01/23/2020
I love Aromapologie, LLC. She writes on topics that I am passionate about and in the manner that I would write if I were a writer. Here is an excellent post on the subject of ethical issues in poor aromatherapy formulations.
Why am I so harsh on bad formulation information?
The reason is simple: consequences to poor formulating practices can be devastating. This can range from severe health consequences in vulnerable (or normal) populations to legal penalties due to harm or a violation of legislation. All of this can result in sickness, major infections, or businesses and livelihoods going under. It’s not a small thing for anyone affected, whether or not it was their fault.
But what I feel is most important and what we really need to be focusing on is the potential to harm people. As aromatherapists we are tasked with helping—not hurting—people. It is our job and responsibility to make sure that we have done our utmost to uphold this in everything we do for our clients. Safety is not optional.
So, because of this, it is impossible to sit by and stay silent as we watch a tolerance (sometimes an outright advocacy) for practices that are counterproductive to this.
And this is why I speak out against educational sources—which can include blogs, schools, and companies—that fail in this. To an extent, it’s to be expected. Aromatherapy unfortunately has a history of poor formulation practices. That’s understandable. All fields have areas that are developing or require change, and I do not know any formulators who are not sympathetic to the fact that appropriate formulation technique is genuinely new information for many people in aromatherapy. But I take a bigger issue with it when the schools educating our aromatherapists on how to treat people fail in this area willfully.
It’s one thing if an educational entity is unaware. It happens. But it is another matter entirely if it is something that has been brought to their attention and there has been a refusal to address what is necessary to assure accurate instruction. And this is where many of our problems are today.
Where formulation is concerned, aromatherapy is largely ignorant. It’s understandably frustrating for students and essential oil enthusiasts alike. We expect to be able to go to leading resources and get the answers we need. But it is folly (unfortunately) in most cases to expect all of our educational leaders to be able to address this issue properly. As we have seen, many of them (though not all) simply are not educated in formulation themselves. But what frustrates me the most is that there is an assumption that aromatherapy hasn’t had enough research done in this area to be questioning the poor practices we see. And this is absolutely ludicrous.
Formulation technique and safety has been around for far longer than we have. There are established best practices for a reason. We have to get to place where we stop and realize there isn’t a research paper for everything. You really don’t need to get explicit, specific proof that “X” blend in a raw aloe base grows microbes without the use of additional preservatives. You don’t need to see a paper that specifically covers why 1% tea tree oil dropped into a mix of hydrosol and water isn’t 1) solubilized and 2) is likely a cesspool of bacteria to understand that the formulation is crap.
When you understand the concepts and practice that goes into formulation, you can recognize easily that the examples given are huge issues. This is the difference between understanding how things work and simply being able to regurgitate what a paper says. And there’s no one paper that is going to make you magically understand everything you need to about formulating aromatherapy products.
It is crucial that we recognize that schools, companies, and bloggers not being aware of this or not having this understanding does not represent a lack of understanding about the subject. It is simply their lack of understanding.
Most importantly, this lack of understanding doesn’t excuse us from doing better. What is does do, however, is demand that those who do not know step back and stop spreading information that can harm. Because guess what? If we don’t do that, aromatherapy becomes just as guilty of egregious misinformation as the MLMs we love to so often use as examples of poor practice.
Let that sink in. It’s not an exaggeration.
But what I find most disturbing is our willingness to turn a blind eye and put the people we are supposed to help at risk. And we are literally seeing this happen. When we have schools who are ignorant of proper formulation teaching their students how to make things they don’t know how to formulate properly and then requiring that case studies are completed to earn certification, THAT IS A HUGE PROBLEM.
Yes, there will be case studies that are completed without the risky, poor formulations, but we’ve all seen the sleep spray made with just water and essential oils intended for use with children, the elderly, people with medical issues, etc. And it’s not okay.
There’s this idea that if it’s just for home use or client use that we can skirt by proper practice and place an arbitrary shelf life on things. But this makes no sense. Why would we advocate for a lesser standard for those who may be at the greatest risk? You may not need a 1-2 year shelf life for what you make, but it sure as heck has to be able to hold up to your treatment window without failing. And we know this isn’t happening because nearly every blog out there tells people that unpreserved aqueous product lasts longer than it actually does. Remember that people seek aromatherapy out because they need help in some way, which may include immunocompromised status, etc. And aromatherapy’s current, common excuses for poor practices can be devastating to these individuals.
Never mind that perfectly healthy people can get sick too.
So, we’re discussing all this more than ever. We are giving examples. There is so much the general public, at no fault of their own, doesn’t understand about what has been going on behind the scenes for years. And that’s fine and expected. The public isn’t saturated in all this the way we are as aromatherapists. But this is not a new issue. And we are not speaking out because there is only just now all of a sudden a problem. Others and I are speaking out because it’s been a problem that has been discussed and has been ignored for years.
YEARS.
There has been opportunity for change. That opportunity, as stated, has been largely ignored. And it has been ignored at the expense of people who need help and students who have invested their time and money into a career where they are led to believe they are being educated appropriately. And guess what? Students are getting frustrated when they discover though further education that they’ve been misinformed—and rightfully so.
We cannot continue on like this. It is literally unethical. We cannot take risks with people or falsely educate others with blatant misinformation when we have been made aware of the issues. We cannot use a personal ignorance of the available research and established practices to make excuses for not doing better. Instead, we must prioritize making sure those trained up in aromatherapy are educated appropriately in any dose form they may utilize so unnecessary risks are not taken with clients. We have to stop trying to convince the general public that certain things are safe when they are not just because the publishing entity doesn’t know enough themselves to provide otherwise.
Is this mean to say all this? No. But it is a harsh reality. And even though it’s harsh, I much prefer it to seeing people harmed or students let down when they’ve been working their tails off toward a career.
And whether or not people want to acknowledge it, we’re nothing more than a joke if we can’t step up to the plate and demand a higher standard than we’re currently seeing—for the sake of the professional as much as the client.
There are great educational entities out there. There are so many ethical, responsible practitioners. I don’t want anyone to walk away after reading this to think they don’t exist. They do. But there are also a lot that people think are great toeing the line of or outright obliterating ethical practices. And if we don’t start talking about the issues that our field faces, we will only see decades more of continued ignorance that, again, puts people in harm’s path.
Food for thought.
