AROMATHERAPY - Chapter
IV Safety Issues of Essential Oils by
Deborah Dolen
Excerpt How to Make Perfume and Aromatherapy Basics Copyright © Deborah Dolen 2011 This e-book is available in full version on Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook. By Deborah Dolen Mabel White
Safety Issues of Essential Oils
Excerpt How to Make Perfume and Aromatherapy Basics Copyright © Deborah Dolen 2011 This e-book is available in full version on Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook. By Deborah Dolen Mabel White
Safety Issues of Essential Oils
The best course of action is always prevention. Meaning, do not allow
essential oils in the hands of inexperienced people. Keep your
essential oils out of reach of minors. Some smell so good, there have
been reports of minors determining it smelled good enough to drink.
Orange essential oil would be a good example.
Transference is not hard. For example, you could get a micro amount of
Cinnamon on your hands and not realize it until you rub your eye. If
you live to talk about it, chances are you will never forget that
experience. If you get the caustic type essential oils on your skin,
all you really can do is rinse, rinse, rinse with cool water, or
saline solution if it's in your eyes, and follow with milk. For this
reason, most people working with essential oils keep an open bottle of
saline within reach. This is because it is awfully hard to get a seal
off when you are in pain and busy trying to see. Rinsing should
continue for a good fifteen minutes.
Here is another great example. One night my babysitter decided to get
into my lab and make bath salts with Lemon grass essential oil for her
boyfriend. She made him bath salts. She never told me. I found out
when I got a panicked phone call that her boyfriend felt like his body
was burning off-with emphasis on some "parts." The liability could
have been incredible, even though she basically stole the ingredients.
I had a duty to keep them locked up since there was no warning on
them.
Another prime example is 'complacency', the root of all evil. Getting
carried away is easy to do, if you are used to throwing a liberal
amount of Lavender or Rosemary essential oil in the bath. Grabbing the
wrong bottle to use in my bath--I have done this at least THREE times
in my life. In all cases I was exhausted and blindly grabbing from
where the Lavender “should” have been. The color of the bottles were
the same. I cannot begin to describe the agony of putting straight
Fennel essential oil, by mistake, in the tub. Another time straight
Lemon grass essential oil and I actually made the Fennel mistake
twice. Flushing for over ten minutes with water was all I could do,
although I did wobble off to make a baking soda paste in hopes to
balance the PH. I cannot say the baking soda helped--but it kept me
distracted. I still walked funny for a few days--it burned my thighs
and any area submersed in the water, so they did burn me. Pay
attention and do not get complacent or carried away with essential
oils. Know what you are working with--usually very potent stuff, and
they are all very different. Just because Lavender is 'user friendly'
does not mean they all are. ~Revised by Deborah Dolen Group 7.18.2008
via Wiki.
Excerpt How to Make Perfume and Aromatherapy Basics Copyright © Deborah Dolen 2011 This e-book is available in full version on Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook. By Deborah Dolen Mabel White
RELATED READING
Deborah
Dolen is the
Editor in Chief for Mabel White DIY and author of
over 25 DIY books, 1,000 articles and several TV "how to" Films.
Deborah Dolen is also an environmental writer and has
her own content syndication. Deborah Dolen was widowed
when she was on her 30's and went on to raise three
great daughters in FL up against many obstacles. This
is the time period she generated her most fascinating DIY books.