What are essential oils? Do essential oils expire?

Essential oils are volatile oils with aroma obtained by distillation, pressing, extraction or adsorption of flowers, leaves, bark, roots, stems, fruits or seeds of aromatic plants. They are also called aromatic oils. After understanding what essential oils are, let's focus on whether essential oils will expire. This is a topic that friends are more concerned about.

Contents of this article

1. What are essential oils?

2. Will essential oils expire?

3. What is the shelf life of essential oils?

What are essential oils

Essential oils are volatile oils with aroma obtained by distillation, pressing, extraction or adsorption from the flowers, leaves, bark, roots, stems, fruits or seeds of aromatic plants, also known as aromatic oils, such as turpentine, peppermint oil, etc. Essential oils are highly volatile and will evaporate quickly once exposed to air, so essential oils must be stored in dark, airtight bottles.

The cool smell of essential oils is mostly emitted by compounds such as borneol, borneol acetate, and eucalyptol. If the camphor content in essential oils is too high, it will affect the smell of the essential oils and reduce the quality of the essential oils. If the camphor content in essential oils is too high, it will affect the smell of the essential oils and reduce the quality of the essential oils.

These essential oil ingredients, each with its own unique scent and efficacy, are combined in different proportions to form the unique and recognizable aroma of each essential oil.

In addition to being used in daily life, essential oils can also be used to kill insects and weeds, and can even be developed into biological pesticides.

Do essential oils expire?

Essential oils can expire. Essential oils contain a large amount of organic ingredients and have a certain shelf life. If the shelf life is exceeded, these organic ingredients can easily become a food source for some bacteria and then become a breeding ground for bacteria.

1. Bacteria

Expired essential oils may breed a large number of bacteria, and using them on the skin at this time may cause bacterial infection and itching.

2. Deterioration

After the shelf life of essential oils, some chemical components will undergo subtle changes. Applying them to the skin can easily cause allergies, which may cause redness, swelling and acne at the mildest, or skin ulcers at the worst.

3. Utilization

If it has only expired for one or two months, in order to avoid waste, the scented essential oil can be used as aromatherapy and dripped into an aromatherapy machine to make the room fragrant.

What is the shelf life of essential oils?

It can be stored for three years if sealed and should be used within three months after opening. Essential oils are volatile aromatic substances extracted from the flowers, leaves, stems, roots or fruits of plants through steam distillation, extrusion, cold soaking or solvent extraction.

Essential oils are highly volatile and will evaporate very quickly once they come into contact with air. For this reason, essential oils must be stored in sealed bottles and once opened, the cap must be replaced as soon as possible.