Sharon Curtis
Aromatherapy Certification Program graduate“I am passionate about GC:MS and want to make it accessible to everyone.”
How a mass spectrometrist fell for the oils themselves.
i live near Ottawa and work as the Chemistry, Mass Spectrometrist at the University of Ottawa. My specialisation is small molecules. I became interested in essential oils many years ago and would use them to train and teach students how to use the GC:MS.
Friends and family often would give me oils that they thought rather dubious and i would run them through the GC:MS and report back. Often they would have preservatives or the ratio's of components which were not correct.
During covid, i had sometime on my hands, and decided to learn more about essential oils, the chemical components and their therapeutic uses. Their therapeutic users, was new to me, and i enjoyed making body butters, inhalers, bath bombs and salts, diffuser blends and roll on oils.
I removed all chemical cleaning agents from my home and created a line of cleaning products. I started my own business called Dr Croft's, Lotions and Potions, the cleaning line i called A Cleaner Clean!
JLHMS Facility for GC:MS and LC:MS
This is the Mass Spectrometry Facility at the University of Ottawa. We are only too happy to help you analyse your sample.
Charging a reasonable price for analysis that people can afford. This will allow people to analyse their specific blends. In the lab, we have been working on a microwave extraction process that allows us to make hydrosols, we have also developed a method for analysing them. I would like to manufacture hydrosols, in small batches for the aromatherapy and specialty food markets.
I am excited to see where this certification takes me and i am interested in continuing my education and teaching GC:MS and LC:MS to students and professionals. I am also interested in continuing to work with clients and create personal products for individual well being. I am also very interested in the continuing to work with inhalation products, mindful mediation and mental health, products and research.
I loved how the Aromahead course of study focused on the chemical components of each oil, and looked at the functional groups and their therapeutic benefits. I enjoyed making the products using the class of molecules we were studying. I appreciated the encouragement from the Aromahead lecturers and course evaluators.
What made the difference, in Sharon’s words.
Sharon spent her career reading GC:MS charts. Here is what the program added, in her own words.
Chemistry, front and center
The coursework goes at oils the way a chemist would: components, functional groups, and what they do.
I loved how the Aromahead course of study focused on the chemical components of each oil, and looked at the functional groups and their therapeutic benefits.
Learning by making
Each family of molecules came with real products to make.
I enjoyed making the products using the class of molecules we were studying.
Work that reaches people
The training turned lab analysis into client work she is proud of.
I now count it a real privilege to work with clients to create products that really make a difference to their health and well being.
A clear path, one step at a time.
Sharon is a graduate of the Aromatherapy Certification (Pathway 3), earning her Certified Professional Aromatherapist credential. It is a cumulative path: each step includes everything before it, and you can climb as far as you like, at your own pace. See the full path →
Start where Sharon started.
Sharon came to the program already running a university mass spectrometry lab, and left making products for clients and a cleaning line of her own. Your first pathway is free, and your Pathway 1 dashboard opens right away.
