Essential Oil Aromatherapy Blend
Essential oil aromatherapy blend is the fragrant and therapeutic essences distilled from herbs, flowers, leaves, and barks of plants. It has been used for nearly six thousand years. Each essential oil aromatherapy and its unique therapeutic properties have been documented throughout history. Perhaps the first people to use essential oil aromatherapy blend were the Chinese who used incense scented with fragrant oils from herbs not only in their temples but also in their homes to help improve well-being.
For centuries essential oil aromatherapy blends have been considered the most therapeutic and rejuvenating of all botanical extracts. They are highly concentrated, regenerating, oxygenating, and contain hormones, vitamins, and antiseptics that work on many levels.
Basically essential oil aromatherapy blends work in two ways. First, they go through the sense of smell by inhaling the scents that they emit. Second, essential oil aromatherapy blends also go through the skin during massage and bathing. Essential oil aromatherapy blends are very concentrated. That is why they should be used with care and respect. It is advisable that you dilute your essential oil aromatherapy blend with some water first before you use them on skin. The only exception to this rule of essential oil aromatherapy blend is with Lavender and Tea Tree. These two types of essential oil aromatherapy blends may be applied neat (undiluted) one drop to the area.
There are several methods by which essential oil aromatherapy blends are extracted. Below are a few of these methods.
Distillation
The vast majority of true essential oil aromatherapy blends are produced by distillation. That essential oil aromatherapy blend you have in your bath right now is probably extracted by distillation. Usually, in the process of distillation, water is heated to produce steam which carries the most volatile chemical of the aromatic material with it. The steam is then chilled or condensed and the resulting distillate is collected to later become the essential oil aromatherapy blend.
Hydrodistillation
Hydrodistillation, on the other hand, makes use of water as well but instead of just plain boiling water and allowing the steam to condense. Instead, the botanicals are fully submerged in water, producing a “soup.” The steam from this botanical soup contains the aromatic plant molecules. This process seems to work best for essential oil aromatherapy blends in powdered form, such as spice powders, ground wood, etc. Also, this type of essential oil aromatherapy blending process works for very tough materials like roots, wood, or nuts.
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