Bad Essential Oil Advice
Have you ever gotten some essential oil advice and you weren’t sure that it was something you should be doing?
Well don’t worry, I’ve got you. I will go over some of the most popular essential oil advice stemming from sales reps and those untrained in aromatherapy and I will guide you with what a more appropriate route would be. You shouldn’t have to worry if something someone telling you is actually safe.
Before we get started it’s important to remember that even though essential oils are natural there are still guidelines that should be followed. We shouldn’t over use them or over buy them. We shouldn’t treat them as though they can never bring adverse reactions and we shouldn’t assume that they will work or be safe for everyone.
Bad essential oil advice I commonly see
Casual ingestion of essential oils: this one is a big one. I see it so much, and people telling others to add essential oils to their water. Why? I am boggled by how this became the go to advice. Oils and water don’t mix and essential oils are extremely potent. You want to ensure that oils are properly mixed into something else before consuming and to be quite frank most people are not ensuring this. If you feel the need to ingest I would encourage a couple things first. Find out if there are other methods that would be more suitable. In most cases you can achieve results that you need through inhalation or topical application and a need for ingestion is incredibly rare. If you find that you still need/want to ingest then please consult with a professional first. They can help guide you with how often you can safely do so, essential oils that are safe (many are not) for ingestion and how to do so to ensure that you aren’t applying neat essential oils inside your mouth.
Using essential oils neat: I also see this a lot and while I can understand why this became popular it doesn’t make it any less dangerous. As I mentioned essential oils are extremely potent, highly concentrated and volatile substances. The amount of plants it takes to produce a single bottle of essential oil is astronomical. However, large companies have perpetuated the rumor that these are natural and therefore it’s safe and they have encouraged excessive use of essential oils simply so they can sell more. Never apply essential oils neat (I can think of 2 cases where this would actually be acceptable and if you feel you need a neat use of essential oils then please contact a professional for help) as this can cause so many issues. You may have an adverse reaction, you may become sensitized and gain life long allergies. You will waste your oil certainly, and can cause many bodily issues with neat use of essential oils including: nausea, skin rashes, photoxicity reactions, burns, permanent scaring/marking and so much more. Essential oils really benefit you when properly diluted and you can avoid so many negative reactions if you just follow proper dilution guidelines.
Applying essential oils into you vagina, ears or butt: Look this one doesn’t really need covered I feel, but I see it enough times to warrant touching on the subject. Nothing needs to go into your vagina, ears or butt. Those are sensitive areas and we really shouldn’t be putting essential oils inside those places. I know it’s common to recommend essential oils for yeast infections and the likes, and while it does work, you do NOT need to apply them inside for that to happen. On top of that there are many herbal rash creams that you can make or purchase instead of sticking oils inside you. Don’t irritate sensitive membranes with essential oils. There are many ways to utilize oils for sensitive things that don’t involve shoving them in places they don’t belong.
Cooking with essential oils: I mean you can, this isn’t my favorite advice but I don’t see it as harmful as some of the others. But why would you want to. This goes back to wasting oils, use the herb! Save your oils for therapeutic uses and leave them out of the kitchen, there just isn’t a point to cooking with them. It’s also fairly easy to over do it with drops in the kitchen as well and I promise you that you can achieve a wonderful flavor using the herbs in cooking rather than the oil.
Saying all oils are kid safe: This just isn’t true, many are dangerous to use around or on kids. I have seen so many people using essential oils not safe for kids on kids, even babies, its frightening. Just because it’s natural does not make it safe. There is a lot that goes into using essential oils safely with children. I have several blog posts on safe essential oil usage with children and babies you can check them out. But I highly encourage learning what is safe, what’s not safe and applying a fair bit of caution with essential oils and children.
Excessive oil use in pregnancy: I see so many people applying oils, eating oils, diffusing oils etc when pregnant. I also have a few posts on essential oils and pregnancy, but the break down here is there isn’t adequate studies on this. We have anecdotal evidence it’s safe by studying the chemical make up of these oils. Generally speaking it is safe, and I used oils in my pregnancy safely, but we also shouldn’t over do it and overwhelm ourselves. We shoudnt’t be using oils in excess anyways, let alone while pregnant. Take care and caution while pregnant.
This is really just the surface of bad advice floating around out there, but it’s the most common that I see. Essential oils and aromatherapy can be amazing, when use appropriately. Safety is super important when it comes to essential oils and it’s important to be able to tell what is not so great advice. Often times advice like the ones I listed stem from a company wanting to sell more or playing on peoples desire to live more naturally. What other advice have you seen out there that seems questionable? Find me on Instagram and Tik Tok for more essential oil content and to ask me aromatherapy questions.
