Aromatherapy in Skin Care

I found this article about aromatherapy and skin care on The Times of India. The article was published on July 24, 2010, and highlights how aromatherapy is used in skin care. Now while many of you may already use essential oils in your homemade creams, as do I, at the end of the article you will find some nice essential oil blending combinations for different skin types or skin problems.


Aromatherapy for a soft, supple skin


Skincare in aromatherapy is about the use of essential oils in different treatments for the skin. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the first step to having beautiful and healthy skin; aromatherapy skin care is the next. 

You will be amazed at how many different oils can help soothe aging, injured and dry skin. The appropriate aromatherapy skin care treatment can help reduce the fine lines from aging, besides curing bug bite or bee sting. 

There is more to aromatherapy than oil massages and perfumed candles. Very few know that aromatherapy skincare is another part of the holistic treatment that aromatherapy is all about. The oils used in aromatherapy skincare are absorbed into the skin and eventually into the bloodstream where they flow through the whole body, and have a lasting effect. 

Firstly, it is critical to recognise your skin and hair type. Each plant’s essential oils provide a number of different therapeutic benefits, so knowing about your skin and hair will help you match up your needs with the appropriate ingredients. 

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Jet-Lag, the annoying Travel Companion

The summer is in full swing and so is the travel season. If you ever have gone overseas, you probably know about the feeling of jet-lag. Your body has not quite yet adjusted to the new time of your destination. You feel tired during the day and are wide awake at night depending on the direction you traveled. To bring your body clock back into its normal rhythm, you can try aromatherapy with three great essential oils that help with the synchronization of your body's natural pattern.

Grapefruit Essential Oil has uplifting qualities and combats depression, stress, headaches, or tiredness. It helps your body and mind detoxify which also helps with adjusting to the new time setting. 

Bergamot Essential Oil is a natural anti-depressant. It's balancing properties make it a great travel companion. With its relaxing and calming benefits, it is great for insomnia.

Geranium Essential Oil is stimulating the lymphatic system. Stagnant energy is being transported out of the body which is great while traveling and after long flights. Its floral and rosy scent is uplifting and restores vitality to body and mind. 

Mix 10 drops of grapefruit, 8 drops of bergamot, and 5 drops of geranium into 5 ml of any carrier oil and fill into a roll-on vile. Use on your forehead, on the base of your neck, on your wrists, or on your feet. 

You can also diffuse the essential oils in a travel diffuser. 

☀ Wishing you happy travels ☀

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Treat Yourself to a Cup of Yogurt

A reader recently asked me if I know of any yogurt moisturizer. While I never used yogurt for any of my creams, I find yogurt makes a great moisturizing facial mask that is gentle enough to use 2 or 3 times per week. The zinc and lactic acid are good for breakouts, it closes pores, and exfoliates dead skin cells.
You can use plain yogurt (best is a full-fat or greek yogurt) and apply it all over your face and neck area before rinsing it off with lukewarm water. Be careful to leave the eye area out.
If you would like to make yourself a more fancy facial mask, you can mix the yogurt with
Cucumbers - moisturizing and astringent
Rosemary essential oil - anti-bacterial and soothing especially for oily skin
Honey - soothing
Oats - exfoliating
The nice part about this absolutely natural facial mask is that you can eat the left overs :)

The reason why I am not experimenting with yogurt, which contains live bacteria, in my creams is that I would have to add too many additives and preservatives for the cream not keep a few days. Athens Korres sells a moisturizing cream with yogurt. It has a ton of ingredients and sometimes one ingredient has to be used to stabilize another. Here is a breakdown of all their ingredients. I included the Hazard Score in ( ) taken from Skin Deep which is rated on a scale of 0 (low hazard) to 10 (high hazard):

Water, Yogurt
Butylene Glycol - humectant; used to retain moisture (Hazard Score: 1)
Steareth-2 - it is a stearic acid used to form an emulsion so that the cream does not separate
Isononyl Isononanoate - skin conditioning agent, emollient (Hazard Score: 0)
Macademia Nut Oil - skin conditioning agent - occlusive which means it slows down the loss of water from the skin (Hazard Score: 0)
Mannan - film former (Hazard Score: 1)
Olive Oil Unsaponifiables - skin conditioning agent - occlusive; emulsifying and cleansing agent
Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil - Sweet Almond Oil - skin conditioning agent - occlusive (Hazard Score: 0)
Steareth-21 - solubilizing agent (Hazard Score 1)
Triticum Vulgare - Wheat Germ Oil (Hazard Score: 1)
Xylitylglucoside - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Hydrogenated Polyisobutene - Polymer used to increase thickness (Hazard Score: 0)
Triethylhexanoin - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Butyrospermum Parkii - fancy name for Shea Butter (Hazard Score: 0)
Anhydroxylitol - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Amyl Cinnamal - it is the organic compound of Amylcinnamaldehyde and it is a fragrance ingredient. While it occurs naturally in plants, in cosmetics it usually is synthesized. The smell is something like jasmine (Hazard Score: 6)
Benzyl Alcohol - it has several functions: external analgesic, fragrance ingredient, preservative, and solvent (Hazard Score: 6)
Benzyl Salicylate - it is a fragrance ingredient that has a sweet floral aroma (Hazard Score: 6-8)
Cetearyl Alcohol - emulsion stabilizer (Hazard Score: 0-1)
Coumarin - fragrance ingredient with a sweet nutty scent (Hazard Score: 8)
Dehydroacetic Acid - preservative (Hazard Score: 1)
Hydroxycitronellal - fragrance ingredient with a sweet floral aroma (Hazard Score: 5-6)
Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde - fragrance ingredient (Hazard Score: 5-6)
Isoeugenol - fragrance ingredient with a scent like carnations (Hazard Score: 6)
Linalool - functions as fragrance ingredient with a floral smell (Hazard Score: 8)
Magnesium PCA - humectant (Hazard Score: 0)
Manganese PCA - humectant (Hazard Score: 5)
Panthenol - a plant derived form of vitamin B that is hydrating and penetrates into lower skin layers (Hazard Score: 2)
Fragrance - more fragrance that are now in such small amounts that they do not have to be listed
Sodium Dehydroacetate - preservative (Hazard Score: 2)
Sodium PCA - increases the water content of the top layers of the skin by drawing moisture from the surrounding air. (Hazard Score: 2)
Tocopheryl Acetate - Vitamin E which can be cancerous (Hazard Score: 4)
Xanthan Gum - thickener which I also use in creams (Hazard Score: 0)
Xylitol - humectant (Hazard Score: 1)
Zinc PCA - humectant (Hazard Score: 2)

Wow, that is a long list of ingredients and I am sure it is a wonderful cream. However, I would never use it. Even if the fragrance ingredients are in such small amounts, applied on a daily basis, these ingredients are all absorbed by our skin. Instead, why not use 100%, Pure Grade, Grade A Essential Oils?

Sending naturally beautiful wishes to all!

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