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Essential oil safety with Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil

Essential Oil Safety with Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil

We get asked a lot about the best (and safest) way to use the Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil. The Tropical essential oil is the same blend of essential oils we use in our Tropical Insect Repellent range. We actually started selling it because some of our customers loved the smell of our cream so much that they wanted to use it as a perfume or to scent their homes.

So what is the best way to use the Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil? Well, it really depends on why you're using an essential oil in the first place.

Using an essential oil to scent your home

If you're wanting to scent a room or outdoor area at home, you're going to want a diffuser. There are many types of diffusers but we recommend choosing an ultrasonic diffuser. These are readily available at health food stores, gift shops, chemists and even Kmart.

Many older oil burners will use a candle or heating element to disperse oils. Heat can be damaging to the molecular structure of some of the components of essential oils and in turn, change the smell of the oil.

Ultrasonic diffusers on the other hand use water and electronic frequencies which create a fine mist of water and the essential oil. They tend to use a lot less oil than other diffusers too so they are a great economical option. They're also relatively quiet and because they don't use a candle or heating element, can be used at night while sleeping.

Using an essential oil safely on your skin

Lots of our customers love wearing essential oils as a natural alternative to the synthetic fragrances in perfumes, or to scent body and massage oils. That includes the Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil!

The Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil blend is the same oils we use in our Tropical insect repellent and includes citronella and Australian lemon scented tea tree.

These oils (and really any essential oil) can be sensitising to your skin. That means if you apply them directly to your skin, without safely diluting them, there is a chance you will develop a reaction over time. This goes back to the the old adage, the dose makes the poison. Even water is unsafe when consumed in large quantities! When used properly, an essential oil is perfectly safe, but it's important to remember that an essential oil is EXTREMELY concentrated. As an example, it takes around 45 lemons to make a 15mL bottle of lemon essential oil, or approximately 116 lavender plants to fill a 15mL bottle of lavender essential oil 😮

How to safely dilute an essential oil at home

Diluting essential oils for use on your body

The safe dilution of essential oils for use on your body is 2.5-5% which is approximately 50 drops in 100mL of carrier oil.

Diluting essential oils for use on your face

The safe dilution of essential oils for use on your face is 0.5% which is approximately 10 drops in 100mL of carrier oil.

What is a carrier oil?

A carrier oil is any neutral oil such as sweet almond, jojoba or fractionated coconut oil. It is best to choose an oil that doesn't have its own smell as this will impact the smell of the final product (ie using extra virgin olive oil might not be the best choice)

Can you dilute essential oils in water?

The short answer? No. Don't do it.

Essential oils are, as the name suggests, oils. When you add an essential oil into water, it's just going to sit on top of the water. That means you're never going to get a consistent "dose" of essential oil if you're spraying it or dropping it onto your skin. It also means that if you're applying it to your skin you're not actually diluting the oil which brings us back around to the risk of sensitisation.

Adding an essential oil to water also speeds up how quickly the oil will oxidise so you're going to end up with a sticky, smelly mess of "off" oils pretty quickly!

It's the same reason why you should clean out your diffuser regularly and rinse between each use. The ultrasonic plate breaks the oils up into tiny particles that can be dispersed around the room with the water mist, but the leftover fluid doesn't have a long shelf-life and shouldn't be left to stand for a number of days.

Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil

To learn more about our Good Riddance Tropical Essential Oil blend and purchase online, head on over to our online store here.