Tips On Salicylic Acid

Only 2% concentration for the salicylic acid product is needed for effectiveness. There is no need to go overboard with increased concentration. (I wish I knew that years ago before buying such strong products.)

Having multiple active ingredients can cancel each other out, such as having glycolic acid with salicylic acid. It is best of those two ingredients are applied separately, at least. So check your labels!

I got the tips from reading from The Acne Cure book by Dr. Dubrow, which I borrowed from a public library. There are good tidbits here and there but mostly the book wasn’t for me !Not necessarily because the book was bad…I think it’s because the book is geared for people of all ages, so consequently it’s filled with basics that long time acne-sufferers already know. Anyway I’ll be posting the other tidbits I liked so stay tuned!

Essential Oils Safety

Skin Applications

“Certain oils can be applied to the skin, though it is very important to use caution when doing so. 100% essential oils are highly concentrated and need to be diluted for safe, topical use. Almond and Jojoba are two of the most popular carrier oils and are ideal for diluting. For more information on topical applications, we suggest consulting an aromatherapist or a credible aromatherapy book such as the one listed below.”

Aromatherapy for Everyone by PJ Pierson and Mary Shipley.

Source

“People with liver or kidney disease should only use essential oils under the guidance of a qualified practitioner. Once absorbed in the bloodstream, essential oils are eventually cleared from your body by the liver and kidneys–using essential oils excessively may injure these organs.

Consult a qualified practitioner if you are using any medication, because essential oils may interact with certain medications. For example, relaxing essential oils such as chamomile, lavender, and melissa (lemon balm) may heighten the effect of sleeping pills or sedatives.”

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 Reasons research on essential oils may be difficult to find at times-

“Essential Oils Are Not Standardized: The chemistry of essential oils is influenced by the local geography and weather conditions, as well as the season and time of day when the plants are harvested, how they are processed, and how they are packaged and stored. Each plant is unique in its chemistry so essential oils are never exactly the same-this is different from pharmaceutical drugs that are synthetically reproduced to be identical every time.

It Is Difficult to Conduct Blinded Studies with Aromatic Substances: Typical research studies involve testing two groups-one group gets an experimental substance and another group gets a placebo substance (this group is referred to as the “control” group). When using aromatic substances, it is very difficult to conduct a blinded study. Some researchers have used masks or other barriers to blind participants. Other researchers have used alternate scents assumed to have no therapeutic properties as controls. These approaches are problematic, however, because people associate smells with past experiences. Thus, it is difficult to account for individual variation in how essential oils affect people.
It Is Difficult to Get Approval and Funding for Research on Essential Oils: Essential oils have been used on humans for thousands of years. As a result, they don’t fit into the conventional clinical science approach of testing a substance in the lab first, then on animals, and then on humans. As a result, if a researcher proposes to test an essential oil with humans first, they may be turned down. This is because research review boards tend to approve research studies that follow the more usual scientific research path.”
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“Fragrance oils and essential oils are NOT the same thing. As a rule of thumb, if you see the word “fragrance” or “fragrance oil” or even “perfume” on anything, you can assume this is synthetic and NOT natural. (Even if it says natural fragrance.)

Essential oils are wholly natural and cannot be patented; which means that you’ll never see an essential oil in a pharmaceutical drug. As such, you can expect that the vast majority of mainstream healthcare practitioners will never recommend essential oils as therapeutic alternatives to drugs. More importantly, because essential oils cannot be patented, drug companies will not waste money studying them. This limits our scientific knowledge of essential oils GREATLY, and the majority of what we know about them are things that have been passed down through thousands of years of personal use and experimentation. (repeated information, I’m aware)

Never use an undiluted essential oil on a baby or child. Children have much thinner, more delicate skin than adults have, and tend to be very sensitive to the potency of essential oils. In fact, even if you do use essential oil in a recipe for children, only use half of the essential oil recommended in the recipe. That’s all they’ll need, anyway. (Here is a list of 19 essential oils that are safe for babies and children.)

Most essential oils should never be used undiluted on the skin. Instead, they should be combined with “real” oils (called carrier oils), waxes, butters, alcohols, or other diluting measures. Because they’re so concentrated, if you don’t dilute, you may end up with an unfortunate reaction (and unhappy skin).

There are a few essential oils that are generally recognized as safe to use undiluted. Of course, there has to be a few exceptions to the rule. Again, in Organic Body Care Recipes, the author points out that the only essential oils that are widely acknowledged as safe to use undiluted (sparingly) are: lavender, German chamomile, tea tree, sandalwood, and rose geranium.

Avoid the following essential oils while pregnant or nursing (and skip EOs completely in your first trimester): Aniseed, cedarwood, chamomile, cinnamon, clary sage, clove, ginger, jasmine, lemon, nutmeg, rosemary, sage (this is only a partial list of some of the more common essential oils – view the full one here).

To test if you’re sensitive to an essential oil (which is probably best to do before using it in a skincare preparation): Combine one drop of essential oil with 1/2 tsp carrier oil (like olive, jojoba, or sweet almond). Rub this on the inside, upper portion of your arm and wait a few hours. If no redness or itching develops, you’re most likely not sensitive to that essential oil.

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Source

The information has been collected from various blogs and articles so please click on the source links to give them the credit they deserve! Thank you for reading and be safe!