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Shop Earthly Body®/Blog/CBD Aromatherapy: The Complete Guide
Date: April 19, 2021
CBD aromatherapy is perhaps one of our most well-loved types of products, but it’s also the one category we get most questions about, even more than our CBD shampoo or conditioner for sale. Today, we’re here to go into everything you never knew about aromatherapy.
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know to get your CBD aromatherapy journey started.
The practice of aromatherapy has been called pseudoscience, a holistic healing method, a therapeutic method, and even alternative medicine. If you define aromatherapy in the most basic way, it is essentially the practice of using aromatic naturally-derived materials to improve someone’s emotional, spiritual, psychological, and physical health.
Today, these materials are usually essential oils, sprays, or bath, body, and skincare products that carry essential oils. People use them at home on their own, salons and spas use them, and dedicated practitioners of alternative practices may utilize them as well.
Aromatherapy can be used as a supplementary tool to medical therapies or as a standalone tool for a range of reasons. While aromatherapy holds no real place in actual medical practice or even many wellbeing methodologies, many people swear by it. This is because whether or not aromatherapy can actually heal a human being, there seems to be some anecdotal evidence that having aromatherapy in your daily routine can act as a calming presence.
Aromatherapy has become so popular that products boast aromatherapy characteristics all the time — but what does this practice really mean, and how does it make an impact on someone’s state of being? Today, we’re going to do a deep dive into the art of CBD aromatherapy, where it came from, how it works, whether CBD aromatherapy products may work for you, and more.
Aromatherapy is said to have been around since 3500 BCE, which is kind of awe-inspiring! Starting from the Neolithic age, there is some evidence that prehistoric humans extracted fatty oils from some plants and then used them for cooking, anointing, and medicinal healing methods.
Ayurvedic treatments originating from South Asia utilized plant extracts around 5000 years ago, with the practice still going strong in most countries in the area today. A book called the Vedas explains and cites 700+ uses of the naturally extracted plant and tree ingredients like coriander, sandalwood, ginger, and turmeric. Ayurvedic principles are still in use widely in South Asia for cooking, healing, and religious purposes today.
If you’ve seen any movie about the Ancient Egyptians, you know how invested in rituals they were. Essential oil fragrances were a large part of their religious rituals, which at the time included healing methods as well. Some plants and tree ingredients were even burned and smoked in the ancient Egyptian civilization.
In fact, it was the Egyptian use of these methods that traveled to Greek and Roman civilizations due to trade and war. Both civilizations documented their use of oils and plant extracts for healing and religion extensively, which is where European nations eventually picked up on it. When Christianity spread, it was the Roman Jewish use of oils and plants that spread into Christian culture as well.
After The Middle Ages, when frankincense, pine, myrrh, cinnamon, and cloves (among others) were used to ward off the many plagues in that era, the use of aromatherapy declined. Medical science and technology flourished, and ancient “unscientific” practices died. It was only in the late 20th century that new age Baby Boomers began to return to ancient wisdoms, and aromatherapy was revived.
The legend around aromatherapy is that the smells and natural healing properties of these extracted ingredients and oils are what work on the human mind and body for healing and relaxation. However, there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that ancient wisdoms about the unique properties of each plant can be proven to work, which is why these aren’t regulated by the FDA.
However, there are some scientific theories that argue that aromatherapy products work by stimulating the receptors for the smell in the nose, which then communicates with the limbic system in the brain. The limbic system controls our emotional response, which means that aromatherapy may affect our emotional and nervous state. Remember, though, that this is just a possibility, and this theory hasn’t been proven.
There are some integrative medicine specialists that do have some facts to offer on aromatherapy. Dr. Yufang Lin, MD, made some important points via a publication on The Cleveland Clinic website. She warned of using certain kinds of oils undiluted if you’re pregnant, such as chamomile, lavender, sandalwood, and even rose.
Citric essential oils like grapefruit, lemon, and orange can cause sunburn and irritation when left on the skin, which is another hazard to watch out for. There’s also a long list of toxic oils like bitter almond, turmeric, sage, camphor, arnica, wormwood, and more. Clearly, it’s always important to do your research and not just start using any oil.
Some plant ingredients are used as powders and ingredients in medication like arnica and turmeric; oils are so concentrated that the same rules don’t apply here.
With all of these reservations about aromatherapy’s usefulness and whether or not it’s actually worth it, as well as the fact that CBD hasn’t been approved to treat anything by the FDA, you may be wondering why anyone would want to use these products in the first place. Well, the answer is usually very simple: because they smell and feel good.
Whether there’s scientific proof or not that CBD aromatherapy affects anything medically, a person’s mental perspective is a powerful tool. When we set routines and habits for ourselves targeted at increasing comfort and centering our relaxation, these practices tend to work by calming us down because of the mental association we’ve made with them.
When we go through an evening relaxation routine where we moisturize with aromatherapy creams that have some wonderful scents from natural oils, our brain starts to associate these pleasant smells with our goal for that process. This can sometimes be called the placebo effect, and it’s a method used by psychologists to test the efficacy of many methods on willing participants.
However, beyond the placebo effect, there’s also something to be said about the power of personal routines and setting aside some time to pamper oneself. Adding CBD aromatherapy products to that can’t hurt!
There are a few ways to use CBD aromatherapy products that will fit into your daily schedule without a hitch. The first is with an essential oil product. Our morning oil product is a great example of this. Dabbing a drop on your pulse points can be helpful, although you should keep a light hand to ensure the effect is subtle.
Next come body sprays, like ours in the CBD Daily Essentials range. Spraying a balanced spray on your clothes or body can do wonders. You’ll smell the oil extracts from the spray all day, making sure that your mind always returns to the relaxed state you were in when you put it on.
Finally, a nightly reminder to calm down never goes amiss, especially with an aromatherapy night cream. Not only should you be moisturizing every night, but the essential oils in the moisturizer will power through and rejuvenate your body and mind before you get to bed. After all, without some proper sleep, your next day is likely to be bad too.
However, these are just some recommended ways you can utilize these products. For example, if you use a night cream in the evening or morning because you want to luxuriate in the effect all day long, who’s stopping you? Use aromatherapy products whenever you want, based on what works for you.
Since we’ve talked so much about ingredients, what different plant extracts may do, and how they affect our body, mind, and spirit. However, let’s get you some product recommendations so you can start using them ASAP. Let’s explore what lies within all three of our main aromatherapy CBD products for sale.
As you can tell by the name, this product is exactly what you need to start your day. The primary ingredient here, of course, is Cannabidiol. CBD is one of the main products present in the cannabis plant, of which a derivative is the hemp plant. CBD is one of many compounds that react with our endocannabinoid system.
The hemp plant, as grown in the US, is heavy in CBD and can be used in a range of different products. This product has hemp seed oil that has antioxidant properties as well as fatty acids that moisturize and insulate your skin. The effect is a calming one for your skin and body.
Our morning oil also has tangerine oil, which has plenty of importance in alternative medicine. Tangerine is associated with festivity, brightness, and fresh starts. The light citrusy tang it provides is always a plus. On the other hand, fennel is warm, earthy, and stabilizing—a perfect balancing act for the other ingredients.
Our daily essentials body spray also has CBD in it, but the key compound is combined with grapefruit, ginger, and sandalwood oil. Buddhists and Hindu traditions utilize sandalwood oil fairly often since it’s believed to keep people focused during meditative rituals. However, the particularly strong smell of sandalwood needs to be compensated for, which the grapefruit and ginger do brilliantly.
The bitter acidity of the grapefruit really cuts through the cloying aroma of sandalwood, while the ginger adds a semi-sweet touch to the morning spray effortlessly. Grapefruit is also often associated with strength and wisdom, while ginger acts as the balancing and rejuvenating oil here. Perfect for use after our morning oil!
Last, our night cream is the best way to end your day. Hemp seed oil and CBD make another appearance here so that your skin gets all the hydration it needs. However, we have a star ingredient here; lavender oil. Lavender is one of the most used scents and oils ever, especially because it’s said to help people sleep and keep them asleep. The soothing smell and calming feel of lavender are out of this world!
On the other hand, we’ve also added Ylang Ylang oil, a flower found in countries around the Indian Ocean. The fruity, rich scent this oil brings is definitely a match for the flowery smell that lavender has. Using this cream at night can be soothing and relaxing, which is exactly what you need to end the day.
So, now that you’ve got all the information you need on CBD aromatherapy, what are you waiting for?
If you do decide that CBD aromatherapy isn’t for you, remember that we have a lot of other high-quality CBD products to offer. From CBD massage lotion for sale to our CBD hand wash, our products are an excellent way for you to incorporate a range of CBD bath, body, and skincare items into your life!
FDA DISCLAIMER: The statements made regarding these products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The efficacy of these products has not been confirmed by FDA-approved research. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. All information presented here is not meant as a substitute for or alternative to information from health care practitioners. Please consult your health care professional about potential interactions or other possible complications before using any product. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act require this notice.