Aromacology, more than likely unless you have read other articles written by me or live in Europe, you haven't heard this classification before. Aromacology is the study of "scents" and their effect on ones, mind, mood and health. Sounds like Aromatherapy doesn't it? Well not quite. Although the Fragrance Foundation and other perfume manufacturing companies wish you to believe so, Aromacology is very different from the classical art of Aromatherapy. One of the largest differences is the fact that Aromacology is interested only in the scent of things. These scents can be anything from lavender to dirt, musk to smoke. Many of these scents are not that of botanicals such as essential Aromatherapy oils are derived from (see how essential oils are produced for more information) but instead complex scents such as freshly baked cookies, pumpkin pie, the sea, etc. These are of course created in a laboratory from a number of chemicals. These scents are then smelled by people taking part in the studies, many times funded by the perfume industry and their reaction to them are then recorded. Aromacology is based very much on the olfactory system and it's direct connection (hard wiring) to the brain which in turn can lead to a varied of emotions or self-healing.
Although, at the beginning of the whole Aromatherapy movement, the olfactory system was frequently used as an example of the power of essential oils, it is no longer the complete emphasis placed on their healing qualities. This is why Aromacology was coined and is now used for studying scents only and their effects. If one remembers about the history of Aromatherapy, Rene Maurice Gattefosse didn't simply "smell" lavender oil after he seriously burned his hand, he plunged it into a vat of lavender essential oil. Would he have gotten the same results of miraculously speeded healing if he had? I think not. He too studied the olfactory system and it's roll on health but his vision was to use essential oils because of their healing qualities not simple their scent. Rushing to get onto the, what companies see as a craze, bandwagon of Aromatherapy, many companies have distorted the healing effects and proper use in order to sell more products. Is a rose candle considered an Aromatherapy treatment? Not if it contains fragrance oils, which most of them do. Is adding a bit of rosemary essential oil to your shampoo an Aromatherapy treatment? You bet!
The reason for this is essential oils, in reality aren't simple "oils" like corn or vegetable. They are also not "perfumes" and do not contain an alcohol base. They are complex,
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