The first aromatherapy book that
I bought (that wasn’t related to a company) was Roberta Wilson’s book Aromatherapy for Vibrant Health & Beauty/a Practical A to Z Reference of Aromatherapy Treatments for
Health, Skin, and Hair Problems Using Essential
. I first got the book from the local library and decided I had to have my own copy. It is full of practical, applicable
information and just enough background to be informative for people that are just starting. It is not one of those books that
is more photography than information, in fact there are no photographs, only a few necessary diagrams.
The background information includes
what aromatherapy is all about, some history, how essential oils are extracted, and how to use essential oils for health and
beauty. The last chapter of the book is about how to use essential oils for bathing, hair treatments, including how to do
dry brushing, and sitz bath, massage, compress, steam facials and such things. Personally I would have put this chapter close
to the front, but if that is my only complaint about the book, then it must be a good book!
It has a section describing 37
different essential oils, which is a good number. There are over 300 plants that are distilled for the oil but most you might
not ever see for sale even.
For all practical purpose you
probably could get by with just a handful of different oils. Anyway she gives a good description of each oil and how it helps
physically and emotionally.
The next section talks about
various health and emotional conditions and list which oils to use for each condition and gives recipes for massage oils,
bath blends and personal blends. Now I am all for using essential oils for “over-the-counter” type of conditions,
but for more serious conditions please see your doctor, then you can use essential oils along with what the doctor recommends.
Actually using essential oils first can prevent a lot of trips to the doctor!
This book contains a lot
of very good useful information and it does NOT talk about chakras, and other popular New Age and eastern religious beliefs,
which is exactly why I feel like I can highly recommend this book.
