2018 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 10-21
In order to clarify the influence of the lifestyle whereby essential oil scents are used for attractiveness, two experiments were conducted.
In the first intervention experiment, twenty-eight female university students, who were the research participants, were divided in three groups and asked to wear purified water, bergamot oil (50% concentration) , or rose oil (0.5% concentration) for about five weeks. Before and after the intervention, the participants' anxiety (STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) , interpersonal behavioral traits (NTI-II, Nursery Trait Inventory-II) , mood, and skin condition were measured.
In the second experiment involving facial attractiveness evaluation, twenty male and female university students were asked to evaluate the faces of participants of the intervention experiment before and after the intervention.
In the intervention experiment, the rose oil group had shown a significant reduction in trait anxiety measured using the STAI after the intervention. Additionally, according to NTI-II measurement, the mean values for “executive ability,” “helpful activity,” and “emotional acceptance” of the rose oil group had significantly increased. There was a significant improvement in the mood and skin condition in the bergamot oil group and in the skin condition in the rose oil group after the intervention.
The face evaluation experiment had shown that the intervention had significantly improved some criteria in the bergamot oil group while in the rose oil group, all criteria were significantly improved by the intervention. Furthermore, the ratio of people who rated the faces after the intervention as more attractive than before the intervention was 48.1% for the control group, 61.0% for the bergamot oil group, and 77.0% for the rose oil group.
Therefore, the study suggests that the continued use of essential oil scents can lead to changes internally as well in terms of external appearance, and to improved facial attractiveness.
