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Essential Oil Safety in Skin Care: Citrus Essential Oils & Phototoxicity

There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there regarding essential oils, particularly citrus essential oils and photosensitivity.

phototoxicity and citrus essential oils

Steam distilled and cold pressed citrus oils are very different both in their creation and in the composition of the final product. The photosensitizing component found in the peel, bergapten, and sometimes present in cold pressed citrus oils, cannot pass through the steam distillation process as it is too large, meaning that while some cold pressed citrus oils should not be used prior to sun exposure, their steam distilled counterparts are not a worry, particularly in the very low concentrations used in skin care products, often around the 0.01 - 0.1% range.

 

Mad Hippie uses only steam distilled or bergapten-free essential oils

 

You can find further information regarding this at the following resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19112908

https://theherbalacademy.com/truth-phototoxic-essential-oils-use-safely/

oranges