Aromatherapy is the use of pure essential oils to enhance your life. Essential oils can be used therapeutically to treat many common health problems, to produce chemical free house cleaners or to produce chemical free beauty, skin and hair mixtures.

Essential oils are acquired from natural sources, so some people can treat a variety of complaints without using chemicals or processed medication. Aromatherapy can be used for many other things as well though.

Essential oils all have unique properties; soothing, antiseptic, calming, healing etc. These properties will work with your body to help treat any ailments you are trying treat. There are two ways that aromatherapy works. via our sense of smell, which can help to stimulate a change in mood and through direct absorption into the blood stream.

There is no guarantee that aromatherapy will work for everyone though, as different body chemistry and this will effect the way the oils work. Oil blends that work for one person may not work for another. A good aromatherapy book can overcome this though, as they will normally recommend several blends that can be used for each condition.

Essential oils are able to produce a calming or stimulating environment, they can be used to reduce stress and also have the benefit of pleasantly scenting a room.

It is possible to use aromatherapy in many ways. The most commonly used method is an aromatherapy candle or burner to scent a room. This method can be used to create a specific environment - soothing if you're trying to sleep, stimulating if you're trying to study or work or vitalizing if you've been feeling a little out of sorts.

This particular method however is the least effective way in terms of therapeutic use. To be used therapeutically essential oils should be absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream.

It is important to know with few exceptions essential oils cannot be used directly on the skin, due to their strength. Instead, they need to be added to a 'base' or 'carrier' oil. The normal rule is 25ml of carrier or base oil for 10 drops of essential oil. This blend can then be used via massage, or put into a warm bath.

Another use for aromatherapy is to create natural beauty products, or improve products that you already use.

Add essential oils to a sorbolene cream or similar to create a unique moisturizer. Oils can also be added to your existing moisturizer to improve it. You can also use essential oils to create unique shampoo and conditioner. Many health food stores sell 'rainwater' base solutions for this purpose.

Your options are limitless when it comes to producing aromatherapy products. Soaps, lip balms, body moisturizers are just a few of the products you can create using aromatherapy. Think of the things that you currently use. All of these things can be made using aromatherapy.

Another use for essential oils is to create natural cleaning products. Oils with antiseptic or disinfectant properties are perfect for this purpose. The added benefit of this is that unlike traditional cleaners, there will be no harsh chemical smell left behind after cleaning.

To get started with aromatherapy, look on the internet or head to your local health food store and purchase an aromatherapy book. A good site or book will not only contain recipe blends, they will also list the properties of each essential oil, so that once you become more comfortable using them, you can begin to make your own blends, based on your specific needs.