They should be stored in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and should be kept in amber, or any dark-colored, bottles with tight lid. This prevents oxidation as well as contamination from taking place thus, preventing oil deterioration. These oils should not be stored in plastic bottles or be capped with rubber lids as pure essential oils can dissolve plastic. Just like any other type of oil, they are affected, or degraded, by extreme temperatures. Keep in mind also that essential oils are highly flammable so it is a good idea to store them away from other materials that could easily catch fire as well as from children.
Citrus oils should not be kept more than 6 months. They have a tendency to go rancid over time. Patchouli oils and sandalwood, on the other hand, get better as time passes by. Once your essential oils have become cloudy, the consistency has thickened or they started giving off a rancid smell, you have to dispose it.
Essential Oils are highly concentrated hydrophobic liquids containing organic aroma compounds. Because of their nature, care should be taken when handling them.
Essential Oils should not be ingested and its contact with your eyes should be avoided. It should also not be applied directly to the skin as this could cause irritation. The best way to apply them to your skin is with the use of carrier oils such as jojoba, sweet almond, grape seed or olive oil. If transferring or handling essential oils, make use of latex gloves and disposable glass pipettes. It is advisable to have different pipettes for each essential oil. Make sure that you wash your hands thoroughly after you have handled your essential oils.
Part 2 is coming soon!
For one, essential oils are not really oils but natural mixtures of organic compounds found in herbs and plants. They are extracted from the petals of the flower, leaves, stems, roots, rind of the fruit, seeds, or even the wood of trees using distillation or expression (squeezing). Fragrance oils, on the other hand, are synthetic and man-made, which are engineered by chemists to yield an attractive scent “inspired” by essential oils.
Unlike essential oils, fragrance oils are not used to nurture one’s well being, although the fragrant smell can give a feeling of satisfaction for smelling good and even let you take a second sniff on that dashing guy or that sassy girl passing by. Essential oils produce specific pharmacological effects through skin absorption and inhalation, which is the very foundation of Aromatherapy practice, a widely used form of natural alternative medicine; fragrance oils are used to scent a wide array of commercial products with the only objective of improving the smell of the product and as such, are oftentimes called “perfume oils.” And while both can cause allergies to some extent to someone, fragrance oils can trigger allergies to people more than essential oils since the former have different chemicals as their component.
Just when you thought humanity is increasingly leaning on the advent of technology and scientific discoveries when it comes to health and wellness advancement, the return to centuries-old medicinal practices to improve one’s physical well-being comes. Meet the noticeable popularity of essential oils and their therapeutic effects on our wellness. From soaps to lotions to foot scrubs and hair moisturizers, the use of these ethereal oils have been widely accepted by a vast majority.
And with the wide selection of products today claiming to have the therapeutic effects of essential oils, we wonder how can we be so sure the consumer products we buy in the market are really “natural” and not “synthetically scented”? How will we know when that body lotion we love buying at those posh boutiques, for example, really contains essential oils and not artificially produced fragrance oils?
Answers to come in part two…