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[equitansy]

Tansy Crolla.

[equitansy]

1) What is an Essential Oil?

An 'Essential oil' is the colabartion of a liquid plant extract, which it totally organic but highly concentrated called the 'Essence' this is then mixed with a vegetable based Oil such as olive oil known at the 'Carrier' thus creating an 'Essential Oil.


2) Who was Gene Gattefosse and what did he do that was significant to modern aromatherapy?

Dr Gene-Maurice Gattefosse was a french cosmetic chemist who focused on the investigation of essential oils for their medicinal purposes and concentrated on their aromatic properties. after an incident in which he burnt his hand whilst working in one of the laboratories his family owned. He accidentally poured a liquid over his hand to soothe the burn, he noticed this liquid had healing properties and decided to investigate further. He later discovered that the liquid was lavender oil and that it possessed antiseptics which enabled the burn to heal quickly leaving no scar. This was revolutionary in the world of medicine as he also discovered that essential oils, when used correctly, had psychotherapy benefits. After his discovery Gene wrote an article on the healing properties of essential oils and was later accredited for coining the term 'Aromatherapy' in 1928. In 1937 wrote a book on essential oils and their uses called 'Gattefosse's Aromatherapy' or Aromathérapie: Les Huiles essentielles hormones végétales .

3) Write a short description of one method of extracting the essential oils from plant material.

Enfleurage and Maceration are two was of extracting using a solid odourless fat to extract the essence from plants. Both methods are equally as expensive to utilise but do use different techniques.
Enfleurage is where odourless fat is placed into a frame of glass, the fat is of animal or vegetable and is highly purified. Fresh petals are then pushed into the fat and encased there for a few days to allow the essence to disperse into the fatty compound the petals are then removed and replaced with fresh ones, this is repeated until all the fat is totally saturated with the essence.
Then the fat and the essence - also known as 'The Enfleurage Pomade' - is washed down with alcohol to separate the essence from the fat. The fat is then recycled and made into soap. Once the alcohol evaporates, the essential oil is left. This process is lengthy and isn't economical financially as a result is no longer the favoured method.

Maceration - The petals are soaked in hot oil to burst their cell membranes releasing the essence, which is then soaked up by the hot oil. The oil is then cleared of the essence.
It is the same process as solvent extraction, where solvents are used instead of hot oil, this would not work for extracting essence as the alcohol would seriously damage the balance it.

4) What factors would you take into consideration when choosing what supplier to buy essential oils from?

The process they use to extract the essence.
Where the plants are grown.
Whether they are grown naturally or aided with fertiliser.
Whether the oil is pure or part-based.
Fair Trade issues.
Adulteration or synthetics.
Whether the plant is pure, IE Norfolk Lavender
Whether the oil is from the right plant, for the right use.
Price - as indicator of quality.

[Dragonmaster]

Hi Tansy. This isn't bad so I don't know what you were worried about.
I just wondered where you got gene-maurice Gattefosse from, in my books he is Rene. The story is the same. The trouble with 'tinternet is that there is so much on there that sometimes the info you get isn't quite right.
In your answer to question 4 I would take out the line referring to Norfolk Lavender as the next line down really says the same thing - whether it is the correct variety of the plant, and Norfolk lavender do use the right sort, it's just the British weather that means the oil is not therapeutic quality. Also, I know what you mean by 'pure or part based' but it would be more correct to say 'pure or blended'.

[equitansy]

Thank you!! All noted!!

Do you recommened any reliable websites that are of reliable info??

Thanks x

P.S....I got Gene because I'm a retard and and wrote it down as 'Gene' instead of 'Rene' when writing my notes.

[equitansy]

Essential Oil sentence......

A highly concentrated plant extract called essence which is extremely volatile and potent!

[Dragonmaster]

That's more like what I had in mind. Well done.