In this week's blog I would like to begin our discussion about essential oils. There is much to be said about them and much to learn. Let's begin learning about essential oils and how they are used by us at Legit Raw. 

The Legit Raw charcuterie board

 

What are they?

According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, essential oils are "any of a class of volatile oils that give plants their characteristic odors and are used especially in perfumes and flavorings, and for aromatherapy". The word volatile sounds a bit alarming but it simply means that the oil evaporates quickly. A fixed oil would be one that does not evaporate. An essential oil then contains the essence of that plant or fruit. They are very concentrated once extracted and it is this powerful concentration that makes them so effective.

 

How are they made?

There are several methods for creating or extracting essential oils.  The three outlined below are the most common. 

 

1. Mechanical extraction-if you have ever cut and squeezed a lemon rind to add some zest to your water then you have done a process of mechanical extraction. This type of extraction is done with fruits, where a large quantity of them are placed in a machine and the skins pierced or scraped to break the skin which contains the oil. Here is a video that demonstrates the process:

As you can see it takes a large quantity of citrus fruit to make concentrated extract. 

2. Steam distillation-this process is used for plant-based essential oils. Lavender or geranium oil would be two examples plant-based essential oils. The process is simple. The plant is steamed to draw out the oil. The steam is cooled and the oil is separated. This process also requires a large amount of plant material to yield a small amount of essential oil. Here is a short, detailed video explaining steam distillation:

3. Cold press-this is another method of extracting oils from citrus fruits. It works just like it sounds. The fruit or the rind of the fruit is squished or compressed so that its oils are released. Olive oil is made the same way. So is olive oil an essential oil? No it is not. Remember, essential oils are volatile in nature, meaning they easily evaporate when left exposed. Olive oil would be a fixed oil because it does not evaporate. 

 

Essential Oils and our skin

There are several benefits to essential oils. Let's focus on the benefits for our skin, since this is how Legit Raw uses essential oils in its hand soaps. 

Tea tree oil helps fight bacteria and inflammation. These are good properties to have in a hand soap and this is why we included tea tree oil in our Blissful Balance blend

Legit Raw Blissful Balance hand soap. Sage, rosemary and tea tree oil. 

 

Sage oil also has anti-microbial properties and is another good essential oil to have in a hand soap. 

Rosemary oil is known to have anti-inflammatory properties and is stimulating to our senses.

Each essential oil and its benefits are somewhat unique. It would be impossible to cover every single essential oil in a single blog post. We have featured three here in our Blissful Balance blend.

An important reminder for our customers: Please do not use or apply essential oils to your skin in their pure, concentrated form. Essential oils are very powerful and must be diluted in a carrier oil. A carrier oil is also a natural oil and it delivers the benefits of the essential oil to your skin while diluting the essential oil to safer levels. Carriers oils also have their own benefits for our skin. With our Blissful Balance blend, we use Blackberry extract to deliver our essential oils to your skin. 

Next week's blog post will be about carrier oils. They are a very important element in Legit Raw formulations and we will learn about them next week. 

I always like to include some personal insight or anecdote in the weekly blog. I have a couple of insights for you here now. 

The first is just a personal observation and a personal experience. I've been using our Legit Raw formulation for some time now. My hands have never felt better. My skin is soft and healthy. I wash my hands a lot. Constantly. I always washed my hands prior to Covid-19 but since the pandemic I have double my hand-washing efforts, maybe even tripled. Am I biased in my opinion? Of course I am! We spent a long time developing this formula and I am very proud of it. I think it's the best hand soap on the market but the market doesn't know it yet. It's really good stuff.

The second is a personal experience with undiluted essential oil. I ruined a perfectly good t-shirt by spilling undiluted orange blossom oil all over it (yes I am clumsy and no I haven't been allowed in the lab since).  The smell was overpowering and the oil stain would absolutely not come out in the wash. Now orange blossom is a wonderful smell but in concentrated form it is rather unpleasant and sickening. I also got some on my hands and it was difficult to wash that smell from my skin. Undiluted essential oil can be an unpleasant experience. As I mentioned earlier, essential oils are not to be used in their pure, undiluted form. 

Thank you for reading and we will see you next week. 

I'm Carlo Santin, co-founder of Legit Raw. I'm also an educator by day, a husband and a father of two sons. Welcome.