A little bit of serious thought for you…

So the question for you to have a think about….

Are you happy purchasing essential oil products and taking advice, from people who sell and or make them, who aren’t qualified? Essential oils are extremely powerful, highly concentrated & effective and need to be respected. Reading books about them and attending weekend workshops is just not enough.

Leading on from that question are these ones:

1. do you check to see what someone’s experience level and if they have an official, profressional qualifications?
2. does a professional qualification matter to you when someone is promoting the use of highly concentrated natural medicinal products?
3. because someone has a website or Facebook page, Instagram account and sells essential oils products and/ or gives advice, do you trust they know, in complex detail, what they are talking about when selling to you?
4. do you think they know about the importance of contraindications, why the botanical names of essential oils are so important and what this means, what essential oils are safe for each age range from babies to the more mature adults?

I could go on and on but I don’t want to bore you and really would like you to continue reading.

What has inspired me to write this post is the ever growing trend of unqualified people making and mass marketing and make recommendations using essential oil products. While I’m thrilled the world of essential oils (e/oils) is really growing, I am deeply concerned about the people who seriously offer incorrect/ inaccurate/lacking/dangerous advice. Making me even more concerned is when correct advice is offered, it is dismissed by the unqualified resellers (I guess they feel like their business is threatened/do not wish to be challenged).

For me, I am so very proud of my qualification – Cert. Aromascience, it allows me to call myself a ‘Clinical Aromascience Practitioner’ – it’s an NZQA, internationally recognised (through IFPA) qualification – I completed 770+ hours of study and loved every moment of that study! For me, it means I can offer sound, accurate, effective and more importantly ‘safe’ advice and recommendations. It gives me credibility. I have been practising now for almost 9 years, thousands of hours of confident experience, self development, because of that qualification.

This is what I notice from people who aren’t qualified:

• their products are often inferior, what I mean by that is, there is usually a more effective (and often safe) alternative – knowledge is limited therefore this is reflected in the products made or sold.
• often they haven’t taken ‘contraindications’ into consideration (this scares me so much) – for example, what e/oils must be avoided during pregnancy, breastfeeding, medications being taken, health conditions such as heart/kidney problems, diabeted, high or low blood pressure, epilepsy to name just a few. This information is vital. *See note below
• Dilution rates – again, vital for effectiveness and safety – doses for children/ babies/toddlers / elderly – you can’t just ‘guess’ this stuff
• Understanding the different botanical names of the e/oils – for example, there are several Lavenders, Chamomiles, Eucalyptus, they all have chemical components, some are safer than others, some can be used on children, some shouldn’t
• The willy-nilly trend of recommending ingesting, internal use in food & beverages. This is not safe and puts anyone at risk of adverse reactions. Overuse, undiluted use, is also an enormous concern.
• All too common are recommendations using e/oils neat on all age range, an extremely high risk method of use

Remember essential oils are chemicals, natural chemicals yes, but natural = natural, natural doesn’t always mean safe.

For conditions such as a simple cold or coming home from work feeling wound up, diffusing the appropriate essential oils safely is fine for the home user, but any long term, deep-seated conditions, seek professional help from a qualified essential oil practitioner. Also, when treating babies, toddlers and children, women during pregnancy, it should be under the guidance of a qualified essential oil practitioner.

I think you can detect my frustration – I am so very passionate about what I do. And I am not alone in this frustration, fellow qualified Aromatherapists feel exactly the same.

Would you go to someone who calls themselves a Dr just because they’ve Googled, read books and have no qualifications?

PLEASE, start asking questions of these unqualified people and if you have any concerns, please feel free to ask me or someone else you know, who IS qualified.