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Essential oils (EOs)—especially organic varieties—help you cut straight to the source of your favorite scent—botanicals—without the health- and eco-unfriendly synthetic additives. What's more, essential oils have aromatherapeutic qualities that just may help cure what ails you.

How to mix essential oils

1. Getting started. Crafting your own fragrance from essential oils requires few accessories aside from the EOs themselves—just a few small glass containers, an eyedropper or disposable pipettes, and a carrier oil. Carrier oils are mandatory since you need to avoid direct contact between the skin and highly potent EOs. Recommended carrier oils include jojoba oil, vitamin E oil, and aloe vera juice. Some opt to dilute with alcohol, in which case vodka, or any other high-proof grain alcohol will do. Extra green points if you stock organic vodka in your liquor cabinet.

1. Mix and match. While many choose to go with a singular scent, why not experiment a bit with various scents and see what kind of sweet-smelling fragrance you can come up with? Try to determine the fragrance "notes" (what scents you smell first, second, and last) of a favorite bottled designer perfume and see if you can come close. Sites like AromaWeb, Essential Oil Recipes, and Esoteric Oils offer several EO-blend recipes, tips, and other helpful information for those getting started. Also check out The Essential Oils Book by Collen K. Dodt and Mandy Aftel's Essence and Alchemy.

1. Bottle it. Many find it hard to part with their favorite bottle after the perfume is gone or expired. Instead of trashing it, turn that old bottle into a new home for your EO creation. Or, if you're a vintage hound, check out Aunt Judy's Attic or eBay for an extra special bottle.

1. Don't limit yourself to perfume. Essential oils can also be used to produce your own shampoos, pest repellents, cleaners, home fragrances, and lotions. Looking to green your medicine cabinet? Essential oils are believed to have unique aromatherapeutic healing properties—lavender, for example, is an antiseptic and may be useful in treating depression, acne, arthritis, insomnia, and other conditions. Of course, if you're suffering from a serious condition, don't just slather chamomile on the wound or inhale tea tree oil...seek out medical help. For more information, check out these 50 suggestions on how to get the most out of those tiny vials.

Find it! Organic essential oils

These online purveyors offer organic essential oils and other EO necessities, like carrier oils.

Before you buy

While on the hunt for essential oils, you may stumble across fragrance oils. While these two types of compounds are similar in some aspects, there are important differences. Fragrance oils are usually less expensive than essential oils, don't boast therapeutic properties, and contain synthetic ingredients. Candles, for example, are primarily made from fragrance oils. And although there are plenty of organic, eco-friendly EOs on the market, be aware that some with a "natural" label may still contain chemical solvents.

Wearing essential oils helps you go green because...

• They are derived from (often organically sourced) plants, allowing you to wear a scent that was created by nature, not by synthetic chemicals in a laboratory.
• They are free of the petrochemicals found in most designer perfumes and colognes—95 percent of the chemicals found in fragrances are petroleum-based.[1]
• They are the key player in aromatherapy, a form of natural healing.
• Many companies that produce natural colognes follow sustainable business practices.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, over 5,000 fragrances are used in conventional perfumes, colognes, and personal care products, resulting in hundreds of potential dangerous toxic combinations.[2] For one thing, many of them contain various petrochemicals, like benzyl acetate, ethyl acetate, and benzaldehyde. Petroleum is an unsustainable resource and its refinement and transport are the source of various environmental ills.

Essential oils are natural substances extracted from the leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and fruits of specific plants via steam distillation, pressing, and supercritical CO₂ extraction. They're most often associated with their antibacterial and antiseptic properties when used in complementary medicine, but can also be used as a day-to-day fragrance. Given that they are botanical-based and contain few or no man-made additives (or animal products), essential oils are an eco-friendly alternative to mass-market synthetic perfumes and colognes.

Related health issues

An estimated 5.72 million Americans have skin allergies to fragrances, while about 72 percent of those suffering from asthma claim their condition can be triggered by breathing them in.[3] By wearing essentials oils instead of traditional perfumes and colognes you can avoid toxins—many of them found in tobacco smoke—that lead to cancer, birth defects, central nervous system disorders, migraines, and sinus problems.

Aromatherapy

Followers of aromatherapy believe essential oils heal by entering the bloodstream through the skin or by stimulating the brain directly and can conquer afflictions ranging from herpes to shingles to depression. However, these beliefs aren't backed by sturdy scientific evidence.[4]

Essential oils are an accepted method of supportive care, though, to alleviate cancer symptoms and cancer treatment side effects. Clinical studies have found a connection between aromatherapy and essential oils and decreased levels of stress, anxiety, nausea, and pain experienced by cancer patients.[5]

Allergies

While often used to avoid allergies caused by synthetic perfumes and colognes, essential oils can also trigger them. Additionally, essential oils should not be used—or used with care—if you're pregnant, have epilepsy, high blood pressure, or liver and kidney disease. Wormwood and sassafras oils are considered toxic and should be avoided in general. See the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy for more information on essential oil use during pregnancy.

Other Drawbacks

Because it can take hundreds of pounds of plant matter to produce an ounce of essential oil, one down side is the potential over-harvesting of plants. Case in point: it takes over 1,000 pounds of jasmine to produce one pound of pricey jasmine essential oil.[6] Additionally, many essential oils sold in the US are produced overseas—traveling far and making many stops before reaching you. The fuel consumption and carbon emissions associated with this long journey also diminishes essential oil's eco-friendliness.

External links

• TreeHugger - Organic Essential Oils: TH Interviews an Expert
• Care2 - Green Living: Purity Test for Essential Oils
• Planet Green - Apply Essential Oils Safely
• New York Times - Synthetic No. 5
• Simply Essential Oils Blog
• Essential Oils University
• Suite 101 - Lavender's Healing Properties
• The Body Worker - Essential Oils vs. Fragrance Oils
• Pioneer Thinking - Fragrance Oils Vs. Essential Oils: A Never Ending Debate
• The University of Minnesota - Taking Charge of Your Health: Aromatherapy: Are Essential Oils Safe?
• wiseGEEK.com - What are Essential Oils?
• nature-helps.com - Therapeutic properties of the essential oils
• Medical News Today - Chemical Sensitivities and Perfume
• The University of Minnesota - Taking Charge of Your Health: Aromatherapy: Are Essential Oils Safe?
• A2Z of Health, Beauty and Fitness - Aromatherapy Essential Oil Safety: Which Oils to Avoid and When