You Cannot Just Read a Few Blogs on Essential Oils & Natural Lifestyle and Think You’re Good to Go
No, you cannot.
And I’ll tell you why: yesterday morning I was walking down the road in a busy town in Tenerife (a very touristic area) and happened to bump into a ‘natural health shop’. On entering, the lady at the shop started telling me about essential oils and how she recommends people to DRINK A FEW DROPS mixed with carrier oils as well as putting drops NEAT onto their skin, etc etc etc. She didn’t really know about essential oil safety, the difference between oils and so many more things you would need to know if you sell essential oils! Let alone that she was calling them ‘natural oils’ (even though natural oils refer to what’s known as carrier, base or vegetable oils [triglycerides]) and, even worse, the boxes themselves showed the text ‘natural oils’ instead of ‘essential oils’! There was no sign of any of the botanical names on the boxes either. No, not good!
These ‘essential’ oils came from India but she didn’t know anything else about them other than “their web address has an .org in it so they must be good” and “they come from India so they’re definitely the real deal” and, finally “people have been using them for a long time” (using this as proof that they must be genuinely good ‘essential’ oils). So, I’ve just Googled the name of the company that appeared on the box and, guess what, they don’t even seem to exist. Mega-Ouch.
Almost Everyone I Know (Outside the Courses I do) Makes Some Big Mistake When it Comes to Natural Health
In fact, countless times I’ve spoken to people and listened in horror on how they TRULY believe that by making some sort of concoction to drink from a herb they’re growing in their back garden to creating a potion they put together with the calendula someone gave them a while ago they’re living the natural vida loca lifestyle…
It is incredible but some are people who have been doing this for many, many years. The thing is that nobody has shown them what they’re doing wrong and/or they’ve just grown into the habit of doing things their way thinking their way is right because, hey, it’s natural!
Selling Potential Danger
I’ve met people who’re selling skincare who don’t really know about essential oil safety. I’m going to repeat this: I’ve met people who’re selling skincare who don’t really know about essential oil safety. So, I suppose they just ‘drop-away’ til they fill their heart’s content.
I’ve seen health teachers show students how to make DIY skincare without a worry in the world regarding basic safety / good manufacturing practices: no gloves, no disinfecting equipment, no preservatives or thinking Vitamin E is a preservative, no measuring, just pouring, and so on. Scary.
You see, all these people intend well. But they’re VERY misinformed or just not informed at all. No doubt some have had the information passed on from their ancestors and I respect this sacred, wise knowledge, but there are so many people who lead a ‘free-style’ type of life and COMPLETELY ASSUME that when something grows in the garden, it’s 10% safe to use inside and outside your body.
WRONG!!!!
Nature is Pure Chemistry
Plants are nature’s great chemists and essential oils can be very dangerous if applied neat to the skin! Natural doesn’t mean chemical-free!! The difference needs to be made between natural (nature created it) and synthetic (a lab made it), not between natural vs chemical. Nature, in fact, is pure chemistry at work!
Careful When Reading from Natural Health Blogs
The lady from my example above was telling her customers to do things that are dangerous to their health. She doesn’t know she’s doing it, they don’t know she’s doing it.
She thinks she is doing no harm; in fact, she told me she reads internet blogs on natural health and learns that way. NOT GOOD! There’s A LOT of misinformation out there regarding natural health and you really need to prepare yourself by studying professionally or at least get to know where you’re reading from – is it trustworthy?
If you’re getting your info from the internet, you’re probably getting the wrong info as there’s so much out there that’s not correct when it comes to DIY skincare recipes, natural health tips, essential oil uses, etc etc etc.
Beware!!
Resources
– Difference Between Essential and Natural Oils
– How Essential Oils Can Be Dangerous
– Excellent Article on How to Tell if an Essential Oil Brand is Any Good
