Patchouli

A heady com­bi­na­tion of aro­mas –  exotic, musky, spicy, earthy; rich, woody, balsamic, sweet, flo­ral– wafts from the time small­est bot­tle of patchouli essen­tial oil. It’s a dis­tinc­tive and mem­o­rable enor­mous stay­ing power that cinches other bal­samic oils such as myrrh.

scent. It’s the fra­grance of the orig­i­nal India ink and Chi­nese red ink paste, the scent of 1960s Amer­i­can hip­pie incense and mas­sage oils, the smell used by 19th cen­tury Euro­pean entre­pre­neurs to iden­tify authen­tic ori­en­tal goods (stored with patchouli by Asians for moth repellency). Aromatherapists have long val­ued patchouli’s fra­grance and tenac­ity, as its highly ther­a­peu­tic effects.

Native to Malaysia, the patchouli plant is dis­tantly related to laven­der and rose­mary. The young leaves of the ten­der, aro­matic plant are dried and fer­mented before being steam dis­tilled. Patchouli that has recently been dis­tilled has a fresh, green, slightly harsh aroma, but aged patchouli sweets and mel­lows, improv­ing with time like fine wine. It’s a yellow-brown, thick, vis­cous, sticky oil–with enor­mous stay­ing power that cinches its role as a fix­a­tive in per­fumes, cos­met­ics, and aro­mather­apy perfumes.

Patchouli blends well with many other scents. While its elu­sive, floral, sweet qual­i­ties pro­vide an excel­lent top note, its rather heavy, earthy, spicy com­po­nents serve as a won­der­ful base note in flo­ral blends. Try it with gera­nium, laven­der, rose, neroli, jas­mine and clary sage. To heighten the spici­ness, add a touch of cin­na­mon or cloves. Patchouli also com­ple­ments other woody oils like san­dal­wood, rose­wood and cedarwood–and bal­ances fresh, crisp cit­rus scents like berg­amot or lemon. And its bal­samic notes pro­duce evoca­tive effects when com­bined with other bal­samic oils such as myrrh.

Aro­mather­a­pists rely on patchouli for its abil­ity to both relax and inspire. Like pep­per­mint, ylang ylang and rose, it increases activ­ity in the sym­pa­thetic ner­vous sys­tem, and so has an uplift­ing, stim­u­lat­ing, toni­fy­ing effect. At the same time, patchouli com­forts and soothes with its warmth and depth of aroma. It has a long stand­ing rep­u­ta­tion for being a roman­tic, even well aphro­disi­a­cal, scent.

Once you open that lit­tle bot­tle, you’re apt to find myr­iad uses for patchouli. Its allur­ing fra­grance is ideal for bath oils, skin lotions, hair treat­ments, mas­sage oils and, of course, dif­fus­ing into, the air. And as its scent lingers, so will its won­der­ful aro­mather­apy effects.