tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20430406331916476962008-07-29T13:55:03.724-07:00Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-87872164446972538472008-07-29T13:34:00.000-07:002008-07-29T13:55:03.799-07:00

In this final installment on the essentials of essential oils, we look at 10 commonly used essential oils. Using the facts from parts 1 and 2 on distillation, quality and chemical constituents, we explore why these essential oils do what they do, what the different variants are (if any) and briefly discuss the concept of "safe." 1. Lavender One of the first and most prevalent essential oils,

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-85563821966198570132008-04-21T15:30:00.000-07:002008-04-21T15:49:54.067-07:00

What are essential oils made of? If you look at a bottle of shampoo, you may see among the ingredients listed: essential oil of Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) or essential oil of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). Essential oils are some of the basic ingredients of many products: shampoo, toothpaste, liqueurs, perfumes, and foods. Each essential oil, however, is a product itself, composed

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-80915561408918180932008-03-03T10:56:00.000-08:002008-03-03T11:00:55.755-08:00

Just as with the topic of safety, LavenderNotes will revisit other basics of aromatherapy. Over the next few entries, we will look at the essentials of essential oils: how they are made, what they are made of, and why they work. Getting the essentials: Methods of extraction There are 4 basic ways to get an essential oil: steam distillation, cold expeller pressing, chemical extraction, and

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-3431130678500496732008-01-15T11:20:00.000-08:002008-01-15T11:52:54.020-08:00

"Helichrysum italicum subsp. microphyllum (Asteraceae)", Giancarlo Dessi, GNU Free Documentation License Immortelle (aka Helichrysum Angustifolium) At $100 per ounce, you'd think helichrysum's essential oil really does make you immortal! While no essential oil can perform that trick, helichrysum does seem to turn back time: healing wounds, vanishing bruises, and disappearing scars. If you

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-22633291872863326712008-01-03T15:51:00.000-08:002008-01-07T09:40:08.478-08:00

Winter is known as cold and flu season. Some of you have written to me about the flu, although the symptoms I am hearing most appear to be the cold and not the flu. It is hard to tell the difference sometimes. We will be looking at the cold, which is generally characterized by a stuffed up (or constantly running) nose, swelling of the sinus tissue, sore or raspy throat, and oftentimes the

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-6647464868356898212007-12-28T08:46:00.000-08:002007-12-28T08:47:50.041-08:00

The Lavender Notes aromatherapy blog will be back the second week of 2008. Many new things are planned for the new year, including a store! So, enjoy a healthy holiday season and come visit us in January.

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-69667297966684787692007-11-29T11:17:00.000-08:002008-01-07T09:47:28.901-08:00

Photograph by Liisa Shunn Sweet Fennel If you've been to an Indian restaurant, you might have noticed what looked like a bowl of caraway seeds where a bowl of peppermints would normally be. Those are fennel seeds, and they do what a peppermint wheel does, only better -- freshen your breath. Fennel, as a plant, is odd to Americans: its bulbs resemble a fat celery stalk, but its flavor is

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-15934305320454686582007-11-21T14:52:00.000-08:002008-01-07T09:42:14.958-08:00

With Halloween behind us and Thanksgiving upon us, we are firmly entrenched in the season of overindulgence. Whether you eat too much, drink too much, or just do too much, the holiday joy can really feel joyless. Let me offer a few solutions to help get you through to next year. "I ate too much" Thanksgiving feasts, Christmas dinners, Hannukah latke parties, and the non-stop snacking can take

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-57099988673754881262007-11-14T16:52:00.000-08:002007-11-14T17:06:31.334-08:00

Safety is an issue Lavender Notes will revisit many times I am sure. Essential oils are, quite simply, unregulated, plant-based pharmaceuticals. As such, people are given the freedom to treat their own health issues (or seek the assistance of someone other than their physician), but with freedom always comes danger. In the case of essential oils, the danger can come with misuse, misinformation

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-6359823789901110662007-11-12T11:43:00.000-08:002008-01-07T09:43:56.159-08:00

Vaginal yeast infections are commonly caused by a variety of the candida fungus, candida albicans. The remaining 10% are caused by a different species of candida. Two common ways of treating vaginal candidiasis are over-the-counter azole-based creams and boric acid suppositories. The first works on c. albicans, and the latter works on other varieties. Why do yeast infections occur?

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-76922149479646062362007-10-31T21:37:00.000-07:002008-01-07T09:44:43.044-08:00

With the exception of the lips, palms and bottoms of the feet, our body is covered in hair. Each hair grows through a hair duct, and each duct is attached to a sebaceous gland that secretes sebum, which lubricates the hair and skin. While sebum is beneficial in terms of preventing dryness, too much of it causes oily skin and can lead to acne. During adolescence, times of stress (physical or

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-2345494801670183822007-10-25T10:05:00.000-07:002007-10-27T08:11:30.665-07:00

The writer of this blog was lucky enough to attend one day of the three-day conference held by Alliance of International Aromatherapists in Denver, Colorado. I am going to devote this blog entry to highlights of that day. The first day featured Tim Blakley's discussion on sourcing (I understand this was a particularly lively slideshow of all his travels) and Jackie Farnell talking about

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-84270475811760581422007-10-17T13:32:00.000-07:002008-01-07T09:46:09.681-08:00

Australian Tea Tree Let's begin the series of essential oil monographs with Tea Tree oil, one of the most pervasive essential oils in the consumer marketplace. One of the first products to carry Tea Tree oil was Paul Mitchell's Tea Tree Shampoo back in the 1980s. Tea Tree was incorporated into the shampoo to soothe an itchy scalp, help control dandruff and clean up an oily scalp also. Since

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2043040633191647696.post-82870020191038546252007-10-10T21:20:00.001-07:002007-10-10T21:20:45.303-07:00

Welcome to Lavender Notes, a weekly blog about clinical aromatherapy and essential oils. As this is the first post, I will start at the beginning. What exactly are essential oils? Essential oils are simply aromatic plant extracts. They are highly concentrated (the typical illustration of this is Rose Essential Oil, which requires 2,000 petals to make one drop), they are not water soluble, and

Liisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05689488378881905111noreply@blogger.com