Better Living With Essential Oils

Practical formulas you can use in Personal Care and Your Environment

Lavender

Lavender has often been called the ‘medicine chest in a bottle’ for its broad range of applications. Every home should keep Lavender on hand, even if no other oil is used, as it is so very effective on burns. It’s anti-inflammatory action is responsible for the beginnings of modern aromatherapy, as Dr. Jean Valnet discovered Lavender’s healing properties after being burned in a laboratory accident.

Methods of Using Essential Oils

There are two methods of using essential oils with your child – INHALATION: through a diffuser, nebulizer, or adding to a humidifier reservoir, and TOPICAL APPLICATION: diluting the essential oil in a carrier oil and applying topically. Adding essential oils to a bath combines the two methods, though we will cover it under topical application.

Instead, massage therapists who use essential oils use a carrier oil or a base oil and add a small amount of essential oil to the carrier oil. They can do that because one drop of an essential oil is very powerful, and can go a long way. You can experiment, but I have found 1 or 2 drops of essential per teaspoon (5 ml) of carrier oil is usually sufficient. Be sure to read up on whatever oil you are thinking of using, because there are a few that really should not be put on the skin at all.

Essential oils have the ability to penetrate skin and disperse throughout the body very quickly. Moreover, they are very potent substances and consequently attention must be paid, especially by inexperienced persons. Most of the times, aromatherapy essential oils must be used with carrier (base) oil and not be applied directly on skin. Furthermore, essential oils are often adulterated bye cheat suppliers with cheaper substances such as synthetic ingredients and alcohols and therefore they lose their therapeutic potential and can be dangerous at the same time.

If you are interested in true aromatherapy, it is best to visit a trained professional, such as a holistic physician. Oils can be very potent and when used inappropriately they can irritate the skin or cause more serious reactions such as liver damage or seizures. If you simply enjoy certain fragrances and the way they make you feel by all means indulge your passion. Even detractors cannot refute that if a particular scent or smell makes you feel better, by all means burn it, spray it, or lather up in it. Whether scientifically validated or not, feeling good is a worthwhile benefit.

It is important when purchasing essential oils to select those that are grown organically. Non organic oils are sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. These chemical sprays have been found to cause allergic skin reactions for some people. In addition, these toxic chemicals will penetrate our skin, enter our blood stream and accumulate in our organs. Some pesticides, such as alar and DDT, have been banned by the FDA because of the health consequences associated with their use.

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