The danger of diluting essential oils

Some people have abused and continue to abuse essential oils, using way too much. This can cause sensitization, burns and other harmful effects. It’s true that not much is needed, but when we set an arbitrary amount that’s based off of fear, and not true science, then we’re cheating ourselves. I know that I may ruffle some feathers for what I’m about say here, but I feel the need to share the dangers of diluting essential oils. Unfortunately, I’ve seen so many people fall into inaccurate and unsafe usage information (and no, it’s not always from using too much!)

Skincare guidelines don’t equal therapeutic use

Most essential oil dilution rates out there are written for overall skincare for the general person. It’s assuming that they don’t know anything about essential oil safety, and it’s to protect them as a consumer. Especially in Europe, aromatherapy and massage go hand in hand, so we’re talking about guidelines that are derived from the safety of massaging a diluted essential oil over the entire body.

Many aromatherapists recommend the dilution ratios handed down by the International Fragrance Association (IFRA). In fact, my e-book, Body & Skin – DIY bodycare, uses the IFRA safety standards. They’re highly useful for staying safe when making skincare products for a consumer who isn’t likely to follow application restrictions. However, using essential oils to achieve wellness is a whole other ball game.

Arbitrary guidelines

When we say “use a 1% dilution” of all essential oils and just leave it at that, then we run into inaccuracies. What if your health is compromised, should you use less? What if you’re only using it as a spot treatment, is it safe to use more? The truth is that each essential oil works effectively and safely for different issues, for different ages, at different dilution rates.

Let me give you an example. Say that you want to use an essential oil to help support your thyroid. You dilute it to 1% because that’s what you’ve heard is safe. After all, you don’t want to risk sensitization or a burn! But what if the body of scientific literature shows that that essential oil is only effective for the thyroid if it’s at a 5% concentration? And what if the research shows that unless it’s at a 20% concentration, there won’t be any negative side effects or harm? (Please keep in mind this is a totally made up example, just for the purpose of illustrating my point.)

The point is, that you have to balance safety and efficacy, and it IS possible to have both! We don’t have to slather on essential oils in order for them to work. We also don’t have to dilute them to death and then dilute again because “better safe than sorry.”

I had formulated a “boo-boo” salve for someone that used tea tree and lavender at a 2% dilution. Lavender essential oil can safely be used undiluted as a spot treatment for skin irritations, while tea tree is recommended at 5% to be effective. However, for the sake of being (very) conservative, I kept it at 2%. She added a safety note to dilute to 1%, or even .5% if you’re scared of using the 2%. Which makes me wonder, will a .5% dilution of these oils as a spot treatment for skin irritations even be effective?

The dose makes the poison

Going back to my earlier point, most essential oil dilution rates are for an uneducated consumer. You need a wide safety window so that even if they’re rubbing lotion all over, they’ll still be fine. In Tisserand’s book on Essential Oil Safety, which has become the aromatherapy Bible for many aromatherapists, he recommends a maximum .7% dilution of lime oil. This is taken directly from IFRA standards that recommend a .7% dilution maximum for commercial leave on skincare products.

“If I were to sell a body lotion in the EU, I’d be required to limit the lime oil to 0.7%. But this isn’t a toxicological principle that applies to medicinal applications. Because professional aromatherapists are not just selling body lotions to the public without any direction. And it violates the primary concept of toxicology – that the dose makes the poison. At no point is there any clarification of how much of the product is applied to the person.” – Jessie Hawkins PhD

If you’re using lime diluted to 2% as a spot treatment, (which can be safe) then you would be exposed to, on average, less than 1/2 of a drop of lime essential oil. If however you’re applying a lotion to your arms, legs and entire body and using about 3 tablespoons of lotion at a .7% dilution, then you’d be getting about 9 -10 drops of essential oil. There’s a big difference there! In the supposedly “unsafe” preparation, you’re exposed to 20 times less essential oil.

By using dilution guidelines that are meant for commercial skincare products, not therapeutic benefits,  we’re not properly diluting.

How over-diluting essential oils can harm you

When essential oils are diluted to the point that they’re not actually helping you, then you won’t get results, and you’re just wasting your money. You’re also wasting essential oils, which are a precious resource. And if you’re not using enough to actually get results, then you may decide that they’re just a bunch of hype and go to the doctor for some of the “real” stuff.

There are plenty of high quality clinical studies out there showing that essential oils can and do work, often more effectively and more safely than conventional solutions. In fact, eucalyptus essential oil is 3 times more effective at fending off lice than over the counter lice shampoos with risky pesticides. It also has a long history of safe use for children.

Fear based guidelines

For over 100 years, eucalyptus essential oil has been safely and effectively used for millions of children and adults. It’s licensed and approved for OTC lice shampoos in Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom, and is widely used for young children by aromatherapists in Europe.

You may have heard about the one case study of a 4 year old girl who had a grand mal seizure after using eucalyptus globulus essential oil in shampoo. Does that mean that for the past 100 years we had it all wrong, and that we’ve been playing Russian roulette with our health? Should we just never use eucalyptus on 4 year olds then? Or to be really safe why don’t we just move that age limit up to age 6 as many out there are recommending?

Let’s take a closer look though. In this particular incident, 8 teaspoons of an 11% eucalyptus dilution was washed through her hair, then a 2.5% dilution of conditioner was left on her head for over 3 hours and she had symptoms leading up to a seizure. After the conditioner was washed out, she had no more symptoms. Zero. Obviously this little girl was given way too much eucalyptus globulus essential oil! A normal and safe amount is to use about ¼ tsp of a .5% dilution of eucalyptus radiata (this chemotype is lower in active constituents) for a 4 year old… and not 8 teaspoons.

What not to rely on

When we take one or two adverse events, or just read the abstract of a study, and ignore the evidence as a whole, we run into issues. The same thing applies to diluting essential oils. When we’re only looking at a few people who had negative reactions from gross misuse, it’s easy to let fear take over. If we’re so scared of our essential oils, then why are we using them?

We shouldn’t rely on cosmetic skincare guidelines, one or two case studies, or people who are setting fear based, not evidence based, restrictions when we want to use an essential oil therapeutically.  All too often people rely on someone else’s opinion, rather than the evidence when diluting essential oils.

I am absolutely in favor of diluting essential oils in almost every situation (lavender as a spot treatment being the only exception I can think of). This prevents adverse reactions, and makes sure we’re not wasting our essential oils. They have to be diluted properly though.

Who do we listen to then?

The subject of properly diluting essential oils is so vast, that there have been entire 500 page books written on the subject, and aromatherapist spend years learning the ins and outs of the subject. So unfortunately knowing how to properly dilute for therapeutic benefits is way beyond the scope of one little article.

There are a lot of voices out there, but I do like to glean a variety of information from quality natural health resources. I wanted to share a resource with you that I’ve found to be super helpful. You may have heard me say before that I love the evidence based approach used by Vintage Remedies. I’ve taken several of their intermediate courses, including the aromatology course that focuses on the internal use of essential oils, and the classical aromatherapy course. Eventually, I’d like to enroll at their sister school, The Franklin Institute and get my clinical aromatherapy certification. It really just depends on how much you want to learn, and what you want to do with it.

Reading more into it

If you’re not ready for a course and are simply looking for some good books that really dive deeper into essential oil use, then I’d highly recommend anything by Shirley or Penny Price. They’re both world renowned aromatherapists that don’t thrive off of unnecessarily conservative recommendations. I have Penny’s Aromatherapy for Health Professionals book, and Aromatherapy for Babies and Children book that are both super helpful. The one is a textbook, so  it’s more expensive, but incredibly worth it in my opinion.

Where do you go for reliable essential oil information? Should you maybe reconsider your sources? Let us know in the comments below!