Are you ready to start working with your own essential oils? It is time to start assembling your Aromatherapy Starter Kit!
There are seven basic scent families that your essential oils may fall into; a good starter kit would have one from each family.
- Camphor family: Eucalyptus, Camphor
- Citrus family: Lemon, Orange, Grapefruit
- Floral family: Lavender, Rose, Ylang Ylang, Geranium
- Herbal family: Rosemary, Sage
- Minty family: Peppermint, Spearmint
- Spicy family: Cinnamon, Clove
- Wood family: Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Fir
If you are just starting out in your adventures in aromatherapy, you probably don’t want to invest a whole lot of money. Some essential oils are going to be a lot less costly than others! The price of an essential oil depends on how much plant material is needed to make one ounce of essential oil. Jasmine and rose absolutes are very costly because they require so much plant material to produce so little essential oil.
An affordable starter kit (all oils under $5.00 for 10mL) could include:
- Cassia (Cinnamon)
- Cedarwood
- Clove
- Eucalyptus
- Grapefruit
- Lavender
- Lemon
- Lemongrass
- Lime
- Nutmeg
- Orange (sweet)
- Palmarosa (a floral in the lavender family)
- Patchouli
- Peppermint
- Pine
- Rosemary
- Rosewood (a much cheaper alternative to rose absolute!)
- Spearmint
- Spruce
- Tea Tree
- Ylang Ylang
The best thing to do is go and sniff! See which scents you like and which you don’t. Patchouli, for example, is a very particular scent. Some people love it and some people don’t. I’m not a big fan of lemongrass, since someone pointed out to me that it kind of smells like Lemon Pledge cleaning spray.
If you want to shop by mail or internet, there are a lot of great suppliers. One of my personal favorites is Soapbox U.S.A. — a huge selection of essential oils AND environmentally friendly packing materials!
Keep in mind that your essential oils should be stored in a cool, dark place — your fridge is perfect, if you can spare the space. The oils will not go rancid like a cooking oil might, but the scent will fade after a while. Keep your oils fresher longer by not leaving them uncapped — exposure to air results in oxidization, or a chemical reaction between the oxygen in the air and the essential oils. Your undiluted essential oils are best kept in glass containers.