Just because something is natural does not make it safe. As I browse online, it seems that essential oils are part of some “natural-cure-for-all” hype. We have a flurry of misinformed people recommending natural “cures” to thousands of more misinformed people, and the vicious cycle continues.
As always, I encourage you to consult a qualified doctor and aromatherapist if you are unsure about whether it is safe for you to use a particular essential oil (or any other ingredient on this blog). I also encourage you to research an essential oil thoroughly from reputable sources before using it. Don’t take my word for it!
How Strong are essential oils?
Essential oils are highly concentrated, natural liquids obtained by distillation of the plant. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilograms of the plant are required to produce just one kilogram of its essential oil.
DID YOU KNOW?
One drop of peppermint essential oil is equivalent to 26-28 cups of peppermint tea!
Because of the strength of essential oils, you should be cautious of over-using them. Essentially (lol…excuse the pun), they should be considered the same way as medicine.
After reading this, please don’t be scared to the point where you disregard essential oils completely. You should just apply some common sense.
However, many people do choose to avoid essential oils due to sensitive skin or sustainability concerns, which is why essential oils are optional in many of my recipes.
Guidelines For topical use of essential oils
- Dilute all essential oils , because they are strong concentrations that might cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction. Lavender, chamomile and rose are generally considered safe to use undiluted on skin, but this may not be the case for everyone. Side note: This is how I learned that I am allergic to chamomile (even when diluted).
- Always do a skin patch test before using an essential oil extensively.
- If irritation occurs, discontinue use.
- Be careful not to get any essential oils into your eyes or mucus membranes. If this happens flush out with cool water or milk, or wipe your (closed) eye with a fatty oil like olive oil.
- Wash your hands after using undiluted essential oils.
- Check for any interaction between medication and essential oils, as some may interfere with prescription medication.
- Diabetics should avoid using Angelica oil in any form.
- Epileptics should avoid nutmeg, thujone, rosemary, fennel, sage, hyssop, camphor, tansy and wormwood.
- DON’T use essential oils on your pets! Remember, dogs and cats have a much better sense of smell than humans, as well as other major differences. Only use essential oils on your pet under the supervision or guidance of your vet. Tea tree essential oil is particularly poisonous to some pets! Read more information about animal aromatherapy and safety.
How to Effectively Dilute essential oils
Oil does not dissolve in water. We all know this. Therefore, essential oils cannot be diluted in water. The undiluted essential oils just float on top of the water. Even if you shake your product, you will still be applying tiny droplets of neat essential oil to your skin.
Oil dissolves oil.
Dilute your essential oils in oil-soluble ingredients.
Carrier oils are the most obvious choice, but butters and waxes work too.
Each essential oil has a different safe usage rate, since every plant is different.
A safe rule of thumb is to create a 1% dilution of essential oils. Don’t use higher than 3% dilution.
Even 3% is considered a high concentration, and is often reserved for fragrances not cosmetics.
For example, a 1% diultion would include 1g of essential oil diluted in 99g of carrier oil.
One drop of essential oil is approximately 0.05g. Therefore to illustrate this better: you could add approximately 20 drops to 100g of carrier oil. On a smaller scale, this would be approximately 2-3 drops of essential oil for every tablespoon of carrier oil.
Although, working in weight is far more accurate and recommended. I’ve used volume here for illustrative purposes only.
Other effective diluents for essential oils include:
- Fats (plant/ animal)
- Soap
- Pure alcohol 95% vol.
- Emulsifiers
- Solubilisers
- Surfactants
You CANNOT dilute essential oils with the below ingredients:
- Water
- Vodka (or other spirits with 45% v/v)
- Glycerine
- Hydrosols
- Aloe
- Powders (eg. clay, bicarbonate of soda, salt, dried herbs)
Ingestion of essential oils
I do not recommend internal use of any essential oil. Many of the herbs used in essential oils can be found as teas, and this would be a far safer option.
You wouldn’t ingest twenty cups of tea in one sitting, so you shouldn’t ingest one drop of essential oil. Besides, the best method of absorption for essential oils is through the skin anyway (i.e. Topically).
Besides poisoning or overdose, essential oils may also kill the important bacteria in your digestive system, including the beneficial/ necessary ones, which may lead to other serious health issues.
Photosensitivity & phototoxicity of citrus oils
Certain oils make the skin more sensitive to UV light and may cause blistering, discoloration or skin that is sensitive and prone to sunburn.
Avoid using these oils if you will be exposed to the sun or UV light:
- Grapefruit
- Lime
- Lemon
- Bitter orange (citrus aurantium)
- Bergamot
- Angelica
- Rue
Whereas, sweet orange (citrus sinensis), mandarin and tangerine (citrus reticulata) are considered safe and not photo-toxic.
Essential oils suitable for children:
These are easy to remember with the acronym TLC, and can be used safely for bathing, massage, room freshening and compresses:
- Tea tree
- Lavender
- Chamomile Roman
Also remember:
- Should you use essential oils in steam inhalation, never leave the child alone or unsupervised, and keep the inhalation to 1 minute.
- When used topically, prepare a 1% dilution for children as they are smaller and their skins are more sensitive.
- Keep your essential oils in a safe place away from children.
- If a child appears to have drunk significant amounts of essential oil (teaspoon or more), contact the nearest poison control unit, keep the bottle for identification and encourage the child to drink whole milk. Do not try to induce vomiting.
Essential oils to avoid during pregnancy & breast feeding
The following oils should be avoided during pregnancy and nursing:
- Aniseed
- Angelica
- Basil
- Birch
- Black pepper
- Boldo leaf
- Buchu
- Calamus
- Camphor
- Cassia
- Cedarwood
- Chamomile
- Cinnamon
- Clary sage
- Clove
- Elecampane
- Fennel
- Fir
- Ginger
- Horseradish
- Hyssop
- Jaborandi leaf
- Jasmine
- Juniper
- Lemon
- Lemongrass
- Marjoram
- Melissa
- Mugwort
- Mustard
- Myrrh
- Nightshade
- Nutmeg
- Oregano
- Parsley seed
- Pennyroyal
- Peppermint
- Pine
- Rose
- Rosemary
- Rue
- Sage
- Sassafras
- Savin
- Savory
- Southernwood
- Stinging nettle
- Tansy
- Thuja
- Thyme
- Wintergreen
- Wormseed
- Wormwood
Banned essential oils
| Name | also known as | Action |
| Rosewood | Aniba rosaeodora wood oil | Environmental Crisis (Illegal trade) [Read more about the rosewood crisis] |
|
Cade oil crude |
prickly juniper and juniper tar |
Carcinogenic |
|
Calamus oil |
sweet flag, myrtle flag, sweet rush and sweet sedge |
Carcinogenic |
|
Costus root |
kuth |
Sensitizer |
|
Elecampane oil |
scabwort |
Sensitizer |
|
Fig leaf absolute |
Sensitizer | |
|
Horseradish oil |
Toxic and irritant | |
|
Mustard oil |
black mustard |
Toxic and irritant |
|
Peru balsam |
balsam of Peru, Balsamo |
Sensitizer (distilled oil is allowed) |
|
Savin oil |
Toxic and sensitizer although Juniper phoenicea oil is allowed | |
|
Verbena oil |
Sensitizer | |
|
Tea absolute |
Sensitizer | |
|
Sassafras oil |
Carcinogenic | |
|
Stryax gum |
oriental sweet gum and storax |
Sensitizer |
|
Wormseed |
(also called Epazote or Mexican Tea) |
Toxic |
|
Wormwood oil |
Neurotoxin |
The above information is a summary of my personal research. If you would like to read more, here are some helpful resources:
- A comprehensive index of each essential oil‘s properties & uses
- Detailed breakdown of safety precautions and dilution guidelines.
- Article on the safety and safe use of essential oils by the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (USA).
- Article on the environmental impact of essential oils by the Earth Island Journal.
Resources:
Battaglia, S. (2002). The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy. Australia: International Centre of Holistic Aromatherapy.
Tisserand, R., and Balacs, T. (1995). Essential Oil Safety. New York: Churchill Livingstone.
Woorwood, VA. (1992 ). The Fragrant Pharmacy. Bantam Books: New Ed edition.
Photo credit:
Homedust on Flickr via Compfight Creative Commons
I would like to know can I extract vitamin A oil from some plant ? And how can it be applied to the skin ? Because my skin care range is all products with vit a but also expensive only reason I am baying them is thy work for my acny skin and the marks . If you can help me with any other way to creat a cream with vit a I would really appreciate it. Thank you .
Bijanka
Hi Bijanka
Thank you for your comment/ question. The answer is yes, you can extract vitamin A from a plant, but since a plant is made up of more than just vitamin A, the extraction won’t be 100% vitamin A oil. Carrots are really high in vitamin A, and so I would recommend that you make your own carrot oil. Carrot oil contains vitamin A, C, E and beta-carotene which are all marvelous for your skin. Or you could buy carrot essential oil, and add this to coconut oil/cocoa butter/shea butter to make your own carrot cream. To make your own carrot oil:
1) Wash carrots thoroughly, and dry them (you don’t want any water on them). Start with 2 or 3 carrots.
2) Grate the carrots (with the skin on). Place in a slow cooker/pot, cover them with coconut oil. You want to just cover the carrots with oil, so don’t use too much.
3) Turn the slow cooker on to the lowest heat. Let the oil warm up until it it hot, but not boiling. You don’t want the temperature to rise above 100 degrees Celsius. Keep it at this temperature for as long as possible (if you’re using the stove), or for 5 hours in a slow cooker. If you let it get too hot, you will destroy the vitamins.
4) Remove from heat, and let it cool down and stand for the rest of the day.
5) The next day, strain the mixture through a sieve/ cheese cloth. Keep the oil, and discard the carrots. Since coconut oil hardens when it’s cold, you may need to just warm it up so it becomes liquid again, then strain.
6) Use this oil on your skin as you would use a cream.
You can also try using my honey face wash for acne, it’s great at fading scars and preventing breakouts. One more tip: it also really helps to eat things high in vitamin A. Eg: carrots, sweet potato, butternut, red peppers.
Hope that helps. Good luck, and let me know how it goes =)
Kind regards
Christina
Thank you
I will devenitly try this
You honey acne face wash is very nice I’m using it every day in the morning and evening and I can see inproofment …..
Also the coconut face cream .
It’s a pleasure, and I’m so happy to hear that you are seeing an improvement with the honey face wash and coconut cream. Thank you for sharing.