AROMATHERAPY

Wrinkles and Ageing Skin - Facial Scrubs

Facial scrubs are used to exfoliate the skin and unplug pores, and they leave the skin looking fresh and dewy as the dead layer of cells is sloughed off.You only need about one teaspoon of the raw material and you can use many foodstuffs as your base: cereals in general make good scrubs - oatmeal, for example - or any pulse like mung beans or dries peas, as well as nuts, almonds and hazelnuts.

So use what you have in the cupboard or were to buy anyway.

Whatever you use should be ground up in a food processor or pestle and mortar so that it forms small, gritty lumps like coarse sand. The starches and enzymes in these cereals, pulses or nuts will be activated during treatment and get tpo work on cleansing the face.

Oatmeal is used in many cosmetics products and combined with ground almonds makes an excellent scrub.

Mix one teaspoon of each, add 1 drop of essential oil from the skin type list that relates to you on page 504, and roll mthe mixture over the surface of your skin with damp fingers. Rinse off with warm water.

Basil essential oil is excellent for this type of scrub, as it lifts greying cells and enlivens the skin tone. It is an important ingredient in this rejuvenating face scrub, which is best suited for normal to oily skins.

1 teaspoon ground almonds - 1 teaspoon oatflakes - 1 pinch salt - 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar - Basil 1 drop

Mix the vinegar, salt and basil together then add the almonds and oatflakes. Use damp fingers to roll the mixture over the face. Rinse off well.

The skin really needs a spring clean after the long sunless winter months of drying central heating and pollution-laden smog, and this next formula will do a tremendous cleansing job while saving the forty or so pounds it would otherwise cost at an exclusive beauty clinic.

1 teaspoon ground pulse or nut - 1/2 a teaspoon almond oil - Lemon 1 drop

Mix the ingredients well together and pat over your face, leave for thirty seconds. Roll the mixture gently over your face and then rinse away all the dirt, grime and dead cells with the cleansing mixture.

Now splash water on your face twenty times, dry, and feel that soft skin. Apply this scrub twice in one week for the full affect.

Pawpaw fruit contain enzymes that eat away dead cells and bacteria - just like the enzymes in biological washing powder - and proovide a simple but effective treatment for open pores and blackheads.

Again, you don't need a great deal so just save a bit from a pawpaw you would have bought anyway. You'll need one large spoonful of mashed-up pawpaw to which you add 1 drop of bois de rose essential oil: Mix well and spread the Mixture over affected area of your face and neck, avoiding the eyes. Leave for seven minutes and wash off. Do not use on sensitive skin.

Reference: The Fragrant Pharmacy: Valerie Ann Worwood

Wrinkles and Ageing Skin - Cleansers

There is nothing better than a soft, pure bristle complexion brush for gently cleansing the face. This should be used with a good, gentle cleansing agent - soap, lotion or cream - which should be rinsed off with pure water. But unfortunately pure bristle brushes take some searching out, absolutely pure and effective cleansers are not as common as they might be, and the water we rinse our faces with has probably been recycled several times, including five journeys through someone else's kidneys!

There isn't a lot we can do about tap-water except make sure we use distilled or boiled water and filtered water to wash in, but we can do something about the cleansing agent we use,. Since the contents of shop-bought cleanser probably only costs a few pence and what you are paying for is the packaging, advertising and image, it makes sense to concoct your own.The nice thing about making your own cleansers is that you can adjust them to suit your own skin type exactly, and change them as your skin changes with the seasons . In this, we are no different to many types of animal.

As cleansing is concerned with the throwing off of toxins, itmakes a great deal of difference whether we are cleansing to get rid of the extra sweat and pollutants that attract to our faces on the muggy summer streets or concerned with the toxins that accumulate in the months of sedentary life spent indoors munching fattening winter foods while huddled up to the central-heating.

But cleanse your face according to its seasonal requirementsand you will have a skin that always looks good and ages more slowly.

all vegetable and nut oils can be used for cleansing as well as for nourishing the skin, and in ancient times and in Arabian countries today, oils provide the usual way of cleansing. The ancient Romans massaged oils into their skin and then scraped them off, along with all the dirt. Use any heavy oil for dry skin, such as avocado or wheatgerm, and a light oil such as almond or sunflower for oily skins.

The essential oils of clary-sage, lemon, lime, sage or thyme are rosemary, chamomile, lavender or geranium.

Here is a good oil-based cleansing paste which can be used for all skin types:

100 ml Almond oil - 120gms ground almonds - 50ml cider vinegar - 50ml spring water - 6 drops essential oil of your choice.

Place all the ingredients in a blender for a good two minutes until a smooth paste is obtained . store in a jar.

These are the ingredients for a multi-purpose cleansing oil:

50ml grapeseed oil - 20ml sunflower oil - 20ml sesame oil - 10ml wheatgerm oil

Blend these oils together and then add 5 drops of the essential oil of your choice, and blend again. This can be used as a make up-remover and cleanser.

Rich Cleansing Cream

This is good for dehydrated skins:

15gms beeswax - 30gms lanolin hydrous - 50mls almond oil - 25mls Avocado oil - 25mls grapeseed oil - 90mls pure spring water - Clary-sage 2 drops - Lemon 2 drops.

Using the bain-marie method, melt the bees wax, lano;in and vegetable oils and stir well. Then add the essential oils and take the pot off the heat and slowly add the water. Mix in a blender (or whisk) untill the mixture is cold.

Cocoa Butter Cleanser

100gms cocoa butter - 50mls grapeseed oil, warm - 50ml spring water, warm

using the bain-marie method, melt the cocoa butter then add in the mineral water and grapeseed oil. Mix in a blender (orwhisk) until cold. When the misture is cold, add: Rose Maroc 1 drop - Sandalwood 1 drop - Store in a jar.

Almond Face Rinse

This is suitable for all skin types:

100gms ground almonds- 100gms cornflower - 100gms grated pure vegetable soap.

Mix the ingredients in a blender and then add the following and blend again: Geranium 2 drops - lemon 2 drops - Hyssop 1 drop .

Store dry and use a small amount mixed with water in your habd to wash your face. Rinse well.

Soap Cleanser

50mls soap stew - 50ml liquid lecithin - 1 tablespoon cider vinegar - 10 drops essential oil of your choice.

Blend the ingredients together, preferably in a blender. Us an essential oil that suits your skin typw. Bottle the mixture and store. Each time you want to use it to cleanse your face, pour a small amount into the palm of your hand, massage into your face and rinse off well.

Reference: The Fragrant Pharmacy: Valerie Ann Worwood

Wrinkles and the Ageing Skin

Age creeps up on us silently. We carry on quite happily, applying our make-up, getting dressed, going out. And then one day, perhaps after a late night, we look in the mirror and see a face that is no longer young.

The shock of growing old has driven many a tormented soul in search of the exilir of youth. Alchemists and philosophers have for centuries been trying to please their ageing rulers by coming up with the secret formula that will save them from the inexorable pull of the years.

Fortunes have been made by those who claim to stave off the inevitable results of living and growing older. Today, the rich and famous swop the names of cosmetic surgeons or fly to exclusive European clinics where rejuvenation is a speciality, Even stock brokers take an active interest in wrinkles, because they know that if a company can come up with a formula that works in dispelling .. or preventing - them, millions of pounds can be made as millions of people rush to snap up the product.

Behind the scenes of all this frenetic activity, nature's essential oils have been quitely playing their part. Those who fly into London for non-surgical essential oil fac e-lifts make up a who's who of beauty and their secret is well kept because there's not much point in looking ten years younger if you are going to tell the whole world about it.

The name of the rejuvenation game is to stay ahead of or, perhaps more accurately, stay behind the crowd.

Cellular regeneration is the key to youthful skin, and essential oils provide a way of doing this which is far more pleasant than the most recent methods which involve using foetal cells. The nutrients and proteins in essential oils help to maintain the matress-like bounciness of collagen, upon which the outer layers of the skin rest, and encourages the regeneration of new cells.

The circulation- stimulating properties of the oils oxygenate the blood which in turn energises the cells, allowing regeneration to take place. Some oils do this particularly well. Other oils such as fennel contain hormone-like properties and these encourage the firming of the skin, giving it a natural youthful appearance.

While treating yourself with these anti-ageing oils, it will obviously speed things along if you don't overload the system with yet more toxins that the skin has to work hard to eliminate.

Cut out alcohol (a real ager if ever there was one), coffee, tea, sweets, red meats and all things that you know clog up your skin cells as well as your digestive system. Is it worth it, you ask? Undoubtedly, yes,. if you can cut ten years from your appearance you'll feel ten years younger, have more energy and even your outlook on life will change.

Anti-Ageing-Essential Oils To Combat Wrinkles.

Violet leaf - Patchouli - Oregano - Clary-sage - Yarrow - Orange - Fennel - Chamomile German - Vervaine - Neroli - Rosemary - Rose - Frankincense - Geranium - Galbanum - Myrrh - Palma Rosa - Lavender - Lemon - Lime - Thyme - Hyssop - RE 1" - Carrot

You can use any of these oils on its own or make combinations of two or more, to suit your needs. Use the oils in a bath, as a face oil or body rub, and do remember to treat the bit you don't see in the mirror as often as the face - your body! Because everyone's skin regenerates at a different rate, allow at least thirty days before expecting to see outward signs of improvement.

Later in this section you will find special formulas for face treatments for four age groups and these are combinations of many oils. But even one oil can be of great help in your personal revitalisation programme. Take, for example, geranium. This excellent oil for helping you deal with stress, tiredness and anxiety over problems - all pof which can make you look and feel much older than you are.

Geranium oil won't actually get rid of the prob;lems for you in a puff of aromatic smoke, but it will get rid of the anxiety so that you can better deal with the problems.

It will also treat the various conditions that can manifest themselves on the skin as a result of difficult emotional experiences - red blotches on the chest, spots on the back or skin that looks saggy or has flaky patches. In addition , it will reverse the apathy and body droop that often accompany the troubled mind.Use 6 drops of Geranium oil in the bath, put 60 drops into 30ml light nut oil for a face oil; and 30 drops into 30ml light nut or vegetable oil for a body rub.

You can actually see an improvement after one session. Before bathing, stand naked in front of the mirror and observe the posture and look of your body. Now have a bath to which you have added 6 drops of geranium oil and lie there inhaling deeply for at least five minutes. When you get out rub the geranium body oil over your whole body and stretch in all directions for a few minutes. Now have a look in the mirror again. You'll see a market im-provement already,so imagine the difference if you used this treatment everyday.

You can actually see an improvement after one session. Before bathing, stand naked in front of the mirror and observe the posture and look of your body. Now have a bath to which you have added 6 drops of geranium oil and lie there inhaling deeply for at least five minutes. When you get out rub the geranium body oil over your whole body and stretch in all directions for a few minutes. Now have a look in the mirror again. You'll see a market im-provement already,so imagine the difference if you used this treatment everyday.

There is no getting away from the fact that we are all inexorably growing one year older for each three hundred years and sixty-five days, but the essential oils help to ensure that we don't give the march of time a chance to take over. The accumulated anxieties of a busy life contribute to a general movement as we age.

Many difficulties arise from bringing up children, maintaining good relationships and following a career . Anxieties, however, inhibit the action of the lympathic system. If we can eradicate anxieties and adopt a positive attitude, the lympathic starts to work betterand accumulated toxins are cleared through the proper elimination systems of the body.

Spots and blemishes disappear, the body uplifts and you find yourself saying 'I feel better now'. because you feel better about yourself, both emotionally and physically, you'll look younger - and you'll feel younger because you are better able to relax and cope. Allow a little longer for the bloom to come back to your skin for the revitalisation to be complete.

Forget about ageing gracefully - in a way that's giving in. Fight it every step of the way. Ther's no time to begin or end this revitalisation programme. It may take you a little longer to reach peak potential when you are ninety, but even at that age essential oils can make you feel and look younger.

Clearly, being in good physical condition helps to keep the energy level up as we age and contributes to our ability to remain in control, but as far as looking better is concerned, it is important to keep the mind young and alert. For this, bergamot is marvellous - it's stimulating, uplifting, go-getting, forceful oil, as well as an anti-depressant.

Now we come to the anti-wrinkle fcial treatment for various age groups. Use them every night on the face and, if you wish on the neck and chest , as far as the collar bone

Wrinkle Prevention For The Over Twenties

Anti-Wrinkle For The over Thirties

Anti-Wrinkle For The Over-Forties

Anti-Wrinkle Oil For The Over-Fifties 

Reference: The Fragrant Pharmacy: Valerie Ann Worwood

The Fragrant way to Beauty - 2

Perspiration is a method of cooling us down, and so skin regulates our inner temperature.

Nerve-endings are scattered throughout the skin, some registering pressure, some pain. Skin can tell the difference betweens a lover's caress and the boss poking us on the shoulder with his finger!

Sebaceous glands are working away to lubticate the skin, and just how hard they are working determines whether you have a dry or oily skin. Skin is one big activity centre, with hairs growing from their follicles, nerves sending out messages, toxins being eliminated, temperature checks being taken and, through the capillaries, blood and lymph fluid travelling back and forth.

Of vital importance to us in this chapter are tthe connective tissues - collagen and, to a lesser degree, elastin. These determine how spongy the skin is, or is not. Essential oils work cosmetically and as anti-ageing agents in several ways. Thery stimulate skin cells into reproducing at a quiker rate, thus reducing the time-lag between new skin growth and the elmination of toxic debris by improving the lymphatic flow and general condition of the lymph glands.

They improve circulation which aids oxygenation and energise the dermis by the rate nutrients are fed to it. Some can balance the rate at which sebum is produced by the sebaceous glands, thereby stabilising a healthy skin condition. As bactericides they neutralise unwanted and unfriendly bacteria, preventing blemished conditions: and as anti-inflammatories, they calm sensitive and damaged skin.

Some essential oils contain phyto-hormones they create an equilibrium within our endocrine system which surpasses in effectiveness that produced by any other substance.

Their action on the peripherial nerve-endings helps to relieve the stress and tension that so often lead directly to ageing skin - you look as worn-out as you feel. Collagen and elastin are kept in good condition, and there is some basis to believe also that the nutrients and proteins contained in essential oils actually work as restorative building-blocks to these all-important tissue fibres.

One of the most extraordinary aspects of working with essential oils is that a patient who comes to me for treatment of a physical condition, a back ache for example, will after six weeks treatments look about ten years younger than he or she did at the beginning of treatment.

Partly this is due to the relief showing as the pain lifts. But there is more to it than that. The texture of the skin all over the body, sometimes so dramatic that it looks as if the person has had a face-lift.

This phenomenon never ceases to amaze me and I am, again and again, reminded of how comprehensive are the benefits of the essential oils. When treatment is designed specifically for the face, results can be nothing short of miraculous.

The most expensive skin preparations in the world contain essential oils and other natural ingredients as their principal active ingredients but, because the product must be able to endure a long shelf life, they contain chemical preservatives as well.

All sorts of chemicals are used in commercial cosmetic preparations and some of them, such as steroids, cause serious problems. In addition, dubious animal products are often included in commercial preparations, and with the seas now being so unhealthy that whole seal populations can be wiped out, it is true to say that when you put a shop-bought product on your face, you really don't know what effect it will have.

Besides bypassing all these unknown quantities, making and using your own home-made beauty products will save you a great deal of money. Advertising and packaging make shop-bought products very expensive, as does the need for the manufacturer and retail outlet to make their profit. But by following the recipes here, you and your skin will be the ones to profit.

Reference: The Fragrant Pharmacy: Valerie Ann Worwood