When I used to live in Iran many years ago, I took a day trip to Kashan, a city known for its' fragrant Roses. We planned on getting to the rose distillery early enough to see the entire process of making Rose water and essential oil, but we got there so late, they were already onto the last step; boiling the roses in giant pots of steam.
I grew up with rose water, a watered down and less potent version of essential oils. I did use essential oils for aromatherapy, but never paid attention to their benefits for skin.
Until..
In 2017 I went to one of those music / wellness / art festival and managed to attend at least 1 workshop: Introduction to essential oils.
Our instructor was a non-pushy traveling oil salesman and educator who managed to explain the healing benefits and medicinal applications for essential oils to a bunch of hung-over but open minded people. It all makes sense I thought, as I remembered the heaping pot of rose petals with tubes and steam I saw in the distillery. These oils are the highly concentrated extracts of real plants with bioactive compounds that could prevent disease and have anti-oxidant and antimicrobial properties. Ok, so they don't smell as intense as lab-made petroleum-based smells but that's just our senses playing tricks on us. Our brain associates the artificial smell with the real plant smell and thinks.. Yay! Plants! There must be damn good chemists working on this stuff.
Back to nature might seem like a new trend, but plants were around way before labs and they were used for everything from dyes to building material. We just have to be ok with the subdued smell of real plants and maybe even like the way the fruit / veggie powders have gradually settled.
I must also mention that the cost of essential oils are significantly higher than the synthetic aromas, especially if choosing organic. But do we really want to take the chance of getting sick from unknown chemicals in our bodies and having to spend what you saved on medical bills?
Synthetic fragrances are made from petroleum or crude oil and have benzene derivatives, aldehydes, toluene and phthalates. That's what those overly scented lotions that sometimes cause a rash, are made with. They can be stronger than perfume!
The only precaution with Essential oils is to not apply it directly to the skin, but to dilute it with a carrier oil or butter. Essential oils are so potent that they might cause irritation when directly rubber on skin. Sometimes the irritation might appear after some use, due to a build up . All the butters and oils in Butter Bits not only dilute the essential oils so that they are totally safe for your skin, but also stay on your skin longer than water-based lotion fragrances. They add a ton of benefits that improve the health, texture and quality of your skin over time. It also doesn't hurt that they smell better than those over-the-top fragrances in lotion. Essential oils get absorbed and heal from the inside out.
Here are my favorite 5:
Tea Tree Oil used in Clean Butter Bits
Rose Essential oil in Beauty Butter Bits.
Calendula and Chamomile are my absolute favorite combo! in Calm Butter Bits.
Black pepper essential oil in Shield Butter Bits.
The famous Chinese Joint Oil mix, which is a mix of 20 different oils to help achy hands in Relief Butter Bits.
