Skin absorption questions. Yes, again!

[Guest guest]

Dear list members,

 

I know that the general subject of skin absorption has been talked about

endlessly. I have read (and translated into Russian, with Martin's

permission) Martin's wonderful [and, in my opinion, quite conclusive]

articles and AT monographs.

 

However, I still have a couple of questions. Actually, they are somebody

else's but I ran out of arguments and need help.

 

Here are her two statements, neither of which appear to me to be true:

_____________

1) " You can't add EOs to commercially-manufactured body care products

because EOs will bind with some components of commercially-manufactured

substance, pass through the skin and bring harmful substance components

with them.

_____________

 

I cited Martin's articles in support of the fact that, since EOs don't

seem to pass through the skin, they are highly unlikely to bring

anything with them. This, however, doesn't exclude the possibility of

some components of commercial products passing through the skin - with

or without EOs' help. Basically this, in my opinion, is more of a

question " to use or not to use " commerical body care products, and has

nothing to do with EOs. Do I understand it correcly or is there some

potential interaction that I am not aware of?

 

_____________

2) " Even assuming that EOs don't pass through the skin, what if we mix

them with a body care product that is designed to pass through the skin,

would the product components be able to " drag " EOs through the skin? "

_____________

 

Once again, this seems highly unlikely to me. I can see that it can help

some EO _component_ to pass through but not the whole EO.

Are there really any issues with adding EOs to unscented body care products?

 

I will really appreciate any thoughts on these matters.

 

Cheers,

Nika

(Formerly from Moscow, now from Ohio)

[Guest guest]

>You can't add EOs to commercially-manufactured body care products

>because EOs will bind with some components of commercially-manufactured

>substance, pass through the skin and bring harmful substance components

>with them.

Without knowing the source of that comment it is hard to reply, but my

general comments are:

 

Whoever said that is talking out of their rear end! Essential oils have

been added to commercial cosmetic products for hundreds of years.

Nowadays all the products from the big boys are tested to death for

safety. I also know a big UK natural cosmetic producer who recently

went to an International trade conference. The top dermatologists were

still uncertain as to how much active ingredients penetrated the skin

from cosmetic products. Chances are only enough gets through to

challenge some peoples immune systems. In addition, commercial creams

and lotions as a rule only use minute volumes of essential oil.

 

There is a little evidence that essential oils may pass through the skin

when they are in an emulsion such as a skin cream or lotion. However,the

critical thing is does enough get through (from commercial products) to

have any clinical effect. It is that one which is still open to debate

but got my doubts. A special therapist prepared cream with far higher

levels of oils than used in cosmetics is another issue.

 

>Are there really any issues with adding EOs to unscented body care

>products?

That does not make sense, how can the product be unscented yet have

essential oils in it?

 

Martin Watt

http://www.aromamedical.com

 

, Nika Franchi <nikafranchi

wrote:

>

> Dear list members,

>

> I know that the general subject of skin absorption has been talked

about

> endlessly. I have read (and translated into Russian, with Martin's

> permission) Martin's wonderful [and, in my opinion, quite conclusive]

> articles and AT monographs.

>

> However, I still have a couple of questions. Actually, they are

somebody

> else's but I ran out of arguments and need help.

>

> Here are her two statements, neither of which appear to me to be true:

> _____________

> 1) " You can't add EOs to commercially-manufactured body care products

> because EOs will bind with some components of commercially-manufactured

> substance, pass through the skin and bring harmful substance components

> with them.

> _____________

>

> I cited Martin's articles in support of the fact that, since EOs don't

> seem to pass through the skin, they are highly unlikely to bring

> anything with them. This, however, doesn't exclude the possibility of

> some components of commercial products passing through the skin - with

> or without EOs' help. Basically this, in my opinion, is more of a

> question " to use or not to use " commerical body care products, and has

> nothing to do with EOs. Do I understand it correcly or is there some

> potential interaction that I am not aware of?

>

> _____________

> 2) " Even assuming that EOs don't pass through the skin, what if we mix

> them with a body care product that is designed to pass through the

skin,

> would the product components be able to " drag " EOs through the skin? "

> _____________

>

> Once again, this seems highly unlikely to me. I can see that it can

help

> some EO _component_ to pass through but not the whole EO.

> Are there really any issues with adding EOs to unscented body care

products?

>

> I will really appreciate any thoughts on these matters.

>

> Cheers,

> Nika

> (Formerly from Moscow, now from Ohio)

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Martin. And my apologies for not making myself clear. I'll

try to explain.

 

Martin Watt wrote:

 

>Without knowing the source of that comment it is hard to reply

>

>

The source of this comment is a wide-spread belief among Russian AT

community that I've seen posted on my AT community over and over. I

finally decided to get to the bottom of it.

 

>>Are there really any issues with adding EOs to unscented body care

>>products?

>>

>>

>That does not make sense, how can the product be unscented yet have

>essential oils in it?

>

>Martin Watt

>http://www.aromamedical.com

>

Both questions concerned _unscented_ commercial products to which

aromatherapy practitioner adds their own oils, at which point the

product becomes scented and, allegidly, harmful (proper dosage issues

aside). My opponent claims to have used an unscented product and being

fine, using EOs and being fine but as soon as she added the same EOs to

the same unscented base, she had adverse skin reactions. She claims to

have used proper dosages of EOs. Does this make any sense?

 

Cheers,

Nika

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Nika, I am going to address this question from a chemistry

perspective (and I know some will disagree with me). Many of the

molecules in an essential oil are lipophilic enough and small enough

to pass throught the skin. But, so what, just don't use toxic eos in

a skin care product. Also, eos may bind to components in a product

as its possible for anything to bind to anything, but binding to

something is going to increase the size and thus descrease the

possibility of it diffusing through the skin. The ability of

something to pass through the skin is based on two things, its

ability to dissolve in a lipid (since the skin is primarily a lipid)

and the size of the molecule (smaller sizes being able to move

between cells better). I'm personally not worried about most eos

being dragged into my body as long as they are used at low

concentrations and are the ones considered to be safe.

 

Cindy Jones

Sagescript Institute, llc

http://www.sagescript.com; http://sagescript.blogspot.com

Microbiology, Distillates, Botanicals

 

 

> Here are her two statements, neither of which appear to me to be

true:

> _____________

> 1) " You can't add EOs to commercially-manufactured body care

products

> because EOs will bind with some components of commercially-

manufactured

> substance, pass through the skin and bring harmful substance

components

> with them.

> _____________

>

> I cited Martin's articles in support of the fact that, since EOs

don't

> seem to pass through the skin, they are highly unlikely to bring

> anything with them. This, however, doesn't exclude the possibility

of

> some components of commercial products passing through the skin -

with

> or without EOs' help. Basically this, in my opinion, is more of a

> question " to use or not to use " commerical body care products, and

has

> nothing to do with EOs. Do I understand it correcly or is there

some

> potential interaction that I am not aware of?

>

> _____________

> 2) " Even assuming that EOs don't pass through the skin, what if we

mix

> them with a body care product that is designed to pass through the

skin,

> would the product components be able to " drag " EOs through the

skin? "

> _____________

>

> Once again, this seems highly unlikely to me. I can see that it

can help

> some EO _component_ to pass through but not the whole EO.

> Are there really any issues with adding EOs to unscented body care

products?

>

> I will really appreciate any thoughts on these matters.

>

> Cheers,

> Nika

> (Formerly from Moscow, now from Ohio)

>

[Guest guest]

Nika,

>I finally decided to get to the bottom of it.

Understandable, I have been trying to get to the bottom of the vast

amounts of hogwash in aromatherapy for 20 odd years. Fundamentally

you can't get to the bottom of a lot of it because it is often pure

invention and fantasies. What you can sometimes do is track back

these stories to just one therapist who subsequently wrote a book but

without knowing their subject properly. It then becomes " accepted "

urban rumour in this trade. Clearly the person you refer to is not

knowledgable enough in what she is promoting.

 

Martin

 

 

, Nika Franchi <nikafranchi

wrote:

>

> Thank you, Martin. And my apologies for not making myself clear. I'll

> try to explain.

>

> Martin Watt wrote:

>

> >Without knowing the source of that comment it is hard to reply

> >

> >

> The source of this comment is a wide-spread belief among Russian AT

> community that I've seen posted on my AT community over and over. I

> finally decided to get to the bottom of it.

>

> >>Are there really any issues with adding EOs to unscented body care

> >>products?

> >>

> >>

> >That does not make sense, how can the product be unscented yet have

> >essential oils in it?

> >

> >Martin Watt

> >http://www.aromamedical.com

> >

> Both questions concerned _unscented_ commercial products to which

> aromatherapy practitioner adds their own oils, at which point the

> product becomes scented and, allegidly, harmful (proper dosage issues

> aside). My opponent claims to have used an unscented product and being

> fine, using EOs and being fine but as soon as she added the same EOs to

> the same unscented base, she had adverse skin reactions. She claims to

> have used proper dosages of EOs. Does this make any sense?

>

> Cheers,

> Nika

>

>

>

>