What are hydrolats aromatherapy, and why they are useful for health?
Hydrolates – also known as hydrosols – described as “the next Aromatherapy. They are safer than essential oils, most easy to use and softer. But what exactly are hydrolats?
Most essential oils are produced by a process of steam distillation. Here’s how:
It takes a lot of, for example lavender stalks and put them in a still. Then allow steam to pass through the plant material. (It is much better to do this under a gentle gentle pressure and temperature. Higher temperatures give higher yields but lower quality).
As the plant is exposed to steam, many active chemicals in the plant are released into the vapor is condensed (cooled by passing a tube of cold air). The steam is converted back to water, but now the water has many wonderful natural healing chemicals that were in the plant.
Now here’s the interesting part: Some of these chemicals are called hydrophilic (which means they love water and dissolve in it), while others are oily and “hydrophobic” (which are repelled by water). Out of this blend of oily water for 15 minutes or less, separating the two parts quickly, like vinegar and oil are separated when left to their fate. The plant oil is “essential oil” and water is known as hydrolat or a hydrosol.
Thus we can understand that, in general, the hydrolat contains water-soluble chemicals from the plant, while the essential oil contains chemicals are not soluble in water.
Now consider something else: the human body is composed of water about 60%. Water is the major compound in each cell in the body, and also in the liquid around the outside of cells.
So if you want to achieve balance, the therapeutic powers of plants to the cells of our body, would not make much sense to use that dissolve in water? We can begin to see the power of the hydrolat!
Hydrolates are ideal for use in situations involving great sweetness and delicacy. They can be used in children (including infants), the elderly, and many vets use them too.
A word of warning. Hydrolates can be a bit unstable, and therefore are often adulterated with alcohol and preservatives o. These chemicals certainly preserve its life, but can adversely affect their therapeutic value. Therefore, it is always best to try to find hydrolats that are pure and 100% pure, but come from a trusted vendor that tests every batch of the existence of microbes.
You will be familiar with some hydrolats already. True ‘Rose Water “is actually increased hydrolat. Witchhazel, which is a wonderful natural antioxidant, which is ideal for skin care is hydrolat Hamamelis plant. You may be familiar with the orange blossom water (neroli hydrolat), and the lavender water courses.
Lisa Beverley writes highly informative and researched articles for end consumers about a variety of health care topics including remedies, Health and Fitness, Nutrition, Slimming, weight loss products, bodybuilding supplements and diet tips.
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