Skin Care

Closely related to the root ginger, galangal has been used historically to flavor and season foods in India and Middle Eastern countries. Traditionally, it has been used in seed, herb and oil form.

Reviewed by Ray Spotts

Many obscure essential oils have traditional names that most of us would have trouble getting our tongues around. In this case, hydrnocarpus wightiana is often referred to as chaulmogra, which is also a bit difficult to pronounce. For over 4,000 years this powerful oil has been used on many skin conditions and issues with a whole slew of positive results. The seeds come from a tree that's linked to the Achariaceae plant family.

Pennyroyal is a plant that is indigenous to native Europe and resembles grass in its original form. It smells of mint when it is crushed and has tremendous healing power. There is a steam distillation process that includes isomenthone, neomenthone and pulegone that it goes through in order to become oil. Because it has such a high level of pulegone, it can actually be classified as poisonous in large amounts. So it's kind of remarkable that this plant has been used for years in ancient times as a folk medicine staple. Accuracy of dosage is incredibly important.