Nature's Table - essential oils part 6 by Annalies Schmaltz

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

 

YlangYlang - a sensual oil.....:-))

Ylangylang means in the Malayan language, flower of flowers.

There is no tree that produces blossoms which have a more intense

sweet and flowery fragrance than the Ylangylang. (Cananga odorata).

It is native to south-east Asia and it can reach the 20mtr mark.

The branches are like those of the weeping willow, and bear

glossy oval-shaped leaves and an abundance of yellow-green blooms.

It blooms throughout the year. Women use the flowers to decorate

their hair and to perfume their hair.

Back in time in 1866 the French historian Guibourt noted a Moluccan island

recipe for a pomade (aromatic ointment) called boori-boori ,made by the

macerating Ylangylang flowers in coconut oil. It was used by the islanders

to protect their hair from sea salt and to nourish and soften their skin.

It was also used during the monsoon period to protect them from infectious

illnesses and fevers including fevers from malaria.

In Indonesia it is a custom to spread the flowers on the newly weds bed

and is believed to calm the nerves and lessen inhibition.

The blooms are hand-picked and the most of the Ylangylang oil is produced

in Madagascar, Reunion and the Comoro Islands. The blooms are picked

early in the morning and have to be two or three weeks old as only then does

the fragrance develop. The oil is gained by steam distillation. Be careful when

you buy it because sometimes the Cananga oil is sold asYlangylang oil

but the Cananga oil has a more harsh aroma.

Ladies you want to spoil your man and be spoilt by him; then this is

the recipes for you:

Sultry Nights and Roses:

10ml diluted Ylangylang oil

10ml Grape seed or sweet almond oil

1 drop pure rose Otto essential oil

2 drops pure grapefruit essential oil.

or

Eastern Promise:

5 ml diluted Ylangylang oil

15 ml grape seed oil or sweet almond oil

1 drop pure coriander essential oil

2 drops pure sandalwood essential oil

2 drops pure lemon essential oil.

Relax enjoy the wonderful fragrances.

Ylangylang is generally perceived as a warming, intoxicating and

reputedly aphrodisiac oil. Yet the sensual quality is inseparable from

Ylangylang ability to relax and uplift, and instil a sense of well-being.

Two French chemists discovered that Ylangylang was effective against

malaria, typhus and other fevers. It has also found to be a regulatory

effect on a weak heart action, and a calming effect on the central

nervous system.