KEBS has approved twelve standards that address the safety concerns of essential oils used in the cosmetics sector in the country. Essential oils are extracted from natural ingredients, herbs, and some of these can be directly applied to the skin.

However, they are mostly blended with other ingredients to provide fragrance and in some cases, antioxidant properties to personal skincare products like creams, lotions and body wash. They are also used in hair care products.

These standards specify certain characteristics of several essential oils to facilitate the assessment of their quality. Some of the parameters include; appearance, colour, odour, relative density, refractive index, optical rotation, miscibility in ethanol, freezing point, residue on evaporation, flash point and chromatographic profile.

Some of the standards approved to address these concerns include; KS ISO 770:2002, Crude or rectified oils of Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus globulus Labill) and KS ISO 3475:2020, Essential oil of aniseed (Pimpinella anisum L.)

“These standards will be used by a wide range of stakeholders in the cosmetics sector, including manufacturers, porters, traders, testing bodies, research bodies, institutions of higher learning and regulatory bodies.” says, Lt Col (Rtd.) Bernard Njiraini, Managing Director, KEBS.