Aromatherapy NEWBIE lots of questions = need help please :)

Aromatherapy NEWBIE lots of questions = need help please :)

by Rose
(Hixson, TN, Hamilton)

OK LOVE this site! I've never really considered aromatherapy before; I happened on this site searching for conditioner recipes, and I'm in love with just about everything. I'm seriously considering making some of these things for both my mom and myself.

Here's the catch: we are both actually very sensitive to smells. Perfume makes my mom sneeze. I can't even walk by the Yankee Candle Store in the mall without getting a migraine.

I have been under the impression that a) aromatherapy is fairly strong, b) essential oils will not cause as many problems since they're not synthetic. So here are my questions:

#1 Is there a way to somehow replace a good portion of the oils with another carrier oil so that the lotions etc. are only mildly scented? My hope is that we can get the benefits of the healing properties of the oils without the negative side effects that way.

#2 Are there any suggestions for ways to lighten some of the more pungent scents with sweet? I tend to have less problems with scents that have sweet vanilla like tones but love flowery and spicy scents.

#3 I currently keep a reed diffuser in my powder room so that it smells pretty for guests and just mostly stay out of there. I would LOVE to be able to replace those synthetic toxic scents with EOs. Any suggestions on how to do that??

#4 since I have almost no experience with EOs I want to be able to smell them before I spend a lot of money on buying something that I may not like. Can anyone suggest a type of search maybe that I can find someone in my area who would allow me to do that?

Thanks so much in advance for any help you all may be able to provide, now that I've revealed the full extent of my ignorance :)

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Aromatherapy NEWBIE lots of questions = need help please :)

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Aromatherapy Questions Answered
by: Kyley

Hi Rose,

Glad you like the site, I'm sure you'll love the recipes once you get making stuff!

1. You can simply reduce the number of essential oils in ANY recipe to reduce the strength of the scent. You don't need to increase any of hte other ingredients, just reduce the number of drops. For example, if a recipe calls for 10 drops of essential oil, use 5.

2. Making scents more flowery is no problem. Just use the basic recipe and change your essential oils (using the recommended number of drops or less) to whatever scents suit your fancy. Check out the how to mix essential oils page (link below) for some blending ideas.

http://www.easy-aromatherapy-recipes.com/mixing-your-own-aromatherapy-oils.html

3. For your reed diffuser, check the link below for complete directions on how to make essential oil reed diffusers.

http://www.easy-aromatherapy-recipes.com/aromatherapy-reed-diffusers.html

4. I would suggest going to your local health food store to test out what eo's smell like before you buy. Most health food stores have a little rack of essential oils that you can sniff to get an idea of what you like.

I'm betting that you'll find that essential oils don't give you and your mom the same reaction you get to perfumes or scented candles, which almost always have synthetic fragrances in them - that's what you're reacting to - the toxic chemicals they emit. Essential oils are completely natural - directly from plant material, and so 9 times out of 10 don't cause the same reaction as synthetic crap.

That said, some people with extreme sensitivities can't even cope with eo's. In which case, you can make any of these recipes without any essential oils at all and still get the benefits of all natural products.

Thanks for asking, Rose, and good luck! Come back with any other questions or comments and we'll try to help out.

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