Beauty and Health with Aromatherapy

5 Stress Tips Using Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy is the term used to describe the use of essential oils, extracted from plants, for therapeutic applications. Essential oils have long been known to have therapeutic properties that will stimulate the human body's natural defence and repair mechanisms and help prevent infection and disease.

The usefulness of aromatic oils, for healing and the promotion of well-being, has been well known for centuries. But the term 'Aromatherapy' was only adopted in the 1920s by French chemist Rene-Maurice Gattefosse who spent his life researching essential oils.

It was an accident in his perfume laboratory that prompted Msr. Gattefosse to embark upon his research. In the accident he thrust his burning arm into the nearest container of cold liquid, which happened to be a vat of lavender oil. He found that the oil not only soothed his painfully burned arm but appeared to speed the healing process.

In the Second World War a French physician, Jean Valnet, developed the use of essential oils in the treatment of war-wounded soldiers. He went on to write a popular publication on the healing and antiseptic properties of essential oils in his 1964 book entitled: Aromatherapie, traitement des maladies par les essences des plantes. It wasn't until 1977, when Robert Tisserand wrote The Art of Aromatherapy, that the practice of aromatherapy with massage began to achieve popularity in the UK.

Essential oils and aromatherapy are used as effective treatment for a wide range of medical conditions and symptoms. Scientific evidence is still inconclusive but many people have experienced definite benefits in the treatment for conditions including skin complaints, mood fluctuations, respiratory complaints, wounds, hair loss, menstrual complaints and more.

Today's demanding, ethical eco-consumers increasingly require that their toiletries, health and beauty products are carefully and considerately formulated using environmentally friendly ingredients. The plant and natural extracts used in essential oils are considered to be far more preferable to their synthetic equivalents and this has led to a growing interest in aromatherapy.

Aromas are enormously influential, affecting our moods, appetites, alertness, our ability to learn and even our libido. It's therefore not really surprising to learn that aromatherapy harnesses the power of scent and fragrance to heal and enhance the quality of our lives.

The health and beauty product industry is now full of aromatherapy products. One particular line that has won awards including the Natural Health and Beauty Awards 2008 comes from This Works. The founder, Kathy Phillips, formerly health and beauty director at Vogue magazine, decided to produce an aromatherapy range that would deliver exactly what it promises. Named 'This Works' because the product testers kept saying 'this works', the line is described as 'a survival kit for those suffering modern malaises'. Their product line is beautifully packaged, containing only the finest ingredients that have been expertly blended to create a range of effective aromatherapy products that work. Take a look at the Christmas Aromatherapy products available from This Works.