Ebooks doTERRA eBook Topical Use of Essential Oils | Page 6

Absorption
As you can see, the skin plays a vital role in protecting the body and
keeping it healthy. This gives us a greater understanding of how
topical application of essential oils can influence our health.
Essential oils are a lipid soluble substance, which allows them to
penetrate the skin easily. Topical application is an effective way
to use essential oils because once the oils are absorbed into the
skin, they will remain in the applied area—allowing users achieve
benefits in a localized area.
While essential oils absorb easily into the skin, you can increase
absorption and extend the benefits of the oils by massaging the oil
into the skin, or by using a carrier oil that will moisturize the skin as the
oil absorbs.
So how does it work?
We know that the skin has many functions that protect and regulate the rest of the body, and that essential
oils can be easily absorbed into the skin, but how does applying essential oils to the skin allow us to
experience their benefits? Each essential oil has a unique chemical profile that determines the kind of
benefits it provides. Certain essential oils have warming, energizing, or uplifting properties, while other oils
have chemical components that make them calming, soothing, cooling, or renewing. When an essential oil
is applied topically and absorbed into the skin, the user begins to experience the benefits that the chemical
properties of each specific oil have to offer.
Because many oils are known for their cleansing and purifying properties,
essential oils can be used to promote clean, healthy skin. Some
essential oils provide the skin with a warming or cooling
sensation, which can help soothe affected areas, or calm the
body as a whole.
In addition to the benefits that essential oils hold for the skin
and the body, applying essential oils topically allows the user
to enjoy the aromatic benefits of each oil. After applying an
oil topically, the aroma will linger on the skin, and the user
can breathe in the aroma for up to a few hours. Even if you
are using an essential oil for its topical benefits, you can also
experience the relaxing, calming, uplifting, or invigorating aroma as
the oil sits on your skin and you breathe it in.