How To Buy Essential Oils May 27, 2009

Thanks so much to Gabrielle over at healingvibes.com I can now share with you some tips for purchasing your own essential oils.

 

Grading of essential oils

  

There isn’t a lot of regulation in the essential oil industry.  For that reason, labeling can be confusing.   In general, however, there are 5 grades of essential oils you should be aware of. 

1. “Perfume quality” – are the lowest quality oils.  These are over processed, chemical laden and highly adulterated oils.   Often they appear as “fragrance” on labels.  Note:  when you read a label and see “fragrance” you can be sure that the scent is synthetically made – even “natural fragrance.”

2. “Pure” – this means the oil was not diluted with a lesser quality oil.  For example lavender oilis often cut with lavandin, a hybrid plant that has much less therapeutic value.   Pure does not mean that that the oil has no chemicals added.  It also could be 75% vegetable and 25% essential oil and still be labeled “Pure.”

3. “Natural” – this means that the oil was not adulterated with vegetable oil or chemicals like propylene glycol or alcohol.  It also indicates that the oil comes from the plant’s first distillation.

4. “Complete” – this means this is an essential oil product with nothing removed or added.  It also means that the oil was distilled at low heat and pressure, to conserve all therapeutic properties.   These oils have not been stripped or re-distilled.

5. “Genuine,” “Grade A” – these are the best oils.  Great care is taken at every step of the process, from growing the plants to distillation.  See more below.

6.  Therapeutic-grade essential oils – Even beyond “Genuine” or “Grade A” oils are Therapeutic-grade” essential oils. Therapeutic-grade oils are simply the highest quality oils available.  They are produced from plants that are organically grown and harvested at exactly the right time of their flowering and at precisely the right time of the day. The fresh plant material is then immediately distilled using pure water with low heat and low pressure in stainless steel distillation chambers. 

~

Gabrielle Souczek

Clinical Aromatherapist

Certified Raindrop Technique Practitioner

Make sense?  Good, now go out and experiment with some of your favorite scents!  (And, if you can’t afford the highest quality oil…that’s fine.  I imagine most of us just want fun scents.)  If you are purchasing these oils, however, for anti-microbial properties or for the effects of the aromas (uplifting, energizing, relaxing, calming, etc.) then I would put a little extra money into those.