Customer Reviews

The Fragrant Pharmacy

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Excellent book. Very good explanations and very helpful with finding remedies for all the common ailments. I reference this book all the time and basically can't do without it. I recommend it very highly.

This book came highly recommended to me so I was very excited.

First I tried the cocoa butter and grapeseed cleanser. The oily mixture became mouldy in a week. Not good.

Next I tried the anti-dandruff shampoo. Granted, the "soap stew" recipe was good. But it didn't work, even with the vinegar rinse.

So I started to check out some more information about the eos I was using. Turns out that some of them are highly toxic/poisonous, and are recommended by other aromatherapists to NEVER be used...eg. basil, and common sage (which I used, of course!)

Then I read the chapter about pregnancy and use of eos. Most aromatherapists will caution any use in the first trimester, and then only citrus based ones sparingly after that. She didn't have any such cautions and some of the ones she listed, are apparently considered not so safe.

She also suggests eo use on cats, in particular tea tree and lavender, for treatments. Then I checked out a few pet care websites regarding lavender, and it says not to use ANY essential oils on cats, they can be fatal!

So basically I am disillusioned about her therapies and eo recipes, and will not be using her book, or sage or basil, ever again.

I think there are more recently published aromatherapy/healing/essential oil books out there with more up-to-date and safer information. Her book was published in 1990. It's now 2011. Her book is 20 years old. No offence intended, but I'm sure there has been more research done in the last 20 years that updates safe use of essential oils in the home by an everyday person.

I love This authors books. She has all the information you need in one book. I refer to this quite often and another one of her books. This is one of may favorite books. You can find almost anything you need in this book from health to beauty.

Valerie Ann Worwood's book on aromatherapy is a practical classic. This one is no less. If you are interested in remedies using essential oils and herbs, you will not be disappointed. The author has a great way of giving information without being too elementary; the recipes are not complicated but more sophisticated than "put some lavendar oil on your cuts and bruises" - which is the approach that a lot of "natural" remedy books seem to take and the limit of their level of sophistication. Ms. Worwood formulates synergic recipes. and if you have read any of her other books, you will know she is great on using each ingredient to complement or enhance the effectiveness of other recipe components. To do this, you must truly know the properties, strengths and weaknesses of the ingredients -- and the author does indeed. I used Ms. Worwood's aromatherapy recipes to such success, that I felt I needed to have this out-of-print book of hers too.

I have used many of Valerie's recipes for many years (on a personal level) and have been delighted and have greatly benefited from the results. So the conditioner on page 200 is the first one that hasn't 'worked' and I wonder why? I am the sort of girl that meticulously counts out 6 grains of salt if that is what the recipe says so I followed her conditioner recipe exactly. The problem? Well, the instructions say to rinse off and I did, hmmm and did again, and did again. Sticky, greasy hair still described my dark locks. I tried the Vinegar rinse. I then resorted to shampooing off (which Valerie advises for some of the other conditioners) which resulted in only slightly less sticky, greasy hair. Still not able to go out into the world arena. My hair felt yuk!

It was only when I washed my hair again, (this time with a commercial shampoo) that I was able to remove the residual oil of the conditioner.
Disappointing and extremely time consuming. Thank goodness I wasn't washing my hair prior to a big night out.

Can any 'guru' out there help me with this? Is there a misprint in the book? I love making my own personal care products and want to make my own conditioner as well. Please advise. Thank you!