An' May It Harm None!
Interest in essential oils and Aromatherapy has skyrocketed in recent
years. Available in every natural foods store, online or through independent
distributors, and seen as a readily-accessible form of Medicine for the People,
the healing power of essential oils appeals to many. The DIY crowd makes use of
essential oils in homemade beauty and home cleaning recipes. Homesteaders and
preppers tout the powerful effects of essential oils in healing humans and
their animals without Big Pharm. Natural soap makers scent their handmade bars
with essential oils. New Age moms spray essential oil blends on their excitable
children on national television. Suddenly, it seems, essential oils are
everywhere, in vogue and in demand.
More than just an extension of herbalism, Aromatherapy is a branch of
Botanical Medicine, with the focus on the "essence" of the plant
expressed through its volatile oils secreted through special glands in one or
several parts of aromatic plants. These essences bring defense and nourishment
against climatic and pestilent factors. Miraculously, these same plant essences
resonate for us, holistically supporting us in Body, Mind and Spirit.
Essential oils can be extracted from seeds, roots, leaves, bark, wood,
fruit and blossoms, with blossoms offering the most complex and fragile scents.
Great quantities of plant material are steam distilled, cold pressed or solvent
extracted, capturing most, but not all, of the chemical elements of each
plant's particular medicine. Different plants, and different parts of a plant,
yield varying amounts of essential oil; while the leaves of peppermint or the
rind of an orange offer up generous amounts of essential oils to the distiller,
it can take 60,000 roses to produce just one ounce of essential oil! All of these
essences are extremely concentrated, and can range in cost from just a few
dollars an ounce to several hundred dollars for a vial the size of your
thumbnail. Proper use of these precious, powerful essences requires education
and a commitment to safe practices.
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| Rosemary needles with minuscule "dots" of essential oil visible. Thanks to Cory Trusty for the photo. |
I will tell you up front that, while I am a practicing certified
aromatherapist with clients across the country, I have no affiliation with any
company that sells essential oils. I became interested in aromatherapy as a
healing modality back in 1986, when people in the United States were just
starting to become aware of essential oils and how they could be used to
powerfully benefit our health and well-being. Back then there were few
essential oil suppliers; at the time, I was working for a major health and
beauty company and my first half-dozen or so bottles of essential oils were
sent to me by a contact at our fragrance supply house. Judith Jackson's book,
Scentual Touch, had just been published, introducing Americans to the British
tradition of aromatic massage using essential oils. An acquaintance from
England sent me a copy of Robert Tisserand's The Art of Aromatherapy. I
committed myself to learning all I could about essential oils, and in 2001,
embarked on a rigorous year-long study of Aromatherapy from a Chinese Medical
Perspective, taught at NYC's Ambrosia Foundation by the respected Dr. Jeffrey
Yuen. For one weekend every month I sat in a classroom with medical doctors,
acupuncturists, massage therapists and healers as we learned about the properties
of a hundred or so essential oils, proper dilution rates, application protocol
and the influence of essential oils on the processes of Body, Mind and Spirit.
It was the best training I could have received.
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| Glass still at The Essential Herbal. |
Eight years later, a notice about a weekend workshop caught my eye. Learn
to safely apply undiluted essential oils for maximum, radical healing! What did
these people know that I did not? I signed up, determined to go in with a
beginner's mind.
What I witnessed there sent my head spinning. As bottle after bottle of
pure, undiluted essential oils was passed around the circle of students, we
were encouraged to smell each oil and apply liberally. One enthusiastic woman
literally poured each of the oils freely up and down her arm, onto her chest,
her legs, until there was not one patch of skin left unannointed. Neither of
the workshop leaders said a word, nor did they make a move to stop her. This
was anathema to the careful training I had received. My hand shot up, almost
involuntarily. Isn't that a dangerous amount of essential oil for the body to
process? No, I was assured, and was dismissed with some BS about an absorption
ratio of drops applied vs how much actually gets into the body before a certain
amount is lost to evaporation. OK, I thought, it's your show, and shut my
mouth. Next day, twenty weekend workshop attendees were "certified"
in Medicinal Aromatherapy (!) and released into the world to practice what
little they had learned - but not before we had placed and paid for our orders
of essential oils. Cost to become a distributor? $6,000 in product purchases
annually or risk loss of certification. And we wouldn't even receive our
certificate until we each wrote a monograph, a highly-researched paper, on the
essential oil of our choice. I chose to do neither, cut my losses, and moved
on.
Two things became apparent to me at that workshop. The first was that there
are many, many of us hungry for knowledge concerning the powerful gifts of
Aromatherapy. The second thing I learned first hand is that not every company
that sells essential oils operates with integrity and has their client's best
interests at heart.
The popularity of Aromatherapy and the lucrative potential for profit
entices many companies to enter the marketplace to try and cash in, flooding
the market with essential oils of sometimes questionable quality, marketing
hype and misinformation. Neither Young Living nor doTerra, two of the most
popular MLM (multi-level marketing) companies hosted that fated workshop; it
was run by distributors for another MLM company that prides itself on the very
expensive, single essence boutique oils it sells to upscale clients to
"aid in their Ascension". Yet the approach of each of these companies
is similar: offer exclusive "therapeutic quality" essential oils,
spread misinformation promoting the ingestion and application of undiluted or
barely diluted essential oils, and offer kits, "wholesale" pricing,
and related health products to make it easy for overwhelmed beginners to jump
right in and start treating themselves and their friends and families. Many
customers buy into the hype so completely they will look no further, convinced
the company propaganda is the last word on Aromatherapy. Information on safe
practices found elsewhere may conflict with that promoted by irresponsible
parties, and may well be ignored.
Agendas like that can open the door to disaster.
Neat, or undiluted, essential oils on the skin or in the body can produce
several unwelcome consequences: phototoxicity, sensitization, chemical burns,
acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute liver failure and central nervous
system stimulation or depression, to name a few. Ingestion of essential oils
can cause damage to mucous membranes, the esophagus and the stomach lining, as
well as coma and even death. Essential oils are not water-soluble and will not
disperse in water; drinking water that has had even one drop of essential oil
added to it, or an essential oil-filled capsule that has been swallowed, can
deliver a blob of undiluted oil to the stomach, potentially causing an internal
chemical burn that can result in permanent damage. I'll never forget the
cautionary demonstration of the potential for harm illustrated on the first day
of Aromatherapy school. One drop of peppermint oil was added to a styrofoam cup
that had been filled with water. In less than ten minutes, the cup itself had
been completely eroded at the water line by the peppermint oil floating on top
of the water!
Marge Clark is the owner of Nature's Gift, a company that sells a wide
range of pure essential oils and related aromatherapy products and boasts one
of the most informative websites on the Internet. She experienced firsthand
what it is to become sensitized to an essential oil. In her case, it was to her
beloved lavender. "Twenty years ago almost every authority said that
Lavender essential oil could be used neat (undiluted.) I believed them, used
undiluted lavender on broken skin. As a result of this unwise over use, I am
sensitized to the components of lavender for, I suppose, the rest of my
life. If I use Lavender, or other high
linalol oils, topically, even in very low dilution, my body will react to the
"invader" with contact dermatitis that can take a long time to
heal. Those who suggest neat use of these
powerful healing oils have no respect for their strength."
Children and the elderly are especially at risk to the adverse effects of
improper use of essential oils and can easily fall victim to well-meaning
caretakers who unwittingly administer these oils in an unsafe manner. Recently,
the Tennessee Poison Center stated they have seen essential oil mishaps double
in the past four years, with 80% of those cases involving children. The primary
route of poisoning is by accidental ingestion, but poisoning may also occur
through excessive or inappropriate application to the skin. All essential oils
can produce oral and throat irritation, nausea, and vomiting when ingested or
improperly used. The yearly Essential Oil Injury Report, maintained by the
Atlantic Institute of Aromatherapy, is full of horrifying stories such as this:
"Undiluted oils applied to small sore:
"blend/frankincense" was used and next day skin turned red,
bubbled up and peeled. When concerns were voiced she was told it was
"detox, that there's no way to be allergic or have a bad reaction to the
oil since they are natural."
"Natural" does not always mean safe, and more is not always
better. The Essential Oils Desk Reference, a product catalog cleverly disguised
as an Aromatherapy textbook published by Young Living's Essential Science
Publishing, recommends diluting essential oils 50/50 (essential oil to carrier
oil) only if the oils are marked SI (skin irritant). Some oils are "so
mild they can be used undiluted, even on infants" (Third Edition, page 279). In the rigorous
training I received, we discussed maximum dilution rates for every single
essential oil we covered; this rate varied from oil to oil, but the maximum
usage rate never exceeding 8%. Usage rates for children and the elderly are
generally half that recommended for healthy adults, with some oils
contraindicated for whole sections of the population! Proper education here is
vital - no healer wants to inadvertently poison or cause harm to their loved
ones.
Rosanne Tartaro-O'Donnell, owner of SunRose Aromatics, LLC, advocates for
safe essential oil usage and provides these handy charts:
In addition, Rosanne suggests the following safety tips:
- always read label cautions and warnings
- never ingest essential oils
- do NOT use directly on the skin .. ALWAYS DILUTE
- Keep away from the eyes and mucous membranes
store away from children and pets
In Europe and Australia, where Aromatherapy is recognized by the government
and insurance agencies as a viable health practice, there are guidelines for
safe sales and practice; not so here in the United States. I see this as a
double-edged sword. While we are free to purchase essential oils and practice
to the best of our abilities, there are no guidelines in place for purity and
quality assurance, and no licensing for practitioners. Aromatherapy is a
powerful healing modality that demands we approach with respect and caution. It
is incumbent upon every would-be Aromatherapist to educate herself to the very
best of her ability, to seek out and support suppliers who sell quality
essential oils with integrity and humility, and to practice with joy, gratitude
and restraint.
- Lisa Marie Layman is a Certified Aromatherapist, Beekeeper and ProductFormulator. She lives with her husband and son and a yard full of honeybees in
New York's beautiful Hudson River Valley. You may reach her at
LisaMarieLayman@gmail.com
8 comments:
Several years ago i thought of using lemongrass to keep the bugs away at a 4 th of July get together with my family. As predicted there was alot of bugs that year. So as stated lemongrass to the rescue. I took the bottle with me. Numerous times that evening i applied it to my arms. Straight up, or neat,,,,, Needless to say, my evening was cut short as i went home early, not feeling well at all, and with a severe headache. Later next day pondering why i wasnt feeling well, i suddenly realized that it was probably due to application of oil. After further reading, my prediction as to my " illness" was realized. Do the homework before thinking that something natural cant harm you. I did not realize the potency of said oils. I took it upon myself to really dig into the dos and donts of using oils. A wonderful thing if you know what youre doing..... If you dont, not so much as i discovered.
Hi. I'm Rehne and I'm a Certified Aromatherapist. This is a great article and as someone who writes for two magazines, a blog, and working on a book, it's obvious a lot of time, hard work and research went into this. I truly enjoyed this article! Thank you so much!
As a long time registered aromatherapist, former educator and product formulator I can honestly say this is a well written article from an actual aromatherapist. A person who took the time to become educated and has an obvious respect for the oils they use. My hat's off to Lisa Marie Layman!
Thanks you so much for this article, Lisa. It is really informative and useful.
I teach classes in making herbal body-care products, and provide essential oils for students to use to scent their products. I try to give a little bit of education about essential oils so that they can use them more wisely in their lives.
I decided years ago that as an herbalist, I was not going to try to delve into aromatherapy as well, as there is so much to know I didn't feel I had enough brain power to add another whole area. Your article validates my decision, and gives me added information to share with people so that they can approach using essential oils with proper caution. Again, thanks.
This is an excellent article but when I followed the link to the Atlantic Institute, this is what I found on their site: "Essential oils can be used in many different ways ranging from topical use, to inhalation, to ingestion. Common sense and education should accompany essential oil applications for particular medicinal results." It seems very contradictory that in light of what you mentioned about ingestion that this would be a site you'd reference for oil safety tips.
Well Stef, the fact is that ingestion is a part of essential oil use - but ONLY FOR TRAINED AROMATHERAPISTS - not sales reps. I myself, who has used them for over 20 years and distill them here on the farm, do not feel that I have anything near the training or education to advise on internal use.
Essential oils are used in all kinds of candies and food flavorings, however the quantities used are so very small comparatively. A single drop of peppermint oil can flavor a few pounds of mint candy!
So I see what you're saying, but education is really key to that statement, and I feel like the Atlantic Institute has the right to make it.
Brilliant article, Tina! Thank you so much for posting on your blog. I have a friend, a DoTerra rep, (I’ve winced since the day she first told me she was working ‘with’ them) who readily ingests any number of oils and does so openly in front of others, in social settings (I’m betting...) to pique the interest of and illicit questions from those within view. I’m well aware that Do Terra trains sales people and not aromatherapists. (I went to their website and found one reason after another that supports my concern and mistrust of the product and the company’s mission). I find myself wanting to stop those who take the bait from from my friend as she embarks upon her recommendations for Do Terra and the indigestion of their oils. It has been engrained in my friend to believe that such a thing as ‘therapeutic grade’ EO is a thing and such a label insures safe use (freely and indiscriminately slathering them on, drinking in water). I have posed a multitude of questions to my friend in the hopes that she’ll ask me questions in return, to open a conversation on the EOs and DoTerra. No dice. My friend knows I’ve been a student of aromatherapy since the 1990s (it’s a new thing to her) but she appears so brainwashed by the information she’s been fed that she seems to purposely avoid getting into a conversation with me. This is quite evident as she has never offered to sell me their product. (People are funny.) What are your thoughts on protecting people who fall prey to the declarations of an MLM rep when you’re sitting right there in front of them? (Incidentally, I’d never be present at an MLM EO ‘party’) Thank you for taking the time to read this comment and any thought you might be able to put into my question. LOVE your periodical!
This is such a tough situation, because the MLM companies pit friends against each other and count on us not calling them out. None of us want to embarrass our friends. Oddly, they've also been convinced that we DO want to hurt them or their businesses...
However, the last few years have convinced me that it is our responsibility to try to stop people from choosing money before all else. Too many of us stand by while dangerous information is given for infants, pets, or adults. At this point, I will say that I disagree and why. It helps to have a distiller because I can say, "look... I distill essential oils, and in the case of ____ herb, a gallon of the leaves give 1 or 2 DROPS of oil.
It is complicated by the fact that essential oils are blended with base oils (etc) for external use, and for flavorings. Nevermind that one drop flavors a couple of pounds of food, it is enough to open the door to argue about safe usage.
In person, I tell the truth.
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