Aromatic
There are many uses for essential oils but they can be summarized in three ways: Aromatic, Topical, and Internal.
I’ll discuss Aromatic use in this article, and Topical and Internal in two subsequent posts.
The easiest, safest, least expensive way to use essential oils is to open up a bottle and smell it. Deeply inhale the essential oil and you have some aromatic effect. This is just as effective in many situations as placing it in a diffuser or putting it on skin. Even a diluted essential oil has an aromatic benefit for mood or health.
Aromatic use often involves placing a drop of essential oil into a diffusing device, or placing a bottle in a nebulizing diffuser. Diffusers come in all shapes and sizes and price points, and some have a pad that absorbs a drop or two of essential oil and then disperses them through electricity, just interaction with the air, or even through the power of a USB port of a computer. Some use an unglazed clay pendant on a necklace as a personal diffuser, or a drop onto a fabric or leather bracelet so they can inhale as needed. The diffuser I use most often is a cool mist diffuser that runs on electricity. Tap water is placed in a reservoir and a few drops of essential oil are added. Electricity runs the motor on the diffuser and small particles of water with microscopic drops of essential oil disperse through a room. Diffusers can run from 1-8 hours depending on the type and quality.
Nebulizing diffusers simply particulate the oil- undiluted- into the air. This means nebulizing diffusers are very strong and not appropriate for small spaces. This would be more appropriate for a larger area like a yoga studio, meeting room, or gym. This would not be a good choice for the average sized bedroom or kitchen. A nebulizing diffuser will obviously burn through a bottle of oil much more rapidly than a cool mist diffuser.
A very simple, basic diffuser would be a cotton ball. One drop of essential oil on that cotton, placed inside a small jar or a zip baggie and open to smell as needed. A cotton ball with a drop of oil can be placed in the vent of a vehicle on a long drive. If you have some stomach discomfort or just an overall unpleasant experience with the motion of a car like I do (especially if I’m riding in the backseat), a drop of ginger EO on a cotton ball in the vent can soothe the stomach. I also pick up the bottle and huff it when I feel that familiar tension in my head and twinge in my stomach. I keep a little sample bottle of ginger close when I fly as well, for that bumpy turbulence-induced flip flopping of my stomach.
As with all uses of essential oils, know their sourcing. Read the labels and check the website of your chosen brand(s) for further use information and instruction. Essential oils should be pure and unadulterated. Know your oils. There are a small number of oils that are contraindicated for inhalation by small children, and that information should be available from the company and information should be printed on the bottle.
For information on the brand of essential oils that my family uses, and that Holistic Essentials has chosen, email me at Lynn@holisticessentialshealth.com