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nhaling the aroma of an essential oil is not the only way to enjoy their elements. A blend of essential oils in carrier (base) oil, such as jojoba or sweet almond, provides the foundation for a therapeutic massage or bath oil. The selection of specific essential oils, coupled with the talented hands of a professional massage therapist, can serve to relieve sore muscles, relax the mind as well as your body, or be used to increase blood flow through an invigorating blend, just to name a few.
One of the best ways to experience essential oils through a personalized selection of applications is to visit a day spa that specializes in aromatherapy. You can experience various aromatherapy treatments ranging from an inhalation room of eucalyptus (that is great for sinus problems!) to essential oil infused body scrubs, wraps, facials, and therapeutic massages.
The term aromatherapy has been loosely applied in recent years to a multitude of products in a retailer’s quest to capitalize on the ever increasing demand for natural products. For this reason, one must be very cautious when making the decision to buy a product using the word aromatherapy in its title. Remember, a true aromatherapy product must be one that has therapeutic qualities based on it containing pure essential oils and/or absolutes.
Ever so present on the shelves in stores today are aromatherapy this, and aromatherapy that, all with clever use of words and packaging to make a consumer believe the product is a true aromatherapy product. Simply pick up the item to look at the ingredients and being an informed consumer will have you placing the product back on the shelf. It is important to not fall prey to major manufacturing companies using the word aromatherapy as marketing hype to simply get you to believe it is actually a true aromatherapy product.
The definition of aromatherapy involves both art and science. Art would be, for example, a massage therapist using a learned and skilled talent (art) to deliver a therapeutic massage and/or the use of essential oils or absolutes (science). Products can not be packaged containing the art of application inside, however, the product itself can be defined as aromatherapy provided it contains the necessary natural ingredients of pure essential oils and/or absolutes.
Marketing aromatherapy products has become increasingly misleading with very clever label writers using words such as ‘made with essential oil fragrance’. Huh? It’s either a pure (unadulterated) essential oil or a fragrance oil, but not both. Another good example is ‘fragrance oil made with pure essential oil’. Laughable, that means just one drop of essential oil mixed with synthetic fragrance oil let’s the writer of that label description off the hook. An even more clever advertisement will state ‘Fragranced with essential oils and other natural fragrances’. Because an essential oil IS a natural fragrance, what would the necessity be to state ‘other natural fragrances’ be? This goes back to a previous article in this series detailing how a manufacturer is protected from disclosing ingredients based on the FDA trade secret rule for proprietary contents.
Besides product labeling information, which has just been shown as rather sketchy, the easiest way when selecting essential oil is to realize that they can be (depending on variety) either clear, slightly yellow, blue, tan, golden, or even rusty brown in color. The best way to determine purity and exact contents of an essential oil you are interested in acquiring is to request GC/MS test results for that oil from the seller.
As a consumer you owe it to yourself to be aware of what is fact and what is fictionalized hype in a manufacturer’s quest to market an item labeled for aromatherapy purposes.