10 Tips On How To Work With Essential Oils Safely - Guidelines

Whilst they have many benefits to hair, essential oils are highly potent so certain rules need to be followed when you are handling them:

1. Always dilute essential oils in a carrier oil before applying them anywhere on your body.
2. If you get any skin irritation dilute the essential oil with more carrier oil or apply lavender essential oil. Lavender essential oil is THE ONLY essential oil that shouldn't cause irritation when applied to skin undiluted. Even then, avoid doing that unless you have a burn.
3. Don't consume essential oils internally or bring them near your eyes.
4. If you are pregnant or nursing consult a doctor before using any essential oils.
5. If you tend to be allergic to things do a patch test before using essential oils. Dilute 20 drops of carrier oil + 1 drop of essential oil; rub that on your chest and see if there is any negative skin reaction after 12 hours. 
6. If you have never used the carrier oil before either, then you might want to carry out a patch test using just the carrier oil first and later another patch test using the essential oil plus carrier oil combo.
7. If you discover you are allergic to an essential oil, do not use it again.
8. If you're on medication don't use essential oils as the can interfere with medication - this might be more relevant for massages as essential oils are spread over the whole body. For making hair products it may be okay so consult your doctor to verify.
9. Light and oxygen cause essential oils to deteriorate rapidly so store your essential oil bottles in a cool, dark place AWAY FROM CHILDREN. In addition, when you are using them don't leave the bottle open for prolonged periods of time.
10. If you want to make one of my DIY Hot Oil Treatments for a child under 13 years of age, half the concentration of essential oils. That is, instead of 12 drops of essential oil in 30ml of carrier oil use just 6 drops. In all my other recipes I use a 1% dilution so the products can be safely used by children.
    

​Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.


You might also like:

• Neno Natural's DIY Hair Recipes
• Health, Safety & Practical Guidelines - Precautions To Take Before Making Neno Natural's DIY Hair Recipes

Ref: The Aromatherapy Encyclopedia by Carol Schiller & David Schiller

---