Focus on Ingredients: Tea Tree Oil
Have you ever heard of Tea Tree Oil? I first became aware of it appearing in shampoos several years ago. I did not know very much about it so I joined my husband in doing some amazing research to learn about this substance, how it is used, why it is used, and how to add it to our applications.
Tea Tree Oil is extracted from a plant grown primarily in Austraila
Wikipedia writes about this:
he indigenousBundjalung people of eastern Australia use “tea trees” as a traditional medicine by inhaling the oils from the crushed leaves to treat coughs and colds. They also sprinkle leaves on wounds, after which a poultice is applied. In addition, tea tree leaves are soaked to make an infusion to treat sore throats or skin ailments.[2][3]
Use of the oil itself, as opposed to the unextracted plant material, did not become common practice until researcher Arthur Penfold published the first reports of its antimicrobial activity in a series of papers in the 1920s and 1930s. In evaluating the antimicrobial activity of M. alternifolia, tea tree oil was rated as 11 times more active than phenol.[4]
Tea tree plantation, Coraki.
The commercial tea tree oil industry was born after the medicinal properties of the oil were first reported by Penfold in the 1920s. It was produced from natural bush stands of M. alternifolia that produced oil with the appropriate chemotype. The plant material was hand cut and often distilled on the spot in makeshift, mobile, wood-fired bush stills.
Production ebbed after World War II, as demand for the oil declined, presumably due to the development of effective antibiotics and the waning image of natural products. Interest in the oil was rekindled in the 1970s as part of the general renaissance of interest in natural products. Commercial plantations were established in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to mechanization and large-scale production of a consistent essential oil product.[5]
Although tea tree oil normally is extracted from Melaleuca alternifolia commercially, it can also be extracted from Melaleuca dissitiflora and Melaleuca linariifolia.
The tea tree oil research indicates it has some amazing properties, including beneficial medical properties when applied topically, including antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic qualities.
Wow, sounds like an essential oil that packs a big punch. We were eager to do some research for a recipe for soap made with tea tree oil. We have had a growing number of people requesting it, and i think we have finally found the recipe that will work.
Our recipe is made, and the soap is curing, and should be ready for photographing, wrapping and sale by the end of the week. (Yes, like wine or cheese, soap does have a curing time… and this soap has been curing for a few weeks now.)