In the last 10 years essential oils have become all the hype. You see big name brands that now have individuals repping them, selling them and boasting their healing benefits. Beyond the way that this reminds me of various other money pyramid schemes- let me talk about why they are harmful from a more grounded and scientific lens.
First I’d like to break that down into 5 main points for you.
Why I don’t use essential oils or believe in their general use:
The oils are highly volatile and can be damaging to our skin and internal organs.
Sustainability.
You never know how much essential oil someone has put into a product.
Not knowing where the essential oils come from or where the plants they harvested came from and how they were harvested.
It is much easier and more sustainable to infuse carrier oils in natural plant material.
Essential oils contain the most highly volatile oils of a plant. These are the exact words we use in herbalism to refer to the oils in aromatic plants- “highly volatile oils.” So maybe this helps you see just how potent these oils are.
Now imagine this most volatile oil being extracted from a plant like rosemary or mint or geranium. Aromatic oils refers to plants that have aromatic properties. These properties come from the highly volatile oils. We can easily identify this property in plants by crushing a leaf between our fingers and smelling the aroma that comes from their leaf and even stem. This is the volatile oils we are referring to.
When essential oils are made it is through a process of distillation. The plant material is processed in a still separating the water from the plant material, and the oil from the water left over. Pounds and pounds of plant material must go into the still in order to make the tiniest bottle of essential oil.
These essential oils are very heating in nature and can be extremely damaging to our skin and our body. When you are opening an essential oil and smelling it for aromatic relief you are actually breathing in this highly volatile oil that can quite literally burn the vibrissae and the cilia of the nose. The vibrissae are the hairs that we see in our nose; they act as a first layer of defense from dust, pollen and even highly volatile oils.
On a microscopic level the cilia line your respiratory tract and nasal cavities; sweeping trapped mucus and tiny particles toward your throat so your body can clear them out.
So when you inhale essential oils your body is actually taking that heating oil in and figuring out what to do with it. Causing unnecessary inflammation to very sensitive tissues.
We call these volatile oils in plants warming and also dispersive. They help to break up and move waste. When working with plants with volatile oils we are careful how much to use for this very reason. Because too much of this oil can be damaging to not only the skin but the digestive tract. Which brings me to another point- the fact that some people literally ingest essential oils because they believe in their healing benefits. I personally believe this to be very unsafe and not well researched.
Our olfactory system is very sensitive, it can even ignite memory. This is one of my favorite things about our olfactory system. We can indeed work with aromatic plants to support our nervous system and also to support focus. I love working with aromatic plants for nervous system support.
I just don’t believe essential oils are the best way to do that. I think we can more safely do this simply by smelling a leaf we have crushed in between our fingers. Or by infusing a carrier oil with the plant itself. A simple and potent way to extract volatile oils from a plant in a way that is not only safe but sustainable.
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Let’s talk about sustainability.
What you don’t see when you are buying essential oils is just how much plant material goes into making that tiny bottle of oil you are buying.
I work on a lavender farm so I have seen first hand the process of distillation and just how much lavender essential oil comes from harvesting quite literally a whole field of lavender. And let me tell you it's not much.
Now imagine those shelves in big name wellness stores lined with essential oils. Rows and rows of oils. Thousands of bottles being distributed all over the world. From all types of sources. Many which we do not know.
According to Doterra, a well known essential oil brand “it requires approximately 242,000 rose petals to distill approximately 5 mL of rose oil. It requires 6,000 pounds of melissa plant to distill just a single pound of melissa essential oil”(Melissa refers to lemon balm melissa officinalis.)
A rose can have anywhere from 4 to over 100 petals depending on the species.
The average essential oil bottle that is smaller than my pointer finger is 2 mL. So look at your pointer finger and just imagine that to make a bottle of oil as big as your finger it could take up to 2,420 roses to make that bottle of oil.
Now think about that, and tell me if you still think essential oils are sustainable.
What if I told you all you had to do to make your own infused oil was take one rose, separate the petals and dry it or let it wilt; then put it in a jar and cover it in an oil like sesame oil. Let this jar sit for 3-6 weeks, strain the plant material out, and now you are left with an amazing infused oil. An oil that safely captures the essential oil of the plant and leaves you with so much more oil to use and give to friends and family.
Plants really are the gift that keeps on giving when we know how to sustainably work for and with them.
I wonder if you are getting the point here.
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I want you to imagine each tiny drop of essential oil and just how potent they are. Now imagine someone putting too much of this oil into hair oils, toothpaste, lotions then rubbing them directly on their skin.
Essential oils are a perfect example of our capitalistic societies desire to put everything into its strongest form and then sell it.
It is no doubt to me that these essential oils are not only harmful for us but for the earth.
I urge you to look for these essential oils in products as a short cut people are using. A short cut that I don’t believe is necessary.
You might hear someone say “if it burns it’s working.” I implore you to see that this is not true. If something burns it's our body's way of telling us that damage is occurring. Our body is very intelligent at giving us signals, and a burning feeling is one of those sensations meant to give us a signal.
Imagine putting a hair oil with peppermint, rosemary, or tea tree essential oil onto your scalp. You feel a stimulating burn and are told this means it's working. What you aren’t told is that this means that the oil is literally burning the sensitive microbiome on your scalp. A microbiome that is needed to keep your hair and skin healthy.
This really is a subject that I think needs to resurface so that people can build more awareness around essential oils.
I think there is a fine line when using these oils so I prefer to avoid them.
This is a topic for you to ponder:
Are essential oils really safe to use in the derived form we see them sold? Is there a safer way to interact with the plant that could be more supportive? Do I know where this person got this essential oil from? Is this the most sustainable way I can work with this plant? Is there an alternative that would be more healthy and more sustainable?
This isn’t to discourage you from working with plants but to implore you to have more awareness around how you commune with plants.
They are strong, potent and amazing at what they do. If you do use essential oils, be aware that a very tiny bit goes a long way. Please look up the safe amounts of essential oils to use before blindly putting them into a carrier oil. And please, whatever you do- do NOT ingest essential oils in this derived form. And do NOT put them directly onto your skin, or directly inhale them.
Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: These articles are for educational purposes only, they are not a substitution for professional medical advice, and as the reader you are responsible for your own health decisions.
