It is important to remember that essential oils are highly-concentrated plant extracts and should be used with care. Essential oil safety is a must!

Essential oils are 50 to 70 times more powerful than herbs. So one drop really packs a huge punch, are you prepared?

As you learn how to use essential oils through personal experiences, you will become more comfortable with using them and determine what works best for you.

New to Essential Oils? Read: Essential Oils for Beginners

Essential Oil Safety Tips and Guidelines

When you are using a new essential oil, learn about it before using it. Some essential oils have safety considerations and warnings. It is also helpful to know what benefits and uses can be gained from the oils you utilize.

Here are some essential oil safety tips to help you along your way.

1. High Quality Essential Oils

Be sure to use only 100% pure essential oils. This is important because you want to make sure no harmful additives or fillers are in your oil. The point of using essential oils is to improve health right??

Know where your oil is sourced from, how it was made, what quality control tests have been done. Research the brand if you need to, trust me you do not want any surprises.

Read more: How to Choose High Quality Essential Oils

2. Don't Use Here

Essential oils should not be used in the eyes, inside the ear canal, on mucous membranes, or in open wounds. Also, discontinue the use of an essential oil if you experience skin, stomach, or respiratory irritation or discomfort.

Always wash hands after applying essential oils, you don't want to inadvertently get essential oils in your eye or other sensitive areas. Never place drops of essential oils into ears.

3. Always Dilute Essential Oils

Best practice is to dilute all essential oils with a carrier oil prior to applying topically to avoid unwanted irritations and reactions. Use carrier oil, like fractionated coconut oil or jojoba oil, when applying topically to skin.

Less is more! Diluting does not "water down" your essential oils, it will actually allow your essential oils to go further and last longer. Dilution of essential oils will not reduce the effects either!

Fractionated coconut oil is our fan favorite carrier oil for essential oils. It goes on evenly, dries fast and leaves no greasy feel on the skin. It also makes application easier.

Read more: Diluting Essential Oils

4. No Internal Use - Do Not Consume

Yes, some essential oils can be ingested (swallowed) and may even be labeled as such. Essential oils are highly concentrated and extremely potent so caution needs to be taken with ingestion and professional guidance is a must.

Here at Loving Essential Oils, this is not a method of use we explore because there are just too many safety factors to consider.

5. Phototoxic EO's

Know what essential oils are phototoxic and avoid using 12-24 hours before sun exposure to prevent skin reaction and damage.

Skin sensitivity and damage can occur when these oils are applied to the skin, and then that skin is exposed to sunlight. Find out more about Photosensitive Essential Oils and what citrus oils are sun safe.

6. Pets and Babies

Do not use essential oils on babies or pets unless you have guidance from a trained aromatherapist or doctor. Keep all essential oils out of the reach of children, they can be poisonous if swallowed.

Before using essential oils on a child, you should research and verify the oil is safe to use. It is recommended that essential oils are not used on children under 2 years old. Check out our Ultimate Essential Oil List, it notes essential oils that are OK for kids.

We have also create a kid safe list of essential oils.

7. Consult your Physician

Consult your physician before using essential oils if you are pregnant/lactating, epileptic, diabetic, undergoing cancer treatment, on blood thinners or under a doctor's care. There are essential oils that can be dangerous to these individuals.

Tips for Using Essential Oils Safely

• Personal inhaler are a great way to use essential oils when around small children or others that prefer not to be exposed to essential oils. You will be able to inhale the aroma without it exposing others.
• Make essential oils part of your daily routine. Consistency is key when using essential oils for health and wellness care. Essential oils are user-friendly and a very effective way to cope with common health complaints.
• Creating a daily routine can start with one oil, start with lavender essential oil. Use it in your skincare, house cleaning, bedtime routine and so much more. See how the aroma makes you fill.

Common Measurement for Essential Oils

These measurements are approximate, the drops will vary depending on oil viscosity and dropper size.

• 20 drops = 1 ml
• 100 drops = 5 ml
• 200 drops = 10 ml
• 300 drops = 15 ml
• 600 drops = 30 ml

Essential oil bottle sizes vary depending on essential oil brand, here are some bottle basics:

• 5 ml = 1 teaspoon
• 10 ml = 2 teaspoons
• 15 ml = 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
• 30 ml = 6 teaspoons = 2 tablespoons

3 Things To Know Before Buying Essential Oils

We are frequently asked what essential oils we use in our daily routine and when we make our DIY Recipes, like bath bombs, massage oils and bath salts. We are sharing here how we do that.

If you are new to the oil scene finding high quality essential oils can get overwhelming fast. Picking an essential oil company takes some thought and figuring of exactly what you are looking for. Before buying essential oils, there are three things to consider.

1. Intended Use

How are you planning to use the essential oils? For instance, are you using the oils for personal care on your skin, for hair care, as aromatherapy oils, for lip balm? If yes to any of these, you will need 100% pure, therapeutic grade essential oils.

Fragrance oils and perfume oils are not the same as pure essential oils, neither are flavor oils or food grade essential oils. Avoid these because they are not aromatherapy essential oils, they are for a different use. Do not buy wholesale fragrance oils, they would do you no good, they could actually harm you if you use them in the ways listed above.

Essential oils that are pure and go through numerous distillation processes for best quality. One thing to keep in mind is that essential oils are not regulated by the FDA, so it is possible for a company to make false claims. This is why #2 is important.

2. Quality Control

What do you know about the essential oil brand you are using or are interested in using? Knowing how specific oils are extracted is important, as well as where they are sourced from (country of origin). The essential oil company should freely share this information.

You also want to know the botanical names of the essential oils. For example, you can say eucalyptus oil but knowing the botanical name would tell you the exact type of eucalyptus oil, eucalyptus radiata vs eucalyptus globulus. While they are similar, there are some differences.

If the oil company offers sourcing, extraction method as well as botanical names publicly then you will know what you are getting and there will be no surprises.

Some companies even do testing for quality control so you can be confident in what you buy. The tests are called Gas Chromatography (GC) and Mass Spectrometry (MS). GC is a method of separating the volatile compounds in essential oils into individual components. MS identifies each of these components and their percentages. 

3. Essential Oil Cost

Be aware of prices. A good, quality oil will not be "cheap" but this is a good thing. High quality oils that are pure essential oils will get you the results you want without fillers or chemicals. You will also need less oil to enjoy the desired effect. Having the opportunity to buy quality essential oils at a wholesale price is wonderful and we will tell you how we do it below.

To recap, if you are looking for essential oils to use for personal care, skin care, hair care and in your DIY recipes as well as aromatherapy recipes, you need pure essential oils.

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