The Complete Aromatherapy and Essential Oils Handbook for Everyday Wellness

(WARNING- this is an in depth review for those who are serious about looking for a good aromatherapy book. If you just want a quick write up, look at the section I have titled THE BOTTOM LINE) In the world of aromatherapy, I have found it nearly impossible to find a book which outlines all of the information that I am interested in. Many of the books have some good information, but I find them to be quite incomplete and the layouts are not always what I would like. My idea of a perfect set up is to have the oils outlined individually with what they go with, their properties, and how to use them. Then I like to have ideas for conditions or health issues. Recipes are a nice touch too. This book does have the best set up of any that I have read so far (I have read quite a few now), but it does not have pictures. HOW IS THIS BOOK SET UP The first small section has explanations about oils and things that you should know. It covers phototoxicity, sensitization, cautions, allergies, and oils that should only be used by professionals, not the home aromatherapist. The next section covers properties of oils, including the five key oils that you should build off of. Why you should pay attention to the botanical names is another topic covered. There is a chart for terms of oils, what the property of that class of oil is, and what oils fit into that class. This is the section that breaks down oils individually and explains the oil, the botanical name, and uses for the oil. Cautions (and tips )for oils are in gray boxes in the margin, making them easy to reference at a glance. The next section has explanations of individual hydrolats, carrier oils, basic massage oil blends and treatment bases, infused oils, and how to make infused/macerated oils. In Part 2 the book breaks down individual conditions and gives remedies for them. This is inclusive of a wonderful index right at the beginning of the section so you can quickly look up what you need to find and get there without a lot of flipping through the book. Cautions and tips are once again in the margins. Within this section are recipes for different applications of oils depending on the ailment. There are bath recipes, massage blends and infusion blends too, as well as other application ideas. Part 3 has Personal Care recipes. This cover skin problems, charts for oils for each type of problem, face and skin treatment recipes for eyes, face and body, as well as neck blend. There is a section for hair recipes, bath blends, deodorant, fragrance blends, mouth and tooth care, household recipes, laundry and massage. Part 4 has essential information like measurements, equipment, percentages, storage, and a decent glossary. There is a resource guide to get supplies, internationally and in the US, bibliography and a decent index for the entire book. THE BOTTOM LINE It is difficult to find a book which contains ALL of the information that you would like to see for aromatherapy, but this book has a very thorough and well laid out assortment of information. The set up makes the book easy to move quickly through when you need help, not just for pleasure reading. Many oils are outlined and there are all sorts of recipes for a wide variety of uses in addition to physical ailments. If I had to start with only one book, this would be it. It seems to be well balanced with caution but also helpfulness in using essential oils in many different ways that work. It is one of the most complete books I have found that is easy to read and move through to date. I am giving this five stars because to date it is one of the best books out there for essential oils. If I could change anything about it, it would be to include photos of the plants that the oils are from but that is just because I like to see that information. It does not reduce my rating for the book.

I bought this as a gift for someone who I knew wouldn't want something as huge and in depth as Wormwood's Comlete Book is. Well, it turned up, and I had a quick flick, and loved what I saw. So I checked it out from the library too for myself. This book is outstanding! The layout is clean, it has great safety information in places where you will see it, it is comprehensive and to be honest, I believe better than Wormwoods Book, which is categorized by lifestage.... which sounds good until you are looking for something and find it tucked away under men, or child, and you are a woman- not that this is offensive, but just inconvenient and not intuitive. THIS book however is highly user friendly. It covers a wide range of illnesses and recipes, and in the weeks I borrowed it, I found myself using this far more consistently than any other (incl. Lawless and Wormwood). Whatever I needed, I found, including multiple options to really hone down my recipe. Substitutions are suggested, meaning you don't need 100 oils... but let's face it, it's nice when a book gives you the excuse for another... I got this thinking this would be a great entry level book. It is, and far more. It covers safety, including warnings of not ingesting (gargling ok) unless directed by a certified practitioner, cancer and essential oils, children (including blends for special needs), dilution ratios, and a bunch of recipes. Sure, other books may claim more, then you see that in other books three recipes count for one problem... in which case more is not necessarily better. This author instead gives you the tools to safely create countless combinations. So, I am here tonight for a second copy. For me to keep!!! Wish I had bought this before buying Wormwoods Complete Book, or Lawless' Complete Sourcebook as I'd have only got this! Already recommended this book to another enthusiast, and doing so also to you reading this. Hope this helps!

Purchased this book to add to my growing reference library of all things aromatherapy and essential oil. This book has been an amazing resource and is full of reference materials and detailed information. I have learned so much from all the individual essential oil profiles as well as how to safely use them. The ideas, recipes and how to's of this book are invaluable. I refer to this book on a regular basis and consider it a valuable asset to my library. It was by far one of the best investments I have made on an essential oil book and I highly recommend anyone who is interested in learning more about essential oils to consider this book. It truly provides knowledgeable and informative safety an usage information that is very detailed. It has tons of recipes for personal care, health and wellness, as well as for the home. It includes a wonderful chart of key essential oils and their properties. This is great if you are looking for a quick reference for a specific property. For example, if you are looking for oils that have antiviral or antimicrobial properties, it will list the most common. It educates the reader through the various essential oil profiles which is very detailed background, properties, uses, safety, etc. of each oil covered. It also covers a section on hydrolates and their profiles and uses.It has profiles on numerous carrier oils and also has in depth information and recipes on infused oils. The Remedies section is an invaluable resource. Just look up the condition and everything you need to know, including recipes and usage is right there at your fingertips. There are sections for teeth and gums, travel, pregnancy and childbirth, women's health, and on and on. I own numerous essential oil books and this one is always my go to resource. I utilize this book on an almost daily basis and love how user friendly it is. It is worth every penny and then some! If you don't already have this great little book in your resource library, you should. You won't regret it!

This is a wonderful book. The information is good, and is organized so that it is super easy to use it as a quick reference when looking up an oil with a particular property, or when looking to see what an oil does. My only disappointment is that it does not tell how to develop a blend of your own. It is a simple process to select several oils that have similar actions, but there is no direction to determine what proportions of each oil to add to a blend without following one of the pre-made blend recipes at the back of the book.

I recently got interested in essential oils. I started to learn from the internet . I believed that watching Youtube, reading the information given by essential oil companies, and Amazon"Look inside's" would be sufficient, but I quickly discovered that they left a lot of questions unanswered and also that a little knowledge is at time more dangerous than no knowledge at all, especially in terms of how to, how much and how safely use EO's. I ordered a few books and borrowed a few others at the library. The cheaper books were not not very useful. Two books came as the best: The Complete Book of Essential Oils and Aromatherapy by Valerie Worwood and this book. I much prefer this book over the Worwood's because it is better laid out and more easily approachable. The authors present 90 EO's. Some other oils are missing because they are rare, prohibitively expensive (or maybe unsafe).So is the case for Calendula which is presented in a separate section on how to make your own infused oils. I found the reference charts for conditions and the best oils approprite for them most useful.There are sections about children, skin care, haircare, massages, recipes for cosmetics( deodorant, bath oils, scrubs, mouth wash, colognes...). The authors are very clear in the dosage and ways to use each oil/ blends and are always concerned about safety.The recipes are not extravagant as I have seen in some of the other books. I do not think I have seen blends exceeding 4 EO's. I also appreciated the fact that the information was down to earth. Some of the information I have not found in other books, like what is the difference between a water and a hydrasol (ex: rose) All in all, this is a very thorough, useful piece of work, great for the beginner as well as the more informed.

As a clinical aromatherapist and herbal/essential oil educator, I am often asked, "what would be the *one* book you would recommend to set someone up for success in working with essential oils?" THIS IS THAT BOOK. Nerya and Lora have provided a comprehensive volume with both breadth and depth. Their book: - empowers you to work safely and effectively - speaks to a wide variety of essential oils - provides detailed information for unique contraindications - outlines safe blending practices - includes information on blending for babies and children - offers invaluable base recipes and insight into carrier oils, hydrosols, and infused oils, and - provides a HOST thoughtful remedies and recipes for personal care, wellness, and the home With a user-friendly layout and helpful, thoughtful tone, the book is relevant and useful for both aromatherapy beginners and experienced blenders. Tips and cautions are provided in the margin and helpful reminders, "links", and resources are provided throughout the book. Compelling information for each oil, including subtle energetics, is provided in a master list of essential oils. Relevant oils for individual concerns are also conveniently included where you want them most--right below the concern you seek to address! The recipes provided leverage the broad spectrum of essential oils outlined, but most do not require you to have dozens of oils on hand to craft them; handy substitutions are also provided for those who may not have a particular oil on hand. If you are eager to begin crafting your own aromatherapy products for the benefit of your family's wellness, this book provides a thoughtful, up-to-date, and comprehensive way to begin safely working with essential oils to address your concerns and improve your quality of life. Even if you are an experienced blender, the book provides many useful tips and fresh insights--I can't recommend it highly enough!

I recently started using essential oils for skin care, health care and cleaning and realized there is so much to learn! Not only is there a lot to learn, there is a lot of misinformation out there in the world of aromatherapy and essential oils, so finding reliable sources for information is a little confusing. This book was recommended to me by some friends who have been using essential oils for at least a year so I knew it was one that would have some of the more reliable information in it. I haven't been disappointed so far! One of the things I like best about this book is that, not only does it shave valuable information on how to use essential oils safely, it also provides a section of the book that describes each essential oil (there are some omissions, but I think as the world of aromatherapy and essential oils grows, this tends to happen.) including it uses, precautions, its Latin botanical name, and at least a couple paragraphs of general info for each oil. This has been a great resource for me as I've been making my own health care products and need to reference which oils will be most effective. This book also includes a section for carrier oils and hydrolats which is very helpful. I also like that this book has very reference charts throughout the book that you can use to quickly locate oils that will work for a certain ailment - this has come in quite handy! The remedies the book provides really go the whole gamut, including conditions that I really hope I never have to deal with, but am glad to know there are some natural options for treatment should I have to do so. Not only does this book include remedies for various medical conditions, it also provides a whole section on oils to travel with, oils for cleaning, and oils for hair and skin care. It's very thorough. That being said, I do usually cut a lot of their larger recipes in half when making them because they seem to be in very large portions - master blends with over 100 drops seems a little over the top - but you can decide that for yourself. Overall, I am very pleased with what this book has to offer and highly recommend it to anyone getting started with essential oils.

Have been learning about essential oils now for about a year or so and was looking for a good all around reference book. I have 4 or 5 different books now and find I like all of them for different reasons. Sometimes something will be covered in one book but not another. I really like The Healing Power of Liquid Copals by Bevonne Birch Crookston for it's holistic approach, and have found some tidbits of useful information I have not run across elsewhere, but it is not easy to quickly look something up. If I could only have one book, I am glad that is not the case, The Complete Aromatherapy and Essential Oils would probably be my pick so far. It seems to do a good job of covering a lot of oils, beauty and cleaning uses and remedies as well as being clear about the different methods of use. It includes recipes for blends and the index makes it reasonably quick to find answers to specific questions. It is not geared toward a specific essential oils company's products and I really like how the cautions for specific oils are placed outside the margin in a way that makes them noticeable. The book is large, printed on nice paper and lies flat when opened.

I purchased three books on the topic of Essential Oils and downloaded several more to my reader. This book contains the most detailed and well-researched information of all I've read (I have not read the Worwood book to be fair, that's my next purchase). Oils are individually listed and described, with uses and cautions. There is a short section on hydrolats/hydrosols as well. A large second section lists many ailments and provides a list of oils and recipes for each. There is a comforting amount of scientific information in this book and loads of practical information about properly storing, making up and using oils. Their recommendations for quantities in mixes are thoughtful - some books list so much oil in their recipes that a skin reaction seems almost likely. (Note that some of the mixes in this book need dilution and that one has to get used to the format and read a little further down the page to note that.) Carriers for oils and household cleaning recipes are discussed too. An index helps one navigate to find the recipes. A helpful table lists properties of oils and lists oils having that property, which helps with substitutions. The resource is a nearly perfect all-encompassing guide; note that it does not list information on some oils the authors feel should be used only by professionals - including wintergreen. What this is not: a quick flip-through multiple recipe book. If you want some quick ideas for a facial toner, get a cheaper oils for beauty book. There are layers of embedded information in this book that mean you need to work with it for a bit to get all the incredible value.

Very easy to use and tells me exactly what I need to know

I have had many books on aromatherapy. This is one of the better ones as it is very thorough and includes a lot of oils and recipes. It is one of those books you keep and you look stuff up when you need to.

Lo recomiendo, muy completo.

One word, Brilliant! Very easy to follow and a must have for those learning about how to use essential oils and to use them safely 😊😊😊