I'm old enough to remember (pre-internet) when suppliers would advertise and the range of oils they would supply to the public were limited. For other oils, deemed as "for use by therapists only" you had to supply your certificate to prove you had the training to use those oils. Rather like "restricted" medications only available from "behind the counter" at a pharmacist and on his/her approval. The internet has a lot to answer for a "free for all" accesibility to EO's by the general public. Personally, I wish suppliers would adhere to "restricted EO's" again and that alone would put the Therapy back into AromaTHERAPY! Don't get me wrong, I'm all for educating and helping non-therapist users of EO's to better understand and know what they are doing. In today's "climate" that distinction between the home user and therapist has been eroded and disolved to be almost indistinguishable between the two. As much of the blame can be placed firmly at the door of the MLM's, lack of restrictions by suppliers and every man and his dog (company's) jumping on the Aromatherapy bandwagon by including "so-called" EO's in candles, washing products etc., the main blame lies squarely at the feet of qualified Aromatherapists who, for decades, have been promoting "one size fits all" blends, for this that or the bloody other ailment and the cherry on the cake is no sign of the contraindications to usage if there are other underlying health conditions! This includes social media posts and in their books! I teach all my students not to share blends online on social media. But rather emphasise that there is no "one-size-fits-all", otherwise what is the point of AromaTHERAPY? Educate your clients, educate the general public, and most importantly as a therapist..... learn to know the difference!

I was doom scrolling my Facebook feed and a Skool ad popped up and it's was...

What do you think about maximum dilution? Fairly recently, I came across this Product a Headache Pain Relief Roller Bottles by the Aussie brand Thursday Plantation. This roll-on blend just contains Peppermint essential oil and jojoba. It specifically contains 10.5% v/v of Peppermint essential oil. According to Robert Tisserand, Peppermint has a maximum dermal dilution of 5.40%, which is roughly 15 drops of Peppermint per 10ml of Fixed Oil (as per the Tisserand Dilution Guidelines for Essential Oils Infograph) So this roll on by Thursday Plantation is double to the dermal maximum. When I ran the oil in Blend Precisely, however, 15 drops of Peppermint in 10mls of fixed oil is not 5% but rather 7.89%. How would you approach these inconsistent maximum dilutions?