Natural Oils - how they're made/what's in them

[Guest guest]

I " borrowed " this from a suppliers' webpage for our info...

Natural oils are made from essential oils and aromatic herbs, blossoms,

leaves, spices, woods and resins. The Natural Oils are fine, multi-purposed

100% natural fragrances- no synthetic fragrances or fillers added. When a

carrier base is required, soybean is used.

Some essential oils are extremely expensive as is the case with Jasmine

and Rose. These essential oils sell for hundreds of dollars per

ounce. In order to bring a high quality oil to you at an affordable

price, herbal oils are combined to approximate a particular

fragrance. In the case of Rose and Jasmine a solution

of 8% absolute is added to the batch.

The Natural Oils are cosmetic grade and can be used in lotions, bath

salts, diffusers, incense etc. Generally the Natural Oils are used

in toiletries in the same amounts as Essential Oils and Fragrance

Oils. The oils are not food grade and are for external use only.

How are the Natural Oils different from Essential Oils? Essential oils are

made from botanical essences extracted by one of two ways,

steam distillation or by a cold-press. Natural Oils are made from

botanicals as well, they include essential oils as well as absolutes.

Absolutes are botanical essences extracted from plants with the use of

solvents which are then removed leaving the plant oils behind.

The process is similar to adding wine to a dish when cooking. The

boiling point of the alcohol is less than that of the grape oils so you

are left with the essence and taste of the wine without the alcohol.

Some Aromatherapists believe there are trace elements of the

solvents left in the absolutes that change the chemical make-up of the

oils. Since the Natural Oils are not pure essential oils, no

aromatherapeutic benefits can

be claimed.

As with eo's/fo's/herbs/citric acid/preservatives you have to have trust in

your suppliers claims you are getting what you paid for, unadulterated. I

think before we sell our private label stuff, pretty much everything we

resale could be independently tested for a number of things- integrity of

supplier ingredients is one. For home use, and craft fairs or hobbyists-

it's harder to do.

hth

Tamara Zyganiuk

www.spellboundbotanicals.com

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