Updated 16 January 2024
Botanical characteristics
- Kingdom: plantae
- Subphylum: tracheobionta
- Division: Magnoliophyta
- Class: Magnoliopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Order: Magnoliales
- Family: Annonaceae
- Genus: Cananga
- Part used: Flowers
- Country of origin: Comoros, Madagascar
Precautions for use
Ylang Ylang essential oil is relatively flexible in its use.
It can be used by anyone except pregnant women under 3 months and babies under 3 months.
However, Ylang Ylang essential oil should be used with care, especially when applied to the skin, for which it is recommended to dilute it in a vegetable oil.
Similarly, for diffusion, it is preferable to dilute ylang ylang essential oil in other essential oils.
Other precautions
Cutaneous use:
- Ylang Ylang essential oil is irritating to the skin and should be diluted in vegetable oil (20% essential oil to 80% vegetable oil) before application to the skin.
Ingestion:
- The oral use of ylang ylang essential oil is reserved for the therapist.
- This essential oil can be used in cooking if it is first diluted in a fat (oil, cream, yoghurt, milk) or sweetened (syrup, honey).
Diffusion:
- Do not diffuse pure, dilute 10-15% with other essential oils.
- Pregnant women over 3 months can use this essential oil in air diffusion.
- May cause headaches and even nausea if the dose is too high.
Allergenic components:
Ylang-ylang essential oil contains biochemical allergenic components:
- linalool (2-16%)
- benzyl benzoate (≤ 12%)
- geraniol (≤ 5%)
- farnesol (≤ 5%)
- benzyl salicylate (≤ 4%)
- eugenol (≤ 0.9%)
- benzyl alcohol (≤ 0.5%)
- isoeugenol (≤ 0,3%)
Note: It is best to test the essential oil before use (two drops on the crease of the elbow for at least 24 hours to check for a reaction).
Authorised users
How to use
Risks of use
Properties
- Sexual Tonic
- Aphrodisiac
- Antispasmodic
- Powerful analgesic
- Balancing
- Antidepressant
- Sedative, relaxing
- Hypotensive, antiarrhythmic
- Anti-infective
- Sebo-regulating
- Antidiabetic
Indications
- Hair loss
- Tachycardia
- Hypertension
- Loss of libido, sexual fatigue
- Frigidity, impotence
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Sleep disturbances
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Stretch marks
- Spasmodic pathologies
- Severe pain (brings quick relief)
- Asthmatic bronchitis
- Acne
- Hair tonic (seborrhoeic dermatitis)
- Diabetes mellitus
Directions for use/usual dosage
- All indications: local unction 5-10% diluted in vegetable oil.
- Relaxation, aphrodisiac effect: air diffusion.
Cosmetic
- Skin tonic and sebum regulator
- Prevents hair loss and cleanses the scalp
Interior use
- Ideal for diffusing with other EOs to create a happy, warm, sensual and calming atmosphere.
Find out more
- The main constituents of ylang-ylang are sesquiterpenes and esters.
- The distillation of fresh ylang-ylang flowers can take up to 20 hours and is carried out in stills that allow several fractions of essential oil to be isolated. The fractions obtained do not have the same density: some are reserved for luxury perfumery (Extra Superior and Extra Normal fractions) and others are used in the manufacture of cosmetic products (Second and Third fractions). Together, these fractions form a more balanced essential oil used for therapeutic purposes in aromatherapy.
- The essential oil of Cananga odorata, the macrophylla variety, comes from the same botanical family and has a biochemical composition very similar to that of whole ylang-ylang, but is less expensive and has a less subtle fragrance.