Aromatherapy Scents

The roots of aromatherapy and herbal medicine predate recorded history.  In 1960 a Neanderthal grave was found with clear evidence of pollen from eight plants still used today for medicinal purposes.  Ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian artifacts document herb and potions from as far back as the earliest written records.  And this knowledge has grown and been refined ever since.

Aromatherapy involves the use of various essential oils as aromas or as substances massaged into the skin, and very rarely ingested.  There are over 500 different essentials oils in wide use today, each with specific uses and applications. Each one of these essential oils is thought to have very specific effects on the human body and/or human emotions.

Aroma therapy has specific effective uses for men and women, children, teenagers, and from our middle years to our late years. And there are many applications for our pets and animals as well.

Aromatherapy is completely natural and totally non invasive. The therapeutic benefits of essential oil are delivered in only two ways; through the nose and through the skin. Aromatherapy has the ability to replace sickness with health, eradicate pain, and restore calmness where stress once existed.

Today essential oils are produced using modern distillation processes that ensure a quality and purity unavailable to ancient practitioners.   Modern day instruction in aromatherapy thus no longer requires the gathering of plants nor instructions in extracting essential oils from plants. And while some will see this as a loss, this information is not really necessary for a today’s aromatherapist. Instead the focus is on understanding the practical uses of the various oil and their potential combinations to bring about desired results. That permits more attention to the applications of aromatherapy as opposed to the hunting and gathering of herbs.

Research into the benefits of aromatherapy is ongoing. Human emotional problems like depression, anxiety and stress can also by treated effectively with aromatherapy. Human health problems like high blood pressure, dementia, skin problems, premenstrual syndrome and even cancer can be treated to some degree by the use of aromatherapy.  And research is proving it.

Only recently has Western medicine even begun to acknowledge the mind/body connection. Many of what Western medicine refers to as ‘alternative medicines’ have always treated the body, the mind, the emotions and the soul as one entity. Aromatherapy is not only an old approach to health and well being it is an enduring and useful one.

Modern life takes its toll. The rush of work, family and even our social life generates strains and time pressures. These can leave even the most well balanced of us stressed out at times.  Often there’s not much we can do about our immediate situation and the source of these stresses. They are after all a part of life. But there are tools to help us cope. One of the most ancient of these tools, and making a strong comeback is aromatherapy.

Aromatherapy uses the highly distilled and pure essential oils of plants.  Over 500 such essential oils are used for various applications. A number of these are known to help calm and relax not only people but often our dogs, cats and other animals as well.

While science does not fully understand the processes of smell and how it works on our brain, hormones and psyche; thousands of years of observation have identified a number of calming agents that can be employed to reduce stress.

Among these are bergamot oil which is a restorative that can combat fatigue due to stress and illness.  When combined with essential lime oil it can become a powerful energy booster as well.

An agitated puppy or grown dog can often be quieted by sniffing bergamot. Just a few drops of bergamot that has been diluted in carrier oil applied to the hand of an owner or trainer can gently quiet the fears of an animal when the animal smells the hand.

Frankincense is another calming essential oil. It was one the three king’s gifts for a reason. Frankincense possesses the unique ability to clear the mind of past hurts and fears. It has calming and relaxing properties that will help to ease the anxiety of a stressful situation. It works wonders for human adults and children as well as for animals.

Juniper has a fresh scent that can help eliminate crankiness and irritability caused by tension. Combined with lavender oil and Clary-sage oil and heated on aromatherapy lamp juniper will wash away stress and anxiety.

Frankincense is believed to have a sedating effect on the central nervous system. It helps foster a sense of peace and helps to slow and deepen breathing. It works well in combination with lavender and sandalwood.

Other essential oils that will help to restore calmness are chamomile, orange, lavender, basil, lemon and cypress. Chamomile provides deep relaxation. Orange helps to promote self assurance. Lavender soothes frazzled nerves. Basil, lemon and cypress all help to provide focus which has a calming effect.

Stress and tension spread as negative energy through a household. When dad is stressed from work, it affects everyone. So too when mom is overwhelmed with multi-tasking or junior with homework or that just remember term paper due tomorrow.

These stresses build and multiply within a household compounding one another. Adding an a calming aroma to the background won’t directly change the circumstances of your life, but it can help each of the players in your life cope with them better.  Just as stress can spread throughout a family, so too can calm and relaxation.

Ah! Shopping! When we go shopping in our local shopping mall or on the Internet we usually have a pretty good idea about what we are shopping for. We seldom are just browsing for the occasional trinket that might catch our eye. We shop with a purpose. Not always, of course, I’ve been known to just browse and so have you but that isn’t the typical way we shop.

We search for items that meet our personal needs. If we want white heels, black flats won’t do. If we need a formal dress for a wedding or major event, there is no point in wasting time on sports wear. If we are looking for a product that will take a stain out of carpet, we aren’t likely to be side-tracked by bathroom cleaning products.

The reason that we are such good shoppers is because we know what we want. We have had experience with particular brands or know someone who has. We know what we want the products to do for us. In other words, we are INFORMED shoppers. We are informed shoe shoppers. We are informed clothing shoppers. We are informed cleaning product shoppers.

When you are shopping for aromatherapy products and supplies you need to be an INFORMED aromatherapy shopper. You want products that will provide you with what you want and need.

The first and maybe the most vital piece of information that you must understand in order to be an informed aromatherapy shopper is this: essential oils are pure. The simple pure essential oil guide line is purity.
They must contain nothing but the essential oil. There are no additives.

If any essential oil that you are considering buying has anything in it other than the essential oil it is not a pure essential oil product.  Shun products that say, ‘contains essential oils’.  Only buy real and pure essential oil. Shop around, there are many stores that sell essential oils and they can also be purchased online. The key word is PURE...don’t settle for less.

What is Carrier Oil? Aromatherapy Carrier oils are a little different.  Carrier comes in many varieties. Carrier oil may be nut based. There are pure carrier oils that contain nothing but pure oil and then there are carrier oils that contain other added ingredients. Here the choice is yours to make. The pure oil will add nothing to the effect of the essential oils, but you may not wish to have anything added.

Some people are highly allergic to nuts.  For that reason you may wish to avoid any carrier oil that is nut based like almond carrier oil, while others will enjoy it well. You may not even need to purchase carrier oil at all. Olive oil is a common and wonderful carrier oil that you can purchase it in any grocery store.  So don’t feel that you need spend a lot on your carrier oil.

Cotton balls are inexpensive. You can get them in any grocery store, pharmacy, or discount store for very little money. But don’t be pound foolish here. Cotton balls are not the best way of delivering aromatherapy. Cotton wool balls are much better. They are softer and they will absorb essential oil much easier. Cotton wool balls are not all that expensive. Spring for the good ones. You’ll be glad that you paid a few cents more.

Do your homework before you buy. Be a well informed aromatherapy shopper.

Love is what makes the world go around. Love is that intangible essential that all humans seek.

Love between a man and a woman typically starts through physical attraction. Initially they must be physically attracted before their minds, hearts and souls can fall into real love. There is never any certainty that physical attraction will develop into real love but the physical attraction comes first and that is where a whiff of aromatherapy can help.

Women and men are both affected by smell. A woman may be attracted to a man by other senses. She can be attracted by the sound of his voice. She can like the way he looks. She can love the feel of his touch. The same senses can attract a man to a woman. He likes the way she looks, the way she sounds and the way she touches him.

You might notice that we haven’t talked about the other two senses yet...taste and smell...but I am getting to that now.

We can agree that one's breath should always be fresh. But breath that will attract the opposite sex, though, needs to be more than just fresh. This is true for both men as well as women. The scent of vanilla, orange and rose are the most sensual ones to use for your breath. Remember that essential oils should never be taken internally. The ONLY exception to this hard and fast rule is peppermint and it is not a sensual scent. Instead find breath mints that will provide you with the scent of vanilla, orange or rose.  These can be found and purchased in health food stores. Edible massage oils can be purchased and used as well.

When you are preparing for a romantic interlude with that special someone you should take the time to prepare yourself and your home for the meeting. There are a variety of different aphrodisiac scents you can use.

The scents that are most aphrodisiacal in nature are: Sandalwood, vetiver, elemi, patchouli, rose, vanilla, ginger, neroli, cinnamon, clove, coriander, ylang ylang.

Take the time to assure that your body is clean and that it has been massaged with any of the above listed essential oils. Don’t forget your hair. It needs to be clean of course but it could also be infused with one of the aphrodisiac scents.

Musk is a scent that is attractive to both men and women. Bay is a scent that is especially attractive to women and rose is a scent that is especially attractive to women.

Aromatherapy jar candles that contain essential oils can be purchased at most stores that sell aromatherapy products both off line and online. You can light these candles and infuse the scents into the very air that you and your ‘somebody’ will be enjoying.

Remember, that physical attraction is just the very first step in the long (and sometimes painful) road that leads to long and lasting love. Aphrodisiac scents and aromas can help make the journey smell all the sweeter.

There is something mystical about candle light.

The way the flame flickers and sends shadows dancing across the ceiling and walls catches our eye. The flame itself draws us into the mysteries of life and how substances are
transformed from one state to another. The light evokes both a sense of exploring our way in the darkness and also a sense of safety and a zone of peace, depending on our mood. Whether we are seeking out new insights or retreating to the warmth and safety of place.

When the essential oils of various herbs and plants are added to the candle, their aroma can also cause many different, almost magical effects.

Aromatherapists use the essential oils of different plants to induce a variety of effects on people and even animals. Aromatherapy is just one of many applications of the herbal knowledge that has accumulated since the earliest times.

It is becoming increasingly popular as more and more people seek holistic and natural means to deal with life’s ailments.

The specific effect of an essential oil remains the same no matter how it’s imparted.  Aromatherapy includes their use in massage, in warm bath water, as compresses or the aroma
is simply being inhaled from a tissue or cotton ball that has a few drops of an essential oil on it. It also includes it use in candles, which have rapidly become one of the favorite ways to dispense aromatherapy in the home and office.

Essential oils, are highly concentrated substances and volatile. Volatility implies that they evaporate quickly, so aromatherapy candles tend to be made in containers, usually jars, that can be covered to contain the oils. Thus they are often referred to as aromatherapy jar candles. It is important to keep your aromatherapy jar candles covered when not in use.

Typically one or more essential oil is blended into soy candles.  These are widely available. But caution is advised.  It should be noted that a scented candle and an aromatherapy jar candle are not one and the same thing.

A scented candle is just what it says it is. It is a candle that contains scent and nothing more. An aromatherapy jar candle contains essential oils that will produce scent of course but will also produce the desired therapeutic effects of the essential oil.

Aromatherapy jar candles that contain the essential oil, lavender, will help to relieve stress and anxiety. Lighting an aromatherapy jar candle after a really stressful day can help to calm and soothe those frayed nerves and relax your tired mind. Lavender promotes a sense of peace. 

A candle laced with the essential oil of sage can be helpful in subduing insomnia as it tends to induce sleep. Just be careful to blow it out before you drift away.

A chamomile candle is another excellent choice for the promote relaxation and unwinding after a hard day.

The clean but medicinal scent of a candle with natural eucalyptus essential oils will help you to breathe easier and also boost your immune system when you are coming down with a cold. 

And a peppermint candle has many useful medicinal attributes.  It is great if you are suffering from muscles aches, headaches or digestive problems. The aroma will settle you and the therapeutic effects will calm your stomach and relieve your aching head or your sore muscles.

Aromatherapy jar candles can be purchased that contain many essential oils as well as combinations of essential oils. Remember, it’s important that you check to see that they contain real essential oil and not just scent.

How To Make Essential Oils

There are several techniques used in making essential oils. These include hydro distillation, steam distillation, solvent extraction, CO2 extraction, cold press and florasol extraction. With skill and practice and the right essential oils distillation equipment, you can use several of these methods at home.

Plants have two types of oil. Aroma Therapy is interested in the essential oils that is almost always extracted from the non-seed part of a plant. Fixed oil is extracted from the seed of plants, and while these oils have many uses including sometimes being used as carrier oils, we won't deal with them here.

Long before writing had been invented, essential oils were being extracted from plants and flowers. Distillation pots have been found that can be dated to 3500 years in the past. Of course, the earliest method of distillation bore little resemblance to modern methods of distillation of Essential Oils.

Distillation of Essential Oils

Sometimes when people think of an aromatherapy distiller, they will picture the stills that ‘moon-shiners’ used. And to some extent they will be correct. There are a lot of different types of stills, but the process is essentially the same. The earliest form of distillation used in making essential oils is what we today call hydro-distillation. The plants, flowers, wood or roots are placed in a pot and covered with water. This created what could best be described as an essential oil soup. This would be boiled down but would lose some of the essence and was diluted in effect. Eventually steam distillers of essential oils were invented to derive a purer result.

Steam Distiller Essential Oils:

The steam distillers of essential oils are another type of aromatherapy distiller. The first steam distillers of essential oils were developed in Egypt. This process used multiple chambers. The steam was heated in one chamber and forced through a second chamber where the plants, flowers, shrubs, trees or roots had been placed. The steam heated the foliage to a high temperature and as the essential oil was released it attached itself to the steam. The steam was them bled off into a third chamber where it was cooled. As the steam cooled, it returned to its liquid state, water. As we all know oil and water do not mix so the essential oil rose to the top of the now distilled water. The oil was then skimmed off the top.

Solvent Extraction:

Solvent extraction is another method used for distillation of essential oils from very delicate flower petals like jasmine and rose and linden blossoms. The petals of the flowers are placed on trays that have tiny holes in their bottoms. The petals are submerged and re-submerged into a solvent. The solvent most often used today is hexane. The solvent actually dissolves all the material in the petals that can be dissolved. The wax, pigment and, of course, the essential oil are all dissolved. The solvent which now contains all of the dissolvable material that has been extracted from the flower petals goes through a low-pressure distillation process. The solvent is separated from the plant material and used again and again.

What is left is what is called ‘concrete’. The concrete is a waxy substance so the next step is to separate the wax from the essential oil. Essential oil is referred to as the ‘absolute’. To achieve this separation, the waxy substance is heated and ethanol alcohol is stirred into the mixture. The absolute or essential oil are soluble in the alcohol but the waxy substance is not to the separation takes place.

It is not, however, a complete separation. Some of the waxy substance will still be contained in the absolute. The next step to affect a pure essential oil is the freezing process. The waxy substance will freeze but the essential oil will not. The mixture is agitated and then frozen at an extremely low temperature...usually at about MINUS 30 degrees Fahrenheit. The freezing process takes out almost all of the waxy substance but still not quite all of it. There is a final step of cold filtering that is accomplished in order to produce the absolutely pure absolute (essential oil).

CO2 Extraction:

Another process to make essential oils is by the use of carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO2 process has also provided the world with some essences from aromatics that do not yield essential oil like rose hip seed and calendula. The CO2 extraction process is very much like the solvent extraction process. The general principle is the same. However, the CO2 process does not require separation steps. The CO2 is normally a gas. It only becomes a liquid when it is put under very high pressure. During the CO2 extraction process, the CO2 is put under high pressure, it becomes a liquid, it is circulated through the perforated trays containing flower petals or other foliage. When the pressure returns to normal, the CO2 returns to its normal gaseous state and all that is left is what is referred to as the ‘total’.

There is no solvent residue as there is with the solvent extraction process. This is a mixture of the waxes, resins, pigments and, of course, essential oils or absolutes. Separating the essential oil or absolute from the other things that are contained in the total is accomplished in the same method as that used for solvent extraction. The best thing about the CO2 extraction method of Making Essential Oils is that the total extraction is just about as close as you can get to the essence of the plant itself with the possible exception of Florasols which we will discuss shortly.

*Note: With distillation, steam distillation extraction process, the solvent extraction process and the CO2 solvent extraction process there will always be variations in consistency. No matter which essential oils distillation process is used there will always be variations in output. This is because plants do not come off of assembly lines. There are always variations in nature. Some plants will contain more essential oils while other plants will contain less.

Cold Press Extraction:

The cold press extraction process is mainly used for Making Essential Oils from citrus fruits. The cold press extraction process produces a more concentrated essential oil than does the steam extraction process. The fruit is rolled down a trough that has many small spikes embedded. The skin of the fruit is pricked by the spikes. The essential oil in citrus fruit is contained in the skin of the fruit and not in the fruit itself. Once the skin has been pricked, the whole fruit is crushed. After its crushed, the oil rises to the top and it is skimmed off.

Florasols Extraction:

This is a relatively new essential oil extraction process. Florasol (R134a) was developed as a replacement for Freon as a refrigerant. Florasol is a benign non-CFC gaseous solvent. It is an ozone friendly product and it poses no danger to the environment. One advantage is that the extraction of essential oils occurs at or below room temperature so any degradation through temperature extremes does not occur. The only thing that is extracted from the plants are the essential oils. The essential oils are absolutely pure and contain no foreign substances at all.

At the present, there is only one company using this process but you can be pretty sure that others will be following in the near future. Extracting the essential oils from plants, flowers, trees and shrubs has always been the first and most difficult step. The value of the essential oils to human kind has never been in dispute. However, there has always been and likely always will be a debate over the best process by which to extract the oils.