Who doesn’t want to look young, flawless and strikingly beautiful? Who doesn’t want to spend a luxurious hour in rejuvenating our body, mind and soul by reducing all the dirt, dust and stress?

Well, this is the most concerning questions for today’s youth who always want them to look fit and handsome as well as attractive to the eyes of every beholder. To hold the youth, stay beautiful and gorgeous always we use multiple numbers of products on our face, skin and hair. Sometimes we swallow it as a form of capsule or tablets. Among those millions of ingredients, essential oils are the most demanded and trusted ones which truly has the capability of transforming your health, hair and skin to the next level.

There are nearly 70,000 species of plants from which we can extract essential oils having multiple medicinal properties. These essential oils are driving the whole market of self-grooming products and fetching heftily high profit. The craze of essential oils has puffed up in this age of social media and influencer marketing. Before that, it was unexplored and unknown by lion’s share of the customer.

Getting acquainted with the magical features of essential oils many startups are coming up with new techniques and theories of using essential oils and the already existed companies are introducing essential oils in their products. The global essential oils market size was valued at $8.8 billion in 2022 and it is expected to reach to $15.3 billion by 2027 experiencing a CAGR of 11.8 percent.

Self care is an essential part of a healthy life. Essential oils figure in many at-home remedies to smooth the skin, soothe the spirit, and calm the mind. ― Amy Leigh Mercree

Why Essential Oils are gaining importance?
Essential oils are pure extract of plants and flowers which are extracted through streaming or cold pressing method to bottle it up. Essential oils are mainly known for their sweet fragrance, health and skin care benefits and few medicinal properties. The essential oils work through our sense organs. There are approximately 2000 plants having rich essential oils. The scent molecules can also be absorbed into the bloodstream when it is applied to the skin. After reaching there, essential oils spreads throughout the body to potentially enhance different aspects of overall health.

Essential oils are boosting the overall health and wellness of human being by the following ways-

• Reducing Stress & Anxiety: Few essential oils like lavender, chamomile, lemon grass, eucalyptus, and tea-tree has a strong pungent aroma which works wonder to reduce the stress and anxiety level and improves psychological and mental health. This is the reason maximum toiletries and self-grooming product manufacturers are using such essential oils in their products like shower gel, face wash, shower cream, after shave lotion and more. Self-grooming and skin-care manufacturing startups like Good vibes, Soulflower, Alps Goodness have introduced a wide range of pure essential oils and gained tremendous popularity in just a couple of years.

• Improves the Texture of Skin & Hair: Essential oils are very strong having protective antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, balancing or reducing skin oils, calming inflammation or irritation, helping to preserve skin moisture, supporting skin repair, improving the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and many other desirable actions. Famous brands like WOW, Mamaearth, St. Botanica have come up with whole new range of aromatic products like rosehip oil serum, grapeseed oil, saffron oil, Ylang Ylang for flawless plump skin, onion oil, and onion shampoo for combating dandruff, and bhringaraj-amla shampoo for hair-growth, which improves the root system of hair, tea tree serum, rosemary serum, cica and cactus extract for reducing oil, unclog the pores and acne.

• Improves Sleep-wakefulness Cycle: A study has revealed that 1 in every 3 adults having sleep disorders and 10 percent of them are having insomnia disorder. Rosemary oil works wonder for them, and it is way too effective than sedatives for having no side effects. An experiment over 60 patients in a cardiac intensive care unit showed that 15 of them who inhaled the aroma of rosemary oil, had improved quality of sleep while compared to rest of them.

• Improves Digestive System & Reduce Nausea: According to R&d, Peppermint oil has potential benefits like relieving GI discomfort, nausea and pain. Ginger oil encourages the digestive process by preventing food from lingering in your gastrointestinal tract, which sometimes causes nausea.

• Reduce Menstrual Cramp: A recent study of 80 women with dysmenorrhea or menstrual cramp has revealed that a soft massage with lavender oil mixed with the extracts of cinnamon, clove and carrier oil like coconut or olive oil can reduce the menstrual cramp and offers a light blood flow in the menstrual cycle. It is safe and side effect free treatments for women in comparison to pain killer medicines or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

• Reduces Muscle Pain: In Thailand, a research study was conducted on a group of individuals having back pain or chronic muscle pain. They segregated the groups and in one group they gave Thai massage with body oil and in other group they mixed few drops of ginger oil with it. After 15 days they saw the latter group experienced much better result for their pains.

Market Demand & Future Forecast: Essential oil is one of the most demanded ingredients in today’s urban corporate world. Many startups are coming up and making magical products using pure drops of essential oils in their products and getting recognized easily. A Mumbai based startup brand Mcaffeine which was started in 2015 is now having a turnover of Rs.135.23 crore in FY22 with a 103.3 percent surge from last year’s sale. They have already served nearly 2.5 million customers and eyeing to reach Rs.700 crore by FY24. Market report suggests 497,959 tons of essential oils consumed globally in 2022. The market for essential oils is expected to grow quickly, exhibiting a CAGR of 7.7 percent to reach $39.14 billion in value by 2032.

Europe is one of the potential markets of essential oils. The worldwide food and beverage industry exhibited a potential rise in the consumption of essential oils of worth $3,745.10 million in 2020, and is projected to generate a turnover of $47,460.75 million by the end of 2028. With the wake of Pandemic, the essential oils like rosemary, eucalyptus, peppermint oil, lemon oil have attained a great acclamation for their strong smell which helps to heal cough and cold and fight against blocked nose and headache very quickly. It is also used in hand sanitizers for their germ-killing qualities. Lemon oil and lemon grass oil was very effective in removing bacteria from floor and surroundings, so it was widely used in floor cleaners and bathroom cleaners which became a trend in the market.

Conclusion: Essential oils are very strong and has intense ingredient having strong aromatic features and for this they are very sensitive to children as well as adults. Owing to this ever-increasing demand of organic, non-toxic, cruelty-free, paraben-free products, the use of essential oils in healthcare to skin care and drug development to healing has witnessed a mammoth like magnification of sale of essential oils in the national and international market. But you have to keep one thing in mind that, essential oils should always be combined and mixed with carrier oils like castor oil, extra virgin coconut oil or olive oils before using otherwise it can give a burning sensation to your skin which can result into dark patches or rashes. 10 to 20 drops of essential oil or three percent of concentration of essential oil mixed with carrier oils is enough to show a superbly fantastic result on skin and hair. So, it is very important to know thoroughly what you are using on your skin, else after getting irruptions and rashes, your dream of having flawless skin and hair will become a nightmare.