TweetI don't think they are a scam but, like everything, it gets blown up in marketing and everyone flocks to it for a cure! Lavender essential oil has been very calming for me and others have helped too.

TweetI know this won't sound too manly but I actually make bath soap and shaving soaps for personal use and friends and family. I use essential oils in all of my soaps, unless making unscented by request, and in some instances I use fragrance oils when EOs are too costly. In addition, I make my wife lotions and body butters, which are also scented with EOs and she loves them.

The first thing everyone has to understand is the difference in pure essential oils vs fragrance oils. This may be obvious to some but for those who don't know, it's worth explaining. Essential oils are distilled from the actual flower or leaves, such as lavender or rose or orange. Fragrance oils on the other hand are synthetic and therefore have no medicinal properties. However, if one is merely interested in a nice scent, there are some very nice fragrance oils.

I don't know how effective EOs are for medicinal purposes such as for healing or treating specific conditions. However, there are a few that I find benefits from in some regards. Eucalyptus Oil is good for chest congestion and/or to clear up your breathing (think Vicks), and lavender and cedarwood tend to relax me. My wife and I have a steam diffuser in our bedroom that we use once in a while when going to sleep. The only oils we really use in it are Atlas or Virginian Cedarwood, 40/42 Lavender, and Eucalyptus.

When used in soaps I can't say whether I am benefiting from EOs to be honest. I think a lot of it is has to do with my mindset. I just like a nice scent when I'm showering or shaving and don't really care about medicinal benefits. One thing I do like though is menthol. It's quite the experience to shave while your face is cold, or even freezing if you add enough menthol and/or peppermint essential oil. This combination is great in a shampoo bar too.

There are other uses for essential oils such as insect repellants and cleaning agents. I haven't experimented with any of those but orange and other citrus oils are obviously very popular for cleaning products.

Tweeti think scents can have calming properties but lavender EO is not going to cure a manic episode like xanax.

i can say I do not think they will cure a disease. agree with baby. if it helps a little in calming or relaxing then it works but do not try to cure cancer with em

TweetI'm sort of in the same boat as JsJs24, I'm a scent fanatic. Not sure about them for medicinal purposes, but I love different scents and creating different fragrances.

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Originally Posted by Yohimbe

but I love different scents and creating different fragrances.

what do you use them for? HAHA

Tweetlove my oils and I carry a couple with me everyday

Tweetlavender gives me a migrane big time. we have one that's pretty good we use with the fascia blaster but i cant remember what it is

TweetNo doubt aromatherapy has reproduceable positive effects. As far as the skin absorbing things into the muscles, I dont know about that. Like epson salt baths have been proven by science to be no better than the same thing in just a hot bath in just water. Epson salts do not get thru the skin barrier down into the muscle. But people still think they do

TweetYou can catch me sniffing my oil at softball games, in the truck,lol. I have to remove myself from all that stimulation from peeps at the game, here and there

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Originally Posted by jipped genes

what do you use them for? HAHA

Aroma therapy for those long cardio sessions with the fiance.

Totally kidding... I wish lol. Mostly just trying to make my own fragrance soaps and stuff. I'd love to try making colognes and perfumes one day. I'm a scent junkie.

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Originally Posted by Yohimbe

Aroma therapy for those long cardio sessions with the fiance.

Totally kidding... I wish lol. Mostly just trying to make my own fragrance soaps and stuff. I'd love to try making colognes and perfumes one day. I'm a scent junkie.

Are you making regular bath soaps or shaving soaps too? I know it probably sounds lame to a lot of guys out there, or at least my friends think so, but I bet there's a scent fore everyone. I've seen everything from gun powder to motor oil, margaritas, gin and tonic, the Ozark Mountains, The Beach, and about anything else someone can dream up.

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Originally Posted by JsJs24

Are you making regular bath soaps or shaving soaps too? I know it probably sounds lame to a lot of guys out there, or at least my friends think so, but I bet there's a scent fore everyone. I've seen everything from gun powder to motor oil, margaritas, gin and tonic, the Ozark Mountains, The Beach, and about anything else someone can dream up.

Anyone who thinks that is lame is stupid. You cant underestimate the power of the olfactory part of the brain. It is tied right into the part of the brain that recalls memory and it triggers all kinds of emotions...Its super powerful...Yes, I think everybody has different dna that responds to various scents...It can impact your life so why not spend time learning about it. I think its fucking cool that your making stuff like that. Fuck em if they dont like it

TweetA friend of mine sells essential oils for Doterra. I've been doing a lot of research for him on PubMed and there are actually a lot of studies now showing the effectiveness of essential oils in the medical setting. For example, lavender oil has proven to be as effective as Lorazepam for reducing anxiety, but it doesn't have any of the side effects that Lorazepam has. Also, the compounds found in doterra's Deep Blue Polyphenil Complex are the exact same ones used in a PubMed study that showed taking these compounds reduces a man's prostate specific antigen level.
They have also found that a combination of frankincense and myrrh is very effective as an antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and actually has been shown to kill some anti bacteria resistant diseases.

That in many of them just smell amazing.:-)