Lavender Oil Health Scents

Lavender Oil is highly regarded for its pleasing smell, making it a popular addition to soaps, fragrances and aroma therapy candles. However, this oil extracted from the lovely lavender plant is more than just a pleasing fragrance. Lavender oil has been found to have many different health benefits from stress relief to joint pain making it a must have oil for everyone interested in holistic health and healing.

Here are some of the ways Lavender Oil can benefit you:

Stress Relief

One of the main reasons that many of us like to burn lavender scented candles is because of the oil's ability to relieve stress and tension. Just a few drops of the oil can help refresh the mind and can even promote sleep when applied to your pillow.

Congestion

Inhaling lavender oil via a vaporizer is a great way to help deal with congestion caused by colds or allergies. It is also a great way to find relief from sinus headaches.

Stings, Bites and Burns

Lavender Oil has natural analgesic properties making it an ideal application for bug bites and bee stings. Simple use a cotton swab to apply the oil to the affected area and the pain and irritation will cease. These same pain relieving properties also make the oil great for sunburns.

Joint Pain

Mixing lavender with jojoba oil is a great way to help massage away the pain caused by inflammation of the joints. This is especially ideal for people who are sensitive to over the counter pain medications. Be sure to get the massage done by an experience person in order to get the most use out of the oil.

Fungal Infections

Lavender has natural anti-fungal properties making it a natural treatment for athlete's feet. Simply soak your feet in warm water with a few drops of lavender oil. It is also affective against planter's warts as well as psoriasis.

Skin and Scalp Problems

Lavender is great for your skin. You can treat eczema and acne my mixing lavender oil with chamomile and applying it to the trouble spots.

Internally

Taken internally, lavender essential oil can help with digestion, blood circulation an d improve your digestive system. This is only recommended for adults.

Now you can see why lavender oil is such a popular addition to soaps, shampoos and perfumes. Having these products around can help a person find relief from stress and having the oil handy can help with all sorts of ailments. Since allergic reactions are possible and some people cannot handle the odor, be sure to test the oil out first before using it. Lavender oil is not recommended for small children, pregnant women or diabetics.

Soy Candles and Their Alchemy

Long ago, candles were important for everyday life, giving a source of lighting after sunset. These days, scented candles are a luxury - using fragrance to create varied moods, while their dancing flame soothes the mind.

Candles consist of two basic elements: 1) a fuel source i.e. wax and 2) a wick. The wick is significant to the candle function as it serves as the fuel delivery system.

A naked flame is used to ignite the wick, which then melts some of the wax at the candle exterior. The liquefied wax is drawn up through the wick fibres by capillary action - this is because of the way soy wax molecules adhere to the wick fibres.

After the soy wax reaches the uppermost part of the wick, it turns to vapour upon contact with the burning flame. Combustion occurs as hot soy wax vapour combines with oxygen, producing the candle flame. Heat and light are released in this exothermic reaction.

Interestingly, a candle wick only burns at its very tip. The other parts of the wick are involved in capillary action, and are protected from burning by the vaporisation of the fuel. This has to do with a chemical property named the latent heat of vaporisation, in which the fuel takes up much of the nearby heat, allowing it to change from liquid to gas. This effect maintains the wick at a lower temperature than it would typically be.

The flame keeps burning, generating generous amounts of liquid wax, which is used as a fuel and vaporised. This creates the highly fragrant essential oils into the air.

Why are natural soy wax candles good?

Soy is a native East Asian plant that is both a renewable material and biodegradable - hence it is an eco-friendly option for the responsible consumer. The soy plant can be continually developed without harming the natural ecosystem.

To generate soy wax, the soy beans are farmed from the plant and processed into oil, which is then distilled and hydrogenated. Converting unsaturated fatty acids into saturated fat - generating a firm creamy white wax.

Soy wax has the benefit that it is slow burning due to its low melting point, this results in appreciably longer burn times for soy candles. It is also a very clean burning wax, and does not discharge dangerous chemicals such as toluene and benzene as paraffin based candles can.

The consistency of soy wax allows for candles with a stronger scent and a purer scent throw.