Sensitization - What Is It?

[Guest guest]

Hey y'all,

 

The below post has been sent to this list many, many times over the

years .. but since this is the fastest growing list around and there are

many new folks on board .. here it is again.

 

Afore you read this .. lemme ask a logical question. Why would folks

who sell EO .. folks like me and Marge and Chris and Marcia and dozens

of other folks .. folks who can gain financially from your increased use

of EO .. tell you to NOT use EO without proper, safe dilution? Doesn't

take a rocket scientist to come up with the answer. We see this issue

as being serious enough to warn folks.

 

Another question. Why do outfits like Young Living push the neat use of

EO? Answer: $$$$$

 

I and many other folks who have been in the business a while tire of

reading the thousands of so-called formulas written in many of the

" novels " on AT .. and we see these being passed along on lists as being

tried and true when in fact, they are usually NOT .. most of them are

hypothetical .. and/or extrapolations of the known or expected effects

of certain chemicals in an EO .. or worse .. the assigning of properties

of whole plants to the EO that is extracted from the whole plant.

 

And .. MANY of these formulas/blends are dangerous .. they do not take

into consideration the proper dilution.

 

Finally .. sensitization is not necessarily about absorption beyond the

first layer of the skin .. the immune system is very aware of what is

going on with the body .. it doesn't need a kick in the butt to react.

 

 

 

 

 

butch owen <butchbsi

Thu, 05 Jun 2003 07:22:37 -0700

Sensitization

 

 

Hi y'all,

 

There are might be some folks wondering about sensitization. So please

pay close attention cause this can be rough stuff!

 

IF we talk about initial sensitizing we're almost always talking about

dermal contact with essential oils or some other chemical .. not the

ingestion or inhalation. Some natural products are known to be potent

sensitizers .. some are occasional sensitizers and some are known as

non sensitizing. But even non sensitizing EO can cause some folks to

become sensitized .. its a matter of luck .. bad luck!

 

I have had blond hair (not much, but its blond) all my life .. and now

there's no gray in it .. blondes rarely have gray hair. However, my

mustache and beard (I have no beard now) have been salt and pepper since

I was in my mid-20s .. and for the last few years the salt increased as

the pepper became less noticeable. I started maybe three years ago

using Just For Men mustache, sideburn and beard dressing .. it was real

easy .. just brush it in and in five minutes the pepper is back.

 

Well .. back in September 2002 I was using it during my weekly vain

attempt to look younger .. and all of a sudden my face broke out like

bees had attacked me .. burned the crap out of me too. I figured it had

already passed the expiration date cause I had purchased it during my

last trip to the USA .. so I stopped using it as I was about to make

another trip .. which I did two weeks later.

 

I bought some new Just for Men .. and when I used it, the same thing

went down. I had become SENSITIZED to that product. Then, it was a

matter of learning what exactly I had become sensitized to .. I wrote a

letter to the manufacturers and they did not reply. They were are NOT

going to tell me what was in that product .. which is another reason I'm

not in favor of Fragrance Oils .. manufacturers of Fragrance Oils have

successfully lobbied the FDA to have their ingredients classified as

" trade secrets. "

 

Sensitization is not just spice oils, though they're in the top category

as potential sensitizers .. its also oils made from leaves, bark, seeds,

roots, blossoms, gum, etc. And sensitization is impossible to avoid

entirely .. like traffic accidents .. but we can greatly reduce the

potential by avoiding oils we know are known sensitizers and not using

the others (the safe ones) undiluted. Its a case of dealing with the

immune system and though its hard to fool Mama Nature, its not

impossible to deceive the immune system.

 

What happens in sensitization is the immune system registers a foreign

invader .. it alerts all its soldiers that the body's defense system has

been breached. But it RARELY reacts when this happens .. it registers

the profile of the invader and prepares for defensive action the next

time that invader strikes .. which might be days or weeks or months or

even years later. But attack it will .. at some point in time .. and

attacks will continue forever if the immune system's security officer

detects another invasion by that foreign enemy.

 

Because its not the oil itself that's causing the reaction .. but rather

one or maybe a combination of the chemical components of that oil, this

creates problems that continue even if we don't use that oil again.

 

The problems can arise anytime we come into contact with ANY substance

containing that chemical or combination of chemicals that has been duly

registered as an enemy agent by our immune system .. and that time, it

doesn't have to be via dermal application only .. it can occur when we

eat foods that contain the enemy agents. This is likely to occur for

sure because the aromatherapy industry is a small user of essential

oils; its the cosmetics, perfumery and FOOD industry that uses the

lion's share.

 

So how do we fool the immune system? We don't attack with brigades of

3,000 troops .. we slip squads of ten or so troops into the area of

operations because it is less likely to trigger the panic and alarm that

the immune system goes into when it registers foreign enemy invaders.

 

How do we do this? We dilute the oil. And try to avoid using any

essential oil .. even well diluted .. over a wide area of skin. You

gonna say .. what about massage? Well .. there are some risks in life

and that is one of them .. but its more potentially dangerous to the one

giving the massage than to the recipient because of the other danger ..

frequency of use. That requires little discussion but I'll say that the

more often we drive to the corner market, the more likely we are to have

a traffic accident.

 

Proper dilution of essential oils is critical .. and contrary to the old

rumors in this industry about neat use of Lavender and Tea Tree being

safe .. they too must be diluted. There are MANY people around who have

become sensitized to Lavender and Tea Tree .. and sensitization is (with

some rare exceptions) for life .. it can take us to the emergency room.

 

Plant Aromatics is THE Safety Manual that tells us who tested what oil

when and what level of dilution was determined to be safe.

 

Plant Aromatics http://www.av-at.com/plantaromaticsavnp.html

 

It is difficult to find a true professional in this industry that does

not have a dog eared copy of this safety manual in their library.

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

 

Wholesale/Retail GC Tested EO, Rose Products, Tested Hydrosols and other

goodies sent from our store in Downtown Friendsville, MD. Pop: 597