Aromatherapy Learning (3)
- Cindy Blog Space
- Apr 9
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 23
In the third class, we learned about essential oils basics, quality and safety. This was a great introduction for beginners using essential oils/in aromatherapy, but it is also important for anyone using essential oils or practising aromatherapy.
As learnt in the first class about what aromatherapy is, it involves the use of genuine and authentic plant-derived essential oils for therapeutic applications. This is emphasised in aromatherapy to achieve optimal therapeutic effects and reduce the risk of adverse reactions. Such knowledge allows users/practitioners to make more informed decisions when purchasing and using essential oils. With the use of genuine and authentic essential oils, we also learned that there are different factors to consider to ensure applying them safely, such as dilution levels/dosage, age group, methods of application, etc.
A common quality fault of essential oils (which deems them ingenuine and unauthentic) is when they are adulterated. We learned that there are many ways to evaluate the quality of essential oils, like simple tests for basic purity (including the use of our sense of smell) and GC/MS chemical analysis.
I unintentionally carried out one of the basic purity tests, which works well for citrus (or other highly volatile) essential oils, while making the product for the week (one drop of lemon essential oil dripped onto a clean white kitchen towel, so I thought let's see how it goes with that test):
An Example of a Basic Purity Test (click to open/hide)
Product Application
We learned how to make an Aromatherapy Inhaler this class.
Made an inhaler with a blend to help feeling more alert and for immune boost.
Some personal experience of usage so far:
Using it to support myself by awakening and refreshing the mind; smiling while inhaling.
Used as decongestant in a morning after waking up when the right nostril felt a bit blocked - symptom relieved after a few sniffs.
Supported as respiratory relief sniffing it before or after clearing the dusts from the vacuum.
