Modern aromatherapy was born in the early 20th century when Rene-Maurice Gattefosse, a French chemist working for a prominent perfumer, accidentally set his arm on fire in the laboratory. He thrust it into the nearest vat of cold liquid, which happened to be lavender oil, and felt immediate relief. Previous chemical burns had caused severe pain, redness, blisters and scarring.
Surprisingly, this burn healed quickly with minimal pain and no scarring. Gattefosse coined the word ‘aromatherapie’ to describe his healing experience. He spent the rest of his life researching health benefits of essential oils and published his findings in the 1937 landmark book ‘Aromatherapy.’ It was translated into English in 1993 and the 2nd edition is still in print, 70 years after it was written.
French physician Jean Valnet continued the work of Gattefosse during World War II, using essential oils to successfully treat wounded soldiers with gangrene, greatly reducing the need for amputation. His book, ‘The Practice of Aromatherapy,’ popularized aromatherapy for medical and psychiatric use throughout France in the 1960s. In 1962, Marguerite Maury published findings which heralded the cosmetic benefits of essential oils. The first English language book, ‘The Art of Aromatherapy’ by Robert Tisserand (1977), introduced the benefits of aromatherapy coupled with massage and advanced the practice in the United Kingdom and the United States.
The New Age movement latched onto aromatherapy soon after and ‘the rest is history.’ A burgeoning of holistic, natural medicine since the 1980s has provided a comfortable environment for aromatherapy. In 2008, aromatherapy accounted for 95% of the essential oils global market, roughly US$ 4.6-billion. The industry has grown at a rate of 7.5% annually in the last decade and shows no signs of abating. Aromatherapy has been around for ages and its here to stay.
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