Guide to Purchasing Essential Oils

When it comes to buying essential oils (or EOs for short), it’s imperative that you purchase from a reputable and trustworthy supplier. But how do you know if a supplier is reputable or not? Here are a few guidelines to help you weed out the good from the bad:

Word of Mouth
No one is going to go out of their way to make up compliments about a supplier they don’t like.  If you hear good things about a company, they are likely true, especially if you hear it from more than one person.

Google
If you haven’t heard anything about a company from direct word-of-mouth, go ahead and do an Internet search for them.  If there’s ever been a problem with them, it’s bound to be immortalized  out there in cyberspace.  The Internet Never Forgets.  Never!

Pricing
The price of an EO will fluctuate with the market.  Some EOs are generally plentiful and low-priced, like orange oil (which is pressed out of the rind). Others, like Neroli (from the blossoms of the orange tree) require a massive amount of raw material and produce very little oil.  It takes about 5000 pounds (or more) of orange blossoms to yield about 1 pound of essential oil.

If you come across a display where every single ½ ounce bottle of EO has the exact same price, move on.  These oils have been diluted  or adulterated. You will not find pure oils such as Rose, Jasmine and Neroli for the same price as oils such as Peppermint, Orange, or Tea Tree.   You just won’t, so don’t bother looking!

As of April/10,  it costs over $500 CDN for a 100mL bottle of  Rose Maroc absolute.  The same amount of Sweet Orange oil is less than $3, and most of that would be the cost of the bottle itself.

Gas Chromatography Analysis
This is a qualitative and quantitative method of determining the chemical composition of an EO. If a supplier performs this task and makes the results available to their customers, they are more than likely a trustworthy source.

Lofty Claims
Any company that makes ridiculous claims about what their EOs can do, or tries to justify over-pricing by claiming their oils are "more pure" than any other companies is full of poo.  So long as the EO is not diluted or adulterated, no one company's oils are any more "pure" than any others.

Please do not fall for claims that an essential oil is so pure that it’s ingestible. People should not be ingesting EOs unless it is under the care and guidance of a medical aromatherapist (practiced mainly in France and parts of Europe; rarely in North America).  Most trustworthy suppliers will recommend the EOs not be used internally, although technically many EOs are used in the food & candy industry for flavouring.

Your nose 
When buying oils from a shop, there should be a sample bottle open. How do the oils smell? Do they have a strong, lasting scent? Or do they seem to wear off quickly?  Keep in mind that the sample bottle may not always be tightly capped, so that could lead to some degradation of the scent. If the scent gives you an immediate headache, it’s likely the oil has been adulterated with cheap fragrance components.

If you are ordering by mail, most wholesale companies will send you a vial of EOs (for an appropriate fee) so you can try before you buy. If you are new to using EOs, it may take awhile to get use to how certain oils are suppose to smell.  The same essential oil will smell different from batch to batch or from supplier to supplier.

Type of Venue
Never purchase EOs from a discount store or a dollar store.  Lately I have been seeing bottles of "Apple", "Cherry" or "Strawberry" labelled as "Essential Oil" at my dollar store. These are fakes. Those fruits do not yield an EO.

If the oils are being stored in an area exposed to heat or direct sunlight, move on. Even if the oils themselves are from a reputable wholesaler, they’ve been degraded through their storage conditions.

The least expensive way to purchase EOs is through wholesale, but the average consumer does not require the massive quantities of product you can obtain that way. Many grocery stores now have a healthy food or organic section, and EOs are often available there. If you have a retail source where you purchase homeopathic remedies, the EOs are probably close by. A few well-known retail brands are Aura Cacia and Aromaforce.

Need help with your Anatomy homework?

The most difficult part of my training so far has been the Anatomy portion. I find it interesting, but there is just so much memorization. This website makes it (almost) fun! It's in a video game format, so even if you have no interest in human anatomy, the website is still good for killing a few hours of down time.

They also have a Facebook Fan page.

Etsy Shout-Out

Today my Etsy Shout-Out goes to Least Likely 2 Breed. My 2-year-old son is obsessed with lip balm. He calls them his "pretties" and carries one almost everywhere he goes. Being only 2, however, he's not above occasionally taking a bite out of one of his "pretties". Have you read the ingredient list on store-bought lip balm? Yeah, me neither, mostly because I cannot pronounce any of the things listed on there!

I figured if he was going to be putting the stuff in his mouth (or even on his body for that matter), I wanted it to be as natural as possible. And, since he's obsessed with it, why not use it as a reward system for potty training? I contacted Leigh and she created a super cute label for us -- my son's name inside the silhouette of a car (things with wheels are his other obsession).



Bottom line -- you can't beat LL2B prices, the service is wonderful and the product is superb! I highly recommend patronizing this Etsy seller.

Oh, and we are having steady progress with the potty, so the "pretties" bribes are working!

Spring is in the air!

At least the calender says so, although you wouldn't know it from the weather. We woke up to snow this morning! Mind you it was barely a dusting and only stuck on the shady side of the street.

Even if Mother Nature won't cooperate, we can still bring the sunshine indoors with this fresh blend of essential oils. Fill a small spray bottle with about 150mL (or 2/3 of a cup) of distilled (or boiled and cooled) water and add:

5 drops Lemon
5 drops Bergamot
3 drops Petitgrain
2 drops Geranium (optional)

Be sure to shake the bottle well before each use. Essential oils do not actually mix with water without the use of a solubilsor, but for simple home use just shaking the bottle each time will suffice.

Keep in mind that standing water has the potential to becoming a breeding ground for bacteria. When I make and sell an air spray, I always add a preservative. However, for simple home use (and since it won't be applied to the skin), you can store this spray in the fridge and use it up within 3-6 months to inhibit bacteria growth.

Any other questions or concerns! Just e-mail me, post on my Facebook wall or comment here!

On Facebook

I have set up a fan page on Facebook. Please check it out and become a fan if you are a Facebook user!

Even if you are not a Facebook user, you can still access most of the elements of the Fan page.

I've been using the Facebook page as a blog of sorts because it's easier to update, add links, photos, etc... I am now going to begin the process of adding many of the Facebook page elements to my Blogspot blog. Links to client forms, essential oil information, etc...

The series of educational blogs about essential oils has not been forgotten! I'm still working on entries, so please let me know what you would like to see. heather.scent@yahoo.ca