Why I don´t use or recommend essential oils.
What about essential oils? (Here is an excerpt from my green herbal book).
I can't end this book without mentioning essential oils. I grew up in the D.A.R.E. drug education days hearing about “gateway drugs”. Basically the story was that if you use Cannabis then that will be a gateway drug into heroin and other “hard drugs”. I only mention my middle school drug education, because I like the term “gateway drug”. For example, I think kombucha is a “gateway drug” into the world of fermentation. And I think essential oils are “gateway drugs” into the world of herbalism. Essential oils are plant medicine! Not only are they plant medicine, but they are a REALLY potent form of plant medicine.
It takes a TON of plant to make essential oils. Literally I think it takes a ton of plant to make a few ounces of essential oils. This happens through a distillation process that separates the volatile oils from all of the other components of that plant. Unfortunately so many people now use essential oils so liberally that the ecological impact of using so much plant is big. When we are near aromatic plants we quickly realize that just to sit by them is enough to receive the medicine of their volatile oils. We don't necessarily need to harvest a ton of them and turn them into essential oils. Or we can choose to turn them into very effective tinctures and teas which require a significantly smaller amount of herb and make great medicine.
Essential oils are VERY concentrated and VERY potent. It is really curious that people who otherwise don't see or use plants as medicine might be attracted to essential oils. It's probably a good idea to have a safer, more simple herbal remedy be your “gateway drug” into the world of herbalism and have essential oils be a remedy that is caretaked by people who have cultivated a little more profoundly their relationship to the plant world.
Essential oils taken internally can be VERY dangerous and it is NOT recommended. Essential oils topically need to be diluted and keep in mind that they are VERY antimicrobial and we don't necessarily want to kill the microbes inside of us and on our skin. In fact we need them to thrive. Even diffusing your essential oils will impact your microbiome because we actually have a lung microbiome as well that doesn´t necessarily need to or want to be disturbed.
Essential oils are not part of my day-to-day life and I would rarely turn to them, if ever, as a plant medicine vehicle. You can use them of course but keep these topics in mind and please continue to educate yourself not only about the ecological impact of essential oils but also about how they affect the microbial cosmos that makes you who you are.