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Therapeutic-Grade Essential
Oil vs. Perfume
by Caleb Eaton
By definition a perfume must always smell exactly
the same from bottle to bottle, year to year. It would
be considered very bad business if the users of Chanel
No 5 never knew exactly what Chanel No 5 smelled like.
In fact, how could it be called Chanel No 5 if the
smell wasn’t consistent from bottle to bottle. The
problem is that true essential oils smell slightly
different from batch to batch. They are like a fine
wine with properties that vary depending on soil conditions,
weather, season length, time of harvest, geographic
location and an infinite amount of other factors. (This
is another reason viruses and bad bacteria can’t develop
resistance to essential oils--there is nothing to mutate
to--essential oils are a moving target.) So the perfume
makers analyze the chemical composition of a particular
batch of essential oils and create a synthetic chemical
soup that will bring the chemical composition to the
required preciseness.
In fact, most perfumes today don’t even begin with essential oils which only
complicate matters. It’s much more straight-forward and less expensive to simply
start from scratch with a precise set of synthetic chemicals, most of which
are originally derived from a barrel of crude oil.
Chemists use the same methods to manipulate the sense of taste. Enjoy your
artificial flavoring! If you are inspired to read ingredients, consider that
there is no regulation for the phrase “natural flavor.” The only way to know
whether or not you are eating crude oil is to consider the company that makes
it. For example, I know that the term “natural flavor” in the ingredients of
Juicy Fruit gum is referring to synthetic ingredients made to taste like natural
fruit. On the other hand, I fully trust that the “natural flavor” that appears
on the ingredient list of Berry Young Juice is truly derived from things in
nature that are good for me to eat.
Consider the quality of essential oils used by the perfume industry. Therapeutic
value is of no concern. Price is a very high concern. Consequently, it is more
than okay for the original plant fields to be sprayed with pesticides and insecticides,
to be harvested at a convenient time of year--rather than at a precise time
to ensure maximum therapeutic value which can vary from hour to hour, and for
the cut plants to lay in the field for a day or two until they are gathered
for distillation. It is standard practice for the plants to be distilled with
high-pressure and high-temperature which destroys the therapeutic value in
order to achieve maximum output at maximum speed, to be distilled with water
that contains chemicals--both to increase output and make the cleaning of equipment
easier, and to be stored and shipped in plastic or aluminum containers.
In the end, if this batch of essential oil is high or low in particular chemical
constituents that most of the perfume industry expects, the distiller or distributor
simply adds synthetic ingredients to even things out.
It is under these conditions that the British model of aromatherapy was established.
It was very, very rare for British aromatherapists to have access to true therapeutic-grade
essential oils, so the whole body of thought was built around the use of perfume-grade
oils. Therefore the British model insists that an essential oil should never
be applied to the skin without first being diluted with a fatty-type vegetable
oil.
Since there was no translation needed, this is the school of thought that was
adopted by early U.S. aromatherapists. Hence, when you meet a so-called aromatherapist
who tries to convince you that it is dangerous, even deadly, to apply an essential
oil neet (undiluted), their oil and their “therapy” should be considered of
little value. You can be assured they are using perfume-grade oils. You don’t
want this stuff on your skin.
Ninety-eight percent of essential oils produced today are used in the perfume
and cosmetic industry. Only 2 percent are produced for therapeutic and medicinal
applications. [Essential Oils Desk Reference,
4th Edition, p8]
Yet this perfume-grade essential oil is almost at a virginal state when compared
to an actual perfume which only contains a small fraction of essential oil,
if any. Now we are back to the very craftily combined set of crude oil chemicals
in a fancy glass bottle with a seductive label.
Incidentally, if there EVER were essential oils inside that fancy bottle, they
lost any value long ago because the bottle is clear and essential oils are
destroyed by light. But why even carry things that far? We also know that essential
oils react with petrochemicals--so they disappeared (changed forms) when first
put in the mixing vat.
(As a side note, consider the poor shmuck who buys a clear bottle of frankincense
or myrrh oil at a religious book store or receives one as a “thank you” gift
for donating to a ministry. Also consider what it says about our religious
institutions when these people are so ignorant/oblivious about essential oils
despite there being over 500 references to them in the Bible. Should not the “church” uphold
some societal standards for health rather than dying of the same diseases as
the “unenlightened”? Should not the “church” be the “keepers” of essential
oils?)
While I am tempted to mention the health effects of perfumes absorbing through
the skin, there will be plenty of opportunity for that in the future. I will
instead focus on the effects of the odor to the mind and emotions. After all,
when perfumes are applied, there is no thought given to the effects on health.
If there were, fewer of them would be applied. The primary purpose is emotional
in nature...to feel good about oneself or to appeal to others.
When a fragrance is inhaled, the odor molecules travel up the nose where they
are trapped by olfactory membranes. Each odor molecule fits like a little puzzle
piece into specific receptor sites which trigger electric impulses that are
sent eventually to the amygdala (where emotions are stored) and other parts
of the limbic system of the brain. The limbic system is directly connected
to those parts of the brain that control heart rate, blood pressure, breathing,
memory, stress levels, and hormone balance. Fragrances can have profound physiological
and psychological effects.
THE SENSE OF SMELL IS THE ONLY ONE OF THE FIVE SENSES DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE
LIMBIC LOBE OF THE BRAIN, THE EMOTIONAL CONTROL CENTER. Anxiety, depression,
fear, anger, and joy all emanate from this region. [Essential Oils Desk Reference,
4th Edition, p12]
What kind of puzzle pieces do you want to send to those receptor sites? You
can choose synthetic ones (not natural to this world) that the body cannot
recognize and therefore has a tremendously hard time processing, breaking down,
and converting for either food or elimination. It often gives up and stores
them in fatty tissues throughout the body (the liver has the highest fat content
of any organ). Or you can choose natural substances distilled from the same
plants that surrounded Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. These substances
have the highest frequencies known among any material found in nature.
Which environment do you choose to create for yourself and for those around
you? One that sends true information to the brain or one that sends false,
misleading information meant to trick the brain? One that is full of life or
one that is dead? |
