Vaporization of essential oils

This must be one of the most enjoyable applications of essential oils, and involves vaporizing the oils in a variety of devices into the air that we breathe.

Essential oil vaporization, you get both the benefit of a fragrant smelling room, plus the benefits of the therapeutic effects of the essential oils.

The most common way of vaporizing a room is to add the essential oils to a vaporizer which comes made in different materials - from ceramic, terra- cotta, metal and glass etc - all with two separate containers - the top one for water and essential oils (or crystals and essential oils) and the bottom one housing a night candle to provide the gentle heat.

Vapor therapy can also be as simple as dropping some essential oil onto a tissue or handkerchief and smelling it at interval.

When buying a vaporizer opt for one with a large top reservoir - it will help as you would not need to constantly top it up. The general rule is about 6 - 8 drops of essential oil to the water in the top reservoir, but that will also depend on the size of the room.

As soon as the candle starts to heat up the water above it, the essential oil in the water will start to evaporate and the aroma will dissipate.

An alternative to the candle type of diffuser is to use an electric or ultrasound diffuser.

Light-bulb rings are also useful, and are available in ceramic as well as metal. The oils are placed on the ring, and the ring is then placed on a cold, turned-off light bulb. As soon as the light-bulb is switched on, the essential oil starts to evaporate and the aroma dissipates.

Full information on each essential oil will be found on the individual pages dealing with each oil. They can all be accessed from the essential oil index page.