Hawai'i stores see interest in flower-essence products increasing
By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer
The medical use of flower essences in Hawai'i is catching on gently.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Hawai'i medical professionals and alternative practitioners are cautious about these substances — their safety, if ingested, and their claims of increased health and well-being.
Massage specialist Sophie Ann Aoki prefers to use the essences externally.
Some health food store owners say they're holding off until they're sure there's a market for the essences. But word of mouth has spread wide enough to show a growing grass-roots interest.
Vanessa Cordeiro, supplement purchaser for Down to Earth Natural Foods and Lifestyle's Honolulu store, said she received good feedback from Honolulu customers who purchased flower essences produced by Nelson Bach USA Ltd.
Cordeiro said Bach's combination of flower essences, "Rescue Remedy," sell out weekly. The product was especially popular during Independence Day and New Year's Eve — fireworks season — when customers gave the drops to their pets to help calm them.
Yumi Guidotti, owner of Naturally Pets on Ward Avenue, said flower essences can be used on birds, dogs, cats, humans and plants. For owner and pet, Guidotti carries not only the Bach brand, but also Kaua'i Essences, created by Ken Carlson. The Kaua'i product line from Starmen Unlimited includes more than 30 island flowers, including African tulip, sugar cane, sweet potato, ylang ylang and yellow ginger.
Carlson, a one-time lawyer, now budding entrepreneur, started his product line eight years ago. Marketing through word of mouth and his Web site, starmen.com, Carlson has found a global niche for Kaua'i flowers. "Sales in Hawai'i has increased steadily," he said. "But sales to Europe and Japan have been skyrocketing."
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Sophie Ann M. Aoki, a licensed massage specialist and essential oils practitioner, expressed concern about using essences internally; she prefers to inhale essences or rub them on the skin, especially the soles of the feet. In her informational classes on plant essences in community colleges and hospitals she stresses the need to be cautious, educate oneself and be sure products chosen are pure and of high quality.
Sophie Ann Aoki, a licensed massage specialist and essential oils practitioner, massages customers' feet using products by Young Living Essential Oils. Essential oils are absorbed through the skin and can work in the olfactory sense.
Impure or adulterated essences can cause stomach irritation or rashes, she said; the essential ingredients should be among the first three ingredients listed, said Nancy Wilder, certified clinical aesthetician and skin specialist.
Native Hawaiian medicine practitioner Francine Dudoit said Hawaiians are known to have used certain flowers for their healing properties. "But it is more common to use plants that flower rather than the flowers," Dudoit said.
Dr. Richard Kasuya, University of Hawai'i medical education director, expressed concern about the safety and effectiveness of the essences, and quality control in manufacturing. He said conventional medical practitioners need to educate themselves about these products to better aid patients who might wish to use them.
