question about using neat oils

October 3, 2005

Howdie all,

I have some questions about using oils neat... now I know that most oils

should be diluted with a carrier oil, but some of the recipies(for lack of a

better word) occassionally call for an oil to be used neat. for example

in one book a treatment for bites of the insect kind call for a single drop

of lavender neat to be applied to the stung/bitten area.....

also another source stated that the careful application of Oregano oil neat

to the skin around a toe with nail fungus would get rid of the fungus..

I will note that none of the information has called for any large quantity

to be used neat, and they have all expressed the use of caution when working

with neat oils....

ok my questions... has anyone heard of using some oils neat and is it ok to

do so.... secondly, is there a list or book or something that can tell me

what oils can be used neat safely and for what purposes.

Thanks in advance for all your help, cause I know you will <g>

Maya

--

I may have been born in the dark, but it wasn't last night!

October 3, 2005

Hi Maya-

This is Lynda, Graham's wife. Sitting here reading through his emails this

morning :-) (it's okay, he reads mine too) I saw your post. I studied AT at

Australasian College of Herbal Studies - for whatever that is worth. During our

course, we were encouraged to taste every one of the oils we were studying,

neat. One of my books also suggested using neat Lavender on bug bites, and

since it was the rare wet summer for Tucson and we had lots of grass in the

yard, we had so many mosquitos that year. Knowing how safe and natural EOs

were, I used neat Lavender on my bites. Until I started noticing that when I

did so, I would lose my voice. So I stopped using Lavender neat. And I learned

through people like Martin, Butch, and Marge not to ever, ever use oils neat.

So time passed, Graham and I got married and started our own AT shop. I had

done skin care for about 2 centuries at that time, so I was incorporating EOs

into my work at the very diluted rate that Martin recommends in 'Plant

Aromatics'. We also started making AT soaps and candles in the shop. People

would tell us that they could smell the shop before they even came in the door.

We thought that was a good thing. We also used them in every aspect of life

outside the shop.

About 6 months after the shop opened, I started having a lot of trouble

breathing. I was constantly exhausted to the point of tears. There were times

I was so exhausted I felt I had to really work to summon up the energy even to

get up and go down the hall to pee. I saw Dr after Dr, they treated me for

allergies, did chest Xrays, bloodwork, you name it. And finally I went to a

pulmonologist who is a family friend, and who told me that I had asthma - which

I had never had before - and that he really felt it was my work with the oils,

and that if I didn't stop, I was going to have permanent lung damage. That's a

no-brainer, we closed the shop. I'm only in my 40s, and suddenly we have lost

our business, I no longer can practice my career, and my health is shot and I

was barely functional.

Now if I am around any perfumes or EOs or scents of ANY kind, my chest closes up

and I cannot breathe. It feels like I am trying to breathe through a straw and

someone is pinching the end closed. There are times that taking a shower is

exhausting and I have to sit down for a half hour to get my breath back.

Sometimes just getting up in the night to go and pee and coming back to bed

leaves me short of breath. This year alone I had flu, pnuemonia, bronchitis,

pnuemonia, flu and flu again. And it's only October. But any respiratory

infection that comes along loves me.

Now obviously, I must have had a predisposition to breathing problems, but the

key thing is, there was never any indication of that in my life before all this

happened. And I do feel that working with the oils neat on my skin, tasting the

oils one after the other, and being in an environment where I was constantly

surrounded by them for 9 hours a day every day made all this come to a head.

Had I not used them neat, had I not tasted every oil on the planet, and had I

used an exhaust fan at work I don't think I would be like this today.

This is what I tell people. Some people get sensitized after only fifty drops

of EO in their lives. Some people get sensitized after fifty gallons. You

won't know if you are the 50 drops person or the 50 gallons person until after

it has happened. And then it is too late. So I beg you for your own sake, do

not EVER use EOs neat. Yes you know people who do, and so do I, and they have

not come to any harm. Yet. But you might be one of them, or you might be like

me. You won't know that til after it has happened, and it is irreversable and

will only get worse. I love EOs, I think they are wonderful, and I can no

longer be near them.

Best wishes-

Lynda

Graham Sorenson

http://Luna-Aromatics.com Come and stick your nose in our business

The Home of " Arizona Balm " the Natural Solution to Problem Dry Skin.

Hand Made Soaps, Soy Wax Candles, Lip Balms and more Good Stuff

Retail and Wholesale.

http://TheGuideToAromatherapy.com

-

LadyMaya

Sunday, October 02, 2005 6:05 PM