Thousands of years ago the Chinese, Egyptians and Greeks were using aromatic plants for well-being. Chinese practitioners burned incense to create a feeling of harmony for spiritual practices. Egyptians were the first culture to create a process of distillation so that the crude oil could be extracted from cedarwood. Later, Persia and India also devised rudimentary distillation machines. Infused oils and herbal preparations have long been utilized for spiritual and medicinal practices as well as for cosmetic purposes.

The ancient Egyptians used oils of myrrh, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and cedarwood to embalm the dead. It is believed that they were also the first people to use the word perfume, which comes from the Latin per fume, or “through the smoke.” In ancient times both Egyptian men and women used perfume to increase attractiveness. They placed a solid cone of fragrant resin and oils on top of their head and as time passed, their body heat would slowly melt the fragrant cone, releasing a steady stream of scent. In Greece, Hippocrates, also known as the father of medicine, recognized the medicinal benefits of plants and their aromatic oils.

Also in Greece lived one of the first perfumers, a man by the name of Megaleion, who mixed the essential oil of myrrh with a fatty oil base and used the mixture for aromatic, anti-inflammatory and healing purposes. Around the year 70 a.d. in Greece a physician and botanist named Pedanius Dioscorides wrote a five volume book called De Materia Medica, or “Regarding Medical Matters” which has proven one of the most influential books on herbal medicine in all of history. This book outlined the healing properties of over 500 plants and remained in circulation until the year 1600.

In the 11th century a.d. a Persian man names Avicenna invented a coiled cooling pipe that allowed for more effective distillation of aromatics and brought more attention to essential oils as fragrances and remedies. By the 15th century the properties of herbs was well-known and more plants were being distilled. The new essential oils were rosemary, juniper, frankincense, sage and rose.

In the 16th century apothecaries were common. People could go and purchase essential oils for personal use. This led to the advent of perfumery, which was soon considered an art form and became a very prosperous industry by the 19th century. In 1928 René-Maurice Gattefossé coined the term aromatherapy in an article he wrote after applying lavender oil to a burn left no scar. He then wrote the book Aromathérapie: Les Huiles essentielles hormones végétales in 1937, which included information on aromatics, classification of essential oils, and outlined the basis of the action of plant compounds. This book was widely read and is still in print to this day. In the 20th century the industrial revolution minimized the use and popularity of using essential oils. But today we are witnessing a growing trend toward the return of utilizing natural products including essential oils for aromatic, cosmetic and medicinal benefits.