Not all essential oils are created equally. Words like “therapeutic grade”, are used quite liberally when it comes to advertising essential oils. In fact, there are no grades to speak of when it comes to classifying quality of essential oils. The FDA does not monitor essential oils, therefore there are no grades. The only way to find out if you are using a quality oil is by doing your research. This post is the ultimate guide to choosing quality essential oils.
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What is an Essential Oil?
So, what do you look for when choosing a quality essential oil? There are many things to consider.
First you want to know what an essential oil is. Oils are highly concentrated substances, or plant matter. It takes approximately 250 pounds of peppermint leaves to make 1 pound of essential oil. That’s a lot of plant material. Essential oils are volatile, which means they evaporate easily.
Extraction Methods
Essential oils are obtained by three main extraction methods. Knowing these methods will help you determine if the essential oil is pure and in its intended form.
Cold pressing, which is a process of cold pressing the peel of a citrus fruit. If you were to press or scrape on an orange peel with your fingernail you can see the essence of the fruit, this is similar to cold pressing. It releases aromatic elements with pressure.
Steam Distillation is when steam is passed through the flowers, leaves, stems or roots of a plant creating a vapor. The vapor condenses and leaves behind the essential oil.
Solvent distraction is by using solvents such as petroleum ether, methanol, ethanol, or hexane to isolate the essential oils. This method is used on more fragile plants such as jasmine which can’t handle high heat from distillation.
Essential Oil Uses
A good essential oil company will tell you how to use their oils. There are three main ways to use oils.
The first is topically, this method involves diluting your essential oils in a carrier oil, a common carrier oil is fractionated coconut oil. The company should tell you the dilution rate for an essential oil. For example, Tea Tree essential oil’s topical dilution rate is 15%.
Keep Reading: What Is Tea Tree Essential Oil?
The second method of use is inhalation; this is done in several different ways. One is with a diffuser. This method uses water as a base and a few drops of essential oil is added to the water and then a vapor mist is release into the air. You can also inhale just the oil in a personal inhaler, where a few drops of oil is added to a cotton wick. You can also inhale straight from the bottle, but this method should only be used when no other option is available as with excessive opening of the bottle adds oxygen to the oil, resulting in oxidized oils.
Keep Reading: How To Enjoy Diffusing Essential Oils
The third was to use essential oils is by ingesting. I do not recommend this, as it is unsafe. Ingesting essential oils can cause adverse reaction, damage to liver and kidneys and to the esophagus. Many essential oil companies will not recommend ingesting their oils, while some do. For example, tea tree oil is toxic when ingested. It is best to consult a doctor or certified professional before ingesting essential oils.
Essential Oil Testing
You will want to know if the company does GC/MS testing to verify purity of an essential oils. GC/MS stands for “Gas chromatography/ Mass Spectrometry.” These test not only verifies its purity but what constituents are in essential oils, such as Linalool, that is found in lavender and basil. A good company will provide GC/MS testing from a 3rd party testing source, outside from their own GC/MS testing. These tests will most likely be on the website you purchase your oils from, if not, ask the company for them.
You can perform a simple test at home that will help you determine if you have a high-quality oil. Simply drop a drop of essential oil onto a piece of computer paper. If the oil evaporates completely away, you probably have a pure oil. If any residue is left behind, then the manufacturer probably diluted it with a carrier oil or chemical.
On the Bottle
The bottle itself should be glass and dark in color, such as amber or blue. This protects against UV light from damaging you oils through oxidation. It is a huge red flag if your essential oi is in a plastic bottle. Essential oils can dissolve plastics. If you were to take a drop of lemon oil and place it on a Styrofoam plate you can see it dissolve or melt. Essential oils are highly concentrated substances.
The bottle should contain both the common name and botanical name, so in the case of Lavender, it should also say Lavandula angustifolia. Any safety information particular to the oil should also be on the bottle, such as dilution rate, whether it is phototoxic, or if it is safe for pregnant women or children.
Other items you should be able to find on the bottle or at least on their website is the batch number for an oil, which would tell you what GC/MS report it correlates to. Also, it should tell you how it is extracted (such as steam distilled) from the plant and which part of the plant as well (stem, leaf, seed, or flower). An expiration date should also be present on the bottle, as all essential oils have a shelf life. Patchouli essential oil has the longest shelf life at 7 or more years. As an oil gets older, is exposed to air and sunlight it can start to oxidize which is why it is important to know the expiration date. Oxidized oils can cause skin irritations, are less potent and are unsafe to inhale.
Safety Issues
You should look for more safety information on the website pertaining to an oil. This includes if it is safe for pregnant and nursing mothers and infants and children. Most company will also tell you if it is safe for pets. Also, an essential oil company should state weather or not an oil is safe for ingesting, as not all oils are safe for this. As a rule essential oils should not be ingested at all. A company should also state that you should consult your doctor or medical professional if you are on certain medications or have certain medical conditions. Some oils interact with medications.
Purity
It is important to note that not all oils are pure oils. Check the ingredients, if anything other than pure essential oils are listed then it’s a good idea to choose another oil brand. Many so-called essential oils found at supermarkets or department store are not pure essential oils and may contain chemicals that are unsafe for diffusing or for topical use.
It is crucial to know if a company sources their essential oils from reputable farms. Are the plants grown in their native, indigenous location? This will help determine its purity. As a plant natively grown in Australia, tea tree oil will have different climates and growing patterns than it will grow in the United States.
Pricing
In your search for a reputable essential oil company, you will find a wide range of pricing. A low-cost essential oil does not mean it’s a quality, pure oil. Chances are these “cheap” oils are full of fillers and chemicals making them unsafe for inhalation or topical use and definitely not safe for ingestion. Same for high prices oils, these may promote high quality oils, but they may not have passed their GC/MS testing.
For instance, you can expect to pay a reasonable amount of money for frankincense or rose essential oil. It takes a lot of plant product to produce these oils. With that said, a bottle of frankincense listed at $10 is probably not pure, you can expect to pay upwards of 40 to even 60 dollars for a bottle of frankincense depending on what company your purchase from. You can expect to pay more from a MLM company as well.
What Brand?
Choosing a brand is a controversial topic. Everyone has their favorites and for different reasons. I personally think that everyone should use the information from this post to determine what company is best for them. I use and recommend Plant Therapy essential oils all the time. Other brands I trust are Simply Earth and Edens Garden. All three offer truly quality essential oils and show the GC/MS reports on their websites. Please do your research when it comes to choosing a brand of essential oil.
Wrapping It Up
Choosing an essential oil company may be overwhelming if you are concerned with essential oil safety. You don’t want to use a subpar oil that may contain fillers or harmful chemicals. Additionally, you certainly want to be aware of unsafe practices associated to certain oils. As I always say, “do your research” on any new oil you are going to use. Hopefully this ultimate guide on choosing quality essential oils was helpful to you.
Are you shopping around for a great essential oil company? Give Plant Therapy a try. They have quality 100% pure essential oils. I use and recommend them. The provide the GC/MS report right on the website for each essential oil. Click on the logo below to check them out!
Want a FREE Essential Oil Data Sheet about Lavender? Sign up for my newsletter and download your free data sheet HERE!
And here’s my little disclaimer, I am not a doctor or certified professional, this information is not intended to treat, cure, prevent or diagnose any medical condition. Please consult your health care professional if you have any questions.
Resources
One of my favorite resources is Lea Jacobson form Using Essential Oils Safely. She has a ton of free resources such has 30 days of Free Essential Oil Safety Files and a Learning Center with tons of information. You can get free recipes, what to do in an essential oil emergency, information about EO’s during pregnancy and so much more! Simply click HERE to find out more!
Sources:
Tisserand, R and Young, (2014) Essential Oil Safety, 2ed. Churchill Livingstone
Purchon, N and Cantele (2014) The Complete Aromatherapy and Essential Oils Handbook for Everyday Wellness. Robert Rose, Inc.
New Directions Aromatics –How Essential Oils Are Made