of having to buy essential oils through a MLM (looking at you Doterra) I have also seen many other essential oil companies just have shady business practices (and frankly, how on EARTH do we know what they’re actually putting in them)… so, I get my natural essential oils from Plant Therapy off Amazon most often.

• Oregano Oil (this is the one that would burn — it’s a hot oil!) 1 drop
• Tea Tree Oil (melaleuca oil) 5 drops
• Lavender Oil 5 drops
• Frankincense 1 drop because this oil is pricey!

Pro Tip: not in the mood to mix-up oils — you could try this mix that has good reviews.

Let’s talk about what each of those do for warts:

Essential Oils as Effective Treatment for Warts:

I used a combination of these oils to get rid of warts:

Oregano Essential Oil: Best Essential Oils for Warts

This is a HOT oil, and has a lot of antibacterial/antiviral/anti-all-things properties. I think it kills the virus that got you there in the first place. It’s an effective essential oil.

Tea Tree Oil to Remove Warts

This one also has a lot of antibacterial and antiviral properties. It’s a great one for lots of different things (we’ve also used it with lice and ringworm at our house…. which is apparently full of disgusting children). This oil is not AS hot as Oregano, but I still encourage you to be careful with it!

Lavender Oil to Calm Your Skin

This is an anti-inflammatory. As the HPV gets into the skin it is causing an inflammatory reaction in the affected area. Also, as you kill the wart it can cause inflammation. Lavender’s anti-inflammatory properties help quell all of that. 🙂

Frankincense Oil to make Warts Disappear

As far as I have read, Frankincense just often makes all other oils work better. So, it just heightens all the regular properties it has. We’ve used this one for a lot of things, including scorpion stings (see #4 on my about me page).

Essential Oil Wart Remover Recipe

I would 100% recommend you talk with your provider about doing this, and test a small amount of skin with a small amount of what you plan to use before using a lot. some people are more sensitive to this than others, but this is what I did:

I put these into a dropper bottle (you could probably do a roller ball too, but I didn’t like the idea of it touching the wart, so I preferred the dropper bottle):

• Oregano Oil (this is the one that would burn — it’s a hot oil!) 1 drop
• Tea Tree Oil (melaleuca oil) 5 drops
• Lavender Oil 5 drops
• Frankincense 1 drop because this oil is pricey!
• 1 T of Coconut Oil

FYI, coconut oil is a carrier oil –it’s an oil that dilutes the essential oils) and shook them up (you would not want to put straight Oregano on your skin, it would BURN!).

Take a cotton swab and get a few drops of the blend and smear it all over the wart.

After that, take about 1/4 of a cotton ball and soak it in apple cider vinegar, tape a bandaid over that and leave it on overnight.

In the morning take the cotton ball off, smear more oil on it and leave open to the air.

Now, I pretty much just left my teenage son to work on this on his own.  For best results, I asked him to do the oils morning and night and be sure to do the apple cider vinegar at night.  By 10 days the skin growth fell off and his skin looked like healthy skin, good as new (before that it turned brown and looked extra gross).  He said he did it daily (but I doubt it).

Frankly, no one was as surprised as me that it worked. Honestly, I was shocked that this actually was a wart remover.

Since then, we’ve tried this method on a couple weird spots my husband had (they looked sort of wart-ish) and when he sticks with it, it helps a lot!

I can send you this recipe right to your inbox:

Duct Tape for Warts

I’ve seen a lot of people recommending duct tape for warts. I think it’s just a way to get the vinegar and essential oils to stay on the warts (rather than coming off). Almost like a very sticky band aid!

Why don’t people use essential oils for warts?

I think a lot of people are afraid to try natural wart remedies because of a few reasons:

1.  It hurts — in fact, it also hurts at the doctor’s office — they either burn the wart off, cut it off or freeze it off.  They don’t have magic (the might put some Emla cream on it initially, but it’s not fun afterward either — I think, in general, this one hurts a LOT less).
2. It might not work — in fact, it often doesn’t work in the doctor’s office.  People would have to come back a few times to get warts frozen.
3. They don’t want to do it on their own — and say put your big girl panties on and give natural options a try.

Essential Oils for Warts FAQ’s

Essential oils can be SO useful!  I would totally recommend getting a set.  I have a whole post about the other essential oils that I love (and don’t love).

Be sure to grab my favorite essential oil recipe that fixes a lot of skin issues (itchy scalp, etc):