THERAPEUTIC BENEFITS OF SELECTED PLANT HERBS WITH ESSENTIAL OILS USED IN COSMETIC FORMULATION

Abstract

This review described the benefits of selected medicinal herbs with essential oils used in cosmetic formulation. Essential oils are often found in various parts of the plant such as leaves, roots, fruit, stem bark, and flowers through the process of expression or simple distillation. These oils have not only found usefulness in perfumery, skin, or hair care products but most importantly possess therapeutic benefits such as an anticarcinogen, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antidepressant, and antiseptic. These attributes may be due to their low mammalian toxicity. Despite the aforementioned importance of essential oils, modern research activities have paid little attention to these natural oils. Hence, one of the aims of the present review was to reawaken the relevance of the naturally occurring oils in the cosmetic formulation, especially as they may be safer compared to some synthetic ingredients which may come with long time side effects. More research is, therefore, necessary in this area to uncover more benefits.