Forest Scents

What is Hydrosol? Hydrosols or hydrolates are the condensate water produced during distillation of plant material for aroma therapeutic purposes. Hydrosol contain all of the plant in every drop, it is gentlest and safest aromatics use in caring for your skin. What is Not Hydrosol? Water with fragrance oil or essential oils added is not hydrosol. For example, Rose water that contains water, Rosa Dascena extract, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate and citric acid is not hydrosol. Pure distilled water and essential oil of Neroli also is not hydrosol as well. Therefore, double check the content with your supplier before purchasing it. Storage and Handling Always refrigerate your hydrosols especially in Malaysia, due to the weather is humid and hot. Check your hydrosols whether your supplier have added any preservative or alcohol in it and store it according to the suggested due date. I prefer to keep another small spray bottle for the hydrosol that I always used to avoid over...

It is now very common to hear people say about G6PD deficiency, such as  “My child has G6PD deficiency… what foods to avoid?” Yes, G6PD deficiency is prevalence in worldwide, affecting 10% of the world population with approximately 400 million people. In Malaysia, around 1 in 10 children are G6PD deficiency. What is G6PD deficiency? 6-phosphate dehydrogenase  (G6PD) deficiency is a common genetic enzyme deficiency.  This enzyme deficiency will increase the vulnerability of red blood cells to oxidative stress . If the G6PD deficiency person is infected or expoused to oxidative stimuli drugs or chemical agents,  the red blood cells will damaged in large scale and it will lead to acute haemolysis.  Excessive bilirubin produced during acute haemolysis will cause liver overloaded and resulted in jaundice. G6PD deficiency has another name called  favism , I believe the name is derived from fava beans where acute heomolysis can be triggered by consumpti...

During a weekend, my parents and I traveled to Fraser Hills for two days one night herb camp. During the camp, my mum gets a stung by a bee. She felt a sharp pain at her index finger when she tried to chase away the bee. The bee died after it stung. My mum removed the sting immediately and her friend asked her to apply Mopiko ointment on the stung area. After sometimes, her index finger became swelling and red . The herb teacher told her to apply garlic on her index finger. She tried it but my mum dislike the smell of the garlic. Essential Oils Treatment Then I suggested her to put one to two drops of lavender essential oil neat on her swelling area for three times a day (this is the only essential oil I brought during the trip). For one and a half day, her stung area recovered, and she is very happy with that. From that day onward, she became my ambassador for lavender oil. You can also mix with vinegar when preparing the remedy. Vinegar is alkaline; it can help to n...

I remembered that in the same year, I had involved in two small car accidents. Thankfully, everything is fine except my car. Although without any major injuries and no indication for hitting my head.  I find that my body has some effects result from the car accident, emotionally and physically affected.  My neck muscle pulling me makes me discomfort results from the seat belt, body trembling just after the accident, nausea, tired and without energy, fear and mild shock for several days. You will really feel insecure because you can feel that accident can happen anytime, anywhere. My body undergone stress and my sympathetic nervous system prepare me in fight-or-flight mode to response to those stresses.  This response prepares my body to either fight or flee from threat in order for survival. You will not be surprised reading newspaper pertaining to a mum lifting up a car to save her beloved daughter during emergency. What Happen in Fight-or-Flight Mode? Adr...

A patient who ingested large quantities of celery soup eaten before UV irradiation has been reported suffered for severe sunburn. Bergamot oil  (citrus bergamia) in  eau de cologne  had been described to cause hyperpigmented lesions. A woman burned her one arm and leg after a 20-minute session on a sunbed, taken immediately after a sauna with lemon oil. All the issues reported above are the side effects and contra-indication when using plants and essential oils. One of the safety consideration as mentioned in my previously article  Essential Oils Safety and Toxicity is phototoxicity . Today, we are going to delve further into this. What is Phototoxicity? Phototoxicity is  a form of photosensitivity that is not depended on immunologic response. It is the result of  direct cellular damage caused by the reaction between photoactive agents and sunlight or ultraviolet (UV) light at the same time . This means, without the exposure to UV light, the ...

Have you ever ask yourself this question: why do I get sick? I believe all of us want a healthy and wealthy life, but sometimes it goes against our will, and we get sick. But, do you really try to understand the reasons behind our sickness? Maybe you are not sure what I mean… Therefore, I tried to categorize it into two kind of sickness: sickness of the heart and sickness of the body. 1) Sickness of the Heart Sometimes we fall sick because we “wanted” to. “No way, I definitely not!” … this might be your first response. “Who want to get sick anyway!” Try to recall, have you ever fall sick when you wanted to run away from a thing you hate most or a job that make you sick? If yes, in a way, it is regarding to the payoff we get when we fall sick. Many years ago, I read an interesting case mentioned that a woman cancer kept recurring although the treatment was successfully every time. At last, the doctor noticed that her health issue is related t...

Are all essential oils completely safe to use? Same for herbs, are all herbs completely safe? In order to be able to understand whether they are safe or not, first of all, you need to understand the concept of toxicity. What is Toxicity? According to Merriam-Webster, toxicity refers to the quality, state or relative degree of being poisonous material which can cause harm or death on you, or any other animal or plant (living organism) . The damage may occur in many forms and various levels. Some toxic cause immediate death and some toxic are chronic where you might only realized it after few months or years. It is Natural, so it must be Safe? A lot of people think that essential oil is natural, so it must be safe. Aconite is a natural plant and it is one of the herbs use in Traditional Chinese Medicine, but it is extremely poisonous plant. There are few fatal cases of aconite poisoning reported by drinking the homemade medicated liquor containing aconite...

One day, my friend asked me to recommend her a “therapeutic grade” essential oils’ brand. What does she means? Is she looking for the essential oil that has therapeutic effect on her? Or she is concerning on the product safety? Or she is looking for high quality and non-adulteration products? According to Stewart (2005)… “A therapeutic grade essential oil is defined here as one that is specially distilled from plants that are cultivated organically or grown wild in a clean environment (not gathered along a busy highway). Plants should be from proper botanical genus, species, and cultivar. No chemical fertilizers are added to the soil, and crop cultivation is free of herbicides and pesticides. Essential oils should be extracted by steam distillation at minimum temperatures and pressures, as was done in ancient times. No chemical solvents are used in the extraction process.” In my teacher  Jade Shutes  article, she does mention that this “therapeut...

Pharmacokinetics is the term use to describe the study of  how the essential oils are absorbs, distributes, metabolizes and excretes by the body . There are many studies on cosmetic and drugs pharmacokinetics, but essential oils pharmacokinetics study is relative new. According to Worwood, one the effective ways is through skin absorption. Perez also agreed that massage is the most efficient method to help body recover from stress and illness, as well as regenerating whole being. However, massage has contraindications and sometimes it is not appropriate to use massage. Besides, it is hard to perform self massage also. Therefore, different approach is necessary. 1) Inhalation Inhalation is the easier application methods, you can either use steam inhalation, necklace diffuser or diffuser. (a) Steam inhalation Put 5 to 6 drops of essential oils in a bowl of steaming hot water (2 liters), put your head near the steaming bowl and cover your head and the bowl with towel. Bre...