Essential Oils and the IFRA

My gorgeous five pound jug of lavender essential oil!
Sadly, not many photos in this post. Wall of text.
Preemptive apologies for that.

Wow, what a dull title, right? I'm trying to keep my titles in keeping with my posts, and it's hard to do that without being a little dull. I promise, this is not an entirely dull topic, especially if you enjoy essential oils! The safe use of these oils in cosmetics (which, if you've read my earlier FDA post, is what I technically make) is actually standardized by an organization called the IFRA (International Fragrance Association), which you'll see me refer to often when I talk about my products ("following IFRA guidelines" is a familiar phrase). According to their website:

The IFRA Standards form the basis for the globally accepted and recognized risk management system for the safe use of fragrance ingredients and are part of the IFRA Code of Practice. 

This is the self-regulating system of the industry, based on risk assessments carried out by an independent Expert Panel.

In the United States, the key concept here is "self-regulating" - meaning there's no one looking over my notebooks, formulations, essential oil blends and usage rates to make sure that they're at a healthy and safe level for their intended use. It is up to me, the maker, to do the research and provide a product that won't be harmful to your health. The FDA can always decide to inspect me and my products at any time, but it's a very rare occurrence, especially if you aren't obviously flouting their rules (making wild drug claims, having mislabeled products, etc.). If you're a maker and reading this, then I highly recommend brushing up on FDA regulations for cosmetics and soap! There are several resources that I will link to at the end of this post. Hold me accountable if I forget to post them!

Back to the IFRA. With regard to skin safe fragrance oils, their components are often kept secret, even from those of us using them for an end product (this is to help protect their often proprietary blends; some essential oil blenders will do the same thing to protect a blend that took a long time to develop). It is up to us, the maker, to make sure that what we're using is safe for its intended use (some fragrances are only safe in candles, and not on skin, for example) and to make sure that we're using it at a safe usage rate, which the fragrance oil manufacturer will often provide to us (run away if they don't!). They base those usage rates on IFRA guidelines for the individual fragrance components of their oils.

But what if we're dealing with essential oils? Here's where things get a little more murky, and sometimes even a little controversial. The IFRA releases a standards booklet and is currently in their 47th edition of this booklet. Inside, you won't find, for example, cinnamon leaf essential oil. According to the gas chromatography/mass spectrometry report that I have for my cinnamon leaf oil, it's comprised of 79.5% Eugenol (and lists other components as cinnamic aldehyde, benzyl benzoate, and linalool). When I search for Eugenol in the .pdf file I have of the IFRA booklet, I find that it is a restricted substance for all 11 categories listed. The category I'm most interested in is typically number 9 (wash-off products like shampoo, bar soap, rinse off conditioners, body wash). Eugenol is restricted to .5% of my total end product. A typical initial soap batch (not full-scale production) is about 2,500 grams total weight. I can use 12.5 grams of Eugenol. For my cinnamon leaf oil, this is about 15.72 grams MAX of this essential oil. I'll introduce just one anecdotal piece to this blog post: I've had cinnamon BARK oil (which typically has 1/10th the usage rate recommendation of cinnamon leaf oil, so much more potent) accidentally make contact with my skin. What a burn that was! Ouch! I was lucky that it was a very small amount (not even a full drop, just a teensy bit of residue) and I was able to wash it off rather quickly.

Why restrict an essential oil's usage rate? For the example above, cinnamon leaf oil, the reason listed by the IFRA is due to sensitization. Sensitization means you are becoming allergic to and then developing an increasing allergic response to a substance - so future exposure to Eugenol-containing items, even very small amounts as in any other allergy, can result in an allergic reaction, sometimes severe. Eugenol isn't just in cinnamon leaves - it's in the regular powdered cinnamon at the grocery store, cloves, nutmeg, basil, anise, lemon balm, dill, vanilla, bay laurel and even celery. This isn't to say you should restrict your consumption of any of those foods, since essential oils are several times more potent than its source (an often-quoted example that I hear is that one drop of an herb's essential oil is typically the same as 75 cups of tea made from the same herb. Obviously, your mileage may vary from herb to herb.). Sensitization is possible with overuse of nearly any essential oil, even relatively safe ones like lavender and tea tree oil. (Says someone who is deeply allergic to tea tree oil!)

So how did the IFRA decide that Eugenol was a sensitizer? An RIFM (Research Institute for Fragrance Materials) expert panel met to review Eugenol and the evidence of its effect on the human body. The IFRA booklet cites seven academic sources for its decision, all of which are peer-reviewed articles, many of which have been published in medical journals such as American Journal of Toxicology, Journal of Applied Toxicology, and American Journal of Contact Dermatitis, to name a few.

For me, the wife of a doctor, an evidence-based answer such as this is all I need. I know there are many armchair aromatherapists out there who will dispute this. Since I am selling a product from my own company, under my own personal liability and carrying my own product liability insurance, and that product is intended for the public, I have a duty to them to do the safe and right thing. I don't sell essential oils mostly so I can allow myself to remain impartial whenever I criticize some of the selling practices that are common nowadays (because I have nothing to "gain" as I am not a competitor, but a very large bulk purchaser - I have purchased close to 100 lbs of essential oils so far in my lifetime). I have merely been a student, albeit a nontraditional one, of these substances for several years (even longer than I have been making soap, which is now about to be in its 5th year). And honestly, given the chemical makeup of so many of these oils and the different varieties and chemotypes that exist within each oil, I know this: I don't know everything. Not even close. Not even scratching the surface. That's why there's entire schools of study (chemistry, certified aromatherapists, and the like) devoted to these studies. I do know that I can operate within certain safety parameters set forth by experts who have much more experience than I do, and I'm happy that makers such as myself have these resources!

Bars of Bliss Soap; Tangerine + Lavender essential oils with Calendula petals.

One final note, especially if you're a soapmaker like me. We often like to tell one another to run any new soap formula through a lye calculator to ensure that we're creating a safe end product. Why not do the same homework if you work with essential oils? It's every bit as important. In order to do so, it's also just as important to know what you are buying if you purchase essential oils. Can you get a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry report? Do you know the country of origin? The botanical name? Is there a chemotype? Don't ask if they run the report, ask that it be made available to you. If it isn't, move on. Plenty of reputable companies are able to provide this information, many of which are listed right alongside the oil as it's for sale.

And here's those resources that I said I'd tell you about!

Marie Gale's book, Soap and Cosmetic Labeling. This is a MUST READ if you make and sell soap, even if you're just claiming that it's soap that cleans. Most soapmakers claim much more than that (cosmetics are moisturizing, exfoliating, retaining moisture barrier. Anything beyond is a mislabeled drug.). Written by a soapmaker for other soapmakers! 

IFRA Standards Booklet, 47th Edition (this is a .pdf that will download for free!)

Robert Tisserand's Essential Oil Safety, 2nd Edition. This book goes a step further than IFRA guidelines, especially for essential oils which have no restricted usage rate under the IFRA but may cause sensitization at very high concentrations.

New Directions Aromatics is an essential oil supplier who readily supplies gas chromatography/mass spectrometry reports on all of their oils for your viewing pleasure before you purchase. This is one of the few bulk suppliers I use who does make smaller vials of oils available for purchase (1/6 oz, 1/2 oz, and 3.3 oz before moving up to 16.6 oz or more).

And one last resource: Wholesale Supplies Plus is a supplier that I sometimes use who creates documentation that lists IFRA recommended usage rates for their essential oils. They've done the homework for you, so if all of this is a bit too much but you still want to use essential oils - I highly recommend them.