HOW TO BLEND
Blending essential oils is not at all dif cult, but there are a few things to keep in mind . First, consider what type of therapeutic action you hope to achieve with the essential oil. The best blends include oils that are enhanced when combined with others.
Second, consider the sequence of the essential oil blend. If you’ve ever cooked or baked, you know that ingredients often need to be added in a specifi c sequence for the best-tasting results. The same rule applies to essential oils. When you change the sequence, chemical reactions change, and the end results (including the fragrance) may vary from the original blend recipe.
Don’t worry—if the thought of blending several dif erent essential oils together is a daunting one, there are many carefully crafted essential oil blends on the market. The recipes included in this book are not at all dif cult to make, though, so consider trying a few of them. Like cooking and baking, blending essential oils is something that becomes second nature over time if you do it often enough
Two Rules for Blending Essential Oils
There are two basic rules to keep in mind when blending essential oils. While it is not necessary to commit these rules to memory, doing so will help you create better blends.
First, essential oils that have a lighter, thinner stream when poured are usually more aromatic (volatile) than those that are thicker. These oils have lighter, smaller molecules than their more viscous counterparts. Second, the body absorbs light, small molecules faster than larger, heavier ones. The smaller the molecules a blend contains, the faster that blend is metabolized. The opposite is true of larger molecules. These are absorbed slowly and remain in the system longer
These two rules matter because when you blend heavy molecules with lighter ones, they have a synergistic ef ect on one another, allowing for the lighter molecules to remain in the body longer. This is as important for creating therapeutic blends as it is for creating simple perfumes and aromatherapy blends designed to be dif used. In the perfume industry, the heavier oils, which act to stabilize the lighter, more volatile oils, are called fi xatives or fi xing oils. Sandalwood, myrrh, and ylang-ylang are excellent examples of fi xing oils
Classifying Notes
In aromatherapy, as you might suspect, the lightest oils are considered to be top notes. Here’s where it gets tricky: the heaviest oils are considered to be middle notes. The ones in between are called base notes. The best blends contain various notes. Rather than blending three top notes or three middle notes together, it’s best to select oils from each of the classifi cations. This strategy allows you to create balanced blends that are neither too heavy nor too volatile.
There is a second method for classifying essential oils that takes four characteristics into consideration rather than three: the personifi er, the enhancer, the equalizer, and the modifi er. When using this method for blending, following the same order each time will allow you to achieve consistent results.
