Essential oils have the power to transform us. They can heal wounds, bring mental clarity and emotional balance. But how do you ensure the essential oil you're buying is pure?
Let the Label Be Your Guide to the Good Oil
Avoid labels that say "fragrance oil", "nature identical oil" or "perfume oil". These are not essential oils. Don't be fooled into thinking an oil labelled "aromatherapy" is pure essential oil. The label should say essential oil and state the botanical name of the oil. That said, even pure essential oils can be poor quality.
Storing Oils Essential to Quality
Where oils are grown, how they are harvested, extracted and stored have a big impact on their quality. Essential oils should be stored in dark-coloured glass bottles to prevent the oil from deteriorating. Avoid buying essential oils stored in clear glass or plastic as these can cause the oil to react and deteriorate. Never buy essential oils that have been stored in direct sunlight or if the seal on the bottle is broken. Always check the expiry date of the oil. Like medication, essential oils lose their therapeutic properties over time and could even be harmful.
Buy Essential Oils from Reputable Retailers
Always buy your essential oils from a retailer with a good reputation. Ask an aromatherapist to recommend a particular brand. That said, essential oils, like food, can be very subjective. One person may love a particular high quality oil that another person finds too aromatic. Price alone isn't an indication of quality – but it can be. If the oils a retailer is selling are the same price, be wary. Essential oils such as jasmine and rose should cost more than cheaper (but still good quality) citrus oils like sweet orange and lemon.
Some Oils Ain't Oils
Adulterated (altered) oils are ones in which constituents such as alcohol, acids or oxides have been removed or added to the essential oil. Manufacturers adulterate oils for various reasons. Some do so for economic reasons such as adding cheap balsams to patchouli to extend the product. Some, such as food manufacturers, do so to ensure consistent quality in their end product (such as peppermint-flavoured sweets).
Adulterated Oils Not So Therapeutic
Adulterated oils can be problematic if you're using the oil for therapeutic means as it may no longer contain all of its essential medicinal properties or it may have other chemicals added to it.
Common methods of adulteration include:
- Blending with other oils and marketing as something else. For example, manufacturers may blend grapefruit and mandarin oils and label the product as the expensive Japanese essential oil Yuzu.
- Blending high quality and low quality oil together and marketing it as high quality.
- Adding synthetics to increase the aroma.
- Adding vegetable (carrier) oils. You can test if a carrier oil has been added by putting a few drops of the essential oil on a tissue. Once dry, if an oily ring remains on the tissue you know a carrier oil has been added.
Without having high-tech scientific equipment to test the quality of your oil it is hard to verify its purity. But if you use the guidelines above you should find good quality essential oil that will help transform your life.
Originally published on May 04, 2011
