What are essential oils?
Essential oils are concentrated plant extracts that capture the natural fragrance and therapeutic properties of plants.
These oils are extracted from the flowers, leaves, stems, roots, and other parts of plants, and are often used in aromatherapy, skin care, and natural healing practices. Essential oils have been used for centuries for their medicinal and wellness benefits.
They can be used to promote relaxation, improve sleep, boost mood, relieve stress and anxiety, and alleviate pain and inflammation.
Additionally, many essential oils have antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral properties, making them a popular choice for natural cleaning and disinfecting solutions. Using essential oils is a simple and natural way to enhance your physical and emotional well-being.
Whether you use them for aromatherapy, massage, or as part of your daily self-care routine, these potent plant extracts offer a wide range of benefits for your body, mind, and spirit. An essential oil contains several complex chemical compounds, which is produced in different parts of a plant, through a series of chemical reactions during a process called, Biosynthesis.
An essential oil has a multitude of properties, which can benefit the mental and physical state of a human being. Each essential oil has a unique composition of chemicals, and this variation affects the smell, absorption, and effects on the body.
The chemical composition of an essential oil may vary within the same plant species, or from plant to plant.
Physical properties of an essential oil
1. Essential oils are soluble in oil and alcohol and to a much lesser extent in water.
2. Essential oils evaporate in the air and can stimulate the olfactory organs (sense of smell.)
3. Essential oils are lipophilic(oil-loving) and because of their small molecular size can penetrate the mucous membranes and the skin. Absorption and assimilation takes place quickly because they are compatible with the structure of human cell membranes. Absorbed molecules enter the circulation system and according to research are detected in the urine within 20 minutes of application.
4. Essential oils act like hormones and will target a specific organ or problem area when applied.
5. Due to their complexity, essential oils can be blended to target multiple problems simultaneously.
6. Each oil has a specific odour by which it can be identified.
7. Essential oils are mixtures of different chemical compounds, which can be separated and identified by a process, called chromatography.
8. The quality and the quantity of an essential oil may differ with changing environmental conditions like temperature, climate, humidity, rainfall, soil type, geographical region, day length etc., therefore where they are sourced from makes a difference in their actions and properties.
9. An essential oil may have several chemotypes. Although the oils come from the same plant species chemotypes differ in composition and properties. An essential oil chemotype has different therapeutic properties due to the presence of different chemical components; for example, one chemotype may have a higher content of alcohols compared to another chemotype that may have a high content of phenols. Chemotypes are present in both wild and cultivated plants
10. The cost of an essential oil reflects its quality and quantity yield e.g. 100kg of Eucalyptus leaves yield 10 litres of oil , where-as 100kg of Rose petals yield 0.5 litres of oil, rose oil will therefore be much more expensive than Eucalyptus oil.
11. Synthetic copies may have the same aroma, but do not have the same therapeutic properties and are cheaper.
