What Makes a Good Essential Oils Company
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This path of figuring out which is the best essential oils company has been hard work.
When I started out trying Young Living's Thieves blend, I had NO idea that I would be digging this heavily into a bunch of oils companies to find out which brand gave my family the biggest bang for the buck.
There's been a lot of info to sort through, and life has been little [a lot] crazy over the past 6 months.)
Read on to see what I've been learning.
First of all, if you missed my earlier posting on essential oils, you might want to revisit:
– A Skeptic Looks at Essential Oils
– Are Essential Oils a Scam? – Peppermint, Wintergreen, and More
– Which Essential Oils Company is Best – Part One
A lot has happened since those posts.
I had questions and more questions to ask and I think I probably almost drove a few oil company folks crazy in the process. But I feel pretty good about what I am going to share with you now.
But before I tell you which company I am going to be recommending, let me fill you in on how I got there and give you more information on essential oils in general.
Finding the Best Essential Oils Company
In trying to sort out which company I wanted to recommend to you (and where I wanted to buy my oils from), I did the following:
– contacted a bunch of companies
– looked at tons of websites
– talked on the phone with employees and owners of essential oils companies
– thought agonized a lot
– thought some more
– spent a bunch of money on oils (and I do mean a bunch)
I really took this very seriously. I wanted to provide my family and my readers with the best essential oils company for the money.
Now of course, I can be wrong–and I do think that there is more than one good oil company out there.
But I am as sure as I can be right now that I have found a good one to recommend to you all.
What Makes a Quality Essential Oils Company
1. The Essential Oils Company Should Sell Quality Oils
The oils need to be as high quality as possible without being astronomical in price. They should be:
– extracted properly (under low temperature and low pressure)
– produced from plants grown in their indigenous locations (where they grow naturally)
– made from wild-crafted (indigenously grown and/or not removed entirely when harvested) and/or organic plants if at all possible
I have concerns along these lines about some of the companies that I looked into. For example, Young Living is a very popular essential oils company. In fact, if you recall from my post on A Skeptic Looks at Thieves Oil, and my post on Peppermint, Wintergreen, and More, you will see that I was at first very pleased with their oils.
However, I am concerned that many of Young Living's oils are sourced in the U.S. That is great from the standpoint of keeping shipping costs to the U.S. low, but many of the plants from which their oils are derived are not indigenous to the U.S. and so I think that is one thing to consider.
But let's see what else our “search for the best essential oils company turns up.” One company might not have everything we want…….
2. The Essential Oils Should Be Pure
The oils must not have anything added to them, nor have anything taken out that should be “left in”
Apparently, it is commonplace for oils “experts” or oil companies to add things to essential oils in order to make them “go farther” and thus be cheaper to produce. The companies can either make more profit by selling an inferior product at a high price, or they can offer an inferior product and an apparently “great price.”
I heard and read a lot about oil companies “monkeying around” with their oils in order to make them:
– smell better (By distilling oils longer or heating them, the “herby” smell of some oils is changed to make them more palatable.)
– pass quality and purity tests (Some “oil experts” are apparently smart enough to know what the tests are looking for, so they add things to the oils or alter them in other ways to make them “pass” the tests. This is the case with oregano oil. Some companies will adulterate their oregano oil to have carvacrol levels come to where they want them to be.)
– more profitable by adding fillers like propylene glycol and others
Additionally, oils should, when possible, be extracted with steam only–not with chemical solvents. Who wants more chemical “nasties” on or in their bodies? Not me.
Basically, the essential oils I want to use should be only pure essential oils.
Nothing added. Nothing taken away.
You can read more about the adulteration of essential oils here.
3. The Essential Oils Should Be Sold at an Affordable Price
The oils should be within the reach of most consumers' budgets.
Of course, as with everything, there are varying degrees of quality. The company that I have chosen has very high quality. However, even that company's owner admits that there are comparable, even higher quality oils available, but the prices of these oils are so exorbitant as to make them unaffordable to most people.
4. The Oils Should Be Effective
The oils must work.
Of course, we want oils to do something, and not just smell nice. I can use plain vanilla extract behind my ears for that :-).
Now, this is something that perhaps needs qualification. Of course, when talking about essential oils being effective, there are a lot of things that can go into that–the individual's condition, how the oil is applied, etc., whereas the other means of evaluating an oil (outside of the organoleptic [smell] testing) are more objective.
It's important to note that if an essential oils works, that doesn't mean it's pure. Also, if an essential oil doesn't work, that doesn't mean that it's impure or inferior.
5. The Company Should Provide Education
Ideally, the oils company will offer opportunities to learn how to properly use oils to provide healthy options for the treatment of medical and emotional issues.
Of course, there is a huge amount of such information on the internet and in books like the following.
How's that for a lot of information to chew on? See why this has been tough?
Well, hang in there with me. I'll be back real soon with more information.
The Essential Oil Company I Recommend
If you'd like to find out which essential oil company I went with at the end of this long search, read Announcing “the Best” Essential Oils Company – Part 7 .
You can also read the other parts of the series here:
For more in the series:
– Which Essential Oils Company is Best?
– 14 Ways to Spot Fake Essential Oils
– Young Living vs. doTERRA
– Are MLM Oils Worth It?
– Distillation, Bias, Vomit and Personal Attacks
A Great Essential Oils Book
If you're looking to learn more about essential oils, the following book is a great one to add to your library.
Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Healing Art
This book is a complete resource for everyone from students to practitioners. It has more than 90 formulas and covers cosmetics, perfumes, and therapeutic uses.
The authors have a combined 75 years of experience that will help you bring the power of plants to your everyday life in the areas of beauty, healthy, and overall wellness.
Get My Free Essential Oils Report and VIP Newsletter Access
Also, if you go and grab my Free Report on 10 Things to Know About Essential Oils Before You Buy, you will not only get more myth-busting essential oils information, but you'll get access to my VIP newsletter as well–complete with updates, great healthy living offers, of course new posts on essential oils, and more.
What do you think?
Anything you would add to this list?
Does Native American Nutritionals put an expiration date on their essential oils?
Have you ever researched “Kobashi Oil”, located in the UK? Their oils are GCMS tested, grown indigenous to their region and I believe the fulfill all your requirements except not in the USA. They also are the only company I have been able to find that puts a “best before” date on all their essential oils. I have been very happy with their quality and their pricing.
EOs don’t expire. Eventually, the citrus ones will oxidize but otherwise they don’t spoil as far as I know. Thanks! If I find anything out I will let you know.
Do NAN essential oils have expiration dates printed on their bottles?
My understanding is EOs don’t have expiration dates. They don’t spoil – some oils will lose their strength. Do you buy an oil that does have dates on it? Maybe they are putting something in it that has an expiry?
The EOs I purchase do not have expiration dates on them. I wanted to know if NAN specifically had expiration dates on them or not.
No, they do not. Again, oils don’t expire.
I’m sure someone has asked you this already. I read somewhere that for the FDA to consider an essential oil food grade or ingestible it needs to be distilled twice, but for essential oils to be considered pure and therapeutic grade it should only be distilled once.
If you are interested in ingesting essential oils, which distillation do you pick?
Oh, yes, and thank you for all the time and effort! I only just found your posts now, but they’re definitely helping me get into essential oils 🙂
I never heard this. I will ask the owner of NAN.
Adrianne, I am torn. I WANT to like NAN. I even “felt good” about them overall, but then I’m still learning how to discern my feelings. I have a natural lady I am learning from and according to her, NAN did not “test” well and she felt something was off with their oils. She says from the bigger companies, Young Living is the only company with “excellent” oils across the board. She does not actively sell them. I had to ask her about them. I’m torn because I still think NAN looks good, but she says it isn’t and you chose not to go with Young Living after your research with them. Do you mind sharing off-site exactly what all of your reasons were for not choosing YL? I trust this lady incredibly. But NAN would be nice to use especially with their shipping being so little for just a bottle or two. creativemailboxsmiles@gmail.com if you need an address to email to. Thanks a million for all of your hard work!
Hi Stephanie. What does she mean by “did not test well” and was she w/ YL at that time? Please get back to me. Thanks. I did share a lot about my concerns about YL in the subsequent posts in the series–did you read them? Thanks!
She was actually not using YL at the time of “testing” several brands when she “learned” that DoTerra’s weren’t good. She kept getting blocked with the person she was treating and couldn’t figure out why until she finally questioned the oils. Until then, she figured all essential oils were good. She uses kineseology and found that NAN’s blends with the fractionated oil blend are not good, but their NEAT oil blends are okay, but not excellent, and their single oils are excellent but not superior. (Excellent being the higher standard.) With the single oils she says they will work but will need more of them to be effective. I did read your entire series on it, and with so much there I don’t remember the exact details of not liking YL other than it being an NM requiring monthly quota’s for the highest payout, and questionable “gossip” about the founder, and that some of them didn’t work well personally for you? Was there more than that? As for YL, She hesitated using them for awhile due to not wanting to recommend anything in an Network Marketing Company, but through continued muscle testing found YLs to be the best in purity and quality and their blends are the best she has found. So while NANs are okay (minus the fractionated coconut oil), they are not the “best”. I might still purchase some of their single oils when needed even if I need more, simply to support a company that I believe has great integrity and is not a NM company. I, personally like the NM model, but not the high purchase requirements to get checks or even to keep your downline (on some). I’ve been involved with 3 nutritional NMs, and have dropped out of all three, although I still have a stockpile of product from one. I now am with a greeting card company that I love that doesn’t require monthly purchases at all to get paid and actually saves people money on something many already spend money on. So, not against the model in general, but I don’t like the comp plans of most out there, if that makes sense. I hope that’s clear.
Oh, she says the “off” thing was probably the fractionated oil. Again, their NEAT blends are okay, their single oils are better, but not as good as YL, according to her! I do know that I started researching all this upon hearing that DoTerra oils contain a negative energy to her. I’ve used them, and have many still, but never got “great” results, just some help. She gave me a few drops of her YL Harmony oil in a spray bottle with water for me to help with the negative energy in my home. I was skeptical at first, but honestly it’s working wonders in that I’m am more patient, less yelling, and less stressed, all in the course of only a couple days. My kids each have their own tiny spray bottle with it and call it “Happy Spray” and spray whenever anyone is getting tense in the home.
That would make sense then…and it’s not a criticism at all about NAN’s oils. Just about FCO. Most people use FCO as a carrier oil when using essential oils externally b/c it is so shelf stable. I prefer not to.
I personally think that muscle testing is very subjective (well, I think that really goes without saying) and I do have concerns about Young Living. If you follow through the series I mentioned things on and off. See if that is enough to explain. Thanks!
Hi there.
I think as you go through the rest of the series you will see more of my concerns about YL – the chemically smell that we detected, etc. I can’t speak to it myself, but there is TONS of anecdotal evidence on the web and by mouth that YL’s oils simply aren’t working that well anymore and folks were moving to DT as a result.
There was more than that for me as well. I don’t know that all of what is out there about GY is gossip. I think that if that is so, and that people are just seeking to tear him down, then that is a complete shame. However, if the things that are written are true, some of them are very disconcerting.
I did have one YL rep who told me that it bothered her that Young let others call him Dr. Gary Young. She said that what bothered her is that Young never corrected anyone with the truth. I really don’t know what to make of all of that.
Finally, as I responded in a different response to you–muscle testing is a questionable test in my opinion. I can see how so many people claim it works, but it seems very dubious to me and subjective. I don’t see how the body is responding to just the material in a bottle or jar or container of any sort and not the container or label itself. I know that people say you can use the mind to suggest to the self that you are testing the materials inside, but that just seems quite odd to me. I am very open to alternative medical practices, but this gets into a whole new realm that at least for now I am not comfortable with relying upon. One can have negative feelings about something but not respond negatively to the substance otherwise.
I hope that helps and makes sense. Thanks!
I have been using YL oils for a while and just started getting organized to sell them, not enough to really make a living but if I can at least cover what I need AND more importantly help others learn about eo’s in the process than I think that part is worth it.
I too am finding it hard to believe what is what here between NAN and YL. The idea of using international sources is of course important but how closely do they work with those farmers to ensure that they are not using pesticides. From what I understand the “organic” definitions are different in different parts of the world. I have also been told that a lot of the YL plants are grown globally…is this not true? And YL oils truly are potent.
But I will certainly buy some NAN oils to compare directly with mine like peppermint and lavender and oregano that I use a lot. If I can support the little guy, I would like to do that but this stuff just gets so expensive!!
What about the quality of the frankincense resin? Is it safe to ingest and does it have a similar concentration of boswellic acid? The oil has less than the resin, but oil to oil the difference here would probably more substantial.
*Have you ever done independent testing? For example, sending out samples to an independent lab? I had a friend do that with YL and she said everything panned out to be legit, however I do not think she compared them to NAN.
Thanks so much for your research! This is exactly the info that I’ve been looking for!
This is from the owner of Native American Nutritionals:
Are you asking me if I personally did independent testing? I didn’t – it costs a fortune and I just can’t justify that cost.
You are welcome!
I want to first thank you for this entire series. I am looking further into the NAN oils. But I’m confused about something. The article you link to about adulteration of oils talks about fractionated oils. NAN uses fractionated coconut oil in many of it’s products. Shouldn’t this be a concern?
It is a concern but the owner of NAN said that FCO is the most shelf stable liquid carrier they have and buyers want it so they use it. If they used something like olive oil then the EO’s would spoil too quickly. You are welcome!
Did I miss it somewhere or is there nothing written about Mountain Rose Herbs?
In the comments numerous times. I have been having trouble getting information from them that I can put together cohesively.
I very much enjoyed reading your posts, as I am presently pondering which company I should buy from. YL is very expensive, and my sister is signed up as a wholesaler through Starwest Botanicals. She will sell to me at her price.
My concern is that I want quality for my family. I have a large family and one of the members has a debilitating disease that I would like to address through essential oils. I did not see any reference to Starwest on your articles. Did you investigate this company, and if so, how did it compare to YL in the area of quality?
Hi. I didn’t look at them. Did you catch Parts 3-6 of the series? I just posted the company I have settled on today.
This topic is big and messy! I have traveled down it myself many times. I don’t blog, however. Best wishes to you!
First, thank you very much for taking the time to research all these companies. I began researching various companies myself. Most of the time I ended up with companies that touted themselves which didn’t do me any good. Then I saw your blog which has been very informative. You have done great research, personally I don’t know how you do it…
Which brings me to what the heck is wrong with the people who want answers on their schedules? If those people need it that fast then let them research the information themselves. My obvious conclusion is they don’tbecause they know how time consuming it is!
Therefore, don’t apologize to everyone for not having all the information finished by a certain timeframe. You get it done when you get it done. You have been very generous with responding to all the comments left here, on top of what I imagine is a mountain of emails….not to mention you have children look after. Plus it is Christmas, the entire month of December actually from Thanksgiving to New Year are ridiculously busy for moms. Again, I don’t know how you do it…kudos to you for maintaining a good deal of decorum whereas I would have answer something along “&$£×^#^÷*’ yourself!!!”
Finally family and your personal life should always be a priority. I believe that most your readers are good people but there are a few that definitely could stand to revisit a lesson or two on good manners.
I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year. I look forward to reading the rest of your article when you get it posted…no hurry 🙂
You are my new best friend. Merry Christmas to you as well!! It has been a lot and I had a little “blip” in the issue this past week–not to mention an icky personal mess I spent about 5 hours on yesterday. Not my idea of fun on the 23rd of December. I so appreciate your understanding. I really didn’t want to just stick the name of a company on my blog and write “Buy from this place.” That’s no fun….not informative….and you all would probably think I was just trying to sell something.
Which is not what I want to do.
I hope to tackle this again soon. Post #4 is part way done.
Blessings and I look forward to hopefully hearing from you again!
Adrienne,
Would you please just email me the “winning” company by the 24th? I need to place an order with someone by then and appreciate all of the research you’ve done.
Thank you!
If you email me perhaps I can help – thanks! I have a few big things on my plate and am having trouble keeping track :).
Hey! great article! I was wondering though what you think about NOW essential oils??
Sorry this is sooo late- -a bunch of comments got buried under others. I am not sure what to think. They do seem too cheap to be true. One thing that is missing is country of origin in their product info. I would really like to see that. I love NOW for some things but I don’t use their oils. Thanks!