36: Phototoxic Essential Oils to Avoid in the Sun

Liz Fulcher [00:00:00]:
This is the Aromatic Wisdom podcast episode 36. Today, I'm gonna talk about phototoxic essential oils. What does it mean if an essential oil oils phototoxic? Which are the oils that are phototoxic? And finally, how can we use them safely?

Introduction [00:00:19]:
You're listening to the Aromatic Wisdom podcast with your host, Liz Fulcher. If you're interested in learning about essential oils, hearing interviews with industry experts, and discovering ways to grow your own aromatherapy business, this is the podcast for you. For more information and show notes, visit the website at aromaticwisdominstitute.com. Now, sit back, relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy as Liz shares a dose of aromatic wisdom.

Liz Fulcher [00:00:52]:
Hi, everyone. And welcome back to another episode of the Aromatic Wisdom podcast. My name is Liz Fulcher. I am a clinical aromatherapist. I have a school called the Aromatic Wisdom Institute, where I teach all kinds of pretty much everything you wanna know about aromatherapy. The essential oils, I have a class on hydrosols, distillation, safety, business practices, how to teach. That's one of my most popular classes right now sun I love sharing all this information. That is why I created this educational podcast.

Liz Fulcher [00:01:26]:
So let's just jump right into today's topic. In the last episode, 035, institute.comforward/035, I promised that in this episode, I would talk to you about phototoxicity. There are a lot of words that people get confused in this, on this topic. There oils, photosensitization, photosensitivity, phototoxic, phototoxicity. People get really confused. So I'm here to set you straight. In the early days when I first started teaching in the nineties, the early nineties, my biggest problem then was explaining to people what is an essential oil. Kind of like what I'm doing now with hydrosols, I almost feel as though I'm it's like deja vu.

Liz Fulcher [00:02:17]:
You know, 20 some years later, I'm now telling people to what is a hydrosol? So back in the mid nineties, when I started teaching, the biggest problem I had was just conveying what was an essential oil. That was my big challenge. What is an essential oil? Where did they come from? People didn't realize the difference between fragrance oils and essential oils. A lot of people just never heard of them. Today, not only have many, many, many people heard of essential oils, millions and millions of people are using them. And because of this explosion and fast growth, a lot of people are using them incorrectly. So whereas, 20 years ago, the biggest message that I needed to impart on any group that I taught was what is an essential oils, that it is a real natural product from plants, and it is not a synthetic. It's not made in the laboratory.

Liz Fulcher [00:03:08]:
That was the big thing the big takeaway sun how to use them. Today, when I meet before a group, I find half of them have already been exposed to essential oils, used them, bought them, sell them, and lots of people know what they are, and many people, most people I'd say, in the general population who are using essential oils casually, don't really take the time to study them and to learn the safety features. Therefore, people are using them incorrectly, and, one of the ways that they are using them incorrectly is directly on the skin without any carrier sun putting them on the skin and then going outside into the sun. Or in the case of, one of my student's daughters, putting it on and going in the tanning bed with some very unhappy results. This poor girl has to live with what now looks like a hickey on her neck for who knows how long. Alright. I'm getting ahead of my stories. I get passionate, and then I start jumping jumping ahead.

Liz Fulcher [00:04:05]:
Alright. So let's go ahead and deep dive into this topic of essential oil phototoxicity. So let's start with a definition of so we're all on the same page with what something means. This is the definition Merriam Webster gives. Phototoxic is an adjective. It means to render the skin susceptible to damage upon exposure to ultraviolet light. So there, that's straight out of the dictionary. Now, in my classroom, I teach a sun 100 and 35 hour aromatherapy certification program.

Liz Fulcher [00:04:48]:
In that program, we talk a lot about the skin and all the different things essential oils can do for the skin and to the skin if you're not careful. And we do talk about phototoxicity a lot. The definition that I give my students in the classroom is this. Phototoxicity is a light induced reaction to a photoactive substance sun requires both contact with the offending substance and exposure to strong ultraviolet light. So in other words, certain essential oils when placed on the skin whether in a carrier or not, and then exposed to UV rays oils cause a very unpleasant reaction on your skin. Not all essential oils will do it sun the reaction only occurs when there's exposure to the sun. So Bergamot, for example, is an essential oil that is really strongly phototoxic. If you put it on your skin and you don't go out in the sun, you're fine.

Liz Fulcher [00:05:42]:
It's just that combination of of essential oil and sun that is the recipe for disaster. Alright. I just want to get a little clarity here on the words phototoxic, photosensitive. Phototoxicity, photosensitivity. Photosensitivity is actually what happens to your skin. Phototoxic is the compound, the product that is creating the photosensitivity on the skin. But you'll often hear a photosensitizing essential oil or a phototoxic essential oils. Those are correct.

Liz Fulcher [00:06:18]:
A photosensitive essential oil is not a correct term, because sensitivity, again, is the skin's reaction. So I hope that helps a little bit with the definitions. It's very easy to get confused with those two words. Next, I wanna talk about what makes an essential oil phototoxic. What is in the essential oil that creates this photosensitizing reaction to the skin? And to do that, I'm going to have to talk about chemistry a little bit. You know, everything that has to do with essential oil safety, whether it's phototoxicity, whether it is irritation, whether it is sensitization, which my next podcast will be about. Anything uncomfortable reactions that we have from essential oils comes from a chemical reaction. So, you've got to understand the chemistry.

Liz Fulcher [00:07:04]:
When you work with essential oils, especially if you're working with essential oils with children or with the public, get to know the molecules that create the reactions in essential oils, both good and bad. It's good to know the the fun ones like Linalool and Linal Acetate. If you see an essential oil is full of Linal Acetate, you know it's relaxing. If you know an essential oil's got a lot of Lidol? You know it's good for the skin. I'm going down a chemistry rabbit hole here. Okay. Let me come back. The most common phototoxic agents are the 4ocumerins.

Liz Fulcher [00:07:37]:
These molecules have a structure that gives them the ability to very strongly absorb UV rays, and then release it into a burst into the skin. So if you put your essential oil with 4ocumerins in it on the skin and then expose it to sunlight, you'll get a phototoxic result. A lot will depend on how much you use of dose is important, how much it is diluted. If it is a little teeny bit of grapefruit essential oil, for example, I'm gonna go over the list of the oils that contain the 4ocumerins in a second, but grapefruit's sun. So, for example, if you put a teeny bit of drop in an ounce, it's not gonna be a big problem. If you take a whole handful and add a little bit of carrier, that's a very high dose and you'll probably have some real unhappy consequences. So dose dilution sun the amount of time between application and sun exposure. So if you wanted to use grapefruit, for example, at night, just know that it's gonna be about 12 hours or so, the effect on your sun, and you're probably gonna be okay by the next day.

Liz Fulcher [00:08:44]:
In the wintertime, it's not as much of a problem again because we don't have as much sun in the winter, at least in the northern hemisphere in the winter. Southern hemisphere has a lot of daylight, a lot of sunshine year round. So if you live in the southern hemisphere, be very mindful about the toxicity phototoxic of certain essential oils. In the summertime, when people are outside, you need to be very, very mindful of the dilution of your phototoxic essential oil in your, product. And of course, this is topical application. If you are diffusing, it's fine. So let's take a look at the signs of a phototoxic reaction. So first of all, it can happen it doesn't happen instantly.

Liz Fulcher [00:09:26]:
It usually takes time to develop and it can occur within 12 to 24 hours after exposure. You can have redness, just it's called arrhythmia, just reddening of the skin can happen. Usually though, it is an exaggerated sunburn, can even manifest as blisters on the skin, and it can happen also as blackness or darkness on the skin. I have seen, let's see. The blackness I have seen on a student who came to class sun we were talking about phototoxicity, and she showed her arms and said that she'd been using Bergamo on a cruise, undiluted, and the insides of her forearms had black streaks on them. And it had been many, many years since she'd applied it. I don't know if it's forever or not. That's the thing.

Liz Fulcher [00:10:15]:
Sometimes the discoloration will be permanent sun sometimes it will resolve, you know, over time. The most common reaction is kind of an exaggerated sunburn. A few years ago, I was contacted on Facebook by a woman with whom I've become very friendly and she was reaching out for some help. She sent me a private message and said that she had a really bad sunburn and she thought it was a phototoxic reaction sun what did I think and how what would I recommend for her to put on it. She sent me the photograph. Poor thing. She had a bright deep red sunburn in front of her armpits and behind her armpits. What she'd done was put on her daily dose of homemade, deodorant which was coconut oil and lime essential oil, cold pressed lime essential oil, and put it in her hands and put it in her armpits.

Liz Fulcher [00:11:08]:
And, that's how she made did her her, deodorant. Proceeded to put on a tank top, that's an important part of this story, and went to the park all day with her family. And well, what happened was the cold pressed lime, and it's it's an important distinction that it's cold pressed as opposed to steam distilled, and I'll again, I'll get to that. So wherever she had kind of gone outside of her armpits and was exposed to the sun, got very, very badly sunburned. I contacted Robert Tisserand who, you know, he said, basically, she should just put something cooling on it the way you would do any sunburn. He's he actually recommended her not to put on essential oils. I'm thinking he might have said lavender hydrosol, which is water based and cooling, but no more essential oils because the skin was already so compromised. And so he asked me, would you put me in touch with her because I would like to have a copy of that photograph for my records.

Liz Fulcher [00:12:02]:
And so I've seen what it looks like. It was, you know, very very painful for her from something as seemingly innocent as simply adding coconut oil and lime together for a natural deodorant. Alright. Let's talk about method of extraction because this is an important conversation to have when you're talking about phototoxic essential oils. Essential oils are basically, in this context, steam pressed, cold pressed, or steam distilled. Essential oils that are cold pressed are all there. For example, all the components that are in the skin of the, let's just say, the the Bergamot or the grapefruit, It's generally the citruses to which I'm referring. So let's just go with grapefruit for example.

Liz Fulcher [00:12:47]:
The 4ocumberin is in the skin. When a grapefruit skin is cold pressed, it is just that they squeeze it and get the oil out, and then whatever thing Everything that was in that skin is now in the bottle, including the 4ocumerins. If you take that same fruit and put it in a still and use heat to steam distill it, the 4 ocumorins are too heavy. They cannot come over into the oil. Therefore, a steam distilled essential oil is safer than a cold pressed essential oil when it comes to phototoxicity. I'm gonna give you some very specific examples. Okay. Here's a list of commonly available essential oils that are considered phototoxic.

Liz Fulcher [00:13:27]:
Angelica root, Bergamot, cold pressed, bitter orange fruit, cold pressed, grapefruit, cold pressed, lemon, cold pressed, lime, cold pressed, mandarin leaf, opoponax, and tajetes. The citrus oils that are not considered phototoxic. So not all citruses are phototoxic. For example, sweet orange is not phototoxic at all. The citrus oils that are not considered phototoxic are bergamotFCF, which means 4ocumberin free. You can purchase bergamot essential oil, FCF, which means that the 4ocumerins have been removed. So FCF stands for 4ocumerin free. Personally, I prefer to use an essential oil, as it was created by mother nature and then take precautions.

Liz Fulcher [00:14:21]:
However, I understand it that if you have a product, you may want to purchase a Bergamot FCF. I would just assume, for my own purposes, not use Bergamot FCF. Bergamot steam distilled is not phototoxic. Blood orange essential oil is not phototoxic. Lemon steam distilled is not phototoxic. Lime steam distilled. Mandarin cold pressed or steam distilled is not phototoxic, sweet orange citrus sinensis is not phototoxic whether it's cold pressed or steam distilled. Pedigrain, not phototoxic.

Liz Fulcher [00:15:00]:
Tangerine, either cold pressed or steam distilled is not phototoxic, and the beautiful yuzu oil. That's yuzu yuzu, whether it's cold pressed or steam distilled, sun that is a fruit. It grows in Japan. A citrus fruit, it is not considered phototoxic. There it is. This is not a 100% comprehensive list. There are a few more oils that are considered phototoxic. They like, rue.

Liz Fulcher [00:15:26]:
I mean, oils that I'm guessing a lot of you don't work with. I'll tell you where I got this information, and then, you can, follow through with looking up the entire list. The book is Essential Oil Safety by Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young. I'm guessing a lot of you are already familiar with the book, but I will put a link to it in the show notes. If you do not own this book and you are working with the essential oils therapeutically, if you're working with, making blends for other people, I really highly recommend that you do purchase it. It should be a very it's an important part of the aromatherapists library. Okay. There is our topic for this episode, the phototoxic and non phototoxic essential oils.

Liz Fulcher [00:16:11]:
I hope this has been helpful and that you're able to go now and practice even safer aromatherapy. We have one little bit of business, and then I'm going to say goodbye, but first, smell my life. Uh-huh. This week in the smell my life segment of the podcast, I'm going to share with you how I used essential oils to clean my refrigerator. I would imagine you've had this experience where you use something so frequently that after a while, you don't actually see it anymore. You use it for its function and move on. And then one day, we actually look at it sun we're shocked. This can happen with the fridge.

Liz Fulcher [00:16:50]:
It can happen with the microwave sun, of course, the stove. Well, I was getting something out of the fridge recently and stopped and really had a look around. And I was not happy with what I saw. You know, splotches and spills and little globs of mysterious things, petrified bits of stuff. I don't know how these things happen, but I thought that's it. And because I tend to be all or nothing, I took every single thing out of the fridge. I have a second refrigerator, so I put a lot of food in the, second refrigerator. Took out every single shelf, every drawer.

Liz Fulcher [00:17:25]:
Washed, of course, washed all the the drawers in the sink sun let them dry. Then I took lemon essential oil. Now, this is a great way to use up essential oils that are coming to the end of their shelf life, and the citruses, they have about a 2 year shelf life. From the point of when they're distilled, that's when the shelf life begins. So the citrus oils don't last long. That's why I always say buy them in in a small quantity, and use them up, and buy fresh. So I had some lemon essential oil that was, you know, questionable of if it was still good or not, but it still smelled nice. But I didn't really wanna use it, therapeutically.

Liz Fulcher [00:18:02]:
When the essential oils start to get old, what happens is they're really irritating for the skin, so they're good to clean with. You can even diffuse them if they smell okay, but you do not wanna use them topically. So I simply got a little bucket. In my little bucket, I added warm water, about a quarter cup of liquid castile soap, and probably about 20 drops, probably about 20 drops, maybe 15 drops of lemon essential oils, and baking soda I I had baking soda off to the side. I wore gloves for this because I did not wanna get the lemon on my hands because in the context of this podcast episode, the lemon was cold pressed. And I just didn't wanna take any risks soaking my hands in this lemon oils, and then perhaps going out into the sun later and getting burned on my hands. So I wore gloves, and I took the lemon water, sprinkled it No. No.

Liz Fulcher [00:18:57]:
No. I got a, well, I got a rag, and I sprinkled it around the flat parts. And I also put some of this lemon water in a spray bottle, and I just sprayed all along the sides, started at the top, and worked my way down. Because if you start at the bottom and work your way up, you are dripping on where it's clean. So I start at the top, work my way down, and where there was where it was extra grubby, it was just sort of something stuck on the side or spilled, like, spilled juice or something like that, and it was sticky, I dampened it with the lemon water sun then put a little bit of baking soda on it and scrubbed it because it's abrasive enough that it would remove it but not damage the refrigerator, and, of course, it's deodorizing, and it's all natural. Did this to the whole entire fridge, and then, of course, as I said, I cleaned the glass, shelves. I clean the drawers. At this point now, because I'm in total OCD mode, then I have to line the shelves with Saran wrap, and I lined the inside of the little inner, the little shelves that sit inside the door with clear saran wrap.

Liz Fulcher [00:20:02]:
And god forbid if anyone spilled anything after that. I was watching. That is a really great way to clean your refrigerator that is all natural, healthy, good for the fridge, good for the environment, and good for you because you're breathing in all natural, immune boosting lemon essential oil. So that's smell my life for this week. In the next episode of the Aromatic Wisdom podcast, which will be 037, I'm going to continue on this topic of safety, and I'm going to talk about sensitization. There's another word that throws people off. What does that mean? And sensitization is starting to become a bigger problem with essential oil users, again, because of people using them incorrectly. I will get into details about that next week.

Liz Fulcher [00:20:50]:
I really hope you join me because it's an important conversation. Thank you so much for being here today. I love knowing you're here with me listening. If you have any questions you would like me to answer on the podcast, you can write to me, liz@aromaticwisdom.com, and put ask Liz in the subject line. And until next time, be happy, be well.