Are You Using Essential Oils Safely?
With all the advice online about essential oils, and most of it being not so great advice, it’s hard to know what’s a safe practice and what’s not so safe. But with this easy guide you will be able to discern safe from unsafe and use your essential oils confidently (and safely) with you and everyone in your life. I will break it down and make it simple, as a beginners guide of things to know about essential oils and basic safeties that everyone should know.
Storing essential oils:
Are you storing your oils properly to make sure that they last? Keep the lid on tight, keep them in dark colored glass bottles, keep them out of the sun and in a cool/dark place. This will ensure that you get the most out of your essential oils and they last their entire shelf life. Don’t leave them open and cap them immediately after use. This ensures that they don’t oxidize as quickly. You can read more about storing oils here in my guide to storing essential oils correctly.
While on the subject of storage make sure that you are storing all carriers correctly as well, in a cool/dark location away from sunlight. And make sure to remember shelf lives of the carriers (and essential oils) you are using. If it smells off don’t use it.
Am I using the correct oil?
Are you using the correct oil for your symptom? If you have eczema due to poor gut health are you simply treating the area and ignoring the cause? It might seem complicated but once you know it can be super easy to know what oils will be helpful.
Picking up a good book that has helpful tips can really help you out when deciding what oils to choose for what condition. Some of my favorites that really help determining what oil I need for specific issues are: Lea Jacobsons Essential Oil Profiles and Therapeutic Blending with Essential Oil by Rebecca Park Totilo. Some resources outside of books on instagram (and free) are: Holisticary Aromatherapy, Janie ODell, Ignited Health, Redemptive Living, Jess essential life, Tisserand Institute, Aromahut, Aromahead, Using essential oils safely and The Aroma Teacher. And while I can not speak for anyone else, you are always welcome to message me (holisticary aromatherapy) with questions if you have any. The other profiles share daily essential oil tips and holistic advice that I agree with and they all have your safety in mind as well.
Each person is different and so are the symptoms. One oil might work for someone else because they are stressed while another might not be so good for someone who is overwhelmed (though not necessarily stressing out) so if they used the same oil they won’t get the same results. It is prudent to double check the therapeutic benefits of the oil that you are using, and to also be sure of the advice that you are getting about an essential oils benefits. Your best bet on knowing for certain is getting a book you trust, there are so many more than the ones that I listed, or following some trusted aromatherapy/holistic living accounts on social media. I discourage turning to google as the advice can vary especially from bloggers or MLM reps (nothing against any of them but sometimes the advice that an oil is good for something isn’t always the best) and it might not be the most accurate advice, especially for your specific need.
Am I using the correct application?
Sometimes we have the correct oil but not the correct method of application. So I like to repeat this little phrase to myself whenever I am thinking of a way to use an essential oil; if you are having an emotional issue, sinus issue or nausea then inhalation is your best bet. If you have pain, dry skin or stomach issues than topical is your best bet. I do not encourage ingestion because rarely is this a route someone should take and they should only be doing so guided by a professional. Now this isn’t always the case with every issue because sometimes they can cross over. Like if I have a headache I can benefit from peppermint inhalation or applied topically. If I am anxious inhalation is best but maybe I achieve that through a bath salt soak or a massage oil. But if you’re wondering the best way to use your oil, it can be helpful to remember that mental issues work best with inhalation and physical issues work best with topical use. From there you can find the best route for you, play around with it and find out what works for you.
Am I using too much?
Often times the recommendations for essential oils usage is crazy high, some recipes asking for 50 drops in a 10ml carrier. Essential oils are incredibly potent and we honestly do not need a lot of them. Start smaller, and familiarize yourself with some dilutions. I love using Plant Therapy’s blog post on dilution as my guide because they have the easiest and clearest advice to follow.
But some quick dilutions to have around all the time are:
1% (best for kids, pregnancy and breastfeeding)
3 drops in 10ml, 4 drops in 15ml, 9 drops in 30ml
2% (adults daily use, kids 3+ targeted use-use occasionally no longer than 2 weeks)
6 drops in 10ml, 9 drops in 15ml, 18 drops in 30ml
3% (adults daily use, kids 3+ targeted use, one time use or do not use longer than 5 days)
9 drops in 10ml, 13 drops in 15ml, 27 drops in 30ml
5% (adults targeted use, do not use longer than 2 weeks)
15 drops in 10ml, 22 drops in 15ml, 45 drops in 30ml
10% (one time targeted use for adults)
30 drops in 10ml, 45 drops in 15ml, 90 drops in 30ml
It’s important to find the right dilution for the person and their issue. I wouldn’t use anything higher than a 3% on a child 3 and under and I would only resort to a 5% for a child for a one time targeted issue (like a burn). I wouldn’t regularly use 10% for an adult, I would do this one time for a targeted issue (like extreme back pain before you can get help) I would keep daily use around .5%-1% for babies and kids 6mo+ and daily use for adults 1-3% (and adult is 14+ for oil usage)
Is the oil I am using appropriate for the age of the person?
Some oils are not safe for certain ages, like peppermint shouldn’t be used under the age of 6 and eucalyptus shouldn’t be used under the age of 10. On top of that some essential oils should be avoided in pregnancy or even with certain medications as well. You can see my complete list of essential oils safe for certain ages/pregnancy/breastfeeding and you can find essential oils to avoid on medications by clicking here. There isn’t a whole lot I can put here that I haven’t already blogged about and you could benefit from reading the other blogs that detail this a little more. I hate to just link other sources and leave it at that, but it’s important to know what oils are safe and unsafe for certain people.
Is the advice I am following actually safe?
I touched on this a little when talking about what is the best method for using essential oils, but it’s something that could benefit from it’s own section. I know in a world of social media it’s easy to find essential oil advice online. But is the advice actually good advice? I have seen so much in the essential oil world, like daily casual ingestion or applying oils neat. These are not good practices to have. While it might be hard to discern if something is good advice there are a few points to remember if the advice is safe:
Is this the correct oil for its intended purpose?
Is this the correct oil for the intended person?
Is this the correct method of application for the intended purpose?
Is this the correct dilution for the intended purpose?
Does the person sharing advice know anything about essential oils?
Is the person sharing advice selling essential oils?
These are some things to think about before taking advice from someone. I’d like to point out there is nothing wrong with selling essential oils or aromatherapy products, I sell my own products, but it does have an influence sometimes on if someone actually cares about the safety or if they are trying to make a sales quota. This is why so many essential oil companies recommend incredibly high dilutions, because it sells more. It’s just something to be aware of.
Is the essential oil I am using real?
Sometimes there are fragrance oils hiding as essential oils (bed bath and beyond, target, Walmart etc) and sometimes there are oils cut with a carrier oil. While it isn’t super easy to discern a real essential oil compared to a fake there are some ways we can ensure we are using the real deal. It matters less about the brand you chose to use and more about getting a real essential oil. Be sure to look for GC/MS reports for the specific batches of essential oils, third party testing, Latin names of the essential oil on the bottle as well as safety information either on the bottle or on the website you purchase from. Avoid purchasing essential oils form grocery stores (a health food store could be the exception but please be aware of tampering and you should still be able to find reports on the essential oil online) and avoid purchasing essential oils from Amazon even if you know the brand. The risk of getting an oil that was replaced or tampered with is higher, the risk of getting a fake essential oil is higher. Order directly from retailers rather than 3rd party sellers. If you want some help with the GC/MS reports and how to read them and know what to look for then check out my post on Everything you need to know about GC/MS reports.
With that being said that is all that I can think of that you would need to know about using essential oils safely. It really isn’t super complicated and once you know the basic rules you can discern how to use these beneficial plant properties in your life. What is your go to tip for beginning essential oil users? I love to recommend some basic essential oils that everyone needs in their life if I am asked. Sometimes essential oils can cover a multitude of issues.
