When it comes to Aromatherapy Maths, there is a lot of confusion around it, especially for those outside the Aromatherapy world. I apologize in advance for the maths in this post. For example, we know that Eucalyptus globulus essential oils contain around 50% to 85% 1,8 cineols (eucalyptol). This percentage of 1,8 cineole makes up the entirety of a 10ml bottle of pure Eucalyptus Blue Gum oil. However, when we are adding lets sa,y 5 drops of this oil (let's say it contains 85% 1,8 cineole) to a blend, do those 5 drops still contain 85% 1,8 cinole? In standard medicinal preparations, the percentage of a chemical constituent is based on the volume of the medicine, specifically expressed as % w/v or as volume in volume (% v/v). So an example of this would be a bottle of 100mls of medicinal liquid with 5% active constituent - w/v would be lets say, 5 grams of a constituent in a 100ml solution. If you dilute this solution further into a 200ml solution, the amount of active constituent would be 2.5% (2.5g), not 5%. This does not seem to be the case with Aromatherapy, or at least that is what has been indicated to me, though no one has truly explained this clearly and rationally to me yet in an aromatherapy context. I have been told that if a chemical constituent is 85%, then no matter the volume you are blending 15mlx, 30mls, 100mls the chemical constituent will always remain 85%. This is what confuses many non-aromatherapists, as logically, the more you dilute a formulation, the lower the percentage of the chemical constituents should be, which would therefore affect dosage. Using the standard medicinal preparation example from before, let's say 10mls of the 5% medicinal solution is the daily dose. If you diluted it to 200mls, the daily dose changes to 20mls a day in order to get a full dose. This also plays into formulation. If I am making a respiratory salve with Eucalyptus globulus containing 85% 1,8 cineole and Ravintsara, which contains 50% 1,8 cinole, using the confusion aroma maths that is often taught, your final formulation would contain 135% 1,8 cineole.

Which Aromatherapy book(s) do you ENJOY reading. Not because of its informative content necessarily, but because of the way it is written which makes you feel calm, engaged and happy, rather like the first meme thingy. Mine are in the second meme. I've also added 3 books, which, not directly related to Aromatherapy, but all the same, I enjoy reading and dipping into when I'm researching perhaps, or just dip into on rainy days over a nice cuppa. So, which are your favourite Aromatherapy, or related books, that you enjoy reading, not for reference/info?

Come on @John Payne @Ernie Boxall and @Matthew Sulpizi what are your favourite smells, keep it clean! 😂 For the Aromatherapists in our tribe...... which eo's could we combine to replicate their fav smell's? Aaand.....go!......

I’m often asked this question and I do have a couple of answers depending on time of day as in my experience night sweats are somewhat different to the bright red daytime flush. My nighttime go to is a hydrosol spritz containing adaptogenic hydrosols such as geranium and lavender with a touch of peppermint for physical cooling. For daytime I think it’s hard to beat reflexology. So what’s your go to, either for yourself or your clients?

What do you think about maximum dilution? Fairly recently, I came across this Product a Headache Pain Relief Roller Bottles by the Aussie brand Thursday Plantation. This roll-on blend just contains Peppermint essential oil and jojoba. It specifically contains 10.5% v/v of Peppermint essential oil. According to Robert Tisserand, Peppermint has a maximum dermal dilution of 5.40%, which is roughly 15 drops of Peppermint per 10ml of Fixed Oil (as per the Tisserand Dilution Guidelines for Essential Oils Infograph) So this roll on by Thursday Plantation is double to the dermal maximum. When I ran the oil in Blend Precisely, however, 15 drops of Peppermint in 10mls of fixed oil is not 5% but rather 7.89%. How would you approach these inconsistent maximum dilutions?