What are Essential Oils?

 The characteristic fragrance of a flower, herb, wood or fruit comes from the pure essential oil present in it, it is actually the soul of the plant.

Essential Oils are very concentrated plant material (as reference, we need a thousand kilograms of rose petals to get half a litre of Rose oil). The characteristic fragrance of a flower, herb, wood or fruit comes from the pure essential oil present in it, it is actually the soul/essence of the plant. Pure essential oils are extracted from any part of the plant - leaves, flowers, stem, barks, roots, seeds etc.

These essential oils are what give plants & flowers their scent and attract insects to aid in pollination. They are also a crucial part of the plant's immune system as they repel predators and protect the plant from disease. Extremely volatile - they will evaporate if exposed to the air unlike vegetable oils like olive oil, almond oil etc. which have a denser & more stable molecular composition. Since they are so volatile and so potent, they are never to be used neat on the skin and must be blended in a ‘carrier' or vegetable oil. The ideal ratio in any blend is no more than 3% of essential oil in a carrier oil.

Being a naturally occurring compound, an essential oil consists of hundreds of components such as aldehydes, terpenes, phenols, alcohols, esters, etc. This myriad of components means a single essential oil can be used to treat many ailments & issues and this combination of all the components in an essential oil work synergistically, however, they may also  be processesed and Isolated. 

Modern medicine and allopathy have done just that - isolating individual components from nature to use them in formulations on their own. This allows them to work as a powerful active ingredient and treat a specific ailment. However, this isolation leaves them imbalanced & without the harmonizing effects afforded to them when combined with the other therapeutic components in the oil. This lack of harmony & concentrated use of one component means that although they are working towards a specific treatment, they are very harsh on our systems and tend to have far more side effects than if we were to consume a natural product that contains the selected ingredient alogn with all itts other balancing components. Natural products such as pure Essential Oils use the plant material in totality, as it is found in nature, thereby providing a slower, but more balanced treatment for our bodies. 

Since they have a minuscule molecular structure, essential oils when inhaled, are diffused over the cilia (microscopic hair at the end of the nose), from where nervous impulses travel through the olfactory nerve straight to the hypothalamus and limbic portions of the brain from where they find their way into the bloodstream via the lungs.

When applied to the skin, essential oils permeate between the skin cells and enter via the dermis into the blood and lymph vessels from where they may have the desired effect. An interesting test to see how skin absorption works - is to cut a piece of garlic into half and rub the wet part on the soles of your feet… within a short time you will have garlic breath. Another test is by just using Lavender soap on your skin, you will feel a sense of relaxation & calm both on the skin itself but also emotionally - both properties of Lavender oil. This shows that along with expelling (sweat, hormones) the skin is also capable of absorption.

Although becoming much more prevalent today, the use of essential oils can be traced back over thousands of years, where they had a variety of uses including perfumery, cosmetics, therapy and many more - for e.g. when Tutankhamen’s grave was opened the space was completely enveloped with the fragrance of essential oils, which had been used to preserve the body, disinfect the area and spiritually believed to guide the spirit to the afterlife. In another part of the world, Sandalwood oil and paste was used by ancient Indian seers to help their spiritual journey and balance their mind & body.