Essential oils impress with their ability to effectively affect not only the biochemical, cellular, physical level, but also the emotional, intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic realms of our lives. They offer a system of healing and pleasure that is in complete harmony with the person and their multi-faceted wholeness. These complex and highly effective substances concentrate the extraordinary power of nature.

The aromas penetrate deep within us. They awaken memories, stimulate emotions, positive or negative. Our first reaction to any cosmetic product is to bring it to our nose and smell it to see if we want to feel it with our other senses.

Each fragrance is self-contained, unambiguous.

It is impossible to describe the natural scent of lavender except as "the scent of lavender". There is no referent. If you breathe it in deeply and long, you will immediately realize that the synthetic perfume of lavender in no way approaches the natural essential oil of lavender. The latter offers a far more complex and sophisticated bouquet. The therapeutic potency of essential oils, which is completely absent from their synthetic counterparts, is also incomparable.

What are "essential oils"?

Sometimes they are called "aromatic" oils, in our country more often "essential". The term "essential" refers to the volatile nature of the oils. But the name 'oils' is not quite accurate either, because these substances do not contain fats and are only liquid at room temperature.

Essential oils are natural, organic substances obtained by distillation from plants during their natural flowering period. Their function is to protect the plant from insects, parasites, bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms. If the plant becomes diseased, they help its recovery. Depending on the plant, essential oils are contained in (and extracted from) different parts of the plant: flower, leaves, fruit bark, seeds, even roots and tree bark.

They resemble mother's milk - they are part of the plant, yet they are a separate component of it. The essential oil is not equivalent to the plant from which it is extracted, but "speaks" for it and bears its character. Essential oils are much more concentrated and subtle than the plant itself; they affect at higher levels and have a marked emotional effect.

The excellence of essential oils

Why "essential oils"? Why not just use something with a pleasant aroma, whether natural or synthetic?

Because synthetic or inorganic substances have no "life force"; they are not dynamic. Organic substances are those found in nature (like essential oils). "Organic" means "structural" - something characterized by "a systematic coordination of parts into a whole."

Natural structure cannot be reproduced artificially. We can synthesize chemical elements, but we cannot restructure them to create something organic.

Here's an example.

Take an apple and put it in the juicer. You get apple juice out of one end and apple pulp out of the other end. Now, mix the juice with the pulp. Did you get an apple again? No, because its structure has been irretrievably destroyed and no scientist can reproduce it.

Everything that surrounds us is made up of chemical substances, but organic substances like essential oils have a structure of which only Mother Nature is the author. Their vital force, their additional impulse, we find only in living beings. The same vital force moves both man and plants, and therefore they are in harmony.

Plants are chemical factories that inhabit the zone between light and dark, sun and earth, extracting energy from them and synthesizing it into carbohydrate, protein and fat molecules. They provide food for us and the animals we feed on. Plant cells resemble ours in that they have membranes, DNA and mitochondria.

We evolved together.

Applications

This is a broad topic that we will gradually expand in our next articles. Let us confine ourselves to saying that the effects of essential oils can be divided into two types:

• Physiological - acts directly on the physical organism.
• Psychological - acts on the mind through the sense of smell (although this pathway can also lead to a physiological effect)

Synthetic versus naturally essential

The cosmetic industry began to reproduce natural fragrances in synthetic equivalents in the 1920s.

These aromatic chemicals smell somewhat like their natural counterparts, but are many times cheaper.

Characterized by a simple molecular structure, these fragrances have neither the refined, balanced bouquet nor the rich multi-layered nature of natural essential oils.

From a purely chemical point of view, synthetic jasmine perfume, for example, consists of a single molecule, while natural jasmine essential oil is made up of hundreds of ingredients.

How to navigate in the sea of products?

Currently, 95% of fragrances used in cosmetics are fully or partially synthetic. In the "bar soap" category, 99% of the products on the market are scented with synthetic perfumes.

How do you navigate if you are looking for the truly natural?

As with everything else, through personal awareness and self-education.

We do not advise you to blindly trust labels (except ours☺).

Examples:

Only for the price, you can exclude soaps with the aroma of rose, jasmine, sandalwood, neroli, patchouli at a price of BGN 2.50 - 3.90.

The essential oil of (Bulgarian) rose or its specific is among the most expensive in the world, as well as the oil of jasmine, neroli, in the order of 10,000 - 15,000 euros/kg (we are not kidding).

There is no way that soap with any of these oils costs BGN 2.50 - 3.90. The same applies to soaps with the aroma of jasmine, neroli, sandalwood, patchouli, etc., which belong to the essential oils of the highest price range. Don't let them fool you.

But the higher price is not always a guarantee, because you will also come across very expensive soaps that are scented entirely with artificial fragrances at a price of BGN 10.00 - 24.00.

A glance at the composition of each product will guide you.

Essential oils are expensive ingredients and their use is a matter of prestige for brands that have chosen to integrate them into their product formulas. They are always listed in the INGREDIENTS/INCI section on the back of the package.

The essential oils in YOGHSOAP

At YOGHSOAP, we use only and extremely pure, undiluted essential oils to flavor the soap collection. We do not wish to mislead our customers or underestimate their sense of taste and smell. That's why we offer only the real fragrances in original combinations: 100% essential oils.

INSIDE our labels you will read the word "Parfum**" according to the International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients. This word can hide both synthetic perfumes and essential oils, unless there is the specification: *Essential oils.

In conclusion, what you smell is what you get.

Your sense of smell will not lie to you as the richness of natural aromas cannot be replicated.

Our nose senses them immediately. It is instantly distinguishable from their synthetic equivalents.

The choice is yours.

Happy soaping!