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I am a firm believer in oils! My children and I don't go to the doctor (of course we respect the medical community for its emergency care.) I have found that cheaper oils are not that effective. When I switched to a more reputable brand I had immediate results! Frankincense is my favorite oil, but I can't afford it on my budget. My sister lent me some. Hope you're enjoying your oils and learning a lot! Best wishes!
Cool, I will probably look into getting some sandalwood at some point.
As far as just relaxing at home, the frankincense/myrrh combo is fine, but if I have it on my skin it's just not the aroma I wanna be walking around in public with lol.
The first morning I added both to my skin care routine I was like 'ohhh Lord this stuff reeks!' Cause it was seriously all I could smell, all day long LOL.
Heh this is the kind of stuff you need to dilute when you apply it to your skin. Such as:
that 8-drop combo blend I suggested in a previous post, added to a 2-ounce bottle of jojoba oil. And then - add just a teaspoon of THAT to a 4 or 6-ounce container of unscented body lotion.
I have completely switched to using product infused with essential oils, only problem, I'm highly allergic to some, so I have to be very careful. I mostly use Lavender and found that this year I've had at least an 70% decrease in the number of insect bites. YAY! last year was a nightmare. The lavender scent I spray on my linens at night is soothing at but if I spray just a little much it bothers my sinuses. I may have to switch to a different brand of spritzer, this one has rosemarry in it, which might be part of the problem, I'm not sure.
I do know I can't burn incense or my skin starts to itch and I break out in hives, so precaution to those of you with allergies, make sure you do some skin testing even after diluting products plus be causious if you have any breathing problems such as ashma or suffer from siezures. If you don't know what you're mixing, you could find yourself in the emergency room.
The ehow site has some exellent reading materials on essential oils and such.
I have completely switched to using product infused with essential oils, only problem, I'm highly allergic to some, so I have to be very careful. I mostly use Lavender and found that this year I've had at least an 70% decrease in the number of insect bites. YAY! last year was a nightmare. The lavender scent I spray on my linens at night is soothing at but if I spray just a little much it bothers my sinuses. I may have to switch to a different brand of spritzer, this one has rosemarry in it, which might be part of the problem, I'm not sure.
I do know I can't burn incense or my skin starts to itch and I break out in hives, so precaution to those of you with allergies, make sure you do some skin testing even after diluting products plus be causious if you have any breathing problems such as ashma or suffer from siezures. If you don't know what you're mixing, you could find yourself in the emergency room.
The ehow site has some exellent reading materials on essential oils and such.
1. You say you're using a "lavender scent" to spritz on your linens. Lavender scent isn't lavender oil, nor is it lavender hydrosol (which would be the appropriate linen spritz; it's the run-off water from the distillation process). You're probably allergic or sensitive to the synthetic perfume used in that spritz. If you use lavender with no adverse effects in other things, then you aren't allergic to lavender. Same with rosemary - if you have no allergy to rosemary, then you aren't allergic to the essential oil of rosemary.
2. That e-how website you linked to is nothing more than a search engine result on "essential-oil." Some of it is useful information, most of it is unrelated advertising. Unfortunately, if you don't know much about aromatherapy, you won't know which of those links are useful and which aren't. And so - unfortunately, it's not a very good resource.
1. You say you're using a "lavender scent" to spritz on your linens. Lavender scent isn't lavender oil, nor is it lavender hydrosol (which would be the appropriate linen spritz; it's the run-off water from the distillation process). You're probably allergic or sensitive to the synthetic perfume used in that spritz. If you use lavender with no adverse effects in other things, then you aren't allergic to lavender. Same with rosemary - if you have no allergy to rosemary, then you aren't allergic to the essential oil of rosemary.
2. That e-how website you linked to is nothing more than a search engine result on "essential-oil." Some of it is useful information, most of it is unrelated advertising. Unfortunately, if you don't know much about aromatherapy, you won't know which of those links are useful and which aren't. And so - unfortunately, it's not a very good resource.
You could be right about the spritzer, I have to recheck the ingredients. I know since reading more about the oils before buying, I make sure to check any and all ingredients. Even so, people can and are sometimes allergic to these oils. I happen to be hyper sensitive to various natural plants, scents and such a. I don't always have skin reactions, but I do have respertory reactions to the lavender in the lotions if there's too much of the oil in it. I never said I don't have a reaction to rosemary, I said it could be the rosemary in the spritz.
We'll have to let those that use the links decide if they are useful for them at their level. ehow isn't the only place I've looked the information up. For me ehow is an excellent source of information for many things. take what I can use and skip over what's not useful to me. then again, maybe I gave the wrong link. That's possible, maybe I had a seizure from the oils. kidding.
AnonChick, you do seem to be very knowledgable about the subject of oils. I was wondering what you think of the following, also, do you purchase any of your oils online and where?.
eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices (http://www.ebay.com/itm/130443597511?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p398 4.m1423.l2649 - broken link)
it is a link for lavender oil, so ignore all the other stuff mentioned there. Are such sales to be steered clear of? just curious of your thoughts on the matter. I'm still learning.
I'm still trying to find places to buy oils. I do have a whole foods in the area, but they don't always have what I want. Some people mentioned sandlewood that's a scent I've loved since I was in my late teens.
I don't click on e-bay links, so I'm afraid I won't be able to answer your question.
I buy from a small company that does imports, wholesale, and distills some of their own stuff, and specializes in lavender from fields they own in Oregon. Their local lavender oil is nice, though I prefer a more medicinal lavender so I buy their imported stuff from France.
Here are some brands that would be of use to you:
For -general- use - Aura Cacia.
For more specific use (medical quality, certified wild-crafted, significantly more expensive) - Tisserand
if you're near NYC, you could check out Enfleurage on Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village, for small quantities of expensive, but rather exquisite oils, hydrosols, and synergies.
Mountain Rose Herbs has some nice distilled stuff. Their eucalyptus is reasonable as are their citrus oils. They also have bulgarian rose distilled oil on sale this month, which makes the $64 for a 1/8 ounce vial reasonable for retail.
For tea tree, I usually recommend Thursday Plantation; you can get that at any GNC or health food store, in the same aisle as you'd find either first aid products, or skin care products.
For sandalwood, you'd probably be best off just sticking with the Aura Cacia. It's a lower quality than the Indian but the Indian (Mysore) is a threatened species of tree these days and so when you can get it at all, it's prohibitively expensive. It's still real actual sandalwood, it's just from a different species of the same plant. Scent-wise, the difference would be very subtle. Chemically, it would be different, but not enough to cause any problems if you're not sensitive or allergic to the Mysore.
My knowledge is from the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy, which is where I received my education on the subject and my certification. I was also a member of NAHA for a couple of years (National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy) and studied organic chemistry in addition to the formal certification studies.
Thank you for the info, much appreciated. I do wish I had access to good old Bleeker St type areas, those days are long gone since I'm now in Florida. I pretty much will have to rely on the net or give GNC a try. It's a bit of a maze, at times trying to dicipher the quality of product and reliability of the companies selling the oils if you're a novice like myself.
I'm going to look into some of the brands you listed.
Aura Cacia is the most known "brand name" of commercial-quality essential oils in the country. You can find their stuff pretty much anywhere, including some major chain supermarkets in the "natural skin care" section of the soap/shampoo aisle.
They also have a line of dried herbs and spices under the brand name Frontier.
Aura Cacia is the most known "brand name" of commercial-quality essential oils in the country. You can find their stuff pretty much anywhere, including some major chain supermarkets in the "natural skin care" section of the soap/shampoo aisle.
They also have a line of dried herbs and spices under the brand name Frontier.
Great, just did an online search and found numerous products under that name. I don't think you know just how helpful you've been.
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take what I can use and skip over what's not useful to me. then again, maybe I gave the wrong link. That's possible, maybe I had a seizure from the oils. kidding.
