Aromatherapy
Aromatherapy is a kind of healing by using oil or extract from plants, it is also a kind of herbal treatment. Parts of plants used are such as flowers, leaves, bark, stems, rots, seeds, etc. Aroma from the oil essences is believed to help relaxing, both physically and mentally. In fact, the aroma can also help to repel insects or bugs.
Essential oils take a lot of time, experts, and plants to produce, that makes them relatively expensive. Each oil essence is associated with certain benefit. In the process, however, one essential oil can be mixed with the others to create different aroma. This will not affect the benefits.
Though it has just been popular in last decades, aromatherapy has actually been used since over 6,000 years ago. The Egyptians, and later many major civilizations, used it a lot for treatment and burial. It is the term “aromatherapy” that is new, which was created in 1930 by Rene Maurice G., a chemist from France. The first popular oil essence was lavender, which was used to treat injured soldiers during World War II. It is still among the most popular essences until now.
Types of Aromatherapy
Well, if you go to the market, there are some types of aromatherapy in practice:
1. Massage. Aromatherapy can be applied through massage, where the essential oils are put directly on your skin. The oil can help to kill germs and bacteria, improve immune system, reduce depression, and calm nerves and tension. The last two are the relaxing and rejuvenation effect of aromatherapy massage to you body.
2. Cosmetic. The oil essences are put in cosmetic products to promote healthy skin. This is just like what we usually hear on ads. The products that contain aromatherapy to sell are such as: shampoo, soap, bath oil, body salt, body lotion, etc. They are also advertised in household cleaning product, face powder, moisturizer, body cologne, and so on.
3. Olfactory. The oil essences are used through olfactory system. The inhalation will make the chemicals in our body to react and lead to relaxation and rejuvenation.
Other popular oil essences are Ylang Ylang, Rose, Sandalwood, Rosemary, Peppermint, and Jasmine. Each has different effect to your body and mind, so you can choose as what you need.
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