I recently received the following question in my Inbox. Since many people have the same question, I decided to post my reply here:
“I am wondering if the oils you have are naturally extracted. I have read that many of the flower oils such as rose, lavender, etc. are extracted with solvents. “
It depends upon the oil in question. Essential oils are obtained through steam distillation or hydrodistillation. (A few essential oils, such as orange and grapefruit, are obtained by exerting pressure on the rinds.) Other perfume oils are called “absolutes”. Absolutes are obtained via solvent extraction.
Hydrodistillation is the gentler process for obtaining essential oils. Plant materials are boiled in water, the resulting steam is collected and condensed, and the fragrant oils are collected from that. It’s a fascinating process! I have an article about it here:
About Attars and Perfumes
Steam distillation occurs at a higher temperature, because steam is hotter than boiling water. Hot steam is forced into the plant material to separate the fragrant oils.
For medicinal use, steam distillation works fine. For perfumery, the high temperatures can destroy the most delicate fragrance molecules, so hydrodistillation is preferred, when you can get it. All of my Indian Attars are hydrodistilled.
Some flowers will not release their oils under either method. For them, solvent-extraction is used. The oils that result from solvent-extraction are called “absolutes” and are very concentrated. Because this process uses no heat, absolutes have a more complete aroma profile than do essential oils.
High quality absolutes use high-quality solvents such as food-grade hexane in one part of their process. By the end of the process, the solvent traces have evaporated and are no longer noticeable. Cheap, low-quality absolutes use low-quality solvents, and this is apparent in the finished product. You can smell the solvents in a poor-quality absolute. When this absolute is diluted for perfume, you can still smell solvents, and you will absorb them into your body.
Some flowers such as Lavender come in both essential oil and absolute form. Only perfumers tend to use Lavender Absolute. It really adds a sparkle from a perfumery standpoint.
Rose is another flower that is both distilled and solvent-extracted. Rose Absolute is more common, and truer in fragrance to a real rose. Rose Otto is hydrodistilled rose oil. It requires tons of rose petals to make a tiny amount of Rose Otto, so it is very expensive. Rose Otto is sometimes preferred for aromatherapy applications in lotions, but Rose Absolute is usually preferred for perfumery.
My Indian Attars are hydrodistilled. My Tiferet Aromatherapy Perfumes use a combination of essential oils (steam distilled) and absolutes. They are superb quality, with no solvent residue. Many people with moderate MCS enjoy them both.
There is now a fourth method of extraction, called CO2 extraction. A completely non-toxic process, it uses no heat or solvents. Instead, it uses pressure from carbon dioxide to extract the aromatic oils. The resulting products smell the closest to the original material of any essential oil or absolute.
CO2 extraction is environmentally friendly for many reasons:
Only a small amount of plant material is required to render a good quantity of oil. For example, dust and slivers left over from the carving of Agarwood can be used for CO2 extraction of Agarwood oil. These small particles would be useless for distillation. Thus precious resources are conserved, no toxic chemicals are used, and no fuel is burned for heating water. My Agarwood Attar uses a CO2 extract of Agarwood.
CO2 extracts work beautifully for aromatherapy and medicinal use. If ever you come across CO2 extracts of Basil, Oregano, etc, use them with no worries.
Remember this though: Always dilute essential oils and absolutes before using them!