Alice makes and sells an incredible line of skincare products which you can read about here. Alice was the formulary and co-creator for our Emerald Cup award-winning Comfort Warms Roll-On.
She took a little time to explain the inspiration behind the formulation.
1. How did you come up with the wonderful essential oils in the Comfort Warms?
Alice: The oil blends for both warming and cooling blends were carefully selected from a range of very specific essential oils that had been scientifically approved and tested in a recent and extensive French aromatherapy study focused on pain management in aromatherapy. France has been renowned for the number of clinical trials and studies on the effectiveness of aromatherapy for healing and preventing disease. Many of these studies have not been translated into English, but the main professor that inspired me for the formula for Sweet Releaf is Pierre Franchomme. Pierre is a fellow aromatherapist that specializes in replacement therapy for pain and chronic conditions.
2. Can you describe how Ayurvedically-formulated Roll-Ons work?
Alice: Ayurveda is one of the most ancient medicines in the world. Instead of approaching a condition (such as pain), it is the whole individual that is observed. This holistic approach not only focuses on the arising problem but on the constitution, diet, body type, and psychology of an individual. In Ayurveda, there are three constitutional Doshas (imbalances types in the body) that are determined as Pitta, Vatta, or Kapha. These constitutional profiles are more or less hot, dry or stagnant, and damp or a combination of the above. This approach resembles the Chinese medicine constitutional types. This way of seeing the patient is very different from allopathic medicine that will treat a condition with the same medicine regardless of what the constitution of the patient is.
When formulating the oils, we based ourselves on the doshic profiles of the ingredients we were using. The Warms oil is better suited for constitutions that are damp or stagnant and tend to feel cold and “stuck.” The Warms oil will warm the muscles and the tendons, and fire up the heat of the body, allowing the energy to flow more freely through the muscles and the joints. The Cools oil is designed for people that have pain coming from a dry and hot or overstimulated constitution, helping muscles to calm down, reduce inflammation and pain in a cooling and soothing way.
