Safety Recommendations: What Are They and Whose Advice Should We Trust?

Why are we always seeing aromatherapist share safety information? And why is it so important to dilute your essential oils, not use too much in the diffuser and take care when using essential oils with certain age groups or with certain medications/conditions and treatments?

I recently had an encounter with an individual who was adamant that ingesting essential oils was not only safe but that it was to be recommended. That there was nothing to consider except following sound advice, that anyone can do so at home and there wasn’t a danger to doing this. That there was no need for consulting a professional before doing so, and it could be done daily. Upon asking the person which advice they were following, as they had claimed to always cite certain studies and books, I was told that I had been “given enough information” and could thus go and research this myself. I’m not sure if anyone else is familiar with Facebook, Instagram and META as a whole here but once the comments get far enough down they stop showing you certain ones. They also heavily filter what can and can’t be posted. If they decided (or even the author of the post decides) that they don’t want that comment to show, it’s not going to show. In the end this person angrily in BOLD letters decided to finally admit the name of the book they had apparently mentioned before, I thanked them and that was the end. However the entire interaction simply made me laugh, from the insistence that “you don’t need professional help to ingest essential oils, that’s a scam” to the stubbornness when I asked for the information I was clearly willing to look into and even to the most hilarious aspect of it it all- the social media profile claiming to always share free and safe information. Except when someone disagrees with you and annoys you I guess?

Now I don’t share this to complain, or to try and brag that I know better. Honestly I don’t like sharing things like this. Usually I just head on over to my stories and make a vague “Please reconsider everything when ingesting essential oils” but this seems to be a continuing line of thought especially among those who use certain essential brands. I don’t name oil brands, and honestly most companies recommend this now days anyways so what is the point. MLM brand or not, its a common recommendation to say “and enjoy these oils in a glass of water or in an capsule with a carrier oil”. Which are completely contradictory pieces of advice because one method has the oils not mixing in water and the other method at least uses a carrier oil. The recommendation to ingest your essential oils has been a growing fad and it’s also far from a new fad. People have been saying to eat these oils since the beginning of aromatherapy (I mean probably, human nature tends to revert to baby hood when studying certain things and we decide that licking or tasting is our best option.) and with all of the information out there why are people still arguing that this is something we can and SHOULD be casually doing at home?

I will be honest, I don’t know. I have guesses which include information from companies over running sound advice because they are larger and have more money. When you want to sell more product what do you do? You market. How do you market your products? In a way that encourages people to consume. What is one of the best ways to consume a lot of products? Tell people to add them to everything, including your diet. The bottom line is this has created an entire group of essential oil consumers that take whatever advice is handed to them without question. Because, if it is natural it is safe. Right?

The issue with this is that not everyone knows what they are talking about, and when someone like me says “you shouldn’t ingest essential oils unless guided to do so” or “you shouldn’t use undiluted essential oils” this is not me trying to scam you. I am not trained in ingestion, but I will be soon. I am trained in all other aspects of aromatherapy however, and am able to determine the best dilution and essential oil for a particular person, If someone were to message me asking about ingesting an essential oil or how to properly dilute an oil and even what oil would be best for certain issues, I would not be charging for them simply talking to me. But I also fail to see why it is a bad thing that someone charges for their services, or charges for their book. We talk about how people deserve to make money on their talent but it’s a scam because someone paid for their education and took the necessary steps to appropriately register to be able to practice safely? The bottom line is, we care about safety more than we are caring about the money. I went into aromatherapy because I was following bad advice, everyone around me was following bad advice, I wanted to change that and help people to be safe. I have seen my fair share of bad reactions, I gave myself a bad reaction using essential oils. So no I am not trying to scam you and make you pay for information that is probably free, I honestly and truly just want to help other people avoid the same mistakes that I and countless others have done. And why would you follow advice from a source simply because they are free? We really need to be looking into where the information comes from, why the source is saying the information and what they have to back up their claims. If they can’t point you to resources or refuse to share where they learned the information, or even refuse to give you the name of a book, they probably don’t know what they are talking about and aren’t to be trusted.

So, which safety is the best? Who do we follow here? What are the considerations when using, diluting, diffusing and ingesting essential oils? I personally recommend following trust sources when it comes to using essential oils, ones that align with a certain standard. I follow the NAHA recommendations and I also find that the Tisserand Institute has recommendations that align with NAHA and typical standards for the U.S. If you are in another country your standards might look a little differently. With the NAHA they compile handy lists of approved schools, educators and materials so it’s easy to find the information and trust the source. This also doesn’t need to come with a huge price tag, or any price tag. As they have lists of schools and even classes you can check out ranging from free to a full certification. Here is a list of free events they have online if you were interested in learning more, I believe they are free to all even if you aren’t a member but I could be wrong so if I am I will correct it.

We can see the NAHA safety guidelines here, and here is an expert talking about ingestion:

“Do not take essential oils internally without appropriate advanced aromatherapy education and understanding of the safety issues involved in doing so. Essential oils are commonly used internally throughout the world. Some individuals are doing so without the appropriate knowledge or understanding of safety concerns. NAHA does not support the indiscriminate or uneducated internal use of essential oils. If essential oils are used internally, we recommend doing so under the guidance of a knowledgeable health professional, or by using properly diluted, professionally formulated products labeled for internal use. To learn more, we recommend you receive education from a NAHA approved school. NAHA is dedicated to promoting education in this area so that internal use is better understood, and if done, is performed safely and effectively.” -NAHA General Safety Guidelines as of 2024

We can see the Tisserand Institute safety guidelines here, and here is an expert talking about ingestion:

“Do not ingest essential oils unless advised to do so by a practitioner who is qualified/licensed to prescribe essential oils in this way. Taking essential oils orally engages many areas of risk that other modes do not. Do not take essential oils either undiluted or in water, as there is a risk of mouth/stomach irritation. This is similar to what happens in a bath (see above) except that mucous membrane tissue is more sensitive than skin, yet our gut only sends out pain signals when erosion has progressed quite far. Essential oils are widely used in food flavorings, and GRAS status for many essential oils applies to food flavoring use, but it specifically excludes medicinal use. One or two drops of most essential oil can be safely taken in a day, but more than this is not recommended.” -Tisserand Institute Safety Guidelines as of 2024

Both of the safety recommendations realize that people will probably ingest them. They advise to not ingest unless under the appropriate care and also advise against ingesting essential oils unsafely which includes in a drink, dropping them directly in the mouth, taking them without dilution and using too much. Ingestion is also not the only safety issues they cover. From talking about appropriate dilutions, to talking about what ages to use essential oils at and even diffusion. While the NAHA does focus on someone with an aromatherapy practice it is still good to check out what they recommend. For the general population however I do like to recommend the Tisserand Institute because they do have a focus on teaching essential oil safety to everyone. They have a range of materials available for learning from free informationals and blog posts shared on Instagram to courses on their website that expand further in aromatherapy and safety.

What do these recommendations mean for ingestion though? For using essential oils undiluted? Using excessive amounts of essential oils? They are safety recommendations, to start with, so while it is recommended to follow the most up to date safety (which is based on the most up to date research) you never HAVE to do anything. You can simply do as you please if you so desire. However, there are safety guidelines in place for a reason. To keep you safe, to ensure you get the best out of aromatherapy and to make sure you don’t have consequences such as an allergic reaction, burns or damage to internal organs. Essential oils might be a great tool, but they are also extremely potent. This does not mean they are unsafe, but this does mean that we do need to take caution and care when using them. Their potency also doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use them or be able to buy them. We can still buy sodium hydroxide (lye) and it’s generally known to wear gloves and eye protection when working with lye. Why do we need to take caution and follow safety when working with essential oils though, surely they aren’t as dangerous as raw lye? They certainly aren’t as dangerous as lye can be and sure they are potent, but that isn’t that dangerous right? Vanilla extract is potent and there isn’t a huge list of rules to follow when purchasing that. So why is something like essential oils so heavily talked about in terms of safety? Why is there an entire association and an entire institute (just one of many educational places actually) dedicated to sharing about essentials oils?

Essential oil safety is so talked about because there is a lot to consider when using them. Essential oils are the extracts of plants, not every plant makes them or is harvested, but they are extremely potent and it takes a lot of plant material to get the tiny bottle we can purchase for ourselves. They are 50-100 times more potent than the actual plant. So when you use it topically, diffuse or even ingest you have to keep this in mind. We have to consider things like allergies, potential reactions, outside influences (such as the sun for phototoxic essential oils) or medications that someone is on. While it might seem like a lot, its important to consider these things. Some essential oils are fine to use but not fine to ingest. Some are more irritating when used topically. Some essential oils have medical contradictions and shouldn’t be used depending on the medication(s) that someone is on or the medical condition(s) they might have. Sometimes the medical interactions only apply if you ingest the essential oil or use topically. It’s important to know these things before using them, and definitely before you decide to ingest them. This is the main reason it is recommended to only do so under the care and guidance of a professional, because a professional will know which oils will be safe to take internally, which will be safe for a particular person, how much to dose and how often as well as knowing how to properly administer the essential oils. Ingestion might not actually be the best way to use the essential oils. An herb might be the better choice for what you are looking for. These are huge things to consider when it comes to utilizing essential oils especially in the manner of ingestion. Knowing the basic safety information and following guidelines helps ensure the best care.

The bottom line is that safety recommendations are not just in place to dictate anyone or ruin the fun. There are people out there who spend their life researching essential oils. People who constantly stay up to date on the latest information to be able to help those around them. As much of a bummer as it might be to be told that it’s unsafe to use undiluted essential oils, to use too much at a time or to ingest them it’s simply because someone cares about what might happen. Sure, it could be nothing, but it also could be something. Again, just because something is natural does not make it safe especially to eat. Chicken poop is natural but you won’t be seeing me scooping it up into my garden (because straight un-composted chicken poo would kill all the plants-yikes) and I would prefer to properly use fertilizer rather than kill off all of my hard work. Same with essential oils, I would prefer to dilute my oils and use them safely than follow the advice that just because it’s natural that means there are no consequences to using them in certain manners. There can be consequences, and no one is saying this to be a bummer or scare anyone. We say it because we care and want people to be aware of what they are doing before they dive fully into something.

If you are interested you can check out my list of essential oils that you should avoid while one medications or with certain conditions here. I have an entire post about issues with ingestion as well that might cover more detail here. Also check out my quick how to guide for diffusing here. Also for topical use here is a break down on popular carrier oils and where to get the best ones here. Check out the shop for free printables on dilution rates.

If you are interested in learning more about essential oil safety check out these books-none of these are affiliated (except the one I wrote myself) and I am sharing these because I genuinely loved these books and thought they were helpful:

Essential oil Safety by Tisserand and Young

Using essential oils safely by Lea Jacobson

Beginners Guides to Aromatherapy by Trista Black (that’s me!) 

The uncomplicated Guide to using essential oils by Janie ODell

Thank you so much for reading, your support means a lot. If you have any questions feel free to email me at holisticary@gmail.com or call/text me at 641-631-6355

This blog post was meant to educate and entertain, it is entirely my opinion and not meant to treat or diagnose anyone or to be taken as absolute unwavering fact. Please seek proper medical care and advice.