Aromatherapy

[Volcano South]

I received an email from NewDirectionsAromatics....

Essential oils can't be put in airplanes apparently.... They gave me an ETA of4-6 months, via Canadian Post.
FUCK THAT.

I won't be able to order any (from anyone) because of where I live (no roads) without having to wait for it to travel from wherever it is, via ground, up the Alaskan highway in a van, across the border to Anchorage, on a barge, through SE AK, to my town.... man, this blows, hard.

DAMN!

 

[Honey Bear]

Hey everyone, keep us posted on specific oils and how they smell and make you feel!
I just bought three different types of incense, and am excited to try crumbling them up and diffusing them when I get back to my SSV in a couple of days. I will definitely let you all know how that goes.
vtac- Yes, lavender is definitely more of an herbal scent than a classically floral scent. This shows in perfumery--lavender, while it can be unisex, plays a prominent role in many fragrances marketed towards men, whereas more classically floral scents, such as jasmine, tuberose, etc., generally only play prominent roles in fragrances marketed towards women. Lavender is of course very beautiful though, and you will see if you try different lavenders that they can have quite a range, from cool and crisp to warm and sweet. Always very soothing though, good for the end of the day.
Spiral, that is a bummer about shipping, but surely there are stores you could make your way to that sell essential oils, or stores in Alaska that would have an easier time shipping to you? Any health food store will have them--though probably not as cheap as the websites we are talking about.
The SSV website recommends placing wax in the aromatherapy dish and then putting the essential oils on that, because apparently the wax slowly absorbs the oils and does a better job than water of diffusing the scent--anyone tried this?
And lastly, I see that no one has tried vetiver essential oil yet! This is a favorite of mine, it is strong, earthy, and cerebrally grounding. A high quality sandalwood oil can also be incredibly calming and meditative.

 

[SpiralArchitect]

I'm heading downtown later today to the 2 places that might have them.... the nepal shop and the organic food store.

And again, these can't be shipped via air (according to this company) because they are volatile liquids. No roads here, so my options are very limited. *crosses fingers*

 

[vtac]

That sucks, Spiral. Probably makes no difference, but were you ordering from the Canadian or US site?

I'm still a huge noob with all this, but feel I'm starting to appreciate the complexity of the scents a little more if that makes any sense. My initial attempts at blending were positive but I'm trying to get a feel for the scents on their own.

I'd like to try some more floral scents like the ones Tom mentioned (jasmine, gardenia, honeysuckle etc.), but it seems like they're very expensive, for example $46 for 5ml of jasmine grandiflorum absolute. Understandable considering "it requires over 30 Roses to produce 1 drop of Rose Absolute". The cheaper alternative, it seems, are 3% dilutions in golden jojoba oil. Do you have any opinions on these, greenganja?

I'm basically going by what's on the NDA site, the other sites mentioned earlier seem to offer 'fragrance oils' which, if I understand correctly are "created through chemical analysis and reproduction" rather than natural oils extract from the plant. My 'knee jerk reaction' is all natural is always best, but I do like the PD violet blossom oil (I'm making the ignorant assumption that it's a fragrance oil from thescentwizard), so strictly aroma wise perhaps the difference isn't that great?

My room must smell like the 60s by now. I am trying to avoid that patchouli smell though.

 

[max]

Have you looked at Mountain Rose Herbs vtac? I know they ship over the border. I looked at their price on jasmine-50% more for less $.

 

[Purple-Days]

Pammy just got some new scents, jasmine was one of them and she said it was expensive, so I'm not sure if it was the'natural' or not... These were in a different bottle than the others she has had.

Jasmine is a great scent, we have a pink jasmine growing in our little flower garden.

And I would recommend honeysuckle very much. Maybe it's cause we used to suck the nectar out of honeysuckle as kids playing in the woods. (Hey we didn't have Nintendo) The scent takes me back to about 8 years old.

"trying to avoid that patchouli smell though"

Oh, and she got Mimosa, Iris and another Orange blossom.

Iris is very much like the violet blossom, which i thought was interestubg. We got to visit the Tulsa Rose garden when we lived there and one of the side exhibits was a fence-row of Iris. Each clump a different color and fragrance. Yep different Iris have different smells. So clumping some 'fragrances' such as Iris or Orchid (which also varies by plant), is a little deceptive.

Hey, if it smells good, go for it (IMO). The old cajun cook, when asked what kind of wine goes with that dish, replied, "the kind of wine I like."

 

[stickstones]

nice spiral...that's the avatar I'm talking about!

 

[SpiralArchitect]

It was from the US site. Again, this stuff can't be put in airplanes because it's a 'volatile liquid'


Well, I went to the organic food place.... they had a pretty good selection, but damn -- pricey!!!

10 bucks for a 15ml bottle (5fl oz.).... is that a decent deal?


I only got 3, because of the price.....

Lavender
Grapefruit
Tea Tree



Trying out the grapefruit now. PD has to warm up....

Honeysuckle, pepperment and a few others sound really appealing (their are 'mix' recipes on my bottles, I'll post them later I guess) to me. We had a 'honeysuckle' plant, I think it was a Bleeding Heart that I use to suck the nectar out of as a kid too.


edit///

On the bottle it says 'dilute properly'. Am I suppose to dilute it before using it on the PD?

 

[greenganja]

That sucks, Spiral. Probably makes no difference, but were you ordering from the Canadian or US site?

I'm still a huge noob with all this, but feel I'm starting to appreciate the complexity of the scents a little more if that makes any sense. My initial attempts at blending were positive but I'm trying to get a feel for the scents on their own.

I'd like to try some more floral scents like the ones Tom mentioned (jasmine, gardenia, honeysuckle etc.), but it seems like they're very expensive, for example $46 for 5ml of jasmine grandiflorum absolute. Understandable considering "it requires over 30 Roses to produce 1 drop of Rose Absolute". The cheaper alternative, it seems, are 3% dilutions in golden jojoba oil. Do you have any opinions on these, greenganja?

I'm basically going by what's on the NDA site, the other sites mentioned earlier seem to offer 'fragrance oils' which, if I understand correctly are "created through chemical analysis and reproduction" rather than natural oils extract from the plant. My 'knee jerk reaction' is all natural is always best, but I do like the PD violet blossom oil (I'm making the ignorant assumption that it's a fragrance oil from thescentwizard), so strictly aroma wise perhaps the difference isn't that great?

My room must smell like the 60s by now. I am trying to avoid that patchouli smell though.

Vtac, the less expensive oil's are still very suitable to produce a nice aroma. Now if you were wanting an oil specifically for it's healing properties and were wanting to administer by inhalation via a nebulizer, then of course you would want the pure oil. However if all you want to use it for are it's aromatic properties then the diluted oil will do just fine. And Jojoba oil is perfect for using in an oil diffuser because it doesn't evaporate too quickly. I had my Purple Days over my friends house and was showing him that after we finished our vape session how we could freshen up the atmosphere with a blend of Bergamont & Neroli oils it leaves you feeling very refreshed and does fit nicely with that minty, citrus taste when you exhale a hit from the PD.

 

[SpiralArchitect]

Can you do 'too much'?

I put half grape fruit (2 drops) and half tea tree (2 drops).... smells really really good, but I just want to make sure I'm not going overboard... I do feel kinda dizzy, but I think thats cuz it's the first toke of the day.

Should it be positioned far away from you? It sits on my desk about 2 feet from me....

 

[greenganja]

Spiral to my knowledge it isn't possible to do too much if you are just diffusing the oil. I would try sitting it a few more feet away from you, but it shouldn't hurt anything just being two feet away, the only thing that should happen is the aroma should be a little more intense the closer that you are to the diffuser bowl. Anyhow, good to see that you did get some oils and are enjoying them. I have never actually tried a mixture of grapefruit with tea tree oil, but it does seem like it would be an invigorating scent.

 

[SpiralArchitect]

^
Thanks! And yes, it's become part of my 'wake up' routine.

bihsbihs and I were discussing aromatherapy oils and while searching he came across this link, which I think is pretty important;

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/cgi-bin/mb/YaBB.pl?num=1152550617

the cheaper the essential oil, the less quality it has. Alot of your essential oils are "fake", or chemically created fragrant oils that have no theraputic qualities whatsoever. For example, there are many different types of Lavender that can be made into an essential oil. But its the particular species called Lavendula angustofolia that has the most potent, and CORRECT therapeutic properties for relaxtions, to help sleeping, headaches, is antibacterial, helps with burns etc etc.

I just checked my bottle of Lavender, it is indeed angustofolia!!! Wow, I am so lucky... their were about 5 different kinds at the store.

The brand I have is Aura Cacia. I looked up the pricing and the place here in town didn't rip me off! Wow, awesome.

 

[Skunkypete]

Got my stuff from New Directions Aromatics today, looks good so far. I bought a a brick of organic beeswax this week at a health store too to mix with the oils. I find they last a lot longer like that and it's stop the bowl from charring up if you forget it or leave it overnight. So here's what I got:

Bergamot

Dill Seed

Eucalyptus Peppermint

French Lavender (dentata though :/ )

Pink Grapefruit

Pine Scotch

Tea Tree

Dunno why I got the Dill, not too sure I want the place to smell like dill pickle chips. I should really do my ordering sober lol . Anyways I recommend them as well. They also sent me a card for an additional 3% off my next purchase which was nice of them.

 

[SpiralArchitect]

@ Dill.


Bergamot, Peppermint and Pine were 3 I was thinking about getting next time. I love the smell of pine...

Let us know how you like them. Grapefruit is probably my favorite of the 3 I got. Tea Tree has such an invigorating smell I only use it in the mornings.

 

[vtac]

I should really do my ordering sober

Haha, yeah man. Next time I'll go for the 15ml bottles when testing out new ones. The price cut at 100ml seems hard to pass up, but if you end up not being crazy about a scent it's a huge amount to have. I'll never use up these bottles. 100ml = ~2000 drops!

Of the ones I bought, pink grapefruit (citrus paradisi) is my favorite overall. Refreshing, enjoyable scent and not overpowering close up. The vanilla is nice, but it's pretty viscous and actually boils and sputters in the PD cap.

Gonna order some of the 3% dilutions next.

 

[greenganja]

Good stuff guy's. I am happy to see that all of you are enjoying the world of aromatherapy. The French Lavender is the only Lavender that I ever use, imo the best Lavender oil comes from France. I'm sure that most of you probably already know this, but Tea Tree Oil can be used for more than just diffusing. You can put Tea Tree oil in a poultice and the Tea Tree Oil will act as a natural antibacterial agent to help cleanse and heal and draw out any infection in the afflicted area. I often diffuse Peppermint oil while I am studying or doing medical research work, the scent of the Peppermint oil in the air helps keep me awake and very alert and focused. I find that Grapefruit oil remains one of my all time favorites just because the scent reminds me of being back home in Florida. While living in Florida we lived smack dab in the middle of a citrus grove and when the citrus tree's would blossom in the Spring time it would smell so nice, the Grapefruit oil brings me back to those times. For those of you who like the Grapefruit & Bergamot oil's you may want to think about trying the Neroli oil in the future. Neroli oil is expressed from orange blossoms and has a smell which is similar to Orange oil but with a sweeter more floral type of scent. I recently ordered some Frankincense, Myrrh and Hyssop and can't wait to test these out with the PD. You all take care and enjoy your essential oils.

 

[ILoveRadiohead!]

Quick question: I'm thinking about picking up a few essential oils from NDA to use in my PD, do I need to get anything to dilute the oil in or do I just put a drop or two in the diffuser cap?

 

[Progress]

Sorry for the shorthand...Just wanted to contribute...
GG, good info

GG - The French Lavender is the only Lavender that I ever use

Me too (ex's insight)

GG - I often diffuse Peppermint oil while I am studying or doing medical research work, the scent of the Peppermint oil in the air helps keep me awake and very alert and focused.

Today was an expected-to-be-easy-but-apparently-tiring/tough day (a.k.a. A shoulda-got-more-sleep-last-night day ), and I tried your peppermint idea just now and feel ready for Round #3(thousand?)
Toke it easy!

 

[stickstones]

Quick question: I'm thinking about picking up a few essential oils from NDA to use in my PD, do I need to get anything to dilute the oil in or do I just put a drop or two in the diffuser cap?

When I bought my oils the girl in the store said she puts a couple of drops with some water. I've been using 2 to 4 drops with about 2/3 PD cup filled with water. Anyone who knows better feel free to correct.

 

[bongoman]

A word of warning - take your PD diffuser cup off the heating element before adding oil. I had a minor mishap topping up some peppermint oil where it spilt down the side of the cup onto the heating tube. Nothing a swab with iso couldn't fix but it could have been worse.

 

[KeepCalm]

Quick question: I'm thinking about picking up a few essential oils from NDA to use in my PD, do I need to get anything to dilute the oil in or do I just put a drop or two in the diffuser cap?

When I bought my oils the girl in the store said she puts a couple of drops with some water. I've been using 2 to 4 drops with about 2/3 PD cup filled with water. Anyone who knows better feel free to correct.

The only issue I have with filling up the cup that high is that it makes it much more likely to splash with little bumps and jolts. I'm speaking from experience here haha. If you're not clumsy like I can be, it probably won't be a problem for you.

 

[SpiralArchitect]

Last night I brought my PD and set of oils over to my buddies (stinky) place.

We were using the PD nonstop (watching movies) so I turned on his stovetop (one of those flat, electronic ones), set it to 1 and filled up the copper bowl, then set it on top. In no time the smell of heaven was oozing out of the kitchen....

It's a dimly lit room and I could see the vapors pouring off of it! It was insane. I made sure it wasn't burning, indeed it wasn't... but it was at the right temperature to put off those aroma vapors fast.

 

[Hennessy1414]

damn.....this thread is dusty

Ok so I'm sitting here and I realized that I only use my PD for one purpose I keep forgetting that this also doubles as an aromatherapy device. Hopefully GreenGanja is still here because he knew a LOT of information on aromas....I also wanted to show off my order to him

Got everything from https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com (funny side note. I filled up my cart and realized that is was on the Canadian site... had to switch to the U.S. site and completely re-make my shopping cart. oh well just a heads to all of you)

~Ylang Ylang #2 Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Grapefruit Pink Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Clary Sage Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Lavender French Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Peppermint Supreme Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Tea Tree Australian Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Lemon Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Nerolina Australian Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Jasmine Fragrant Oil 1 oz
~Clove Stem Essential Oil 1/6 oz


wooot I cant wait



edit//// Tom sold me on the honeysuckle....had to pickup a dram* of essential honeysuckle oil

Definition of dram

 

[stickstones]

Cool henny...let us know how it goes!

 

[owin]

damn.....this thread is dusty

Ok so I'm sitting here and I realized that I only use my PD for one purpose I keep forgetting that this also doubles as an aromatherapy device. Hopefully GreenGanja is still here because he knew a LOT of information on aromas....I also wanted to show off my order to him

Got everything from https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com (funny side note. I filled up my cart and realized that is was on the Canadian site... had to switch to the U.S. site and completely re-make my shopping cart. oh well just a heads to all of you)

~Ylang Ylang #2 Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Grapefruit Pink Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Clary Sage Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Lavender French Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Peppermint Supreme Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Tea Tree Australian Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Lemon Essential Oil 1/2 oz
~Nerolina Australian Essential Oil 1/6 oz
~Jasmine Fragrant Oil 1 oz
~Clove Stem Essential Oil 1/6 oz


wooot I cant wait



edit//// Tom sold me on the honeysuckle....had to pickup a dram* of essential honeysuckle oil

Definition of dram

Looks like a good list. Let me know how you like the Ylang Ylang. I unfortunately am not a fan. Smells too much like a diaper. I need to find a good mix.