WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL OILS?
HISTORY OF ESSENTIAL OILS
Due to the worldwide usage of essential oils for centuries, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which culture began using them first, but the first records of essential oils allegedly come from ancient India, Persia, and Egypt. Greece and Rome also engaged in the widespread trade of aromatic oils and ointments with Eastern countries. Each culture had various uses for them ranging from health treatments to spiritual practices. Their herbal preparations included incense, perfume, clothing and fabric fresheners, medicine such as pills, powders, and suppositories, ointments, scented baths, and aromatherapy massages. In many cultures, aromatic oils were believed to create a union with the gods and were held in such high regard that they were used only by a select group of privileged people, such as priests.
Arabs were the first to develop the technique of plant distillation to extract essential oils. They were able to replace the fatty oils that were used as solvents for extraction with a new solvent that they created by distilling ethyl alcohol from fermented sugar. During the Middle Ages, this knowledge of the distillation technique spread to Europe and its pharmacies specialized in distilled products.
WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL OILS?
Essential oils are organic, concentrated, highly volatile, hydrophobic liquids that naturally occur within and are secreted by tiny structures located in a plant’s various parts – the seeds, grasses, roots, barks, stems, leaves, fruits, flowers, resins, zest and wood of plants. They are also referred to as volatile oils, ethereal oils, or aetherolea. Despite the word “oil,” they feel less viscous than oil, having more of a watery texture.
Inhaling the scent of a flower equates to experiencing its essential oil’s aroma. These oils were given the name “essential,” because they were believed to capture a plant’s essence, that is its odor and flavor. The nature of an oil depends on the plant itself and on the botanical family and species to which it belongs. An essential oil gets its name from the plant from which it is derived. For example, the essential oil from the Lavender flower would be called Lavender Oil.
The oils contained within the plants are aromatic, lending plants their distinctive fragrance while also promoting their self-protection and pollination; it is likely that oils from a plant’s wood, leaves, and roots help the plant guard itself against attacks from parasites and animals and allow them to adapt to their environments, which are sometimes harsh. A pure essential oil then is the plant’s defense mechanism and is more powerful than the botanical itself due to the concentration of healing compounds collected in the oil.
As already mentioned, an essential oil is an aromatic compound that is volatile in nature, which is to say it is a molecule that rapidly changes states from solid or liquid to a gas at room temperature. The speed with which it changes states is the reason for the name “volatile.” In chemistry, this refers to a substance’s tendency to vaporize readily. This is what quickly transports the aroma of an essential oil through the air, causing it to activate olfactory sensors in the nose. The volatile aromatic compounds also govern the physiological benefits offered by an oil – this is precisely what makes essential oils ideal for use in aromatherapy, a holistic practice that promotes a sense of well-being and harmony of body and mind through the power of scent.
ESSENTIAL OILS VS. FRAGRANCES
The terms “essential oil” and “perfume (oil)” are often used in place of each other due to their aromatic qualities, but there are significant differences between them. Essential oils are natural, volatile, aromatic compounds extracted from botanicals. Fragrance oils are artificial and synthetically created by chemists, who reproduce the chemical composition of a plant’s components; however, they do not contain the same therapeutic benefits as essential oils, and thus they are not used in aromatherapy, as the body does not absorb the structures of the synthetic molecules in the same way it absorbs natural molecules. The similarity between essential oils and fragrance oils is that both types of oils can be found in cosmetics such as moisturizers, soaps, and of course perfumes as well as odorant products used around the house, such as scented candles, diffusers, and sachets for laundry.
WHAT AFFECTS ESSENTIAL OIL QUALITY?
It is beneficial and advisable to purchase quality essential oils from a reputable source that specializes in supplying essential oils that are therapeutically active in order to receive their health benefits. Because the purpose of an essential oil is aromatherapy, it is best to avoid using commercial grade oils, which are usually better suited to the industries of perfumery or flavoring. For an essential oil that is 100% pure and natural, and ready to be used in aromatherapy, it should not have anything added to it, as this will compromise its therapeutic properties.
Regardless of how pure an oil claims to be, its composition can vary and is determined by the following factors, all of which impact the final quality of the oil: the scarcity of the botanical, the country of origin, the year the crop is grown, the season, the weather, the geography of the land, the method and duration of distillation, the distiller’s quality standards and how much oil the botanical yields.