Essential oils and regula

The difference between essential oils and regular or infused oils, as I have learned and some of you may be wondering, are as follows.

ESSENTIAL OILS:
Mainly fragrant and highly concentrated, as the process in which to do so extracts only certain types of oils from the flower, root etc. Essential oils differ in price from regualr or "infused oils" on account of the timely extraction process, mainly the most common one being hydrodistillation, a process in which steam removes the oils and collects it either ontop or under the newly condensed-back-to-liquid water vapor, as these oils and water will not mix.
However many the uses are for aroma therapy with these oils, it is not recommended that they come into contact with the skin unless diluted to a less concentrated concoction.
There is another meathod of extraction which results in a concoction mainly used in solid perfumes, that is safe for contact with skin. This process of adding a solvent turns the extracted oils into a waxy like substance that is fragrant all the same. The waxy substance is called a base or concrete.

INFUSED OILS:
These oils are also quite fragrant and less complicated to make, in my opinion, but do not have as many uses as essential oils, also in my opinion. An infused oil, as the name suggests, is made when plants, flowers, stems etc are added with a base oil such as sunflower or canola oil etc, to create a concoction of many different mixed oils. This process may also prove to be timely, however there are meathods that involve low temperatures over the course of eight or so hours in order to acheive an infusion of sorts. Compared to Essential oils, the prices are substantially lower, as essential oils are raw extractions, while infused oils are infused with many different oils of the plant resulting in less actual plant oil in the mix.



I have only been studying herbalism for about a year and a half now, so I am still quite new to this. However I do hope that the little knowledge I have put here helps with those who need clarification. I apologize if I may be a little off, like I said I am still pretty new to this.

Login or Signup to reply to this post.