Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Essential Oils for Henna - What oils are safe to ship by Mail?

I will not be offering a new henna kit this year. As I will now ship only by US Mail, most of the good terps can't go by mail. Although the quantities of oils shipped in a kit are quite small, I feel it is better to be safe than sorry.

Here is a link to very helpful information about essential oils and their shipping status from Camden Grey.

Oils that can ship by mail under certain circumstances:

  • Lavindin Grosso: Flashpoint 151°F
  • Geranium: Flashpoint 185°F
  • Neroli: Flashpoint 154°F
  • Clove Bud: Flashpoint 212°F

Oils that cannot ship by mail according to the professionals at Camden Grey include:

  • Eucalyptus Oil: Flashpoint 109°F (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#2319
  • Lavender Bulgaria: Flashpoint 125°F (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#1993
  • Lavender French: Flashpoint 125°F (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN #1993 Flammable Liquid
  • Tea Tree: Flash point 130°F. (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#1993
  • Cajeput: Not to be used on pregnant women! Flash point: 120°F. (Cannot ship via air or ocean w/o appropriate documentation, cannot ship via postal air services.) UN#1197

All these oils have been shipped to me via ground transportation carriers like UPS, DHS and Fed EX so I have plenty on hand for henna here in town.

My most successful henna blends do include Tea Tree, Lavender & Clove. Another good blend however is Geranium, Neroli & Clove. While I have seen numerous cautions about the use of Clove Oil in henna blends, it is my experience that a drop or two has not caused any problems to date.

I do offer all my clients an informed consent to sign that lists all ingredients used in their henna paste, and only one person in 5 years has been unable to get a tattoo because of a known allergy to cloves.

I hope you find this information helpful. I did! I may choose to change my shipping plans to make a weekly trip to the UPS store to ship henna kits by ground transportation. I will also do some more investigation to see if there are exceptions to shipping these oils by volume. (I hope so.)

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