Expert: George Maxwell - 2/2/2008

Question
Hi, im a regular user of my sauna after the gym and have been using olbus oil on the coals with water for several years now,then recently i was told not to by the life guards because it is dangerous!!! is this true? i have my doubts because at the end of the day it is a decongestent. can you help please?

Answer
hi, and thank you for your question.

I've never heard of a problem with olbus oil, and think you're probably right not to worry.

There are only three concevable ways in which the oil might be dangerous:

1) If overheated, it could break down in to irritating coumpounds - but as you say you use it in conjunction with water, I can't see this being a problem.

2)The oil will catch fire if heated above a certain point - but that's unlikely to happen in sauna conditions, and even if it did, the amount you're using isn't going to cause any major problems.

3)) A large amount of oil in droplet form could be irritating if breathed in - but again, this is theoretical rather than practical.

I suspect the gym is being Health and Safety (over) aware - in case the residue from your olbus oil affects someone with a respiratory complaint. The chances of this are so small as to be negligible, but the laywers might not think so!

Hope this helps, thanks again.