Colleen K. Dodt - Essential Oils in the Bath

Baths, Foot Baths, Bath Salts, and Massage Oils for Adults and Children

excerpted from The Essential Oils Book
by Colleen K. Dodt

There is very little language to describe scent. We understand scent more through associations and images than by analytical processes or data. Learned-odor responses odors that have memories attached to them arouse reactions to certain synthetic or natural scents, like the scent of a lovers perfume or the smell of freshly mown grass. In the limbic portion of the brain, also called the rhinencephalon, emotions and odors are directly linked and have been found to produce some of the same electrical impulses. Certain learned-odor responses can lead us on intense olfactory emotional odysseys.

Our experience of a pure essential oil is different from a learned-odor response. When an essential oil is inhaled, various neurochemicals are released in the brain and the inhaler experiences a physiological change in body, mind, and spirit. When lavender is inhaled, for instance, serotonin is released from the raphe nucleus of the brain, producing a calming influence in the body. This effect is altered, however, if the inhaler has had a direct negative experience with lavender.

A learned-odor response can alter or interfere with the biochemical effects of essential oils. Emotions have their own chemical makeup and can be powerful enough to inhibit or enhance another neurochemical release or absorption. An intense emotional response to a certain odor may interfere with the odor-induced chemical release from the brain. For this reason, over-the-counter aromatherapy formulas are not effective for everyone, since peoples life experiences are so varied. For example, if a child had a caretaker in their life who wore a certain scent such as lavender, a known relaxant, and that caretaker had a direct negative association for this particular child, it could perhaps be difficult for this person to relax when exposed to lavender because of a learned-odor response. I am not acquainted with any direct research in overcoming or changing learned-odor responses with pure essential oils.

Chemical reproductions do not have the same biochemical effects as naturally occurring pure essential oils. They rely solely on learned-odor response, not neurochemical release, and are not effective in aromatherapy.

The term essential oil is thrown about every day, with a wide range of meanings. There are no standardized regulations for use of the words essential oil or essence, so they are often used to describe any number of products that have little or nothing to do with the real thing or meaning.

When I refer to essential oils in this book I mean the pure plant distillates and extracts that are excellent allies in yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows world of home health care. They are naturally derived, and should be respected as powerful substances to be used with caution and education. Pure essential oils are extracted directly from different parts of plants, depending on the oil concerned. Some are extracted from flowers, others from leaves, stems, the rind of fruit, berries, resin, or roots using a variety of extraction methods. Extraction of pure essential oils usually requires laboratory equipment and a large amount of materials for a small yield of oil. I have seen directions for homemade stills, yet found them too much bother for such a small yield. Distilling in a small ready-made still from Europe has helped me appreciate why many oils are expensive and can be difficult to locate. I, for one, will leave the extraction to those who know their business and be glad that I do not have to acquire my own oils by extracting them myself.

However it is extracted, the resulting oil is a highly concentrated, volatile substance that is made up of many different elements, including alcohols, esters, hydrocarbons, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, terpene alcohols, and acids. Chemists have tried to recreate essential oils in the laboratory, but, to date, they have not been 100 percent successful.

As a buyer, you must beware of imitations! Better yet, be educated! Synthetic aromatic chemicals have become the norm for so long that many folks are used to them, and are unaware of the choices they have from natures bounty. Recently, I was in a very nice little shop full of scented goodies. I approached the essential oils section and found pretty little bottles with signs and labels indicating they were filled with essential oils and aromatherapy products. The slick-looking display covered with pictures of herbs and flowers led me to believe that these were indeed the true thing, but upon closer inspection I found that all the bottles were the same price. This is a clear tip-off that you are not dealing with pure essential oils since the prices of these precious oils vary greatly, depending on their accessibility and ease of extraction. I would love to find true jasmine absolute oil at the same price as lavender oil, but I dont think that will happen in my lifetime! Upon smelling the sampler in this shop, my suspicions that these were synthetic aromatic chemicals, not pure essential oils, were confirmed. The shopkeeper was shocked and dismayed at my discovery. She truly thought she was offering a quality aromatherapy product, and was not properly informed by her supplier.

I have happened across this same scene time and time again around the world. The adulteration, dilution, and imitation of pure essential oils has become big business at the consumers expense, both financially and ethically. However, with a little education and exposure to pure essential oils, you, too, will be able to sniff out the imposters.

Knowing the supplier you are buying oils from is the first step. You can shop from the suppliers listed on page 26 with confidence that they are doing their best to supply only the finest, high-quality pure essential oils. Questions as to the origin and purity of an oil are usually met with enthusiasm by someone who is proud of their suppliers.

Always look for pure essential oils packaged in full, dark glass bottles, preferably with built-in droppers. These allow you to dispense the oil one drop at a time. Some oils are more viscous than others and may take a while to drop out. Some companies have adjusted the size of the dropper or bottle-neck accordingly. You can also use a separate glass eyedropper, but do not store it in the bottle because the oil will eventually break down the rubber bulb at the top, which will then contaminate the oil.

Read the label carefully. Look for the term pure essential oil and for cautions such as Keep out of reach of children, and For external use only. Seeing these warnings on a bottle is a sign of a responsible company that understands the effects of its product.

The quality of even pure essential oils can vary greatly depending on the country where the plant was grown, climatic conditions, how the raw material was collected and stored, and the process used to obtain the oil. Always opt for the best-quality oil available.

Know what youre looking, and smelling, for when you shop for oils. Do your research and go or write to a supplier with a clear knowledge of what you want. Dont be afraid to return an oil if it is not what you wanted, or is of poor quality. I have sent many oils back and told the manufacturers I would not order from them again until they showed an improvement in their quality control. Most companies are anxious to know if a bit of poor oil slipped into their inventory. This problem is most prevalent in some of the larger companies that produce great volume, or where the demand for quantities of an oil is so great that it exceeds the demand for quality.