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      ESSENTIAL OILS

      WHAT IS AN ESSENTIAL OIL?

      Essential oils are natural aromatic compounds found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. They can be both beautifully and powerfully fragrant. In addition to giving plants their distinctive smells, essential oils provide plants with protection against predators and disease and play a role in plant pollination.

      Essential oils are non water-based phytochemicals made up of volatile aromatic compounds. Although they are fat soluble, they do not include fatty lipids or acids found in vegetable and animal oils. Essential oils are very clean, almost crisp, to the touch and are immediately absorbed by the skin. Pure, unadulterated essential oils are translucent and range in color from crystal clear to deep blue.

      In addition to their intrinsic benefits to plants and being beautifully fragrant to people, essential oils have been used throughout history in many cultures for their medicinal and therapeutic benefits.

      HISTORY OF ESSENTIAL OILS

      Essential oils have been used throughout recorded history for a wide variety of wellness applications. The Egyptians were some of the first people to use aromatic essential oils extensively in medical practice, beauty treatment, food preparation, and religious ceremony. Frankincense, sandalwood, myrrh, and cinnamon were considered very valuable cargo along caravan trade routes and were sometimes exchanged for gold.

      Borrowing from the Egyptians, the Greeks used essential oils in their practices of therapeutic massage and

      aromatherapy. The Romans also used aromatic oils to promote health and personal hygiene. Influenced by the Greeks and Romans, as well as Chinese and Indian Ayurvedic use of aromatic herbs, the Persians began to refine distillation methods for extracting essential oils from aromatic plants. Essential oil extracts were used throughout the dark ages in Europe for their antibacterial and fragrant properties.

      In modern times, the powerful healing properties of essential oils were rediscovered in 1937 by a French chemist, René-Maurice Gattefossé, who healed a badly burned hand with pure lavender oil.