There's no doubt that aromatherapy is one of the most popular alternative therapies of the 21st century. The ease with which aromatherapy can be incorporated into everyday life and the availability of affordably-priced essential oils have both contributed to aromatherapy's recent surge in popularity. But the failure of the aromatherapy community to clearly define what aromatherapy is and isn't has allowed widespread exploitation of aromatherapy's reputation as a healing therapy. You need only to take a quick look down the aisles of your local supermarket to see the word "aromatherapy" on products ranging from hair spray to toilet cleaner.
The word "aromatherapy" comes from the French word "aromatherapie", a word coined in the 1920s by a chemist named Ren?-Maurice Gattefosse. Gattefosse "discovered" aromatherapy in 1910 after a small explosion in his lab left him with a serious burn on his hand. After plunging his wounded hand into an open vat of lavender oil, Gattefosse was reportedly amazed at the nearly instant relief from pain he experienced. Later, as his wound healed, Gattefosse experienced much less scarring than he expected and attributed his near-mirculous healing to the power of the lavender oil. Gattefosse went on to study various essential oils for their medical potential and eventually wrote a number of books, including his most famous, Aromatherapie, in 1928.
It wasn't until 1977 that the first important aromatherapy book was published in English. Robert Tisserand's Art of Aromatherapy was one of the first major aromatherapy texts to fully examine the healing potential of essential oils. Tisserand's book combined the medical, holistic and esoteric practices of aromatherapy and inspired dozens of authors to follow with their own aromatherapy books.
In the early 1980s, aromatherapy made its way to America when the door-to-door cosmetics company Avon introduced a small line of aromatherapy bath products. It took a few years for aromatherapy to truly catch on here in the U.S. but once it did, aromatherapy became a financial juggernaut for manufacturers willing to jump onto the botanicals bandwagon.
Today, the aromatherapy world is deeply divided between those who believe in the liberal use of scents, whether natural or synthetic, and those who believe in the strict use of only pure botanically-derived essential oils. Clearly, aromatherapy is more complicated than just dropping a couple of drops of lavender oil into your favorite shampoo. But until the aromatherapy community takes a firm stand on exactly what aromatherapy can and cannot do, aromatherapy will never enjoy widespread acceptance in the mainstream scientific community. It will remain little more than a do-it-yourself therapy practiced mainly by fringe practitioners.
