Aromatherapy vs holistic aromatherapy, what’s the difference?
Aromatherapy is an ancient alternative medicine that uses essential oils to heal. It has gained popularity in recent years, with many people seeking natural remedies for various physical and emotional ailments. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact level of popularity, several studies and surveys have provided some indication of the extent of its use.
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For example, a 2018 study published in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare found that 59.3% of participants reported using aromatherapy to relax, relieve stress, or improve sleep quality. Another survey conducted in the United States in 2019 found that 64% of respondents had used aromatherapy products at least once in their life.
Additionally, the global aromatherapy market size was estimated at $1.3 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $2.7 billion by 2027, indicating a growing demand for aromatherapy products.
Although its practice requires precautions linked to the power and concentration of certain essential oils, it is used more and more and its use is very diversified.
A few drops of lavender oil in the bath or on a diffuser in the house to create a calming ambiance. A few drops of lemongrass oil in water to repel insects. A few drops of Tea Tree to disinfect.
Holistic aromatherapy is an aromatherapy invented by PHYTO 5 in the 70s in France. The initial desire, and this is still the case today, was to find a natural way to develop powerful beauty and well-being treatments that achieve remarkable results.
Essential oils were, already at the time, a very powerful remedy, but the methodology to achieve a remarkable result in aesthetics did not exist.
The founder of PHYTO 5, which was called Phytobiodermie at the time, went to London to take part in a course on Chinese herbal medicine and was impressed by the level of technicality of it.
Traditional Chinese medicine is an ancient practice that includes several areas, including acupuncture, dietetics, physical exercises (such as qi gong), and Chinese herbal medicine. Chinese herbal medicine, also called Chinese herbal medicine, uses medicinal plants to treat imbalances and illnesses.
Chinese herbal medicine is considered to have a very high level of technicality and involves the combination of several herbs into a formula to treat a specific problem. Chinese herbal medicine practitioners follow strict rules to choose herbs based on their flavor, nature, dosage and combination.
There are thousands of herbs used in Chinese herbal medicine, each with specific properties and uses. Herbs are often classified based on their actions on the body, such as toning or nourishing the blood, clearing heat or dampness, for example.
Traditional Chinese medicine, including Chinese herbal medicine, is considered a comprehensive health care system that treats the individual as a whole, considering their physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. It has a long history and a vast breadth of knowledge, and continues to be practiced and studied around the world.
Obsessed by what he had just learned and impressed by the level of technicality, Henri Chenot looked for a way to transpose the principles of Chinese herbal medicine to the field of aesthetics and hairdressing in Europe.
Not easy when we know that most of the natural ingredients used in Chinese herbal medicine did not exist in Europe, at least not at the time.
Additionally, herbal medicine is a holistic medicine that is not particularly specialized in aesthetics. It was therefore necessary to find a way to facilitate a meeting between Western and European know-how and ancestral Asian practice in order to obtain the famous remarkable result on the skin with only natural ingredients.
And that’s what Henri Chenot did and that’s what PHYTO 5 continues to do today. Henri Chenot studied in detail the law of the 5 elements, which is a vast model which makes it possible to classify all visible phenomena and adapted it to European aromatherapy.
Because the law of the 5 elements which allows us to classify everything that exists has also made it possible to classify the use of essential oils. The classification processes call on both chemical analyzes and therapeutic analyses. We compare the functions of essential oils with the function of their counterparts in Chinese herbal medicine and we classify these oils and their actions according to the law of the 5 elements.
The law of the 5 elements is a seemingly simple model, invented by man several thousand years ago in China. To be complete, it is also based on the theory of Yin and Yang, widely used in aesthetics as well.
Once the rapprochement between the two traditional European and Chinese practices has been successful, it is then possible to refer to thousands of years of experience and knowledge to develop advanced natural aesthetic products and treatments.
This technology invented in the 1970s in France is called energetic aromatherapy. It is the first natural and holistic practice in aesthetics.
It made it possible, for example, to understand very early the link between the balance of the liver and the regulation of sebum in the skin. Thus allowing the development of protocols for blackheads. It also integrates the relationship between blood activity, skin sensitivity and the relationship to pH.
These are just a few simple examples, but the possibilities are vast and are still the subject of in-depth studies today, which makes it possible to maintain the practices and techniques of holistic aromatherapy at a high level of technicality and quality. result.