What are essential oils

Aromatherapy is the practice of using volatile oils – known as essential oils - to promote psychological and physical wellbeing.

Essential oil or aromatic oil is a mixture of volatile aromatic molecules extracted from plant material and characteristic of the fragrance of the plant from which they are extracted. While such mixtures are referred to as "oil," essential oils do not contain fat. They are liquid at room temperature and evaporate quickly when heated.

They are extracted from different parts of a plant, for example the blossom, the fruit, the seed, the leaves, the skin, the bark or the wood (of the trunk, branches or roots). Usually a plant contains no more than 1% essential oil, but in the case of nutmeg and cloves, it is more than 10% essential oil. Sometimes different parts of a plant contain different essential oils.

Only a small part (about 10%) of all the plants are able to produce these aromatic components.

Essential oils are the pure 'essences' found in flowers, berries, grasses, roots, seeds, bark, fruits and herbs, and are extracted mainly by steam

or water distillation. All oils have their own unique character, aroma and therapeutic properties; as they are highly concentrated, a little goes a long way.

Essential oils consist of tiny aromatic chemicals that aid in a variety of health, beauty and hygiene conditions.

We can benefit from these via massage, bathing, vaporisation and inhalation.

Here you can find our pure essential oils:

Before using essential oils, please refer to the Essential Oil Safety section on this website or the leaflet which comes with the products.

Aromatherapy

The word "aromatherapy" was first published in 1937 in the French book "Aromathérapie: Les Huiles Essentielles, Hormones Végétales" written by the chemist René-Maurice Gattefossé. In 1910, one of his hands was badly burned. The infected wounds developed the very severe gas gangrene and Gattefossé instinctively treated the wounds with lavender essential oil.

Impressed with the results, he went on to research the healing properties of both lavender and other essential oils. For example, he worked with doctors in the treatment of war wounds from French soldiers.