Smell This...

Smell This.... by Amber Niswonger

Have you ever walked into a room and, all of a sudden, the smell brought back memories. Smells trigger our brain in many different ways. Aromatherapy is the term used to describe the use of essential oils to treat various physical and emotional ills. Aromatherapy is used to purposely trigger any number of emotions, relaxed, excited, happy,etc.

Some popular essential oils are lavender, tea tree, peppermint, cinnamon, sandalwood and jasmine. There are hundreds of oils, but I don't have room to list them all. One example of the benefits of essential oils is a story about lavender oil. Ascientist was extracting some essential oils when he grabbed a scalding hot pan, he ran to stick his hand in the closest cool substance he came upon. This cool substanceJust happened to be lavender oil. The bum instantly stopped hurting, it never blistered and by the next day you could barely tell anything had happened to his hand. Lavender oil is also very good for your skin and hair. It is also very calming and it smells good too.

Another use for an essential oil is for tension headaches. Just rub peppermint oil on your temples and the headache should go away in about five minutes. Cinnamon and ginger oils both stimulate appetite and, along with pine needle oil, are good to bum around the holidays.

Some oils are more difficult to extract than others, so the prices vary from oil to oil. For example, it takes five-hundred pounds of rose petals to make one ounce of rose essential oil. Most other essential oils are relatively inexpensive. They usually range from about three to fifteen dollars per ounce. One drop of essential oil goes a very long way.

Another thing to look at when pricing essential oils is whether it is an4 essential oil or a fragrance oil, Fragrance oils smell like essential oils, but do not offer the same benefits that 100% pure essential oils do. They are a diluted form of oil. Also make sure

the essential oils you buy say 100% pure, because if it not listed chances are it is not 100% pure.

There are many different ways to use essential oil. Ceramic burners are one way, with these you put water in the top and only a few drops of essential oil. There is a candle in the bottom that you burn underneath the oil and water mixture. They make dispensers that you hook the essential oil bottle up to and it dispenses the oil all around the room. Or you can try mixing the essential oil and water in a pan on top of the stove and leave it on low heat.

You can find lots of books and information on aromatheray. It is a lot of fun to experiment with different oils. You can naturally scent your own soap, lotion and shampoo with essential oils. The good thing is pepple that are allergic to synthetic scents can usually wear or be around essential oils without it bothering them. I hope you enjoy your new knowledge in the world of therapeutic scent. Happy Smelling!!!!!