Dr. Whitney Bowe
Dermatologist Weighs in on Essential Oils in your Skincare Products and Cosmetics
Showing our skin barrier respect and love is critical for healthy skin.
When it comes to skincare, irritants and allergens that trigger inflammation in the skin aren’t our friends — even if they are natural! Natural does not always mean safe when it comes to skincare. While breathing in essential oils can be so helpful to dial down stress, many of these EOs can do a number on our skin barrier when directly applied to the skin. You might see the damage in the form of stinging, burning, or a rash OR you might have subclinical inflammation which accelerates skin aging and other skin related issues — and this is damage that you can’t immediately see, but it’s still happening.
We also have to consider phototoxicity and hyperpigmentation stemming from certain EOs.
Hormone disruption from certain popular EOs? We’re covering that in this video too.
I have sensitive skin and many of my patients have sensitive, reactive skin. Fragrance in skin care can be really problematic for people with sensitive, reactive skin even if the fragrance comes from natural sources. Again, natural does not mean safe when it comes to skincare.
I’m taking a balanced approach here and giving you my honest opinions, as always. I know that some of my patients and friends live and die by their EO products, so if that’s the case for you, I’m sharing tips on how to minimize the damage to your skin barrier if you do choose to use these types of products.
Looking forward to your questions!
FOLLOW ME: https://linktr.ee/DrWhitneyBowe
hey guys dr whitney beau here board certified dermatologist and today i'm going to be sharing everything that you need to know about using essential oils in your skincare products and cosmetics what are essential oils they're highly concentrated plant extracts so what people do is that they'll take the flour the stem the leaf the fruit of a plant and then they'll put it through a process of either steam distillation or cold pressing and it will result in this highly concentrated formulation so each essential oil is actually a mixture of very potent compounds during the pandemic we are seeing a rise in the use of essential oils for good reason if you breathe them in if you use essential oils for aromatherapy they've been shown to be very beneficial for things like anxiety depression insomnia and actually even some forms of pain such as menstrual cramps the problem is is that when you rub essential oils directly onto the skin oftentimes the risks outweigh the benefits so in this video i'm going to tell you everything you need to know about what those risks really are and how to mitigate or lessen those risks if you do decide to use essential oils in your skin care so essential oils contain some of the most potent skin allergens out there and when it comes to developing a skin allergy although it's rare your risk is definitely increased if you use that product consistently over time some essential oils are what's called phototoxic so citrus essential oils things like lemon lime orange bergamot grapefruit i love the way that those smell but unfortunately they are phototoxic meaning if even a little bit is still on the skin either from say something you use the night before that morning and you go out in the sun that ingredient can react with the sun and lead to either a severe sunburn and blistering or it can result in something much more subtle where we just see hyper pigmentation or a darkening of the skin almost like a stain on the skin another major issue with essential oils that i deal with in the office every day is the fact that many of them are known irritants meaning that they trigger inflammation in the skin and that's kind of the opposite of what we're going for when it comes to taking care of our skin you know you guys who follow me on social media you know that the skin barrier is such an important part of maintaining healthy skin for so many different reasons and many essential oils including cinnamon clove lemongrass oregano jasmine peppermint are known irritants meaning that when you use them even if you're not technically allergic you can still develop irritation now the information that i'm about to share with you may come as a huge shock many people are trying to avoid parabens in their skin care products because they're controversial and that they're thought to be potential hormone disruptors well there are actually published studies showing that lavender oil and tea tree oil two of the most popular essential oils out there can actually have similar effects the data is early but pretty concerning so for people who are trying to avoid potential hormone disruptors in their skin care products you know i think that a lot of people just associate those with chemicals and synthetic chemicals but actually uh natural chemicals such as essential oils might have just as many concerns in that area as well okay so with all that being said you know if you have sensitive skin or you're especially concerned of course try to avoid essential oils in your skincare products but if you want to use them here are some tips on how to use them in a more safe fashion so tip number one is that when you use essential oils in wash off or rinse off products such as cleansers or body washes the risk is a lot lower than if you're using essential oils in leave on skin care products like a serum or a moisturizer so tip number two is that you want to see where the essential oil is listed in the ingredient list on the label the lower down the better but if the essential oil is listed among the top five ingredients that means that the concentration is higher and that is going to increase your risk of allergy as well as irritation one question i get a lot is dr bo can i use a diffuser in my home that has an essential oil well a lot of people can get away with doing that and there's no question that breathing in you know those uh those beautiful smells can help with anxiety you know insomnia which is just so pervasive right now unfortunately some people really can't tolerate uh using the diffuser in their home when you diffuse an essential oil into the air it creates little micro droplets and they can settle on your skin and the thinnest skin is right around your eyes so the eyes are particularly susceptible or vulnerable to uh developing irritation which can result in either a full-fledged rash you know or it can just trigger melanin production and can actually just lead to hyper pigmentation underneath the eyes as well okay so you probably are sitting there and thinking oh my gosh i have all these little bottles of essential oils that i got as gifts or you know i just have them around the house like what am i gonna do with these um so a really safe way to incorporate them into your home and to use them is to use them as part of household cleaners you know a lot of essential oils have antibacterial properties which kind of make them really well suited to using them in household cleaners so that's definitely something to consider and not everybody's going to react to essential oils so you know some people are going to be much more susceptible and vulnerable to those effects than others you know so if you're using one and you love it um and you feel really comfortable and you're not experiencing any side effects or any problems is there the risk that potentially down the road you may develop an allergy to one of those ingredients yes but that may be a risk that you're willing to take so if you found this video helpful check out my playlist on diet in the skin and check out my playlist on skin care and at home tools you may find those useful and do me a favor and subscribe um that really helps my channel and i hope to see you guys here again soon
#Dermatologist #Weighs #Essential #Oils #Skincare #Products #Cosmetics
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I have been using essential oils for YEARS. This is SO BIASED. With education, essential oils are SAFER THAN THE INFORMATION IN THIS VIDEO. Dr. Whitney Bowe is worried about her Bank accounts… ONLY very serious disorders need this kind of doctor. This kind of doctor is dealing with people's vanity…
Essential oils have been around for centuries, and for good reason, …and continue to be valued for their myriad benefits (don't believe dermatologists).
Bergamot is often in suncream😂😂😂😂
I’ve been using essential oils and other oils on my body and face for over 15 years. I use to have horrible acne scaring. Now people think I’m years 10-15 younger. You do have to know what you’re doing as far as dilution ratios but this video has a lot of fear mongering, imo. Educate yourself and use these oils and don’t be afraid to.
Ive been using a mixture of essential oils with a carrier oil and have absolutely no issues just fantastic skin and money saved on expensive products, I will never go back now.
Frankincense myrrh vanilla sandalwood coconut oil argan oil rosehip oil …there is scientific proof that these have a wide variety of bebefits for skin …why doesnt she mention these?
Is amond oil the same
I have been using essential oils for over 10 years now. I've used several types like lavender, myrrh, frankincense, rosemary, tea tree…I mix them with a carrier oil like jojoba, grape seed, almond, apricot….and they have been amazing. I get a lot of compliments about how soft and supple my skin looks. I look way younger than my age.
Essential oils mixed with a carrier oil is the best anti aging combo. I'm a living witness to that. For those who have no allergies to them, give it a try and thank me later.
I accidentally spilled a few drops of lavender essential oil on my kitchen tiled floor and it actually bubbled up where it spilled. I thought about it for a few minutes and then decided not to add it to my diy skin care recipe. It was a wake up call for me wondering what exactly are in the essential oil bottles, regardless of what's on the label reads. Who do we trust these days?
I wanted to be an orthodontist because I have nearly perfect teeth. Even better x rays. You do the math. What work for you, will work. Don’t let some person born with near perfect skin change what works for you. They don’t ever say, if you’re going to use it anyway be sure to dilute.. just stay away from eos and keep looking dead with the things that we have to prescribe. 😢
SkinCeuticals Triple Lipid Restore 2:4:2 Lipid skin barrier repair cream contains essential oils. Is this cream not safe? I get inflammation easily.
Thanks for sharing. Great vid ❤
Essential oils have been the best thing for my skincare…… !!! Imma have to disagree
Another lesson of the "pandemic" you can't trust the "official studies" or the institutions that perform them or a large portion of the the medical field. Every solution does not have to be a chemistry project. Less is more, simple is better
Im confused so should you or should you not use them? I wanted to start making my own bars of soap using essential oils or flowers good for the skin but it seems like essential oils are something you probably shouldn’t use bc they have just as many risks as regular soap.
Essential Oils have helped my migraines greatly…and not all essential oils are phototoxic "steam distilled" is not best thing for everyone to do is research!
Wrong! Not all the citrus oils are phototoxic. In fact, most of them aren't and this include sweet orange… do a proper research before saying sh…. And even for the phototoxic ones you can actually find furocoumarins free.
Retinoic acid also sting and make the skin red, but is known to be one of the best ingredient for skin ageing
What you think of Rosemary oil for face
Essential oils are unsafe for dermatologist pocket book.
i have used essential oils about 20 years….i have about 100 different oils….no allergies.
A friend is using frankincense oil to treat a skin lesion because she is uninsured. Her sibling had Moh's surgery on their face and so called reconstructive surgery afterwards. It was expensive ( even with insurance), it was very painful and it left a large permanent scar on their face that will never go away. I would say to this doctor that some people have no other choice than to be their own doctor. It would seem that the only treatment conventional medicine has is a one size fits all approach to cut up a person, then flood their bodies with poisons that are supposed to "heal". And they issue warnings on using essential oils that have been used for centuries. There are very limited options for lower income people and quite frankly, with due diligence, I trust some of the old remedies more than I do the current medical "industry". If I have a broken bone, I'll go to a doctor. But for many other things, I will try to treat myself.
Thank you for this video, I found it to be very helpful! I did some research about lavender essential oil and I found some very interesting things, with regards to calming the nervous system and skin breakouts: youtu.be/giAdEn1rRd0
Really cleaner
Thanks to Dr Alaho Olu on YouTube who cured me and my wife from Herpes, he also have cure for HPV, FIBROID, COLDSORES..
I would advise listening to Robert Tisserand’s recent interview regarding the alleged hormonal effects of Tea Tree and Lavender. You are spreading misinformation regarding these essential oils.
I am using essential oils as part of my skin care and all I can say is that it's absolutely good to my skin. I had a lot of breakout but my skin now is at its best. No more acne and very smooth.
There are rules however;
Citrus oils should not be used in morning and pure essentials oils should be diluted in carrier oils like jojoba. You should have mentioned these points at least.
Disclaimer: I am not in anyway connected to companies selling EOs. I just personally love using them.