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Aromatherapy - From Plant to the Bottle
by Jan Kusmirek
Aromatherapy comes in many forms, schools and ideas. The term itself covers a
diverse market place of materials, goods and products, and may encompass
anything from shampoos to essential oils. Whilst great work is being done by
various organizations, such as the Aromatherapy Organizations Council which is
the central body for UK aromatherapy organizations, as well as practitioner
organizations like the International Federation of Aromatherapists and the
Register of Qualified aromatherapists, there are nevertheless diverse opinions
as to what constitutes good and bad courses, schools, essential oils etc.
In talking to students I have often found that one of the errors they make in
considering the subject is to become too oriented to products in the early
stages of their training. By this I mean that they often start with the contents
of the ubiquitous brown bottle as a reference point for the understanding of an
essential oil. I do not think aromatherapists are alone in this narrow view as
it is very easy to slip into considering the welter of advertising and pressure
to buy brought to bear not only upon the consumer but also upon the student and
practitioner.
If one looks at aromatherapy as a specialized branch of herbalism then at least
more emphasis would be placed upon the source of the materials used. This is
less likely to be the case if an aromatherapist is specializing in skin care or
working within the confines of the beauty industry where brand and image play a
greater role. The one thing that all these diverse practitioners may have in
common is the desire to use natural products.
Of course, one has to be very careful with that much abused term (natural
products). Unless one is using fresh plant material, perhaps in food supply, one
cannot really say that a substance is natural without context or further
definition. Loosely speaking it is a fair bet to say that most aromatherapists
view their materials as natural. One must, however, accept that the intervention
of man is going to take away this naturalness to a greater or lesser degree
according to the process that the material goes through.
One can look at this anomaly from several angles. First of all we have the plant
growing in the ground and perhaps least consideration is given to this than any
other part of the supply chain. I would go so far as to say the majority of
therapists begin with the bottle and in the rush of everyday life they rarely
stop to think about the origins of the material in that bottle. Was it a good
plant in the first place, was it grown well, was it a product of standard
agriculture, organic agriculture, wild plant and so on. One could go further and
ask whether the plant was a species from a cultivated variety or clone. Once one
begins to think about the plant itself then we have moved to a much simpler
market place or idea. This is akin to buying vegetables in any retail outlet. On
offer would be different grades and varieties, in the EU of course in
standardized form but elsewhere more diverse. For example, there could be old
fruit, damaged fruit, half ripe fruit etc.
Hopefully within the supply lines of vegetable oils, essential oils and herbs
the processor has already taken this into consideration. This cannot, however,
always be the case. A part of the industrial processing of any raw material, be
it for therapy or food, is to maximize use, minimize wastage, maximize profit.
Within aromatherapy two principal materials are considered necessary – vegetable
oils and essential oils. Not all the start material is of good quality, this may
sometimes be reflected in the eventual price. Vegetable oils in particular are
subject to a variety of processes which give rise to qualities that can be found
described as highly refined to extra virgin cold pressed. Essential oils which
are less obviously categorized may simply seem to be, at least from the point of
view of the buyer, from cheap and cheerful or for the connoisseur.
A vegetable oil, which is the basic carrier, used in aromatherapy in its
simplest terms is pressed from an oil bearing seed, such as Sunflower or Olive,
and nuts such as Walnut. Until this century cultures worldwide have used simple
and effective extraction methods. This fresh pressed oil was considered a
perishable product and used relatively quickly.
In this century the industrial revolution has got to grips with food process
technology. This has come about by the need to move the products from one part
of the world to another and to store in shops for lengthy periods. The ideal is
to produce a food, in this case an oil, that will not age or go bad.
The aim of the chemical refining process is to remove substances and nutrients
that would otherwise affect the efficacy and use of the original oil. At the
same time as removing many healthy substances the refining method itself can
produce so called toxins such as trans fatty acids and free radicals. This
should be of interest to those aromatherapists who work in skin care where often
cosmetic products claim to be using anti free radical scavengers etc. So why add
them back by using the wrong material?
It would seem anomalous then to use a highly refined inert oil or to use
something rancid. This, however, can often be the case simply due to price.
Cheapness plays an unfortunate role sometimes in the selection of the carrier
oil. Some materials yield oil readily and quickly, for example Olive, others
require more technical processing, heat in particular, such as Grapeseed which
then requires highly refining. Some of the oils available may not be of food
grade and, as referred to above in discussing plants, would not be suitable for
use – for example old material or insect riddled material.
Essential oils themselves are subject to a variety of processes. The majority of
practitioners I am acquainted with would describe themselves as holistic.
Presumably they would like to work with more natural materials than some who
would adopt a straight biochemical approach to treatment. This is not so easy.
As referred to above not everything that is "natural" is truly that. I often say
you have to work as near to nature as is possible, that remark being qualified
not only by the application you have in mind but also the purpose for which the
material was produced.
There is a view that natural or synthetic makes no difference at the molecular
level; they may be either organized naturally or by man.
Adopting a purely biochemical approach one can see essential oils simply as
chemicals. These chemicals may be so complex that man cannot reproduce them by
synthesis but they are nonetheless chemicals. An holistic approach would add to
this by referring to vitality or life force which goes beyond the biochemical
approach. One thing for sure is that nature cannot produce anti natural
molecules and natural products are biodegradable. Synthetic products are not
always biodegradable and that makes a lot of difference when it comes to
eliminating them.
Natural complex chemical structures may cure a disease – Taxol extracted from
Yew or to prevent premature aging Ginko Biloba. Even if these are natural
complex chemical structures they can be analyzed to give data on
reproducibility, concentration and identification. Whilst this must be good, one
should allow that the analysis has its limitations and it should not begin to
dictate an average standard as an optimal quality.
Essential oils can be compared to wine, there are good years and bad years, good
growers and bad growers, poor manufacturers and better manufacturers and so on.
No-one would really think of using a biochemical analysis to ascertain the
quality of the vine, nevertheless I hear that whisky distillation, a product
that shares some similarity with essential oils is to be standardized by
analysis.
Essential oils yield themselves from the plant by bruising, i.e. rubbing the
plant, or by volatizing under heat and other given circumstances. The oils are
held in sacs and other methods in the plant which require specific and careful
process handling.
The end purpose of the essential oil can often be taken into consideration by
the processor – is the material destined for the perfume or flavors industry, if
so then consistency which would then require careful chemical manipulation is
the objective of the exercise. The end product, be it a sweet or a burger,
should smell or taste like it did on the previous occasion. The perfume on the
counter must be entirely replicable.
Nature is, of course, bio-diverse and is not too happy in replicating things
season by season, so one can see the need for the process industry to
"interfere" or rectify that natural material. On the other hand the holistic
aromatherapist may not be interested in the replicability or reproducibility,
being satisfied with a material as near to nature as is possible but in the
first instance having clearly established that it came from a plant. This latter
oil is likely to be more expensive than the refined or rectified material.
However, the therapist should keep in mind the purpose of the material. If for
example, the object is just to create a pretty smell of
Lavender essential oil using a burner then it is not the most sensible thing
to use a clinical or connoisseur material which would be reserved for more
important applications.
A good example of the manipulation of essential oils can be seen with
Ylang Ylang essential oil.
Ylang Ylang essential oil is generally sold in a number of grades – extra,
first, second and third. Extra is the most expensive and chemically can be
judged by its ester content. This, however, can be easily manipulated.
Basically the grades are arrived at by fractionating the distillation process.
The "extra" is derived from the oil being taken at a given time, say two hours
after the start; Nos 1, 2 and 3 following suit.
The aroma of
Ylang Ylang "extra" is very powerful and is difficult to reproduce
artificially. It is frequently adulterated not only with Nos. 1, 2 and 3 but
with other chemical components such as Vanillin and Methyl Benzoate. There is no
apparent definition for Ylang 1 and 2 and they are generally used in cutting
other grades. Ylang 3 is interesting because it is cheap and has a good tenacity
and is usually used in soap perfumery but is also frequently adulterated not
only with chemicals but also other materials such as Amyris,
Cedarwood and so on.
There is another type of Ylang Ylang called "complete" which should be the
result of an uninterrupted water and steam distillation of Ylang Ylang flowers.
In reality complete may simply mean a mixture of the other varieties of Ylang
Ylang.
From an aromatherapy point of view one can perhaps see the benefit of the extra
and complete oils but would one really find the other grades acceptable? This
would be an individual judgment based upon the purpose and even perhaps the
definition of aromatherapy. Is one treating a person or making soap? The one
thing which should not be the determining factor between the use of the grades
in aromatherapy is price alone.
Other considerations with Ylang behind the scene would have been the type of
flowers used, only the true yellow flowers give the desired result.
Indiscriminate picking of immature blooms is not uncommon. Distillation should
have been immediate to avoid fermentation and off notes. There is a difference
between material distilled into hot water rather than heating from cold. The
length of distillation is important, perhaps 20 hours or more. All this again
will vary upon the type of still and process.
Essential oil production can still be very individual and as one sees from the
example above open to the same interpretations and parameters as the wine
referred to earlier.
From the therapist's point of view one thing should be quite clear; that there
are substantial differences between essential oils, one supplier and another.
There are many essential oils for sale and clearly not all of them are offered
with aromatherapy in mind. It often takes experience and a long search to settle
upon a regular supplier who is seeking to market products for holistic
aromatherapy. There are penalties to be paid when one finds one, it could be
price or variation in chemical analysis but as I have said above that depends
upon the stance and position of the therapist as to whether they wish to be near
to nature or whether to be standard or biochemical in their approach. Equally
the end use would need to be considered for bodywork or perfuming.