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Thursday, January 8, 2015

What are essential oils?

What are essential oils?

Many may think that essential oils are just fragrances to help make a room or something smell more pleasant. But they can do so much more. Many people have heard of massage therapists and others using essential oils in aromatherapy. They can be and this post will explain why they are used often for aromatherapy.

As stated in most readings, essential oils are the aromatic components and volatile liquids which are found all around us in nature in seeds, roots, flowers, stems, trees, shrubs, fruit, and other parts of the plant. The oil is usually extracted through distillation. These are also known as the life essence of the plant.

Essential oils are very complex due to their chemistry which may consist of hundreds of different compounds. Essential oils are more potent than their dried herb counterparts because they are highly concentrated from the distillation process. It takes a large volume of plant material to produce a small volume of oil, for example it takes 5,000 pounds of rose petals to produce approximately 2.2 pounds of rose essential oil.

The distillation process is equally as complex as essential oils and also can determine how effective the oil will be. Each oil has its own special length, temperature, and pressure it can be distilled at. The number of distillations can also determine the grade of the oil. The most pure and authentic grade oils will come from a first distillation. There are some that use the second, the third, and/or even the fourth distillations just so they can get more oil. These oils are going to be less effective.

What's the difference between essential oils and other oils?

It is important to understand the difference between essential oils and vegetable oils. Vegetable oils are oils such as corn oil, olive oil, and peanut oil. There are many more types of vegetable oils beyond these three. Vegetable oils can clog pores and tend to be greasy. They offer little to no benefits. These oils can oxidize and become rancid over time. Most essential oils, as long as the are stored properly, are pure, authentic grade, and are used correctly will not turn rancid. Oils that are higher in plant waxes, such as patchouli, vetiver, and sandalwood, if not distilled properly or are introduced to heat for an extended length of time can become rancid or effect the benefits.

There is much more about what makes an oil an essential oil and what determines their benefits. I'll cover this information in a future post as it will need to be broken down into smaller pieces to even begin to understand their complexities. If you would like to learn more about essential oils I would suggest looking at the following books: Essential Oils Desk or Pocket Reference 6th edition published by Life Science Publishing, Surviving When Modern Medicine Fails by Dr. Scott A. Johnson, or Healing Oils of the Bible by David Stewart, PhD.

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