Legalities of Using Essential Oils

Essential oils are perfectly legal to use, whether as a massage therapist, or a layman. They can be found in just about every "health related" store. The law in Florida, as provided by the Florida Statutes, states that a person cannot make a medical claim about a particular substance unless that substance has been properly registered with and approved for medical use by the state and/or appropriate federal agency, if any.

If there is any concern by the massage therapist that he or she may be violating the law by using essential oils, the therapist need not apply the essential oils to the client. A better practice, especially if a therapist is going to be doing a number of massages each day, may be to demonstrate to the client how to apply the essential oils, so that the client is the one that applies the particular essential oil to his or her body for a particular purpose. Let the client apply the essential oil, and then give the massage to the client using only a plain massage oil after the essential oil has penetrated the skin of the client and/or otherwise evaporated. This accomplishes two things:

1. It teaches the client how to apply the essential oils properly.

2. And importantly,the therapist does not have to come into contact with more essential oils on a daily basis than the therapist wants. (Remember that a person should not be exposed to more than a total of 6 drops of essential oils per day.)