Reactions to Essential Oils
Pure Essential Oils Do Not Cause Skin Rashes or Allergic Reaction
People who react to pure essential oils with headaches, skin rashes or sensitivity may find it is not the oil causing the reaction, but toxins already in the body.
It’s not uncommon to see cautions applied to essential oil use. Labels – and many aromatherapists – warn against using essential oils internally or on the skin in case they cause rashes and other reactions. It can be hard to know whether these warnings should be taken seriously or if practitioners are simply being overcautious! The reality may be a little of both, and depends on common sense to determine whether an oil is safe to be used on your body – or should be avoided to prevent rash, headaches, or other reactions due to chemical toxicity.
Allergic Reactions from Essential Oils?
People may complain that using an essential oil gave them a headache or caused skin to break out in acne or a rash. In a world loaded with toxins and chemical poisons, however, it can be difficult to trace a reaction to its original cause. Essential oils are very rarely the source of an allergic reaction – toxins in the body or the skin (from skin care products, for example) or additives in a poor quality essential oil are the real culprits.
Toxic Essential Oils Adulterated With Chemicals and Other Ingredients
In today’s competitive markets, most companies selling essential oils are forced to lower their expenses by diluting essential oils with a carrier oil, synthetic fragrances, fragrance stabilizers, or by producing cheaper qualities of oil. In reality, however, you get what you pay for. Cheaper oils polluted with other ingredients or pressed at high temperatures do not have the same medicinal properties – and may be toxic. These are the oils that cause allergic reactions. What most consumers don’t realize is that there are essential oils that don’t.
For more information, see The Real Quality of Essential Oils.
It’s Not the Essential Oil, But Toxins In the Body You Should Be Concerned About
When using pure, therapeutic-grade oils, adverse reactions to the oil do not occur. Nevertheless, some people still report rashes, skin outbreaks, and other allergic reactions.
Why? Essential oils trigger cleansing. In the absence of plenty of water, or if a person is very toxic, the oils can force out toxins lodged in the body and contribute to a small-scale cleansing crisis such as a rash or a headache. In most people, these symptoms can be alleviated by consistently drinking more water and, if desired, doing a dietary or supplement cleanse.
Emotional Reactions to an Essential Oil
Genuine reactions to a pure, therapeutic-grade essential oil do happen occasionally. These are usually emotional reactions triggered by the smell of an oil. Someone might say, “I hate that smell!” followed by a negative memory from childhood when the smell was present. Even in this case, the problem is a toxin in the body, not the essential oil – the toxin just happens to be emotional rather than physical.
Source: Young, D.G. (Naturopathic doctor). Presentation given Washington, D.C.: Sept. 9, 2007.
