Essential Oils
​
Essential oils are liquid extracts of various potentially beneficial plants. Manufacturing processes can extract the useful compounds from these plants.
​
Essential oils often have a much stronger smell than the plants they come from and contain higher levels of active ingredients. This is due to the amount of plant matter required to make essential oils.
​
There are different ways that manufacturers extract the essential oils, including:
-
Steam or water distillation. This process passes water or hot steam through the plants, pulling the essential compounds away from the plant matter.
-
Cold pressing. This process works by mechanically pressing or squeezing plant matter to cause it to release essential juices or oils. A simple example of this would be smelling the fresh scent of lemon after squeezing or zesting a lemon peel.
After extracting the active compounds from the plant matter, some manufacturers may add them to a carrier oil to get more product from the same amount of essential oil. These products would no longer be pure essential oils but a mixture.
​​
​
​Some of the popular essential oils include:
-
Pine
-
Cinnamon
-
Ginger
-
Clove
-
Peppermint
-
Sage
-
Eucalyptus
-
Tea Tree
-
Lemongrass
-
Citronella
-
Jasmine
-
Lemon
-
Orange
-
Bergamot
-
Tangerine
-
​Lavender
​
​
​​
Do ensure to buy only REAL essential oils, and not scented oils.
​
​
​