Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: How to Use Essential Oils for Beauty, Health, and Spirituality – Gregory White
Essential Oils and Aromatherapy: How to Use Essential Oils for Beauty, Health, and Spirituality is written in a personable and easy to understand style and covers all of the important aspects of aromatherapy and essential oils. Reads like a conversation instead of a text book. Authored by a professional aromatherapist, it includes the history of aromatherapy, how to use the oils, the chemistry of essential oils, how to create a balanced blend, how essential oils are made, the carrier oils used in blends, scent notes, a few questionable aspects of the industry, recipes to get you started, and a complete encyclopedia of the top fifty-five oils.
The essential oil guide (encyclopedia) covers fifty-five of the most-used essential oils with detailed information about each oil including: botanical name, aromatic profile, origin, perfumery note, extraction method, description of the essential oil, safety warnings, and each oils uses and benefits for the mind, the body, and the spirit.
Added bonus rarely found in essential oils books: step by step directions showing how a professional aromatherapist creates a blend for a client based on their ailments, symptoms, medical history, emotions, and personal preferences. Sample Case Study included.
CONTENTS:
Aromatherapy – A Brief History (from cavemen to current day)
How Aromatherapy is Applied (diffusion, inhalation, topical, pulse points)
How Essential Oils Work (how essential oils enter and react with the body)
How Essential Oils Are Made (distillation, expression, enfleurage, solvent extracted, infusing oils)
Essential Oil Yield – How Much is Actually In That Little Bottle (calculation of crop yields for production of essential oil – the strength of essential oils)
Understanding Notes – Top, Middle, and Base (how notes are defined and which essential oils fall under each category)
Carrier Oils (13 common carrier oils and their unique benefits)
Creating Essential Oil Blends (creating aesthetic and therapeutic blends – aromatherapist case study example)
Safety Guidelines – Using Essential Oils Safely (dosage information and oils to avoid)
The Chemical Constituents of Essential Oils (the naturally occurring components present in essential oils)
Ingesting Essential Oils – The Big Debate (both sides of the story)
“Therapeutic Grade” Essential Oils – What Does it Mean? (a critical look at a much talked about marketing term)
Questionable Therapies – The Use of Undiluted Essential Oils on the Skin (the overuse of essential oils directly on the skin)
Certified Aromatherapist (what does it really mean to be an aromatherapist and who recognizes it)
The Essential Oil Medicine Cabinet (the top five essential oils to begin your aromatherapy journey and why)
Using Essential Oils to Scent the Home (ways to scent the home naturally – burners, diffusers, sprays, economical methods)
The Aromatherapy Bath (the most popular way to incorporate aromatherapy into your life)
Essential Oils and Pets (which pets benefit from / are harmed by essential oils)
Recipes (bath oil, antifungal, relaxing, romantic, massage oil, perfume, etc.)
Essential Oil Guide – Encyclopedia (a detailed look at the top 55 essential oils and their benefits)
Paperback: 152 pages
Publisher: White Willow Books; 1 edition (August 11, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0615858104
ISBN-13: 978-0615858104
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.4 x 8 inches
As an old fashioned soap maker, I read this book because, while not directly about soap making, it is certainly about one of the most important aspects of it — scent. So much of soap making and soap use is about sensory experience, and any serious soap maker will eventually become interested in aromatherapy because it plays a vital role in what we do. This book is a must have.
Perhaps the most useful section of this book to me is the essential oil guide — an encyclopedic section that alphabetically lists each essential oil and gives both its common and botanical names. Citing its place of origin, method of extraction, and perfumery note, this section alone makes this book a required part of any soap maker’s library. Already this has become a text that I refer back to each time down to make up a new recipe that includes essential oils. White’s conversational tone makes this section accessible and memorable: he explains each oil’s healing qualities and any precautions in using it as well as a brief, interesting summary of its history and lore.
White’s professional and educational background in aromatherapy gives him an insider’s knowledge into the industry which he shares. In reading this book, you’ll learn how to read the labels and often trademarked levels of “certification” that essential oil sellers use in order to market their products. This book helps its readers to become smarter consumers and, in turn, better crafts people. – Alison
This is an excellent book for someone wanting to learn all about essential oils, their history, how they are produced, how to make your own blends, and which oils do what. It was exactly what I was looking for! The best part I like is the last section where he lists 55 essential oils and all about them. The only way to make this a better book would be to expand that last section to include other oils. I have met Greg (and Roy) in person and they are very knowledgeable and helpful. For $3.99 for the Kindle version, its hard not to go wrong. The information I have learned from this book, is priceless, and now I hope to better my health though aromatherapy. So far, so good.
Oh, and Greg also teaches classes on aromatherapy too, so he just isn’t some sales person making a buck, he in truly invested in teaching his customers. – D. Pickert