Essential oils are omnipresent. They are a common ingredient in cosmetics, are used as a remedy against certain little ailments, and also allow you to purify the air of your interior through atomizers. Nevertheless, essential oils also are the object of vehement disagreements. Some people cannot stop praising their beneficial properties, while others systematically avoid them because of their alleged toxicity. Originally, essential oils are perfectly natural. And for this very reason, they are often simply presented as utterly inoffensive. However, it has to be said that essential oils are products that can contain a very high concentration of certain substances, and consequently they have to be carefully dosed and used with moderation. But the question is not as simple as that. Because apart from the natural variants, there are lots of essential oils in circulation of a less reliable origin, like for example synthetic essential oils, or natural essential oils that have been diluted with undesirable or even nocive components...
Now, where does the truth lie? Essential oils are they healthy or harmful? It often is very difficult to buy essential oils with full knowledge of the facts, in order to make a reasonable and beneficial use of them. It is for this reason that we suggest you, through this series of blogs, to approach the question in a structured and concrete way. In this first episode, we will go back to the very essence of the issue, by succintly explaining how essential oils are made. In the following episodes, we will continue this quest by summarizing how and why you can use essential oils, and by explaining how you can, while shopping, distinguish natural essential oils from their less reliable variants.
Accrochez-vous bien, le trajet s’annonce mouvementé !
Essentielles ? Comment ça ?
Essential oils are called "essential" because they form an "essence", in the meaning of "extract" - so, for the sake of clarity, they are not called "essential" because of their allegedly indispensable character, even if some commercials would like to make you believe the contrary. "Essence” in the sense of extract, thus, because the essential oils can, depending on the precise plant that is used, be extracted from its most odorous vegetal parts (the roots, the seeds, the flowers, the bark...). The largest amount of essential oil of santalwood and iris, for example, is extracted from the roots of the respective plants, while the essential oil of clove can only be obtained thanks to the flower of the plant. However, in most cases the extraction is realized through steam distillation. In certain cases other extraction methods are possible or preferable, like for example the dry distillation (through the simple heating of a plant, a technique that is particularly often used for certain wood types), or like the cold pressing (mainly used for citrus fruits).
And what more precisely regards the steam distillation, the most common way of extraction, this technique goes as follows:
The appropriate parts of the plant are exposed to the steam, and hereby the volatile components (that means, the components that readily vaporize at a relatively low temperature) of the plant get dissolved into the steam.
Once the steam cooled down, and again became liquid with the volatile components in it, the steam water can easily be separated from the obtained vegetal extracts thanks to their respective difference in polarity, and as essential oil doesn't dissolve in water, as can logically be expected from an oil. Nevertheless, for the more meticulous readers amongst you: unlike oils in the strict sense of the word, essential oils don't contain any fats as they are exclusively composed of the vaporizable vegetal elements mentionned above.
The natural products that are commercialized under the designation "essential oils" are, by definition, not diluted, and consequently they are so-called "pure" products. However, in truth their composition sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.. We will come back to this precise point in another episode for your own safety. 😉 Because of their non water-soluble character, non-diluted essential oils cannot be diluted with water, as both don't mix together. For this reason, in case of internal usage of an essential oil, it is rather recommended to ingest the oil with some honey, sugar or a neutral tablet, and in case of external usage (on the body) the essential oil should be diluted in a neutral cream or in a basic oil. However, as the exact instructions for use can vary a lot depending on the specific essential oil, we will come back more in detail on this question later.
Et les hydrolats alors?
Another little fact to finish: the components of the plant that have been vaporized and that are water-soluble are gathered in the so-called hydrolate, also known as floral water or herbal distillate (a very common example, in this respect, is rose water). Because when, after the process of distillation, the steam has cooled down and again became liquid, there are some aromatic molecules left that can not (easily) be separated from the water, and together these form the hydrolate. Thus hydrolates are, in some way, the by-product of essential oils, but compared to them the hydrolates are far less powerful because of their different composition. For this reason hydrolates are mainly used for their fragrance and also, but in a lesser extent, for their lightly antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. In any case, it's not about the hydrolates that you have to worry!
Well then, that's all for now. In the next episode we will try to guide you safely through the inextricable jungle of the "pro" and "contra's" of essential oils. Stay safe!
Antonin