Ylang Ylang (cananga odorate v genuina)

Ylang ylang has aphrodisiac and soothing qualities. It is balancing in skin care products, and beneficial to both oily and dry.

Cananga is a small genus of trees in the family Annonaceae. One of its species, Cananga odorata, is important as the source of the perfume ylang-ylang,  also known as the ‘flower of flowers’.

It is a tall tropical tree about 20 metres (60 feet) high with large, tender, fragrant pink, mauve or yellow flowers and is cultivated in Java, Sumatra, Reunion, Madagascar and the Comoros.

In Indonesia, the flower petals are strewn upon the bed on wedding nights. The oil was once a popular ingredient of hair preparations in Europe and was known as macassar oil. The word “anti-macassar” originated from this, as an anti-macassar (a chair protecting cloth) was used to keep hair oil from staining upholstered furniture.

The therapeutic properties of ylang-ylang oil are antidepressant, anti seborrhoeic, antiseptic, aphrodisiac, hypotensive, nervine and sedative.

Ylang-ylang oil has both a euphoric and sedative effect on the nervous system and helps with anxiety, tension, shock, fear and panic while the aphrodisiac quality is useful for impotence and frigidity.

It is particularly useful with rapid breathing and rapid heartbeat, it can also help with reducing high blood pressure and useful for intestinal infections.

As a blended massage oil or diluted in the bath ylang-ylang will assist with physical exhaustion, insomnia, frigidity, impotence, depression, anxiety, nervous tension and stress while having a calming and aphrodisiac effect. Although most essential oils blend well together, ylang-ylang oil blends particularly well with bergamot, grapefruit, lavender and sandalwood.

On the skin, ylang-ylang oil has a soothing effect and its balancing action sorts out over-dry as well as overly-oily skin by balancing the secretion of sebum. It has a stimulating effect on the scalp which promotes more luxurious hair growth. In a cream or lotion, it is used to balance the production of sebum in the skin and thereby correcting and balancing overly-dry as well as overly-oily skin.

We love ylang ylang so much we’ve included it in sixteen (16) products: see below and make your choice and enjoy the sensuous, calming qualities in these amazing Essential Oils, Perfume Oils and Blends, Moisturisers, Mists, Body Butters and Bath & Body Oils.