Review: Information for Beginners and Advanced Users of Essential Oils
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 10, 2013
"Aromatherapy and Essential Oils" is a great book for beginners and advanced users of essential oils. There are plenty of cautions for new users and plenty of new ideas for advanced users. I learned so much from reading this book and I've read quite a few books on essential oils. There were also many essential oils I'd never heard of before so that made the book especially interesting.There is a good discussion on why you may not want to ingest essential oils. I felt this was a good warning. You would never want to ingest eucalyptus oil but it is great on your chest if you have a cold. Also there are lots of warning about using oils on your skin. You should always dilute the oils to be safe and never use cinnamon oil in a bath. I learned my lesson after the first time! This book says peppermint oil is toxic but I've seen it used in pills for digestive complaints and you can drink peppermint tea. But I'd rather you listened to the advice about not ingesting essential oils to be on the safe side. Not that I've died yet from ingesting peppermint tea.While reading this book I had a few drops of lavender, chamomile, neroli and sandalwood heating in an oil burner. You put the oils in water and it is all heated by a small candle. I was therefore interested to learn that sandalwood increases melatonin in the brain. I knew chamomile was calming. So this is a good selection of oils to burn before bedtime. Just don't fall asleep with the candle burning!!!In this book you will find recipes for hair loss treatments, wrinkle treatments (although I'd not put any essential oils near the eyes as the oils tend to migrate into the eyes), joint and bone pain and many others. The only issue I had with all the recipes is there are no instructions for how to proceed. There are also ideas for making a carpet freshener with baking soda but no specific oils are given. There is a whole section on ideas for using essential oils which would have been much better had they suggested oils to use in specific applications.The end of the book concludes with an essential oil glossary which is organized alphabetically. This is helpful.Overall I give this book four stars as it gave me lots of new ideas. I think to make this a five-star book some improvements are needed as discussed in this review.If you fall in love with essential oils like I have you may also want to look for lush dot com online to buy products infused with the most delicious combination of essential oils imaginable. You just have to try them to believe it.~The Rebecca Review