Aromatherapy and essential oil use have been growing quickly in the last 10 years. Education around proper dilution has not kept up with this growth and other misleading advice has caused some crackdowns from the FDA.
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Experience
When I first started using essential oils over 20 years ago, I made my own mistakes, I am also blessed that I never experienced any adverse reactions or became sensitized. Luckily, I knew to dilute the essential oils because they are a strong concentration of plant material, but I didn’t understand their complex makeup. It wasn’t until I took a few certification courses that taught chemistry and anatomy and physiology that I truly understood the reasons for dilution and how dangerous essential oils could be.
Dilution
Dilution is the key to using them safely and obtaining their true therapeutic properties. If you are new to essential oils you are probably hearing people talk about dilution percentages or using essential oils neat. When you use an essential oil neat this means you will be using the oil at full strength generally on your skin. There are very few acute situations where this may be an acceptable use, but the oils should never be used this way on a regular basis.
It is important to learn about dilutions and chemistry so that you understand why a specific essential oil should be used at a specific dilution percentage. As an example, from Essential Oil Safety 2nd Edition (Rodney and Young) lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) the safe dermal limit is only 0.7% due to causing skin sensitization, but a controversial oil like eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) has a safe dermal limit of 20%, but some people can have a respiratory reaction to the cineole if this is diffused.
Personal Story
When I began using essential oils over 20 years ago, I knew to only use a few drops, but I didn’t know about diluting them in a proper carrier. One of my favorite oils back then was rosemary (Salvia officinalis). I was using it when my son suffered from respiratory issues. I had read Valerie Ann Worwood’s book The Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy (the 1st edition) I learned that rosemary was a good option for helping relieve respiratory congestion.
A few things that I didn’t realize were rosemary essential oils have different chemotypes which dictate the proper use. Each chemotype has different precautions, a variety that is higher in verbenone has a maximum dermal limit of 6.5% while one high in camphor has a dermal limit of 16.5%.
I also didn’t know what a proper carrier should have been, I would often give my son a bath with Epsom salts and just a few drops of rosemary. My common sense should have screamed oil and water don’t mix, but I didn’t add anything else.
To properly dilute essential oils for a bath you must use something like, coconut oil, milk or even castile soap to help disperse the rosemary in the bath water.
Dig Deeper
In today’s world of memes and photos providing us our education many details are missed. When it comes to using essential oils and herbs a meme cannot properly provide cautions. These tidbits of information and lack of information are causing increased injuries from the improper use of essential oils.
My mantra now is dilute, dilute, dilute! Whether I am working with people or animals it is important to dilute the essential oils and make sure that you are using a carrier that will disperse the oils correctly.
