Aromatherapy

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Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a “branch” of herbal medicine that centers on using fragrant
substances, particularly oily plant extracts, to alter mood or improve individuals’
health or appearance. The alleged benefits of aromatherapy range from stress
relief to enhancement of immunity and the unlocking of “emotions from past
experiences.” But skeptics cite a lack of credible supportive studies published in
reputable scientific or medical journals.
Scents of Well-Being?
“Aromatherapy” is a buzzword used by the cosmetics, fragrance, and
alternative-medicine industries. Although the method has ancient roots,
proponents did not call it “aromatherapy” before the 1930s. This expression
derives from the French word aromatherapie, coined by Rene Maurice
Gattefosse, a chemist whose book of the same name was published in 1928.
After a lab explosion Gattefosse conveniently plunged his badly burned hand into
a vat of lavender oil. He noticed how well it healed, and thus began the
development of modern aromatherapy, which French homeopaths Dr. and Mme.
Maury revived in the 1960s.
Proponents of aromatherapy maintain that the tools of the trade--wood-resin
distillates and flower, leaf, stalk, root, grass, and fruit extracts--contain
antibiotics, antiseptics, hormones, and vitamins. Some proponents have
characterized essential oils--i.e., oils that are volatile, aromatic, and
flammable--as the soul or spirit of plants. Indeed, one of the aromatherapy’s
premises is that essential oils have a “spiritual dimension” and can restore
“balance” and “harmony” to one’s body and to one’s life. One of its principles,
the “doctrine of signatures,” holds that a plant’s visible and olfactory
characteristics reveal its “secret” qualities. For example, because the
configuration of the violet suggests shyness, proponents hold that the scent of
violets engenders calmness and modesty.
Aromatherapy en-compasses topical applications of essential oils, bathing in
water to which essential oils have been added, sniffing essential oils, and even
ingesting them. Products marketed under the “aromatherapy” umbrella are
legion, including shaving gels, aftershaves, facial cleansers, bath salts, bath
soaps, shower gels, shampoos, hair conditioners, “body masks,” moisturizers,
sunscreen preparations, lipsticks, deodorants, candles, lamps, diffusers, pottery,
massage oils, massage devices, and jewelry.
“the most common aromatherapy field is aesthetic, the sense of well-being
derived from en...

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