Because essential oils are so highly concentrated, there are safety concerns to be aware of, especially as you are first learning how to use them. And there are extra precautions to take when it comes to using essential oils around kids and pets.
You’ll hear us say this a lot … essential oils are incredibly potent! Diluting helps them go farther, and most importantly, protects your skin from irritation and your body from potential negative reactions.
So what’s a carrier? Carriers include a range of substances from jojoba oil to bentonite clay to aloe vera that you can use as a base for drops of essential oil. The major categories are butters, waxes, oils, gels, lotions, soaps, salts, clays, and resins. Some carriers even have additional skin nourishing or therapeutic benefits.
One common misconception is that you can use water as a carrier for essential oils. It works fine when you are using a diffuser, or in instances when the oil will not come into direct contact with your body, but as you may remember from chemistry class, oil and water don’t mix. The oil will remain separate and intact, rather than dispersed and blended, defeating the purpose of adding your carrier and putting you at risk for negative reactions.
You may see instructions that call for a 2% dilution and feel a bit confused. We can help translate that into the simplest terms — drops! Depending on the situation, the strength of the oil you are using, and the person you’ll be using it on, there are different recommended dilution ratios to follow. Below is a basic chart for topical use, to help you get started.
When you first start using a new oil, we recommend diluting, doing a patch test, and watching your body for any reactions, like redness, itching, rashes, headaches, or dizziness.
Learn more about dilution guidelinesThere is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about whether or not the internal use of essential oils is safe. You may even hear of people throwing a few drops into a glass of water and chugging them down. We don’t recommend doing this for many reasons.
To add to the confusion, you may notice that some essential oils are labeled food safe or food grade. Unfortunately, that has more to do with certification and labeling technicalities than it does with the safety or the quality of the essential oil.
The FDA doesn’t regulate or classify any essential oils as food grade. It does designate some oils as “appropriately regulated indirect additives” and calls them Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for human consumption when used for their intended purpose. Intended purpose represents a significant gray area, as it is not clearly defined. Food manufacturers use certain oils in very low concentrations as flavor additives in large quantities of food, which is significantly different than a person who decides to drink multiple drops of essential oil per day. GRAS status does not indicate that taking essential oils will have a therapeutic effect or should be considered safe at any dose.
There are cases in which internal use of essential oils can be safe, but it requires significant training, and may not result in greater effectiveness. Our rule of thumb, especially for beginners, is to stick with tried and true, safe methods of use and stay away from ingesting essential oils. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable eating pounds of lemon rind, then you probably wouldn’t want to eat lemon essential oil either!
Not all essential oil companies will tell you this, but each oil has a shelf life! Essential oils oxidize when exposed to oxygen or heat, breaking them down and reducing their therapeutic qualities. It’s important to buy essential oils from a company that lists the batch date and shares shelf life information with you so that you can be aware of exactly what you are getting and how long it will be of maximum use.
There’s no need to throw your essential oils away after they have expired, you can still use them in cleaning blends.
Extend the life of your essential oilsChildren’s systems are more sensitive than adults, so you’ll need to use extra care and caution when it comes to essential oil safety.Oils to avoid with children under 10:
Critical safety guidelines:
There’s more to know about using essential oils with kids. So much so, that we have additional resources available if you’d like to know more.
Using essential oils with childrenLike children, pets have sensitive systems. What’s more, your pets can’t communicate the way that humans can if something is distressing them, their senses of smell are far more advanced than ours, and we may not be able to recognize irritation in pets as easily as we can in humans.
Here are a few rules to keep in mind:
Our products are 100% pure and completely natural. They are organically grown and free from additives of any kind. We take the extra step of testing each batch to guarantee its purity and share the test results on our website so you can see all of the details.
To support your health and wellness, we only select products that have the ideal chemistry for maximum therapeutic benefit. Our recommendations are guided by expert aromatherapists based on the latest research and science.
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