Sage Essential Oil

• Dosage of Essential Oils 
• Safety and Essential Oils

The hazard symbols for Sage essential oil

Warning pictograms on essential oil bottles are required by law. For Sage the following pictograms are used:

1. Inflammable – Official code: GHS02 – All essential oils are more or less flammable, also diluted essential oils. Keep away from heat, sparks, open flames, and hot surfaces. Do not smoke when handling.
2. Environmentally hazardous – Official code: GHS09 – All pure, also diluted essential oils, are environmentally hazardous and rests of essential oils have to be collected as chemical waste, and may not be deleted in the sink, or the toilet.
3. Acute health effects – Official code: GHS07 – Causes mild skin irritation. Causes eye irritation. May cause an allergic skin reaction. The oil must be generally used moderately and appropriately diluted: see dosage. To prevent allergic reactions on the skin: Do the patch test (next chapter).
4. Long-term health-hazard – Official code: GHS08 – Greek sage should not be used excessively or over longer periods of time. The recommended dosage for the several different applications is crucial.
5. Corrosive – Official code: GHS05 – Can create corrosion when leaked on wood or some metals, when not immediately removed. Must not be used in plastic containers, or plastic measuring jugs. Contact with eyes must be avoided. If there has been a contact, use much running water to clean the eyes. In severe cases: contact a doctor. See also: acute health effects, no. 3.

• Read the Precautionary Statement in the official PDF: Material Safety Data Sheet 
• Dilution: Always dilute with a vegetable oil before applying to skin, in the bath, etc.
• Ingestion: Do not ingest the oil. It is harmful if swallowed and may be fatal if it enters the airways.
• Pregnancy / breastfeeding: What to know about essential oils during pregnancy and breastfeeding – Mayo Clinic
• Babies: Safe Essential Oils for Babies and How to Use Them – Healthline
• Children: Keep out of the reach of children.
• Eye Contact: Causes serious eye irritation. Avoid contact with eyes and mucous membranes.
  • In case of contact with eyes, immediately rinse abundantly water and consult a specialist.
• Skin: Can cause skin irritation and can cause an allergic skin reaction. Always dilute with a carrier oil before applying to skin and perform a patch test first. Do the patch test, the number 1 on the list.
• Fire: Keep away from heat, sparks, open flames, and hot surfaces. Do not smoke when handling.
• Environment: Dispose of waste properly (category: chemicals) to avoid environmental contamination.

Before using essential oils on the skin….

Do a patch test

A patch test allows you to see how your skin reacts to a substance before using it more widely. Here are the steps for performing a patch test:

1. Wash your forearm with mild, unscented soap, and pat the area dry.
2. Dab a few drops of diluted essential oil onto a patch of skin on your forearm.
3. Place a bandage over the patch, and keep the area dry for 24 hours.

If you notice any rash, irritation, or discomfort during the 24 hours, remove the bandage and wash your skin thoroughly with gentle soap and water. Don’t use the essential oil if any reaction develops during the patch test.

If no irritation develops during the 24 hours, it’s likely safe for you to use the diluted essential oil. However, a successful patch test doesn’t mean that you won’t develop an allergy or experience a reaction after future use.

Source: Healthline – What You Need to Know About Allergic Reaction to Essential Oils

• Do not use sage during pregnancy or breastfeeding (it inhibits lactation).
• Do not use if you have a high blood pressure.
• High doses may cause convulsions and/or temporary paralysis.

• Use for inhalation via a steam bath or aroma lamp. See dosages.
• Use in a carrier oil for a bath, foot bath, macerate, body oil, hair conditioner, or massage oil: recipes.
• Helps to balance skin that may be too dry or oily.
• Make your own skin oil (see recipes): salvia has an astringent effect on open pores and makes the skin more resilient.
• Can be used in a facial toner to balance oily skin.
• Sage helps improve acne, athlete’s foot (see foot bath recipe) and cracked skin, and relieves symptoms of eczema and psoriasis.
• For eczema, skin conditions, and sores: dissolve 20 drops in 2 tsp. glycerine (available in a drug store) and blend this with 5 dl lukewarm water. Rinse the skin twice daily.
• For its antiperspirant properties: add the oil to a carrier oil (see foot bath recipe).

• Harmonizes stress
• Creates a feeling of well-being
• The aroma, even from a sage tea, is a spiritual tonic for the heart chakra, it relieves emotional pain in the heart.
• Stimulates and clears the mind while exhibiting a balancing, uplifting, calming and strengthening effect on the senses to ease negative moods.
• The fragrance, burned in an aroma lamp alerts the senses, is tonic to the mind, sharpens the memory and is useful to have around in cases of mental fatigue, exhaustion and depression.
• More an intellectual fragrance, it aids in times of emotional upheavals and crises, brings clarity of mind and strength.

The scent is warm, clear, fresh, camphoraceous, spicy, earthy, herbaceous, soft yet flavourful and perhaps a bit lemony.

Salvia is derived from the Latin word salvare, meaning “to heal” or “to rescue”. The word officinalis literally means ‘of or belonging to an officīna‘, the storeroom of a monastery, where medicines and other necessaries were kept.

• Ethnobotany, phytochemistry, cultivation and medicinal properties of Garden sage (Salvia officinalis L.) – Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry
• Menopause, hot flashes and related symptoms – Wikipedia
• How Salvia is an ally For Women’s Health – Walk With Nature
• Salvia fruticosa was depicted in a Minoan fresco circa 1400 BCE at Knossos on the island of Crete. – The New Book of Salvias – Betsy Clebsch – Wikipedia- Uses
• Sage is considered a sacred herb since antiquity, a salvaging and saving herb. Its very name, Salvia, comes from the Latin “salvare”, to salvage, save.
• Sage Benefits for Skin – The Good Stuff Botanicals
• Greek Sage – Wild Herbs of Crete
• Medicinal Herbs in Ancient Greece – The Greek Herbalist

• Gallery Salvia Officinalis, Sage
• Video Salvia Officinalis, Sage
• Playlist Salvia Officinalis, Sage