Geraldine Howard Swears by Essential Oils

Founded by beauty gurus and natural treatment veterans Geraldine Howard and Sue Beechey in 1985, Aromatherapy Associates mainly relies on essential oils from plants. The alternative beauty oils have the potential to treat varied afflictions ranging from acne to sinus blockages to muscle soreness. Furthermore, they improve blood circulation, enhance the cellular renewal process and keep the skin fresh. Vivienne Tang speaks to Geraldine Howard, who has personally worked on all the Aromatherapy Associates formulations, to find out how one should take care of their skin.

How did you get into aromatherapy?

There was this woman who was doing aromatherapy and she worked with a French doctor. She was an examiner at my college, and I was fascinated. I always loved working with plants, herbs, eggs and things as skincare. And she offered a training, and I was intrigued by it. The thing that I really loved about it was that she was in her sixties and I thought her skin was absolutely amazing. And I thought, “Wow, I want skin like that.” And here I am almost sixty [laughs], which is quite extraordinary.

But it wasn’t just her skin that fascinated me. She believed in a total lifestyle, as well as using essential oils on the skin. We really did study everything. It was a whole lifestyle, way before it became fashionable.

What was the idea behind Aromatherapy Associates?

My partner, Sue Beechey, and I have been working in this industry since 1972. I always wanted to make cosmetics and I was just disillusioned with a lot that was going on. I sort of thought, “Is this all?” In make-up, you put iron oxide on your face. And I thought, “Oh I’m not very keen on that.” And I loved using things like honey and olive oil. I love mixing up things in the kitchen. So when you had these essential oils, there was actually a science behind it. And you could look at the properties and see how they were working beneath the surface of the skin. So you had something that wasn’t just working superficially. In those days you didn’t really have many products. In fact people didn’t even believe that the products penetrated the skin.

Can you tell us more about the different ranges within Aromatherapy Associates?

What’s happened over the years, is that more and more products and many natural ingredients have come on to the market that can be used in cosmetics. And with my age it was a case of, “My God, we better hurry up and find something that works.” [Laughs]. I always said that I was never going to go down the road of botox and skin filling. So for example for the anti-age range, or what we also call age-repair, the idea was to create products that worked on all skin ages and all skin types. Everybody’s skin is different, so you have two oils and a cream that you can adjust according to your age and your skin type. As I now know, you get older your skin does dry out. So the focus has slightly moved as the years went on. Very typically, when you’re young you sort of think, “I don’t really need these.” You think everything is fine. But over the years I had pretty major health problems, and then I started having treatments with aromatherapy. And I thought, “Wow, these things really do help to get you better.” It helped to relax, revive or detox. So I was really working with essential oils to heal the body. For instance I had a massive scar. And I used an oil to help with the scar tissue. Suddenly it was all about my wellbeing.

I believe Aromatherapy Associates really specializes in providing products for all skin types.

Yes, now I kind of realize what you need as you go through life. And I understand skin, and how you adapt through different seasons, different climates and different ages. And often when you go into department stores, it’s all mass-marketing. It gears towards young skin, acne skin…it doesn’t really adapt to individual skin. And that’s when the therapist in me comes out. I’ve worked 20 plus years with clients. Then you start to think that everyone’s skin varies so much. You can’t just use the same product throughout, which is why we believe in the layering of our products. You can adapt it according to your needs of the day, the time, the month, the climate etc.

But I do feel it is a whole package. If you don’t get enough sleep. Your skin looks awful. If you don’t detox your body, the skin breaks out. And that’s what I loved about aromatherapy from day one. You can actually work on all aspects. You start with your body and then you address your skin…

So the essential oils work on two levels: body and skin?

Where I love essential oils…in the body range we do have ones that can help to detox the body, as in help you to sleep. The one thing with essential oils is that they do actually penetrate the skin and that they can get into the blood stream. So you actually have oils that can stimulate the circulation. So if you cheat, and you don’t exercise, the oils can do a lot for you. If you have got an acne, oily type skin, there are oils there that can actually help to get rid of that. All essential oils are anti-bacterial.

So look after the health of your skin at any age. And the younger you start the better. From the age of 19…that’s when your skin starts to dry out and change. So really, from that age you should start applying products that take care of your skin and the health of your skin. You need to make sure you have anti-oxidants or something that is repairing some of the sun damage that is inevitable in everybody’s skin.

A young skin doesn’t necessarily need oil as such, but it still needs essential oil, because the essential oils go into the blood stream and start improving your health. So that’s the foundation.