Guide to Understanding Essential Oils for Aromatherapy

Everyone's skin contains essential oils, which lubricate the skin and help to make it more tones and elastic. They are vital to firm healthy skin they are not greasy and they are not bad for you.

However, essential oils in an aromatherapy sense are in fact oils from the heart of a plant, although they can be extracted from the leaf, the root or the stem. The oils are distilled, and concentrated to preserve all the properties that occur naturally in the plant. Only one ounce of essential oil is extracted from ten pounds of plant materials. These properties are thought to boost the immune system, which is the body's way of healing itself. Other claims for the properties of essential oils are that they boost the metabolic system.

Essential indicates the oil has the distinctive scent or taste of the plant, not that it is a fundamental substance, as a generic group they have no chemical properties in common. Essential oils are used in the production of perfume or cosmetics such as hair products; they can flavor foods or drinks or used in the manufacturing process of candles. Aromatherapy uses these oils; it is a branch of alternative medicine, which claims that the highly specific aromas of the oils of individual plants have specific curative effects. These oils have been further diluted by distillation over water, to make them less concentrated and in effect widen their use. The flowers, leaves, seeds, root and bark of the plant such as lavender is distilled. The water is heated and the steam makes the volatile compounds of the plant become a vapor. Once these oils have been vaporized, they are referred to as carrier oils and in the case of sandalwood oil it becomes burned as an essence in incense or they used for massage.

After the distillation, the herbal distillate is known as a hydrosol such as rosewater or orange blossom water. Orange blossom water uses the peel in addition to other part of the plant to extract the fragrance. The majority of the oils are distilled in one process but Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata), is an exception its process of manufacture is fractional distillation. Fractional distillation separates the mixture into or fractions, or specifically its component parts because they are heated to a temperature that the fractions will evaporate.

Essential oils are lipophilic or oil loving, which means they do not mix with water, but have to be diluted with other oils. They are diluted because they can cause an allergic reaction when they are used neat. The carrier oils hold the essence of the essential oils they become the base for the fragrance. Even though the carrier oils dilute the essential oils they are still concentrated they dilute the amount of oil rather the concentration of the fragrance. Popular carrier oils are olive oil, (used for cooking), sunflower oil, apricot kernel oil, hazelnut and almond oil. Jojoba oil is the most natural but because fractional distillation costs more than simple distillation, the oils that have jojoba oil as their base are more expensive.

Cell regeneration takes place daily in the human body; it repairs any damage to the tissues and the organs as well as creating new skin cells. The theory behind essential oils is that they preserve the cells and prevent disease. Some of the oils such as oil of rosemary have naturally antiseptic properties and they are used in the treatment of acne. Some essential oils can be used internally as a medicine but never without the supervision of an experienced practioners as some oils such as eucalyptus are toxic to humans when ingested. Essential oils are believed by some to have the capacity to affect our metal states they can be claiming and act as a balm. Some of the oils are inhaled and absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs.

The price if essential oils vary enormously but the factors that influence their price are the rarity of the plant, and where it was grown. Some plants produce more oils than others and some of the plants were organically grown.