Aromatherapy Basics

Many essential oils are irritants to the skin and should not be handled in their raw form. Too much handling of raw oils has been found to cause liver damage.

In order to avoid problems with them, they are often mixed in a carrier oil. This dilutes them and therefore lowers the risk of skin irritation.

The carrier oil needs to be one which does not have any effect on the essential oil or have any perfume or effects itself. Common oils used as carriers are grapeseed, olive and almond.

Many people buy raw essential oils and dilute them mixing various oils to make their preferred perfumes. However, it is easy to buy various mixtures to save yourself the bother.

You can then use them in various ways. You can buy or make a massage oil which you can use on the skin. Certain essential oils have been found to have healing properties and some have been found to help eczema and other skin conditions so these would be good to use for this purpose.

For skin conditions it may also be worthwhile putting some essential oils in bathwater. This could help with skin healing but also the heat of the water will vapourise some of the oil meaning that you will benefit form inhaling the aroma as well.

Another common use if to use an oil burner which consists of a candle with a small tray above it and the essential oil is put in the tray and the heat of the candle will cause the oil to vapourise, often candles containing essential oils are sold to make this process easier.