Where to Buy the Best Essential Oils
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I used to think that essential oils were a scam, but I ended up finding out that they are a great resource for your natural medicine cabinet for issues such as headaches, ear infections, tummy aches, viruses and bacterial infections, and more. But I eventually felt I needed to figure out where to buy essential oils that I could trust and that I could reasonably afford.
I spent a ton of time calling companies, asking questions, sampling oils. Literally, it was a ton. And it was very exhausting.
I've learned a lot with all the time I've spent researching oils companies and I've covered a lot of what I learned here in this essential oils series, some of which I wrote while I was still trying to figure out which company I was going to be using and recommending.
In this post, I'll talk about the company that I decided to purchase our oils from.
It's also the one that I recommend to you as having the best essential oils for the money, with natural healing qualities and no additives or adulterating.
How I Chose Where to Buy Essential Oils for My Family
This all started with my not being happy with the way questions were (or were not) answered by Young Living and doTERRA. So I started contacting a bunch of other essential oils companies and asked a lot of questions.
If you remember, when I started trying to figure out where to buy essential oils, I mentioned the following about Native American Nutritionals (now Rocky Mountain Oils) in Part One of the series.
“Looks like they carry good products, but they are a bit expensive. Their prices, for a number of oils, in fact, are almost identical to the MLMs in this group, Young Living and DoTerra. And I don’t see any difference on the surface in the quality department.”
In this post, you can see that I ended up recommending them, but this was really a surprise for me. After thinking that I was writing them off, I got a call back from the owner of Native American Nutritionals, and I talked with him for a few hours, which turned into many hours after that, and I felt that he really knew his stuff.
I was intrigued by what he had to say about his company and the oils industry in general.
We had countless conversations from March 2012 – January 2013, and I literally grilled him about his company and others to figure out which company I wanted to recommend, and if his, was in fact, good enough for my family and for all of you.
I now can say that I feel very comfortable recommending this company to you and am now using their oils almost exclusively (only because I have a few bottles of other brands left over).
I hope you check them out and I'd love to hear about your experience.
(Disclaimer. I did not choose this company because I was able to become an affiliate for them, but I am one. I decided to work with them and then we made an partnership agreement. I was the first affiliate for the company.)
Why I Chose Rocky Mountain Oils
Please note: since this series was written, Rocky Mountain Oils purchased Native American Nutritionals. Native American Nutritionals was the original company, then the two companies had a partnership. Then Rocky Mountain Oils (RMO) purchased NAN. I am even more confident in the quality of oils now that this all has taken place.
Here are some of the qualities that make Rocky Mountain Oils a solid place to buy your essential oils from.
1. Experience
The owner of Native American Nutritionals Paul Dean, was in the oils industry since 1997, being first introduced to essential oils about 30 years ago. He started his first full-time essential oils business in 1998.
Rocky Mountain Oils was founded in 2004 by two essential oil enthusiasts, Michael and Leah Vincent. With years of experience in essential oils, the acquisition of Native American Nutritionals, and 14 years of company growth, RMO has become one of the leading direct-to-consumer essential oil companies in the world.
2. Purity
Quality Oils – all oils have been third party GC/MS tested.
Certificates are available upon request by easily entering in the batch number from any bottle.
Almost all of the oils come from plants grown in remote locations where no pesticides, herbicides, or harmful chemicals are used and only natural fertilizers are used.
3. Indigenous Plants
All oils come from plants grown in their indigenous locations (where they grow naturally).
4. Oils from Small Farms
Almost all oils from NAN were sourced directly from small farms (many are from third-world countries). Mr. Dean contracted with locals in the countries from where he sourced the oils, finds a quality farm, sets up a distiller, and extracts the oils. The oils are then sent to Native American, then sent for testing, and bottled. The only oils at NAN that are not from small farms are mainly the organic citrus oils.
Since Rocky Mountain Oils purchased Native American Nutritionals, some of the sourcing has changed as the company felt they had to make some changes to put a higher priority on the purity and quality of the oils sold. They source from small farms and also from leading experts in the industry.
5. No Solvents
They use no solvents for distillation except when necessary, as in the case of absolutes like vanilla and jasmine (since the cost of those essential oils is otherwise prohibitive.) Update 2015: they now sell a vanilla extracted with CO2.
6. Affordable Pricing
They have affordable prices (not as expensive as the multi-level marketing companies, but not “too good to be true” either.)
7. Quality Pure Oils
I have a lot of standards for quality and making sure that you are purchasing quality oils. See this post on pure essential oils for that information.
In addition, I prefer buying organic whenever I can, and that includes essential oils. Recently (Nov 2017), Rocky Mountain Oils has included an organic line of oils in their lineup and should be expanding it soon.
8. Transparency
Details for oils are listed clearly on their site (including the Latin name and country of origin).
The company is working on how to indicate the growing method now that they sometimes have a variety of sources for some oils.
9. Reasonable Shipping Costs
Rocky Mountain Oils offers Free Shipping domestically in the U.S. and reasonable shipping internationally, with free shipping over $199.
10. No Adulterating
Oils are not heated, mixed with anything else, or adulterated in any way.
Unless declared on the label, the oils are pure. The only things added would be a carrier oil to make the oil or blend easier to use right out of the bottle.
What About Other Companies?
I often receive inquiries asking me what I think about other essential oils companies.
Please read this post on Essential Oils Testing and Quality and this report on 10 Things You Need to Know About Essential Oils to see if a brand measures up.
There are more and more companies out there on a daily basis. It truly seems that every day there is a new company selling essential oils and many are making claims that they are the only pure oils out there, which is not true.
My standards are high. I don't just want a company that says they are pure. When deciding where to buy essential oils, I want to make SURE I'm getting pure and not just a song and dance.
More Essential Oils Posts
Here are other posts that you might want to check out in this series on essential oils.
This is fantastic information!! Thank you for putting so much time into this and being so thorough. I just stumbled upon your site to begin with. I currently use a mixture of DoTerra, Young Living and Rocky Mountain just because I was still trying to figure out the best oils. DoTerra has worked for me because I can get enough people to add to my order that I can get the two free products each month but think I might be going back to Rocky Mountain after this or looking into or looking into Native American Nutritionals.
Hi there -thanks! You are basically in the same hands with either RMO or NAN – same oils but NAN has more variety. There are a few other differences but I will be writing about that in the near future so stay tuned :).
I noticed you never mentioned whether or not Native American Nutritionals allows you to visit their farms for transparency and accountability. That is HUGE and speaks volumes for me as a consumer. It can be so easy to know all the right things to say or advertise and yet be cutting corners for profits. Im in no way accusing NAN of doing this. I just didnt see anything in your research to support it. . YL opens their farms up to consumers and even encourages harvesting along with them. You can literally stand in the fields where your oils are growing. I didnt see this mentioned anywhere either. Is this something that you took into consideration when choosing a company? Just curious.:) Thank you.I know this research is extremely time consuming and exhaustive.
Hi there. I haven’t ever asked that but I know that the owner was planning on taking trips to the farms and making videos. Does YL do that in all countries? I am assuming it would be pretty pricey to do so. I can almost for sure say that they would be open to it but I will ask= thanks!
But you said before the YL was all in thr US….
I believe I said mostly. If you can point me to where I said that I will change it. Thanks!
Hi Kim. I heard back from NAN and RMO about this. Here is their response in my words:
Mr. Dean is very protective of his farms so as much as he loves educating the public he wouldn’t want to do it at the cost of a good harvest.
Unlike many other oils companies, the farms where the plants for the oils are grown are in indigenous regions to each plant. Where it is meant to grow. This means it is grown around the world. Apparently there are only 2 farms in the US. Most the rest are in remote areas of remote countries like Oman, Somalia, Bulgaria, etc.
There isn’t much to see at the farms. It’s just a farm. It’s a field of plants. The distillation happens in one or two days and is so hectic you wouldn’t want an audience anyway. So turning the farm into a social gathering or such isn’t the goal — it’s to make great oil.
Our farms are family ran and most don’t want people to know where they are. For example they wanted to take a video of one of the farms awhile back but the family didn’t want people to know where the farm was b/c they didn’t want other oils companies coming and accusing them of anything or trespassing, which apparently has happened in the past.
One thing to think about is – if you open a farm up to a ton of people aren’t you going to have a lot more pollution there from cars and trucks and things like that? And (this is my question) – what farm does YL make open to the public? Is it many or several or just their lavender farm?
So basically, they don’t plan on doing tours of farms in the near future.
Here’s an analogy to consider – if you need to visit the farm in order to buy essential oils then think about what other factories or farms or plants you visit in order to be convinced of quality. Likely zero to none, right?
I’d love to hear what you think – thanks!
Hi Kim. This is one reason our family didn’t go with Young Living. The constituents of oils vary considerably by where they’re grown. You may like what you get from them, but oils from Young Living’s US farms are not the same as those from where the plants have grown indigenously for sometimes thousands of years. It’s just more natural to us to use the latter.
Actually, that statement is wrong . YL has farms all over the world for that very reason. That is one reason I asked Adrienne the question that I did. AND you can visit every single one of YL farms. NAN won’t allow it. Not sure where Adrienne is getting her research but she has really done YL an injustice here. All you have to do is go to the YL website to see all of their farms, distilleries and distribution centers.
Hi again, Kim. I am thinking this is the same comment basically that you just left. I stated in my post that “many of Young Living’s farms are in the U.S.,” not that all of them are. Did you perhaps misread it? NAN has very good reasons for not allowing visitors to their farms and I completely concur with them. Did you happen to read the reasons why? They said that the farmers are upset b/c when their farms are publicized they have had other companies visit and bother them. Plus they don’t want to have a bunch of people and vehicles on the farms b/c the exhaust and pollution that would ensue would jeopardize the purity of the plants.
I think that makes total sense. What do you think about that?
I think I represented YL accurately and NAN as well. Thanks. Happy to talk about it further.
Joe, YL has multiple farms outside of the U.S. For that very same reason Just go to their website or talk to distributors who have visited them. I’m not sure where that info came from?
Hi Kim. Just to clarify again, this is what was written in the post:
And that is the case. I am not sure why YL reps continually say that I said that all of their farms are in the U.S. I never said that. Thanks and if I can clarify further I am happy to do so.
So I read these awhile back and decided to follow your recommendation. I was at a YL presentation and wasn’t impressed. If you have to put other people down to promote your product and if you say you are the only one with the best oils, it’s just a turn off for me. However, I ordered the supposedly “same” blends NAN’s Breathe Ease, Immune Strength, and Purify which is supposed to be the same as YL’s RC, Thieves, and Purification but the ingredients vary slightly. Have you still had good results? Can they be used in the same way? Also, although I ordered from NAN, the labels say RMO, and my invoice said that they did merge. I read in one of your posts that they had decided not to. Thanks for all the work you put into this so the rest of us don’t have to!
I love the blends that I have tried and yes, they can be used the same way. Just make sure you are using neat and blended the same. In other words, I know that YL’s Valor is blended w/ a carrier oil and so you would want to use a comparable oil that is blended if you mean it to be used the same way. And I don’t (and same w/ RMO and NAN) recommend as much internal use as they do. Of course, all of this is not medical advice :).
They might be using the same oils labels (I am not 100% sure on that but can find out) but they didn’t completely merge. Thanks!!
Is there a way to become an affiliate with NAN or is that something only you do with your blog?
It would only work if you have a blog I think. Sorry about that!
I am considering switching from YL to Native American Nutritionals. It’s a big decision to leave a company I have been with for so long and their oils have certainly made a positive impact in the health of my family! Anyone switch from YL and just as happy or happier?
Me- but I guess you knew that :). Maybe someone else will respond too.
Man I had such high hopes of NAN. And I called them and spoke to a customer service rep. I was not impressed at all. Maybe this is b/c I spoke to someone who just sales the product, (but to me if you are a salesman you need to be knowledgeable of the product you are selling). The lady I spoke to had no idea what was going on. She rambled off some answers to the questions I asked her. And then she said they used Hexenes as a solvent to extract the Jasmine oil. Hummm…. I have worked with Hexenes and Hexene. And it is a pretty nasty chemical, if you can get past the horrible smell. We always had to open it in the hood. Any way it to about 20-25 minutes to get through to a live person. They have some system where you can press a number and leave a message or they will call you back. I had no idea what was going on. I keep pressing the button they told me to press and the recording kept talking. LOL LOL Then I said forget it. Then about 5 minutes later my phone rings, it was NAN.
I had a much better experience with Mountain Rose Herbs. Although they have some bad reviews online about their quality. Some one on another one of your pages in a response to one of your posts said try
pennherbs.com. What to do??? I mean who did you talk to at NAN? Well I read bits and pieces of your articles and posts. Very informative, by the way. And how do you get to the top on the company?
Hi there. I got in touch w/ them about your concerns. Here is their response.
I am not sure what you mean by “rambled off answers” so I can’t really address that, but about the hexene, yes, they use hexene on their jasmine, as does every other essential oil company. Because it’s the only way to extract oil from jasmine. So if anyone says they don’t then they are lying.
Hexane is used to extract but isn’t in the final product obviously. This is called solvent extraction. Jasmine is impossible to extract through steam because it is too delicate of a flower. So anyone that claims that they steam distill jasmine is lying. So every company uses hexane to produce jasmine.
Mountain rose herbs does too — just look at their website.
So the customer service rep was just being honest. So if you asked if they use any solvents she told the truth and said that we use it on one of our products, jasmine. That’s the only one I can confirm. The only reason they do that is because that’s the only way. So they either stop carrying it or it’ll be solvent extract. There is no other choice.
They think it’s completely harmless and the fact that it’s used throughout the industry and there are no records of harm being done to anyone reiterates that opinion for them. Because it’s the only way to get it no matter the company than someone that seeks to use Jasmine will need to understand and accept that fact. Hopefully new technology will develop that allows us to use something else one day.
I hope that helps.
As for the issue of the customer service call back that is new with their company and they are looking into the problem. I am glad you brought it up.
Regarding talking to the top of the company, that depends. I have talked to the top of some companies and not with others.
I so hope all of this helps – please let me know if I can be of more help. Thanks and I do hope you don’t give up on them. They are a good company.
I tired to respond via e-mail since this is more of a personal concern but I could not sent an e-mail to the account which sent me an e-mail so here is my response.
Thanks for your quick response. It really shows your dedication when you personally respond to individuals. Well I tried to actually order oils from Nan last night. The cc I tried to use to pay for the transaction, I had just used it online at another site and the transaction went through. I used the same cc on another site after I tried to make a purchase at NAN. For some reason the NAN website kept declining my card. I ordered some of their oils from another site. However that site did not have all the oils I wanted. I have not called NAN yet to explain to them what happened. Hopefully they will be accommodating.
Hi there. I just contacted NAN and RMO for you. Here is their response:
I would love to see a list of the companies you researched and what you found out specifically. I don’t see that on here but I would be interested in a list that is broken down comparing the companies , how they distill, where they are sourced (US vs indigenous) price range, etc. I know on the first part of the article you mentioned NOW oils and Mountain Rose etc. I love “tables” of info to be able to compare at a glance some basics on them. I just wanted to also say that I really appreciate all the time you took to write and research for this article and the posts overall. I am getting into oils and was overwhelmed. I still feel a little overwhelmed but feel that you have helped my search ALOT since you’ve done so much research already. Thanks!
Hi there. I know – I would love to do that too but one problem is that I would need to be able to prove these things or it might become a liability. For example, one company I really didn’t care for has totally changed what they offer and now it would be misinformation. So I don’t know that it’s a viable option right now.
I finally had to choose a good company and move on. I have found no reason to leave. In fact they have gone above and beyond to demonstrate to me that they know the oils very well and I am finding them to be a great source of information as well and hope to bring that to all of you – not recommending unsafe things but not being paranoid about the oils also. Does that help?
Based on what is being said here, you really have no leg to stand on and basically made your decision solely based on “what was right for you”. We all have to decide what is best for ourselves and our families. To say your company is better than any other is hogwash (if the other companies also do testes, grow indiginously etc). HOWEVER, to say that your company is best for YOU is acceptable. Just my 2 cents here.
Hi Martha. I wonder if that’s your real email “youdontknowjack……..{at}gmail.com”. Well, in any case, I will respond to you since you commented. I don’t agree with you. My decision was based on responses from oil companies, smells, other things (that I couldn’t write), information gleaned from hours and hours of conversations with a bunch of oil companies, and more. I of course didn’t test oils from tons of companies and buy oils from tons, but even Consumers Reports doesn’t test every model or talk to every company.
I am confident that I found a very solid company and will be sharing more about what they do. I have made it clear to them that I will not recommend them any more if I find a problem with their oils, etc. And I will stick w/ that.
I am sure there are other good companies -and in fact, the owner assented to that, but I think there is a lot of not so good out there too and we need to do our research. I will say that I think that Native American is higher quality than a lot of companies out there.
I think there is more that just “what is right for you.” There is a lot of objective stuff in the oils industry, but it’s hard to figure out.
I hope that helps to set the record straight. Thanks.
Wow great information! I have been recently cleaning out the junk from our cupboards – eating more whole foods etc. My chiropractor also took me off of OTC for migraines, pain etc. I have been doing really great, using herbal tea for migraines etc.. I have heard a lot about EO and had contact with a YL rep today – so did a google search and came up with this series of articles. I have a bunch of windows open here (1 to subscribe) – to read more about where to start! Thank you for taking the time to do all of this! One of the things that got me to look was the Melalueca Oil in the YL kits…. I already have that from Melalueca Co itself. I have also been a part of MLM and have learned some lessons that they are not necessarily the ONLY reputable company for their products. Thank you!!!
Thanks for your kind words! I hope to have more in the near future – like oils diffuser post and oils for kids. There’s too much to do right now :). You are right – some MLMs are fabulous but not all….
Hi – thank you SO much for your series! I was overwhelmed by the thought of selecting one specific oil company. We use EO for pretty much everything – continued protection from lyme disease to making cleaning products. I figured since I spend so much anyway, I would look in to being a distributor to get some kind of discount….
The only last question I have is …. are you still involved with this same company and is your recommendation still the same? Being years out from your initial research, I figured I might ask. Looking at some recent comments below, it seems that you do… but I dont really want to assume.
Thank you SO much!
Hi Dina. Yes, it is still the same. I have recently come out with some new posts and such that might interest you:
EO Guide: https://wholenewmom.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-essential-oils-before-you-buy/
How to Use EOs: https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/how-to-use-essential-oils/
Everything You Need to Know About EOs (almost). https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/essential-oils/
I was looking into essential oils myself a while ago and saved this article in my pocket app on my phone. I just reread it again and at the beginning it talks about NO oral consumption of essential oils and why. Makes a lot of sense to me. thanks so much for doing your research. I definitely would not go with an MLM company having been in marketing and sales once upon my a time myself. My old boss at an automotive chemical company told me that in her old job at another company they used to tell their customers “yeah I have that chemical in my car, of course!”. She said of course we kept some in our trunk so we wouldn’t technically be lying…
Hi there. Not sure which article you mean re: the no ingestion. Do you think all MLMs are a problem? I’m not sure I understand that chemical in the car means -you mean they were trying to say that they have it but that wasn’t the correct sense of it?
Thanks!