Buying Essential Oils

There are lots of sellers of essential oils so it’s hard to know how to choose among them. Buying essential oils is not quite as simple as buying a perfume or fragrance oil. Perfumes and fragrance oils are all about smell and what smell you like. But, when you buy essential oils you want to make sure that they have the right therapeutic and subtle (energetic) properties in addition to possessing pleasing or aesthetic qualities.

Smell

People buy essential oils because they have a pleasing scent. That’s completely understandable. But, not every essential oil has a pleasing smell, at least, not to everyone. And, those less-pleasant-smelling essential oils may very well possess excellent healing properties. For example, I don’t particularly like jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum), German chamomile (Matricaria recutita), spikenard (Nardosachys jatamansi) or palo santo (Bursera graveolens). Nevertheless, these are all very popular essential oils.  Jasmine and palo santo are widely appreciated for their pleasing aromas. Jasmine is said to have a mysterious and seductive aroma. Palo santo supposedly has a sweet woody scent. Honestly, I just don’t see it in either case. Jasmin is overwhelmingly pungent and Palo santo smells like soap to me.

The truth is scent is subjective, but the healing properties of a particular plant and its derivative essential oil aren’t. I use all of these essential oils, but I tend to use them in a blend with other essential oils, which either creates a more pleasing scent or simply masks it, allowing me to benefit from their wonderful healing attributes without the personal resistance to their scent. The aroma of essential oil or an aromatherapy blend is important in terms of aesthetics, personal reference (i.e., memories), and compliance. If you don’t like the scent, you won’t use it. Additionally, for those who have a well-trained nose, the scent can also be an indication of the essential oil’s condition, purity, etc.

So, what are some other important attributes?

Providence

Providence relates to geography and the characteristics of the plant determined by place. Plants are a product of their soil conditions, water quality, altitude, and agro-climatic conditions, just to mention a few. But, they’re also influenced by the management practices used in production, harvesting, post-harvest handling and processing, shipping, and storage.

Providence can very definitely affect a plant’s scent and chemical properties. So, for example, I’ve noticed that peppermint (Mentha piperita) from India tends to be hotter than peppermint is grown in Europe. I prefer European peppermint because it smells fresher and livelier. Two other examples are high-altitude lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and helichrysum (Helichrysum illicium) from Croatia, both variations of a plant species grown in a particular area, that are generally highly sought-after and thus more costly.

Providence also affects chemotypes, which are significant predictable variations in the chemistry of essential oils derived from the same plant species grown in different environments. Examples of two common chemotypes are rosemary camphor (Rosmarinus officinales ct camphor) and rosemary verbenone (Rosmarinus officinales ct verbenone).  The former decongests and soothes aches and pains while the latter helps regenerate skin and is used for skin and hair conditioning. But, note they are both extracted for the same species, Rosmarinus officials.

Botanical Healing Properties

Aromatherapy is simply the use of the all-natural aromatic substances of plants to evoke physical, mental, emotional, spiritual or energetic change. These capacities constitute their healing properties. When you select essential oils for therapeutic or energetic purposes, it’s important to know their specific healing properties. These depend on the specific plant species from which the essential oil was derived. Not all plants of the same botanical family or genius will possess the same properties. For example, not all lavenders are the same. Lavandula angustifolia is the species of lavender most commonly sought after. It’s the one that comes to mind when we think of calming the mind and body and general antiseptic attributes. Lavandula spica, or what is commonly referred to as spike lavender, is used to treat respiratory issues and skin conditions. Another common lavender is lavendin, derived from several species, one of which is Lavandula intermedia. This lavender is grown and processed largely for its scent characteristics. The plant tolerates and performs well in a wider range of growing conditions and yields more usable plant material and thus more essential oil. Be sure to know the specific plant species and its botanical name before purchasing essential oils for medicinal purposes. If the botanical name is not on the label, don’t buy it. Search for another distributor.

Quality

All of the above attributes also influence the overall quality of an aromatic plant and, consequently, the essential oil derived from the plant. To date, there is no certification or independent assessment board for essential oils used in aromatherapy. Many companies claim to certify their own essential oils, but this isn’t how objective and independent assessment or certification works. Typically, certification is conducted by an impartial body that represents the industry as a whole. Unfortunately, there is no such body or agency that certifies essential oils. So, what does the consumer look for? I have a detailed blog post on quality essential oils, but here is a quick list of characteristics:

The essential oil should be:

• derived from a single identifiable plant species.
• derived from the part of the plant that contains the desired aromatic plant substances (flowers, leaves, roots, rind, etc). This varies from plant to plant.
• whole or complete (no naturally occurring chemical components of the essential oil are removed).
• has no additional chemical or synthetic components added to it.
• pure, meaning there is no containment.
• genuine, meaning they are what the label and company say they are.

People always ask me if essential oils should be organic or should they buy ONLY organic. I say no. Some essential oils are wildcrafted such as frankincense (Boswellia cateri). Some fabulous frankincense is grown and harvested in Somalia and there is no organic certifying body there, for obvious reasons. Some essential oils are produced by poor small-scale farmers, e.g., Geranium (pelargonium graveness), and the cost of acquiring the certification is too prohibitive for them and even groups of smallholder farmers. In addition, certification isn’t something growers need to do just once. It needs to constantly be updated. Personally, I feel it’s a matter of knowing where the essential oil comes from and how it is grown, processed, and handled. A consumer can’t know all of this about every essential oil s/he buys so it’s important to know and trust your distributor.

Quantity

How do you decide how much essential oil to buy? Essentials oils are very strong and very concentrated. A figure that’s passed around in aromatherapy circles is one drop of rose essential oil contains approximately thirty roses. That’s a lot!

Therefore, a bottle of essential oil will last you a long, long time. Think about it. You use a maximum of four to eight drops in a bath and three to six drops in a diffuser. If you have a 15 ml bottle, which contains approximately 375 to 425 drops, that’s equivalent to about 63 to 70 applications and even more, if you use a blend of several essential oils for an application because the maximum refers to the total number of drops and not just how many drops of each essential oil in the blend. This means for two oils, you get up to 140 applications and for three oils, 210. For skin products, concentrations of just 1 to 3% are the norm. That’s five drops in 30 ml (1 oz or 2 tablespoons) of a carrier like vegetable oil, milk, salts, etc. How common is it to use that much cream or lotion at one time? See our blog post on proper essential oil dilution.

Some companies and their sales representatives promote the purchase of a whole series of different essential oils – each in 15 ml (1/2 oz) bottles – for a cost of several hundred dollars. Are you going to use it all and how long will it take you to use it all? Really?!

My suggestions on how to buy the appropriate amount of essential oils for you depend on the following eight questions.

• What do you want to use the essential oils for?
• How often will you use them?
• How many drops are used for your preferred applications?
• Will you use one essential oil at a time or will you create a blend of several oils? The proper dilutions relate to the entire blend, not each oil used, e.g. remember, when diffusing oils, a total of three to six drops of the entire blend should be used.
• Are there essential oils you’re interested in trying out and experimenting with, but you don’t know that you’ll want to use them regularly?
• What is the shelf life of the individual essential oils you have decided that you like, will use, and, therefore, will purchase? Citrus oils degrade quickly, typically within a year or so, while many oils derived from solid resins like frankincense and myrrh have much longer shelf lives. Know your essential oils, especially if you want to use them for medicinal (therapeutic or subtle) purposes. Also, keep in mind that some essential oils will be more prone to irritate the skin when they begin to degrade.
• How intense is the scent of the particular essential oil you like and want to use? For example, orange (Citrus sinensis) offers a burst of sweet freshness, but it can be overshadowed by other more intense oils when used in a blend, and it dissipates quickly. Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin), on the other hand, is deep and unwavering. A small amount can linger for days. Remember, the German chamomile I mentioned above? Its scent is strong and for me not very desirable so I use just a tiny bit in applications.
• What is the cost of the essential oil? It goes without saying that you don’t want to waste expensive oils and will likely use them more sparingly. Jasmine is an example of expensive oil.

As a general rule, consider the following:

• To experiment, buy 5/8 of dram bottles. Most distributors offer a sample vile size as well.
• For periodic use, consider a 5/8 dram or a 5 ml bottle.
• For regular use over a longer period of time, maybe a 15 ml bottle is appropriate. But, remember some essential oils have a short shelf life.
• Consider the eight questions listed above and be conservative.

Distributor

Essential oils used for aromatherapy purposes constitute just a tiny percent of the global market of essential oils. They represent maybe 3-5 percent of the total. The vast majority are bought and used by the flavor and fragrance industry such as peppermint for tooth past and chewing gum, among other products.

Essential oils are largely sold to consumers by distributers, not growers or distillers. There are some exceptions like the multi-level marketing companies Young Living and doTerra, which are also distributors of the essential oils they produce. They work through a wide network of individual sellers, who most likely have little training in aromatherapy, and what training they have is gained through short company workshops related to the promotion of essential oil sales and use.

An alternative to large companies promoting essential purchases and use are the many small-scale distributors in the market. Most of them are run by certified aromatherapists who hand-pour the bottles you purchase. You might find that they directly answer emails and other inquiries. These people are dedicated to aromatherapy and the safe and effective use of essential oils. So, take time to get to know who is selling, what they know about their product, its chemistry, and the distillers they buy from.