Introduction to Essential and Base oils

                   Essential oils are highly volatile concentrated aromatic extracted from flowers, fruits (peels), grasses, leaves, seeds, roots or hard-wood of a plant through distillation, expression or solvent extraction.

Distilled aromatic plant oils are considered pure essential oils and are extracted. Large vats are filled with plants material which is steamed at a high pressure. The steam and essential oil vapor is then cooled, condensed to liquid and collected. Expression is another method of extraction. Most citrus oils are simply cold-pressed (squeezed). Lemon, orange, grapefruit, mandarin, tangerine and bergamot are the oils obtained this way.

Flowers or delicate-smelling plant materials are solvent extracted. This is an expensive and time consuming process in which solvents such benzene, butane, alcohol and waxes are used. Tonners of flowers are macerated (infused) in the solvent till they become saturated with the fragrance (of the plant material). Then they are centrifuged to separate the oil and wax from the solvent. The product of this process is called a ‘concrete’. This concrete is then mixed with alcohol which is then distilled in a vacuum at low pressure to obtain an ‘absolute’ e.g... Rose absolute, jasmine absolute etc…

Macerated or infused oils are also used in aromatherapy, and are considered as carrier or base oils. This method of greeting essential oils is an ancient and very fruitful way. A vegetable base oils has a plant material added, and is heated or left in the sun for the few days till the plant material turns brown and has no freshness left. Then, fresh plant material is again introduced, till the essential constituents are absorbed by the vegetable and the smell is strong enough. Ashwagandha, Lotus, Calendula, Hibiscus, Carrot, St John’s worth, Lime blossom, Melissa, Mullein flower are a few infused oils. When using them in blend, We use 10% to 30% of an infused oil with another carrier oil, and the mixture is further blended with essential oils or used by itself.

Essential oils are made of synthetic aromatic chemicals to get the fragrance of a particular plant material. These are called reconstitutes oils (RCOs) and are manufactured for use in modern perfumeries and cosmetics. The reconstituted oils have little or no therapeutic values and never used by an aroma therapist, many synthetic essential oils are considered toxic and do more damage to the skin then good. It is very important to buy essential oils from a reputed supplier for quality to be assured.

Vegetable oils and base oils are also known as carrier oils or fixed oils and are used for dilution in aromatherapy. Base oils are obtained through cold-pressed crushing to express the oil. These oils have rich color and a characteristic aroma and high content of vitamins and minerals. Fixed oils are a compound of glycerol and fatty acid. Unlike essential oils, Vegetable oils are greasy and do not evaporate and leave behind an oily stain on cloth or paper. Refined vegetable oils have complicated process of extraction that involves heat. The color is bleached; natural color and odor are removed, causing destruction to the vitamin and enzyme contents in the oil. The use of only cold-pressed carrier oils in aromatherapy is therefore recommended.

Base oils are of two types: Light oil, which is easily absorbed by the skin and which contain a major proportion of a massage oil mix, heavy oils, which are difficult to be absorbed by the skin and are blended with light carrier oil to the tune of 10% to 30% due to their thick texture of cost. Lastly, we also use macerated or infused oils as carrier oils, as mentioned earlier. But the choice of the base oil, or blend  of base oils to be used, in a matter of personal preference or therapeutic needs.