Question about selling Essential Oils

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Koshka

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Hello guys!

Anyone of you sell essential oils to customers? Like in 10-15ml bottles?
I've had a lot of requests, and I'm not sure if I should get into that part of business at all, since there are so many warnings involved with essential oils.
I understand that they have to be diluted and so on, how about any kind of warning labels? And do I need any kind of special permission?

Thanks a bunch!

xoxo,

Kosh
 
Hi Kosh, I do sell essential oils to customers and I am going to be doing it more in the future. You should have a warning on your label that this product needs to be diluted for safe use. Plus they are to be kept out of the reach of children and pets. Make sure you have on there what the Biological/INCI name on there as well as the common name.

I am an aromatherapist and I have decided to grow the essential oils part of my business so I am revamping what I have been doing which will also include information sheets for each oil which will include contra-indicators as well as possible uses for the oil.
 
Aura Cacia, NOW brand, or any other brand you buy in a health food store doesn't come with "warning labels", except that maybe it needs to be diluted prior to use (but they never say how much). The average consumer has no idea about proper dilution rates and think of EOs as "perfume" and think that they are "safe" because they're "natural".
I would have CYA warning labels for oils that are known skin irritants (like Clove), photo-sensitizers (like Bergamot), or that shouldn't be used during pregnancy (like Clary Sage)...but I don't know if labeling of that sort is required. Maybe ask your bulk wholesale supplier? They should be able to give you the information you need for resale.
 
It's really not going to be required, but I am all about educating my customers, hence the information sheet that I will include which will have on it the dilution rates....
 
Thanks, girls! Your advice, as always is much appreciated. I think I will provide as much information as possible to customer, not only to cover my a$$, but also for the purpose of educating them, from my observation there are way too many people in the world who get into essential oils not knowing enough about their properties. All that, of course requires a lot of work and writing (bleh) Plus, before even selling EO's, I'm thinking about getting certified as Aromatherapist, I'm hoping it might help me with presenting essential oils to others and not screw up on my recipes (Shawnee, I did fix the amount of Cassia EO since we last spoke about it :shh: )

I've been diligently researching and there's a very interesting documentation I came across about company named "Young Living". They also sell essential oils, and on their website they have description of properties and benefits. Like this: http://www.youngliving.com/essential-oils/Rosemary
And in the tiny letters on the bottom it says: *This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease.

So, being my regular, nosy self, I had to research further, and this is what I have found: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/01/Jan01/010501/let0436.pdf

So, FDA randomly slaps companies on the hand? I haven't seen any other company advertise such warnings...
 
No "random" about it. Young Living and its founder Gary Young sow controversy in their wake and do so very publicly. If you research Young Living even more, you will find information about YL's "raindrop therapy" that advocates dripping pure EOs down the spine of a person during a massage session. These EOs have burned patients' skin -- but the burning is supposed to be the bad stuff coming out, not the body's natural reaction to concentrated EOs. This "therapy" is done the name of curing scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and other maladies.
 
That's insane, Dee! I'm surprised they didn't get shut down because of that.

No "random" about it. Young Living and its founder Gary Young sow controversy in their wake and do so very publicly. If you research Young Living even more, you will find information about YL's "raindrop therapy" that advocates dripping pure EOs down the spine of a person during a massage session. These EOs have burned patients' skin -- but the burning is supposed to be the bad stuff coming out, not the body's natural reaction to concentrated EOs. This "therapy" is done the name of curing scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and other maladies.
 
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