Aromatherapy has become very popular. Scrolling through your social media or news feed, you probably see alot of information on what a specific essential oil is used for but not much on safety or anything else. Just because something is natural, we can’t assume that it is safe. So I wanted to give you some basic information, if you are using essential oils, that I think will help.
- Aromatherapy is the practice of using essential oils (volatile oils extracted from plants) for mental/ emotional well-being or physical symptoms through inhalation or by applying to the skin (diluted in a carrier). It is not a candle or lotion that just has the Lavender scent because the scent could be from a fragrance oil (that’s synthetic). If it’s not the oil from the Lavender plant itself, then it doesn’t have the therapeutic effect.
- Essential oils are highly concentrated. It is said that they are 50 times more powerful than the plant itself. After all, it is a constituent of a plant that is extracted. For example, Sage essential oil is extremely powerful (and can have side effects) but the whole Sage herb is milder and better to use.
- An essential oil is a constituent of a plant. If you were to look up the constituents of the plant Rosemary, you would see Volatile Oil (aka essential oil) listed as one.
- Not all plants have essential oil.
- Know your aromatic oils- As I’ve said, an essential oil is a constituent of the plant that is extracted (usually through steam distillation). A fragrance oil is man-made, synthetic. A nature-identical oil is an oil that uses natural ingredients from different sources (besides the plant itself) to make up the oil.
- Essential oils in high demand can be adulterated, nature- identical, or fragrance oil and you not even be aware of it. It is important to remember that it takes a lot of plant material to get 1 pound of essential oil (no matter the yield) and all those plants have to grow and be harvested.
- Not all aromatic plants have a high quantity (or yield) of essential oil. This is reflected in the price of essential oils. Rosemary essential oil has a lower cost because it contains more oil that’s extracted from the plant. While Rose essential oil is very expensive, it takes 40 Rose petals to get 1 tiny drop of essential oil. Suffice it to say, you’re not going to find a $10 or $15 bottle of Rose essential oil.
- As I stated above, you are not going to find a bottle of Rose essential oil for $10 or $15. If you do, it’s either a fragrance oil or it’s been adulterated. Rose essential oil is often cut with Rose Geranium essential oil. Adulteration occurs when essential oils are in high demand, like Rose or Lavender, or when essential oils don’t have a high yield and therefore expensive, such as Jasmine or Gardenia.
- Some essential oils like Rosemary and Thyme have chemotypes. This means that one constituent is more pronounced than the others which means you will use them differently. For example, Thyme ct thymol is more anti-infectious but is very irritating to the skin. Thyme ct linalol is more immune stimulating and gentle on the skin (mixed with a carrier, of course).
- How a plant grows, where it grows, if there’s a rainy season or drought and what time of the day it is harvested all determines the level of constituents in an essential oil. For instance, if you’re using Lavender to help heal a minor cut and it’s not working very well, it’s possible that batch of Lavender essential oil contains less linalyl acetate which would give you that action. A Gas Chromatography/ Mass Spectrometry (known as GC/MS) report will tell you what’s in a specific batch of essential oil and how best to use it.
Okay, so I probably over did it but I think you should have as much information as possible. Aromatherapy is a great modality to use but done so safely. Check out my Safety page for more tips on how to use them.
Until next time…
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