I just returned from the magnificent Greek island of Syros. I was there for 10 days on an expedition to learn about the benefits of medicinal plants. Not only did I experience the plants and flowers in all of their glory, but I was honored to have learned how to harvest and distill them.
Let me tell you about some of the amazing properties of Essential Oils in general:
1. Plants create essential oils to detract insects from itself…(kind of like it’s very own insect repellant!)
2. Plants create EO’s to sometimes decrease the ability of it’s neighboring plants to flourish…so they can have primary access to the water supply and nutrients from the soil (call it survival of the fittest, or greed!)
3. EO’s have a chemical makeup with properties that can incorporate any or all of the following: antifungal (Tea Tree Oil), antiviral (Clove) (yes, antiviral!), anti-inflammatory (Lavender), pro-circulatory (Cypress), antibacterial (Roman Chamomile), expectorant (Eucalyptus globulus), carminitive – stimulates digestion and relieves gas (Anise), analgesic (Wintergreen), diuretic (Juniper Berry), astringent (Frankincense), diaphoretic – induces sweating to eliminate toxins from the body via the skin and to dispel a fever and chills (Ginger), emmenagogue – promotes and regulates menstruation (Clary Sage), sedative (Neroli), wound healing (Calendula).
The most important thing for a consumer to understand is that the majority of EO’s that are distilled are sold to the perfume or food industries where they often become adulterated. The adulteration of these oils is to increase the amount of material so that they can “stretch” the end product thus increasing profits. The typical adulteration method is to add synthetic chemicals to the original EO, which in a nutshell is BAD! We all know and understand (hopefully) that synthetically derived chemicals are just that: SYNTHETIC…meaning NOT from us, but made in a laboratory! Many of these chemicals are carcinogenic (cancer causing) or irritants (to the skin) and wreak havoc on the body. SO, not all smell pure!
While taking a class titled “What smell is that?” we were all subjected to the original plant extracted chemicals and then its synthetic adulterated form. Since we live in an over chemically scented saturated society, I was shocked that I was preferring the synthetic smells over the natural ones. Our olfactory senses (our smell receptors) are accustomed to chemicals! This was very disconcerting!
So, before you go off and buy an essential oil OR a detergent OR a perfume with “oils” make sure of a few things:
1. All EO’s should be labeled with their latin name (e.g…Lavender is Lavendula angustafolia)
2. All EO’s of a single product line should not be priced the same! (e.g…if you are paying $10 for lavender AND $12 for Damascus Rose, you can be sure that there is major adulteration going on! 2 oz of a pure Rose oil could cost you upwards of $150!) The reason for oils to be so expensive is the amount of plant material versus the amount that has been distilled. If there is little amount of distilled oil versus a large amount of starting plant/flower material you can almost guarantee that the price of the oil will be high!
3. “Perfumed” oils are NOT pure.
4. “Organic” oils are not always pure.
I hope this sheds some light on Essential Oils. They are earth’s medicine!