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| Essentially Yours ... Part One
So, now you may be wondering just what is an essential oil? If you’ve been making soap for a while, you probably know that essential oils can be used as a scenting agent. And, you probably know that some essential oils help with some illnesses. You may have also heard that you need to use caution when using them; and that some should never be used. And, you probably know that some are super expensive. And if you’ve been on the list for a while, you know that most of us have our personal favorites (both for scenting and treating injuries/illnesses). But, really…just what **is** an essential oil? If you Google “what is an essential
oil”, you will get a wide range of answers ranging from simple to complex. The simple definition could be listed as; “a
plant extract that has a distinctive odour or flavour.”1
The longer and more complex version would be; “the volatile and
aromatic liquid or semi-solid obtained from a single botanical, primarily
through the distillation, expression or extraction process. Generally, it
constitutes the odorous principles of a plant, having the taste or smell of the
original botanical used. However, essential oils do not always have the same
properties as the whole plant from which it was derived from as certain parts of
the plant are used to produce the essential oil.”2 Did
you know that essential oils are stored in many different parts of the plant?
The oil is concentrated in different parts of the plant.
Vetiver oil is made from the chopped roots of the grass species Vetiveria
zizanoides; bay oil is extracted from by leaves.
Geranium oil comes from the leaves and stalks. While cumin oil comes from
the seeds, and ginger oil comes from the root-like stems which grow under or
along the ground. Myrrh,
frankincense, and benzoin oils are extracted from the resin on their respective
trees. Mandarin, lemon, lime, grapefruit and bergamot oils are
squeezed from the peel of the fruits, while tonka bean is extracted, as you
would guess, from the bean. Cinnamon
oil comes from the bark of the tree, and pine oil comes from the needles and
twigs of Pinus sylvestris.3
The
essential oil is stored in specialized cells, hairs, and scales, which have tiny
spaces for the oil to reside. During
the extraction process, the essential oil is forced out of these spaces and
collected. Depending on the plant,
and the amount of essential oil it contains, a specific extraction process will
be chosen. The most common method
is steam distillation. Other
methods include solvent extraction, expression, enfleurage and maceration. It takes a great deal of work to produce a tiny amount of
essential oil. Sixty thousand rose
blossoms are required to produce one ounce of rose oil, where as in the lavender
plant the essential oil is more abundant and 220 pounds will provide 7 pounds of
oil. In the case of jasmine, the
flowers must be picked by hand before the sun becomes hot on the very first day
they open, where as the sandalwood tree must be thirty years old and thirty feet
high before it is cut down for distillation. Between these two extremes, a while range of growing and
picking conditions apply to the plants that will ultimately provide the precious
essential oils. The price of each
oil reflects these conditions, and because it takes eight million hand-picked
jasmine blossoms to produce 2.2 pounds of oil, you can understand why that is
one of the most expensive oils on the market.3 The essential oil industry is spread worldwide and there are many variations of “essential oils”. There are suppliers who ‘cut’ their essential oils with inexpensive carrier oils and pass them off as pure natural essence. If you are using the essential oils for their therapeutic value, it is critical that only pure essential oils be used. Keep in mind that chemical copies of natural essences do not work for medicinal purposes. If you are using lavender essential oil in massage oil for its relaxing qualities, it might smell lovely, but it won’t have the therapeutic relaxation value unless you use the pure essential oil.
Many products fall under the general heading
of “essential oils” and this can be very confusing to the inexperienced
buyer. Use caution when picking a
supplier; choose a well-known, long-standing business, preferably one that came
with glowing recommendations from fellow Soapnuts or a professional aroma
therapist. Be wary of terms such
as; reconstitutions, nature identicals; isolates, perfume compounds and aromas.
These products have been devised to take the place of essential oils in
the perfumery business. If you are simply going for ‘scent’…then these products
are fine, so long as they are compatible with the soap making process you are
using and are skin-safe if you are making leave-on toiletry products. You maybe thinking, “Great, now how can I
tell if the essential oils I bought are the real deal?” The natural essence that are ‘cut’ in a carrier base are easier to spot than any others because the base oil is oily, while essential oils for the most part are not. For this reason the term “essential oil” is something of a misnomer. Pure essential oils when dropped on blotting paper will impregnate it, then evaporate and disperse, leaving no oil patch. Other vegetable oils, on the other hand, will leave an oily mark. There are some exceptions to this rule’ vetiver, for example, is viscous and more difficult to identify when diluted in a base oil. When going into a
shop to buy essential oils, you may not wish to take blotting paper with you to
check the stock. But certainly, a
range of essential oils should reflect accurately the variation in the wholesale
price of these products which are grown in such varying circumstances and
subject to wide differences in transportation and production costs.
For example, jasmine is ninety-two times the price of grapefruit on my
current wholesale list, and sandalwood is four times the price of lime.
No reputable essential oil supplier sells essential oils all at the same
price.3 How essential oils are stored can affect
their stability and properties. Storage
is very important! Essential oils
should be protected from light. Amber,
cobalt and emerald glass bottles work very well.
If you find yourself without the proper color/size container you can
store them in clear glass containers that have been painted black or wrapped
with dark colored paper. Although
there is some debate over this subject, essential oils are best stored in glass
containers. A few of them are known
for their ability to ‘eat’ through certain types of plastic and some types
of plastics are know to break down and leach chemicals into their contents.
Some suppliers ship in plastic; it is my opinion that essential oils
should be transferred to glass containers upon their delivery.
Once they are at your home/business they should be protected from light,
heat and dampness. The tops should
be tightly closed when not in use (remember they do evaporate).
You may be wondering how long you can keep
essential oils in storage… The therapeutic
life of essential oils is about two years, although some would argue that they
last longer than this. Certainly
their antibiotic and other properties can still be utilized in nonbody methods
such as air fresheners, kitchen surface wipes, perfumes, or celebratory and gift
purposes, when their aromas are a crucial aspect of their use. Unfortunately, essential oils are not yet dated when sold, so
it is impossible to tell how old they are when you buy them --- another reason
for going to a reputable supplier.3 Next month we’ll explore the many uses for essential oils and the many safety issues surrounding their use. Resource list for this article 1 http://home.nas.net/~dbc/cic_hamilton/dictionary/e.html 2 http://www.emsplace.com/ref/bcglossary.htm 3 The Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy by Valerie Ann Worwood ~ Denise Washburn
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