Magickal Realism

The frenzy’s still going. I know it, you know it, and you might just be escaping into your blog feeds just as a way of escaping the rest of the world or because, like me, you sometimes become compulsively attached to the Internet.

I’m not going to recommend you go smell lavender or a pretty flower or sprinkle herbs on yourself. That’s all up to you, especially with conflicting information on whether or not certain essential oils are effective as relaxation aids. Besides, adding chemicals to an already stressed-out body invites trouble.

Here’s what I recommend: plant your feet flat on the floor. Sit up straight, using your stomach muscles to support you. Take 10-20 deep breaths, all the way down to your abdomen. When you’re done, pick one thing among all the things you have to do circling in your head that you can do today. Give all your attention to that until it’s done. Then, pick another thing and do that. The goal is not to finish your list. The goal is to give the tasks you do all your attention. Close the browser, go do that, and have a Merry Christmas. Also, please make sure you drink at least 32 ounces of water during the day?

If you have a break later on, visit Magickal Realism.

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This overview on the FDA website about aromatherapy gave me pause:

“Traditionally, perfumes have been considered cosmetics by FDA. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) defines cosmetics in part as articles intended to be applied to or introduced into the human body “for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance” (FD&C Act, Section 201).

On the other hand, articles intended for use in the diagnosis, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and intended to affect the structure or any function of the body, are considered to be drugs — with all “new drugs” requiring FDA’s premarket approval.”

So far the way I’ve seen this interpreted is that it’s wisest not to make any specific claims, or to add a disclaimer stating that the material is not approved by the FDA and the product’s effects are unproven. However, the way this is phrased, legally, someone in the FDA can turn around and test you for pharmaceutical claims at any time - making aromatherapy labeling a risky choice. While I personally do benefit from using some of my own aromatherapy products - such as my sinus clearing oil - to date everything I’ve found on PubMed and in my public library databases suggests that for aromatherapy, we’re all still running on placebo theory. I’m going to have to think long and hard about my aromatherapy labeling, and I may at some point retract it altogether. Best to be within the limits of the law!

I do sell some “aromatherapy” products so I have to think about this carefully - I do not make any guarantees about the effectiveness of my products, but they are skin safe and I’ve tested them for their application in that respect, with the caveat that they are intended for smell and not for massage. Still, if recommending them for any specific condition is against FDA regs, I’d better fix it or pull it.

It also isn’t just the FDA regulating aromatherapy. The Federal Trade Commission oversees advertising claims and the Consumer Product Safety Commission also tests for aspects of use.

A lot of people ask me if I distill my own essential oils. I think with other perfumers there’s always the hope of stumbling upon a new supplier, since though suppliers appear plentiful, resource distribution and quality is spotty so often certain suppliers will have one specialty over another. Alas, I do not. Just as I do not have the space to make soap in a safe way, I do not have the space necessary to safely and cleanly steam distill essential oils. I certainly do not have the means to squish them into submitting their oil (expression) nor do I have any solvents I’d feel comfortable separating out for that sweet, sweet scent of green. However, because the way my materials are made add up to my own earthly impact, I’ve spent a little time learning the basics. The following is a very brief overview, sourced from Wikipedia and the Illustrated Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils.

The way in which essential oils are processed is a big part of assessing their impact on the environment, their cost and even their safety. Because it’s important to have the whoe picture on the materials used, here’s an overview of each of the main processes:

Distillation
This is the most common way to process essential oil, and more common herbs stand up to this process quite well. The plant is heated over water, and then the steam condenses as essential oil. This is what I consider the second most environmentally friendly method of production, just because the heat may still be generated from a coal or petroleum source. Otherwise, however, it’s a perfect process. The byproduct, hydrosol, is water that still has the fragrance of the plant in it. While this water used to be disposed of (in the ground, most likely) there are now more bath and body makers experimenting with hydrosols for perfumes and other cosmetic ingredients.

Expression
If you happen to have an orange or other citrus fruit on hand, go grab it and try this. Select a small patch of the peel and press down on it. In a moment, a teeny droplet of liquid will appear. Congratulations, you’ve just expressed some essential oil. Expression is done on a larger level in the aromatics industry, usually with a machine that can be hand or electronically powered - it is possible for the process to be completely mechanical. The byproduct, squished plant, can be reused as compost. I consider this the most environmentally friendly form of essential oil production, though highly valid arguments can be made for distillation as the first place winner.

Solvent Extraction
There are some essential oils that just won’t part from their source without sending in a few molecules to pry them loose. Since this usually happens with flowers that would simply wilt under the pressures of extraction and heat distillation, florals are often the most expensive of essential oils and come with the highest environmental cost. The chemical most commonly used in solvent extraction is hexane, which is a petroleum based solvent. While it has a very high danger rating on the Cosmetics Safety Database, exposure to hexane is extremely minimal as a result of using hexane dissolved products. That said, it does have a significant negative environmental impact, and on its International Chemical Safety Card it does state that it is poisonous to aquatic life.

C02 Extracts - Newfangled Sciencey stuff
A new method of solvent extraction, sometimes labeled as “C02″ extract rather than as an essential oil, forces supercritical C02¹ through a plant, and then the plant is sprayed with water at high pressure. The resulting extract may be used as a fragrance compound, and has other uses including decaffeinating coffee. Since the C02 is a byproduct of other industrial processes, it is seen as advantageous to use this because of its low costs. It’s also an excellent alternative to petroleum-based hexane. There isn’t at this point much data about the long-term impact of C02 extracts; any safety information is inconclusive because the technology is so new. Perfumers do report some frustration working with C02 extracts, as the chemicals differ from essential oils and do not always smell or blend the ways their traditionally extracted counterparts would work. On the other hand, plants that did not stand up to even a solvent process did allow extraction in the C02 process, so there is actual significant gain to perfume arts as a result.

When evaluating whether to add an essential oil to my collection, I have to consider:

I’ll let you know when I’m at 100% comfort with all my decisions. That should be any century now, I’m fully confident.

So that’s how we get those scents. The way each scent is made is a considerable factor in how what we make impacts the planet, and how long we’ll be able to keep making that particular pretty scent. Someday, I hope to have a place where I can steam distill and expeller press to my heart’s content. Until then, I have to inspect the listings along with the other perfumers.

1. carbon dioxide that is liquid at a temperature where it is normally a gas [↩]

While the headline from the US Department of Health and Human Services would make you think that aromatherapy has been wholly discounted, the recent study testing the effects of lemon and lavender essential oils actually did reveal some surprising data: lemon essential oil actually works - sort of. “While lemon oil showed a clear mood enhancement, lavender oil did not, the researchers said. Neither smell had any positive impact on any of the biochemical markers for stress, pain control or wound healing.” ((Gardner, Amanda. Aromatherapy Falls Short, Study Finds. Healthday. 2008.  http://healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=613285 ))

Actually, the study indicates it seems to work. There weren’t enough people for an empirical sample, so it just might not be the time to draw a conclusion.

Aromatherapy has an inconsistent body of literature, with inaccuracies sometimes taught from school to school. The better sources use lots of couching language, like “believed to be” and “reputedly.”  And to be fair, the way the aromatherapy effects were tested on these subjects is not consistent with the way most aromatherapy is applied.¹  So while those of us who use these alternative therapies may not be so thrilled with these results² finding out this information is actually overdue.  There’s still a lot to be said for the placebo effect - the human mind is an amazing and tricky thing, and just because it is a placebo doesn’t mean that its use is to be entirely dismissed.³

1. In most cases, essential oils are diluted in a neutral oil base and massaged into the skin, so that the overall effect is to enhance the application of a massage. In other standard applications, it is added to a steam and inhaled from a distance - if distilled water had chemical effects, perhaps it is actually something to do with the heated water, but that’s just conjecture. [↩]
2. Yes, I do use aromatherapy. Or, at least, I drink a lot of jasmine tea when I’m stressed out. [↩]
3. I actually do practice witchcraft. We’re all about placebos and mind tricks towards a salutary or not-so-salutary end. [↩]