Essential Oils

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Essential oils are liquid extracts of various potentially beneficial plants. Manufacturing processes can extract the useful compounds from these plants.

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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.

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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.

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​Some of the popular essential oils include:

• Pine

• Cinnamon

• Ginger

• Clove

• Peppermint

• Sage

• Eucalyptus

• Tea Tree

• Lemongrass

• Citronella

• Jasmine

• Lemon

• Orange

• Bergamot

• Tangerine

• ​Lavender

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Do ensure to buy only REAL essential oils, and not scented oils.

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