Aromatherapy practice utilises essential oils. These oils are comprised of the distilled essences of plants, or 'plant hormones'. They may include the oil of various parts of a plant. Some plants yield multiple oil products. For example, the orange plant is very versatile: oil can be extracted from its fruit, peel, twigs, leaves and flowers.
Aromatherapy can be applied in different manners: for example directly on skin via massage practice, or pulse points; through the air using a vapouriser, incense or oil burner; inhaled directly using a handkerchief or similar; or used in a bath. When used directly on skin, you will also need to purchase a special kind of oil called a 'carrier.' This will most likely be one of the following: apricot, almond, sunflower, canola or light olive oil. Carrier oils have little smell and are the base for your blend. For most oils, you use 20ML of carrier oil to a few drops of essential oil (which is very expensive). Consult an aromatherapy guide for more information.
How to Choose Oils
When buying oils, it is useful to remember these points.
- Check the label: the label should say 100% essential oil, and include the botanic name of the oil underneath its common name. e.g. Orange would be Citrus aurantium. Note that even if the label says it's 100% pure, it may not really be so. Common names can be confusing: botanical names help you to clarify the true identity of an oil. To check the validity of botanical names, click here. This is a good way to catch out oils than have been created in a lab, which can be highly toxic when applied to skin.
- Beware of oils labelled ''fragrance oil', 'perfume oil', or 'nature identical oil.' These are not pure essential oil.
- Essential oils possess an 'organic' smell. They also vary in price depending upon how hard they are to extract. They will never be sold for a dollar or two. Oils sold in dollar stores are fragrances created in a lab, cheap imitations of the real thing. They will smell of synthetic chemicals, which is of course what they are.
- Check the glass: The colour of glass which holds essential oils (and preferably carrier oils too) should be coloured. They are usually coloured blue, yellow or best of all, brown. The oil can be damaged by light: this protects it from harmful radiation. The downside of this is you cannot check the colour of the oil inside. But it is worth it to protect the contents.
- If possible, buy your oils from a certified dealer. Try to buy your oils from a dedicated essential oil or organic health store.
- Check samples in-store. You should always check the smell of oils in-store. For this reason, I do not advocate buying online. Oils can vary quite strikingly by batch, origin, even weather received the year they were grown. They share this propensity with wine. In a good essential oil store, the oils you smell should be from the same batch as the ones on sale. This is not always the case, but help to give you a guideline. In addition, if there is more than one brand available, it's a good idea to smell those too.
- Smell fatigue: Don't try to smell too many all at once! Perfume companies employ special 'noses' for a reason. Most people cannot handle more than a handful of strong scents smelt in a short period of time. If in doubt, take a break and come back later.
- If in doubt, return: Do not be afraid to return oils which you suspect to be rancid. Rancid oil will be immediately obvious by its smell. Essential oils are expensive: quite beyond feeling ripped off yourself, providers should be aware if they have received a bad batch so they can inform other customers.
- If you're trying to watch your expenses, buy basic, versatile oils. Two oils that are infinitely useful (and cheap) are lavender and tea tree. Lavender is soothing and relaxing; tea tree invigorating and particularly good for easing aches and pains (and treating wounds). A good rule of thumb is if you can only buy two oils, try and go with one which makes you feel relaxed, and one which invigorates you.
- If this is your first time purchasing an oil, and you will not be using it much, pick up a smaller bottle – say 10mL or 15mL. If you get bored, you won't have wasted a large amount of money on a scent you are sick of. Oils can expire too (usually after six months, if kept in the dark, in a cool environment).
Sources
- AromaWeb, "How to Buy Essential Oils".
- Keville, Kathy and Green, Mindy. Aromatherapy, a Complete Guide to the Healing Art. Crossing Press, 1995.
- Wavelengths Natural Health, " Why are Knowing Botanical Names of Essential Oils so Important? ".
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