Spa Therapy and Aromatherapy: Healing and Relaxing Beauty Clients Throughout the Ages
Have you ever noticed how many bath and beauty products are scented with lavender oil? There's a good reason for that: one of lavender essential oil's best healing properties is stress relief. It is also a natural anti-fungal. The use of essential oils for healing is known as aromatherapy.
Aromatherapy: New Name, Same Science
The term aromatherapy was first coined in 1928 by French perfumer and chemist Ren�� Maurice Gattefoss��. Gattefoss�� made his discovery quite by accident: he plunged his badly burned hand into the closest available liquid, and to his surprise, it healed very quickly. That liquid was lavender oil.
However modern the name might be, the use of essential oils for healing dates back thousands of years. Indian, Chinese, Persian, Egyptian, and African cultures have long used plant oils for meditation, healing, bathing, cosmetics, perfumes, and more.
Who Uses Aromatherapy?
Aromatherapy is typically used in spas and health care settings. Spa therapists include estheticians, cosmetologists, and massage therapists who perform spa-related services. There are master or advanced esthetic programs that focus specifically on spa therapy training, including the internationally recognized CIDESCO program. Any of these career paths can produce a lucrative income. Spa revenue in the United States grew 17.8 percent from 2007 to 2008, according to the International Spa Association. Medical spas experienced the most growth, at 85 percent.
With more people turning to holistic healing, stress prevention, and more preventative self-care, a spa therapist trained in aromatherapy in combination with other medical esthetic treatments often has a competitive professional edge.
Spa Therapy Training: Aromatherapy Pays Off
The three types of therapeutic aromatherapy treatments are categorized as cosmetic, massage, and olfactory. These therapies can be combined with other spa services, such as facial treatments, lymphatic drainage, light therapy, and more. The more add-on services you offer with your base treatment menu, the more revenue potential and treatment options for your clients.
The Science of Scent: Why Aromatherapy Training Matters
Understanding the properties of essential oils is no small task. The quality of the oils impacts the treatment. The highest quality oils are the most concentrated and the most expensive. Aromatherapists must know which oils pair best with the different carrier oils (stable, high-quality oils into which essential oils are diluted and blended). They must also know which oils work well together for particular therapeutic results, and which oils are best suited to the various types of therapies for a client who may have additional health considerations. No two clients are identical, so no two treatments will be exactly the same. With so many variables, a solid understanding of aromatherapy is necessary.
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