Aromatherapy — Scent With Purpose

You Have A Choice to Make Your Room How You Want.

How Do You Want to Feel in This Room?

Most homes are already filled with scent long before anyone opens a bottle of essential oil. Shampoo, laundry products, hand soap, candles, cleaning products, plug-ins, perfume, fabric softener, room sprays, and personal-care products all contribute something to the aromatic environment we live in every day, yet because scent has become so closely associated with making a house smell pleasant, it is easy to forget that aromatherapy offers us something quite different. It gives us the opportunity to choose aromatic materials from plants which means a more natural product for your home, and then to choose the oils with intention, if we understand what we are bringing into our environment and use scent according to what we want from a particular part of our day, the positive directions we can go can be endless.

That begins with understanding the difference between an essential oil and a fragrance oil, because although the two may sometimes smell similar, they are not interchangeable. An essential oil is a concentrated collection of volatile aromatic compounds produced by a plant and obtained through methods such as distillation or, with many citrus fruits, expression of the peel. Within one bottle, there may be dozens or even hundreds of naturally occurring constituents working together to create the aroma and character of that oil, these constituents speak the same language as your brain & body and can bring a benefit. A fragrance oil is created primarily to produce a scent and may contain synthetic aromatic materials, naturally derived aromatic materials, or combinations of both. A fragrance can smell remarkably like Lavender, Rose, or Lemon, or it can reproduce a scent such as fresh linen, ocean air or baked goods that does not come from one essential-oil-producing plant at all, these kinds of chemicals are harder for the body to release once they are in the body.

That difference changes the question we ask when we scent our homes. With fragrance, the main question tends to be, “Do I like this smell?” With aromatherapy, we have another question available to us:

How do I want to feel while I am in this room?

That question can completely change the way we use essential oils.

The Same Room Does Not Need the Same Aroma All Day

Think about your kitchen first thing in the morning. For many households, morning does not begin with everyone bounding out of bed delighted to greet another day. People wake up tired, stiff, preoccupied with what needs to happen next, thinking about work, school, traffic, appointments, bills, responsibilities and everything that did not get finished yesterday. Some people stay home long enough for breakfast and coffee, while others are dressed and out the door before the house has really had time to wake up.

Aroma can become part of changing that atmosphere.

Coffee itself is a powerful morning aroma for many people because it is associated with warmth, familiarity and the beginning of the day. Add Orange, with its bright citrus character, and a very small amount of Cinnamon, and the kitchen takes on an entirely different personality. The aroma becomes warm, lively, and inviting, with the coffee providing familiarity, Orange bringing brightness, and Cinnamon contributing warmth and stimulation.

The nice thing about putting on a diffuser blend is that you do not have to stop what you are doing and devote twenty minutes to an aromatherapy practice in order to use essential oils this way. Once the diffuser is running, you can make breakfast, shower, pack lunches, get dressed or carry on with the morning while your ordinary breathing takes care of the rest.

That may be one of the most useful things about home aromatherapy. It can become part of life rather than another task added to it.

The bedroom at night asks for something very different. After a day filled with noise, screens, conversations, responsibilities, driving, problem-solving, and physical activity, most people cannot expect the mind and body to move instantly from full speed into deep relaxation because the clock says it is bedtime. Creating a different aromatic environment can become one of the cues that the pace of the day is changing.

Lavender, Roman Chamomile, Frankincense, and Tangerine can work beautifully in an evening blend because their aromas move us in a very different direction from Peppermint, Lemon, or Eucalyptus. The goal is not to overpower the room or make the air smell heavily perfumed. We are creating an aromatic backdrop that feels softer and less stimulating, one that can accompany reading, bathing, preparing for bed, or settling the household for the evening.

For someone carrying emotional tension, physical tension often comes along with it. Shoulders rise, jaws tighten, breathing becomes shallow, and the body may continue holding the pace of the day even after the activity itself has stopped. Aromatherapy gives us one more tool for creating an environment that encourages us to move out of that pattern.

Your Nose Does Not Need More and More

There is an important piece of aromatherapy that even experienced essential-oil users sometimes forget: when you stop noticing the aroma in the room, it does not necessarily mean that the essential oil has disappeared.

Our sense of smell adapts.

When an aroma remains present for a period of time, the brain begins paying less attention to it, which is why you may walk into someone else's home and immediately notice a scent they no longer recognize at all. The same thing can happen with a diffuser. After ten or fifteen minutes, you may notice the blend much less strongly, and the temptation is to add another five drops, then another five, until the room contains far more essential oil than was ever necessary.

More essential oil does not make better aromatherapy.

Essential oils are highly concentrated materials, and thoughtful use means paying attention to amount, room size, ventilation, the particular oils chosen, and how long we are using them. For most home diffusion, intermittent use makes far more sense than filling the air continuously for hours. Diffuse for a period, allow the room to rest, then return to it later if you want the aroma again. Many modern diffusers already have intermittent settings that make this very easy.

This also allows us to notice the aroma again when it returns rather than constantly increasing the amount because our sense of smell has adapted to it.

Sharing Aromatherapy With the Animals in Our Homes

For a while, essential oils and pets became an area filled with fear, and many people were left believing that if there was a cat or dog in the house, aromatherapy had to disappear completely. The reality requires more thought than that.

In a home with healthy dogs and cats, low-level intermittent diffusion can generally be approached sensibly by using modest amounts, keeping some air movement through the room, placing the diffuser away from the animal's face, food, and sleeping area, and making sure the animal is always free to leave the space. An open door is particularly valuable because it gives the animal choice. Some dogs and cats will happily remain in a room containing a particular aroma, while another animal may get up and leave. Their preferences deserve as much attention as ours do.

Stronger spice oils require more caution because they are very potent aromatic materials, and that includes oils such as Cinnamon. More is certainly not better when working with these oils, particularly when animals, small children or scent-sensitive people share the room.

Health conditions also matter. Animals now live with many of the same kinds of ongoing health concerns we see in people, including diabetes, seizure disorders, respiratory problems, cardiovascular conditions, liver and kidney issues, and they may be taking medications regularly. When an essential oil would be inappropriate or contraindicated for a particular condition, we take that into consideration for the animal as well rather than assuming that every oil is suitable because it is being diffused.

Birds require a different approach because their respiratory systems are particularly sensitive to airborne substances, and we do not recommend diffusing essential oils around them. With reptiles, very small mammals, and animals living in enclosed habitats, greater caution is also appropriate because their exposure can be difficult to control and they may not be able to move away from the aromatic environment when they have had enough.

Respecting the animal, the space, and the amount being used allows aromatherapy to remain part of many households without turning it into something frightening.

Your Essential Oils May Already Be Sitting in a Cupboard

For those who are newer to aromatherapy, building a collection can feel like opening the door to an entirely new subject. For those who have studied with us over the years, there may be another challenge altogether: you already know the oils, you already own them, and somewhere along the way you stopped reaching for them as often as you once did.

That is worth thinking about.

You may have Lavender that has been part of your aromatherapy cupboard for fifteen years. There may be Frankincense, Peppermint, Lemon, or Roman Chamomile sitting nearby. You may know exactly what each one smells like, and some of you may have been lucky enough to have taken our courses that went far deeper into their chemistry and uses than anything we could cover in one Wellness Letter, yet those bottles can still end up sitting untouched while a commercial candle or room spray becomes the easier thing to grab. Wouldn't it be a wonderful idea to use the oils instead?

A small collection of essential oils can become a home apothecary, because the same bottles can move with us through many different parts of daily life. One combination can help create a brighter morning environment, another can accompany concentration and work, another can change the feel of an evening, and another can become part of a personal aromatic blend, room spray, massage oil, bath product, lotion or shampoo when it is formulated appropriately.

That versatility is one of the most remarkable things about essential oils.

A commercial fragrance is usually a finished product. You buy the scent somebody else created.

An essential oil is an ingredient.

That means you can change your mind.

You can add more Orange and less Lavender. You can decide you dislike Peppermint in your bedroom but love it in your workspace. You can use Frankincense with citrus one day and with Rose the next. You can create something completely different for winter than you used during the summer.

There is a great deal of freedom in knowing how to make those decisions for yourself.

Ten Familiar Oils Can Take You a Long Way

Lavender, Lemon, Roman Chamomile, Orange, Tea Tree, Peppermint, Rose, Eucalyptus, Grapefruit and Frankincense are oils many aromatherapy households already know well, and together they cover a surprisingly broad aromatic range.

Lavender, Roman Chamomile and Rose bring softer floral qualities. Lemon, Orange and Grapefruit give us three different citrus personalities. Tea Tree, Peppermint and Eucalyptus take us into fresher, sharper and more herbaceous territory, while Frankincense gives us a warmer resinous note that can completely change the character of a blend.

You may already have many of these sitting in your cupboard.

Pull them out.

Smell them again.

Try combinations you have not made for years.

Sometimes an oil we once loved has fallen out of our routine, and rediscovering it reminds us why it earned a place in the cupboard to begin with.

For someone who does not already have a collection like this, these are the oils we chose for our 10 Essential Oil Starter Kit because they create that broad aromatic palette without giving someone ten bottles that all do the same thing. The kit is not required to practise aromatherapy; it is just one way of putting a useful collection together for someone who is starting without one.

The Bottle That Does Not Smell Like Anything

There is one additional bottle in our Starter Kit that is not an essential oil at all, and it may be one of the most useful lessons in the entire collection.

That bottle is Dispersant/Solubilizer.

Essential oils and water do not naturally mix. If you put drops of essential oil into water and shake the bottle, it may look temporarily mixed, but given time, the oils separate again, and concentrated droplets can remain floating through the mixture.

When we are making appropriate water-based aromatic products, including room sprays, the essential oil is first incorporated into a suitable dispersant or solubilizer according to the formulation being used, and the water is added afterward.

Once you understand that principle, another part of home aromatherapy opens up.

Maybe you do not want a diffuser running in a particular room. A properly formulated room spray gives you another option.

Maybe you want an aromatic spray that can be used occasionally rather than continuously.

Maybe you want to create something seasonal, change the aroma from one room to another, or make a small aromatic gift.

Understanding how ingredients behave gives you choices.

Aromatherapy Does Not Have to Stop at the Diffuser

Once essential oils become ingredients rather than bottles we occasionally smell, it becomes easier to see why they have been at the heart of Casaroma for more than thirty years.

With appropriate bases, dilution and formulation, essential oils can become part of shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, lotions, carrier-oil blends, personal scenters, bath preparations, room sprays and many other products used around the home and body.

This is one of the reasons our product range has grown so large over the years. Many products begin with the same basic question we started this article with:

How do I want to feel, and what do I want from this product or space?

From there, we choose the base, choose the essential oils, determine the appropriate amount, and create something suited to that purpose.

That gives us an alternative to accepting whatever fragrance happened to be formulated, packaged, and placed on a store shelf. We can decide that we do not want Ocean Breeze, Fresh Linen or somebody else's idea of what relaxation smells like. We can create our own.

Knowing how to do that puts choice back into our hands.

Two Blends to Try This Week

Evening Blend

Try this when the day is winding down, and you want the aromatic environment to become softer and less stimulating.

2 drops Lavender

1 drop Roman Chamomile

1 drop Frankincense

1 drop Tangerine

Use fewer drops in a smaller room or if you prefer a lighter aroma, and allow the diffuser to run intermittently rather than continuously through the night.

Morning Kitchen Blend

For a very different atmosphere in the morning:

2 drops Orange

3 drop Coffee

1 drop Cinnamon

Coffee gives the blend warmth and familiarity, Orange brings brightness, and Cinnamon adds a small amount of warm spice. Cinnamon is a strong oil, so one drop is plenty, and in households with pets, very young children, or sensitive individuals, Coffee and Orange alone may be the better place to begin.

These recipes are starting points rather than rules. Change the proportions, leave something out, replace an oil you dislike, or create something entirely different from the oils you already own.

That is part of learning aromatherapy.

Open the Cupboard Before You Buy Something New

Before buying another scented product for your home this week, take a look at the essential oils you already have.

Choose two or three.

Smell them individually before you blend them.

Think about the room where you are going to use them and ask yourself:

How do I want to feel while I am in this room?

Maybe you want the kitchen to feel brighter in the morning. Maybe you want your workspace to feel clearer. Maybe you want the bedroom to become the place where the pace of the day begins to drop away.

Your home is already affecting how you feel.

Aromatherapy gives you one more way to take part in creating that environment rather than leaving it entirely to chance.

And sometimes all it takes is remembering to open the bottle.