HISTORY OF AROMATHERAPY
René Gattefossé, a French chemist, is the founder of aromatherapy as we know it today. In the 1920s, he and his family worked in the perfumery business, using essential oils for the cosmetics industry. Only later did he discover that these oils also had antiseptic properties due to an explosion that occurred in his laboratory and led to serious burns on one of his hands. When he immersed it in a lavender tank, he found that the burn healed quickly, without leaving a scar. This prompted Gateffossé to do more research into oils for skin problems and their medicinal uses.
In 1928, he published a book entitled "Aromathérapie" which generated great interest in France and also in Italy where Prof. Paolo Rovesti, director of the "Istituto dei Derivati Vegetali" in Milan, used oils produced from the fruits of that city, such as bergamot, lemon and orange, and showed that by smelling these oils it was possible to help patients recover from depressive and anxious states.
However, it was Dr. Jean Valnet, a physician, president of the "société Française de Phytothérapie et d'Aromathérapie" and former military surgeon, who made the greatest contribution to aromatherapy being accepted as a medical treatment, after his own experience using oils to treat wounds and burns in soldiers during the Second World War. Later, in his book Aromathérapie, which has become a classic for aromatherapists, he described how he treated chronic psychiatric patients by ingesting the oils orally, finding that they attenuated or completely eliminated both physical and mental symptoms.
But the mother of holistic aromatherapy is the Austrian Marguerite Maury, a biochemist by profession who dedicated herself completely to this art and received two international awards (in 1962 and 1967) for her research into essential oils and cosmetology.
Although inspired by Gattefossé's technique, she did not administer the oils orally, but adopted a special massage technique to apply the oils to the face and along the nerve centers of the spine. He also introduced the concept of individualism, in which the oils are prescribed according to each person.
Marguerite Maury died at the age of 73 from a heart attack due to overwork.
Another book that aroused great interest around the world was the first book written in English, "The Art of Aromatherapy" by Robert Tisserand, a British aromatherapist and researcher, which tells the story, properties and therapeutic applications of many essences.
What is aromatherapy?
It is a therapy and a natural method of treating illnesses and maintaining health, which uses 100% pure essential oils extracted from various parts of aromatic plants and trees to boost the health of the body and mind.
Due to the properties of essential oils, this method is considered a good complement to other natural therapies, which will help improve the functioning of the body and the person's state of mind, regeneration and vitality, for general health well-being.
There are various forms of aromatherapy in which oils can be used in massage, one of the most important forms of treatment, or in air fresheners, in the bath where the therapeutic properties combined with water will enhance their effects. They can also be used as compresses, either hot or cold, mixed into creams, body lotions or even a few drops on your pillow to help you get a good night's sleep.
The oils are always diluted in vegetable oils, water or alcohol to preserve their chemical properties.
