Aromatherapy is the term used to describe the use of essential oils, extracted from plants, for therapeutic applications. Essential oils have long been known to have therapeutic properties that will stimulate the human body’s natural defence and repair mechanisms and help prevent infection and disease.
The usefulness of aromatic oils, for healing and the promotion of well-being, has been well known for centuries. But the term ‘Aromatherapy’ was only adopted in the 1920s by French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse who spent his life researching essential oils.
It was an accident in his perfume laboratory that prompted Msr. Gattefosse to embark upon his research. In the accident he thrust his burning arm into the nearest container of cold liquid, which happened to be a vat of lavender oil. He found that the oil not only soothed his painfully burned arm but appeared to speed the healing process.
In the Second World War a French physician, Jean Valnet, developed the use of essential oils in the treatment of wounded soldiers. He wrote a very well known book detailing the healing and antiseptic properties of essential oils entitled: Aromatherapie, traitement des maladies par les essences des plantes. It wasn’t until 1977, when Robert Tisserand wrote The Art of Aromatherapy, that aromatherapy with massage began to become popular in the UK. It has since been used in many a spa treatment across the world
Essential oils and aromatherapy are used as effective treatment for a wide range of medical conditions and symptoms. Scientific evidence is still uncertain but many people have experienced the benefits in the treatment for conditions including skin complaints, mood fluctuations, respiratory complaints, wounds, hair loss, menstrual complaints and more.
Today, demanding, ethical consumers increasingly require that their toiletries and beauty products are made from environmentally friendly ingredients. The plant and natural extracts used in essential oils are considered to be far more preferable to their synthetic equivalents and this has led to a growing interest in aromatherapy toiletries and beauty products.
Aromas greatly influence our moods, our alertness, our ability to learn, our appetites and libido. It’s therefore not really surprising to learn that aromatherapy harnesses the power of scent and fragrance to heal and enhance the quality of our lives.
The health and beauty product industry is now full of aromatherapy products. One particular massage line that has won awards including the Natural Health and Beauty Awards 2009 comes from ‘This Works’. The founder, Kathy Phillips, formerly health and beauty director at Vogue, wanted to create a sophisticated aromatherapy range that would deliver what it promises. Named ‘This Works’ because that was the consistent response of the product testers the line is described as ‘a survival kit for those suffering modern malaises’. Their product line contains only high quality ingredients that have been expertly blended to create a range of aromatherapy products that simply work.