Justine (was Books and Blending)

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--- sunlvnbabe <sunlvnbabe wrote:

...... What I was wondering is how do you

> know how many drops per each oil to add? Do

> you just do it based on the top notes, etc., or

based on properties of each oil? Like if I

> were going to make a blend with lavender and

> Roman chamomille, how do I know how much of

each to add? <<<<<<

 

Justine,

 

I do it by the size of the bottle and what I want

the blend to do and the properties of the oil and

the sensitivity of the oil.

 

Sounds complicated but it isn't.

 

1. I start with what I want the oil to do for

me.

 

2. I look through Syvia's Practioner's manual and

see what oils work best for my area of concern.

 

3. I check that list with the oils I have and

pull them all out.

 

4. Then I take 1 drop on either a perfume strip

or a paper towel and (hehe - everyone does it

differently) sit up straight closing my eyes and

inhaling the oil through my nose. I hold it for

a couple of seconds then let my breath out my

mouth. I then do a check of my body to see if it

likes that oil and how the body is reacting to

it.

 

5. I make 3 groups (really like), (really

dislike) and (ahhhh okay) and each oil goes in

one of these groups. Now you might be thinking,

but won't the oils I like best all the time

always be the ones I am using. Nothing is

further from the truth! Your body is picking the

oils that will work for it. Sounds crazy but it

works well for me and the few people I still

blend for. NOTE: After smelling 3 essential oils

smell some coffee beans to refresh your nose or

all the oils will start smelling the same.

 

6. Go back to the (really liked) grouping and

take a clean paper tower and select your

favorites of those. Now, this does not have to

be the body selecting the oils, only your

personal likes or dislikes because some of the

oils in this group may be ones that you don't

really like but your body is telling you that it

is helping where you need it.

 

7. Start with 2 oils. Place 1 drop on the clean

paper towel. Now add 1 drop of the 2nd oil right

ontop of the first. Then do your inhaling

together. Let your body tell you if that

combination is working. Now add the 3rd oil you

had selected. Again one drop ontop of the other

2. Clean your sense of smell with the coffee

beans then do your inhaling again. I usually do

this for 3 different papertowel groups. By this I

mean different combinations of the oils I

selected from my really liked pile for a total of

3 combinations. This helps you decide if one of

them will work better than another and if they

blend well together.

 

8. After deciding what oils to use you then will

start blending. Blending is quite often

(especially when first starting out) a trial and

error play time.

 

9. Next I pull out Martin's handy dandy Plant

Aromatics and check his different charts and see

what is the maximum that has been used in trials

and divide that by 4. (Example: A 16% of

Lavendula officinalis has been tested without

causing any irritation or sensitisation on

humans. So 16% divided by 4 = 4%= 4 parts)

 

10. I then will take 4 drops and place in a

small, amber, glass bottle. And do the same with

all the other oils I am using. This gives me my

syngery and I label it for future use.

 

11. Now I select my carrier oil and put it in

(for this example a 1 oz/30 ml bottle).

 

12. For 30 ml, the aromatherapy novels tell you

take the size in ml and divide by 2 and that

gives you the number of drops to use. IMHO, that

is just way too much most of the time. Now

multiply your 30ml bottle by say 2%. (math is my

downfall and my SO does this part for me most of

the time). To me 2% of 30 ml is .06 which would

(and I think I am wrong all the time but it has

worked each time), so I would use 1 drop of the

synergy you made. Many people use 1.5%or 5%

etc., this to me is a choice that people make

themselves.

 

13. Shake your blend up really well. Do a skin

patch test then after it comes out positive you

are good to go.

 

Now I know this did not answer your question of

'how will you know how many drops'. So if I did

not have access to all the absolutely must have

books and monographs that those of us who sell

blends quite often have, I would take the size of

the bottle (4 oz/120 ml) and divide it by and use

that for the number of drops of my synergy. So

120 divided by 4 = 4, therefore, I would use 4

drops in a 4 oz bottle. This is the safest way I

can say to do it.

 

I am hoping that many more people with more

experience like Chris or Marge will jump in here

and help answer this. It is so much of a

personal/professional judgment call that it is

almost a mute point. I always veer toward the

saying in aromatherapy " less is better " and

toward safety. The essential oils used at one

time usually does the trick for the area of

concern and to me is the safest.

 

Always remember that the above was said with an

adult in mind and if you are blending for a baby,

young child or elderly person then reduce the

amount you use in the blend by half. Their skin

is more sensitive than yours or mine and must be

treated accordingly.

 

Now how do you, again without good reference

materials, decide out Lavender and Chamomile the

number of drops to use?..... For me I aways use 4

parts Lavender to 1 part Chamomile.

 

Why? Because I think Chamomile is a much stronger

sedative than Lavender and because, to me,

Chamomile like rose, jasmine and ylang ylang

overpower a blend if you use too much. Chamomile

is one of the most gentle oils you can use but

it's aroma is just way to strong to use a lot.

 

Now because I have gone this far, I absolutely

must add the safety factors to this.

 

1. Have excellent ventilation (cross

ventilation).

2. Wear gloves when blending.

 

Why? Because you then have less chance of

becoming sensitized to essential oils.

 

I hope this helps and I really do hope some

others will jump in here with how they select the

number of drops they use or at least validate or

suggest better ways of doing all of the above.

 

Blending is an art and a science. The art part is

choosing the oils so that they blend well

together.

 

Also, please, remember that when you are talking

Top, Middle and Bottom (base) notes that mainly

applies to perfume. Blending in the perfume

industry is for a different end result than

blending for aromatherapy. Quite often when I am

blending for an invigorating synergy/blend there

is nothing but what are considered top notes in

it. And then for relaxation, it seems that mostly

'flowers' are used and they tend to be middle and

base notes. So all the talk of notes in blending

is conjective to say the least

 

With Chamomile being a stronger sedative you need

less of it than Lavender.

 

HTH,

 

Cheryl

 

 

 

 

 

 

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