Where to Buy Essential Oils
If you are looking to buy essential oils, it’s probably because you’ve read that they have health benefits. Or perhaps you’ve had a conversation with an essential oil convert who says they so work!
Since the popularity of essential oils has boomed, it has made them easily available to buy. Essential oils can be found down the supermarket aisle, health food store shelves, and sold by companies online.
However, where is best to purchase your essential oils? Are all essential oils the same? How can you be sure of a quality product? There are considerations you need to look at before making your purchase.
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What and Who are You Using Essential Oils for?
What are you using essential oils for? If you’re using essential oils for yourself and family you want a 100% pure essential oils. You want an essential oil that is derived from a plant, not a synthetic. Quality essential oils are undiluted and unadulterated just as nature designed.
Essential oils are best if derived from organically grown plants. Using organic certified essential oils will ensure chemical pollutants are not concentrated in your essential oils. When buying essential oils look for USDA Organic certified essential oils. 1
Purity
Here comes the hard part. If you’ve never used essential oils, how can you tell what is good quality and what is not? Words like “natural”, “therapeutic”, and “pure” can be deceiving. Not all essential oils sold are the same.
To make choosing even harder, essential oils are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA classifies essential oils using GRAS (generally recognized as safe), at specific concentration limits. GRAS-included essential oils are generally used in the food industry at low concentrations and is not a purity or quality test. 2
In a perfect world, essential oil purity should not be an issue. A quality production by steam distillation or the cold-pressed method will produce a concentrated 100% natural essential oil. After all essential oils are derived from plants, flowers, fruits, seeds and bark all natural ingredients.
The problem is that essential oils produced this way as expensive. Too often essential oils are diluted with oil or synthetic chemicals. This is so companies can have more product to sell.
Read the Label
Essential oil labels should not have words like ‘fragrance oil’ or ‘perfumed oil’. The label should state the Latin botanical name of the plant and common name. The country of origin of the oil, a batch number, and production/expiration date should also be on the label.
Packaging of essential oils should be in 10ml glass bottles, either brown or cobalt blue in color. Essential oil bottles should be sold with a sealed tamper proof lid which has a dropper insert (orifice reducer). The dropper insert restricts the flow of essential oil from the bottle so you can count by drops. This is very important as essential oils are highly concentrated and need to be used by accurate measurements.
Never buy essential oils in plastic bottles or clear bottles this is a clear sign of an inferior product.
Is the Essential Oil Company Reliable?
Since essential oils popularity rose the market has become flooded with companies cashing in on a good seller. Choosing a reliable essential oil producing company is the most important point.
How to tell if a company is a reliable essential oil supplier? Here’s a few key points to consider when choosing which company to purchase essential oils from.
- Is the supplier a grower and manufacturer of essential oils?
- Does the supplier have detailed information about each essential oil?
- Are they committed to educating the public about the correct usage of essential oils?
- Is the supplier a qualified aromatherapist or essential oil expert?
- Has the supplier been in business for a long time?
- Does the supplier provide essential oils to the professional market – qualified aromatherapists as well as public?
- Does the company have a good reputation for quality products?
- The rise in popularity of essential oils leads to an environmental impact with regards to sustainability. Ethical purchasing of essential oils that come from a sustainable source is key in keeping a natural balance. Look for suppliers who use sustainable sourced essential oils.
- Third Party Membership – Look for essential oil companies that are members of the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). They have a high ethical standard that businesses must follow. 3
Companies can have their own in-house testing for the quality of essential oils. One example is doTERRA, they are committed to creating an industry standard – a first in the essential oil industry. They have created the CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® testing process. 4
This can only help improve the essential oils industry to provide the consumer with quality essential oils.
Where to Buy?
Do you buy essential oils from a supermarket, your local health store, or look online? Thinking about the points talked about above, it is probably wise to not purchase essential oils from a supermarket.
A health store may stock quality essential oils, but they might have been on the shelf a long while. Essential oils may not be a popular seller in a health store. Since essential oils degrade overtime, you cannot be sure of the freshness.
Online essential oil companies are the largest area of suppliers. Just do a search for ‘essential oil suppliers’ and millions of hits come up.
Do your research to find the quality suppliers. Email the company and ask any questions you have regarding their products. Ask for samples, use your sense of smell when comparing different essential oils.
Try asking a local aromatherapist for recommended essential oil suppliers they use. You can search for an aromatherapist in your local area that is a member of the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). 5
Summary
Buying essential oils does not need to be hard, but do a bit of research first. Many companies sell quality essential oils and their reputation stands out in the essential oil industry. Quality speaks for itself.
[color-box color=”blue”]We recommend doTerra essential oils. If you order today, you’ll get a free peppermint oil ($30 value) and access to wholesale pricing in the future! Try it today.[/color-box]
Source
- https://www.usda.gov/topics/organic
- https://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ProductsIngredients/Products/ucm127054.htm
- https://naha.org/
- https://www.doterra.com/US/en/cptg-testing-process
- http://naha.org/membership/find-an-aromatherapist/
This is our guide to essential oils. Check out our other installments:
Common Treatments With Essential Oils
Health Benefits of Essential Oils
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