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?
Hi there!
I was wondering what the current status of your experimenting was! I am interested in buying some essential oils & as you know it’s so hard to know what to trust. Wondering if you have tried plant guru & how you feel currently about YL & doterra. I apologize if you already answered this there are a ton of posts to sort thru
Hi there. I haven’t tried Plant Guru but looked at them and would still stay w/ the companies I chose. I will not work with YL or doTERRA. If you keep reading you’ll see more about them. Thanks!
Thank you for all the information. I am producing essential oils from what I’m growing in Israel. Lavender, Sage, Geranium (Bourbon, lemon), Rosemary, Eucalyptus (lemon) and Rosemary. I hope to have more by next summer: Clary Sage, Patchouli, Arnica, Roman Chamomile and Origanum Dayi. I hope to succeed at Frankincense and Myrrh too. We have a copper still. My oil is 100% pure. What makes my oils so special is the essence of the Land and from what is very suited to our soil and climate conditions.
Young living has a few farms in the US but most of them are out of this country. Also young living owns and operates every farm and distillery. They have a seed to seal guarantee. No third party.
Wonderful article!!!! i have more information about essential oils! thank so much
Thanks for your kind words. Hope to see you around again.
Thank you so kindly for all of your research, honesty, and the claritiy you provided to me about essential oils and the companies. I just dont have time time to do this intense research, so thank you. I will be making all of my families soaps, lotions, etc. and I want to provide the best quality for a reasonable price. I like how you stood your ground against certain “educated professionals”, they usually lie anyway to protect certain interest of others or themselves….. Most important, you were honest about your findings. I was curious about the commission stuff, but I checked with NAN, and I would still buy their products non-the-less. Thanks for directing me to a good place to start. Take care.
Thanks, Tomeka, for your kind words. They didn’t have an affiliate program when I chose to go with them. I was the first :). I hope you enjoy the oils if you decide to buy them. Take care!
Certainly unsure of where you got your information on the sources for Young Living essential oils but if truth is what you were after, you really missed it!! We actually only have 3 farms is the US. Others farmed owned by YL are in British Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, France, Oman, Israel, Taiwan and now Croatia where we grow our own Helichrysum. Only 30% of what we distill is sold because if it doesn’t meet our therapeutic standard it is not packaged for sale.
Hi there. Sorry for the delay in responding. I’ve been swamped. What did you think I had wrong in the post? I stated that they had many farms in the US, which they do. Thanks.
Agree with you on all 5 counts!
Why is “indigenous locations” a relevant criteria? Do you have any research showing plants grown in their indigenous locations produce better oils than plants grown in non-indigenous locations?
I don’t have research, but I have read this in several places. It makes common sense that a plant will be more vibrant growing where it is native to. It needs fewer or no pesticides as well. The same goes for humans. I wouldn’t thrive on the moon, for example. I know that’s stretching the analogy a bit, but I assume you get the point. Animals are the same way. They don’t really want to live in a zoo — they do better in their native habitat.
I just read this same information on the doTERRA blog this morning.
“I don’t have research …”. Thanks, that’s what I suspected. Your analogy of human on the moon or animals in a zoo is silly, at best. One only need look around and find many examples of plants, insects, etc. thriving outside of their native habitat.
Well, Martin, there are a lot of things that I know to be true that haven’t been proven by double-blind, placebo controlled studies. DoTERRA oils makes the same claim. Perhaps you could contact them and ask why they make this statement. Thanks.
Since you’re the one using “indigenous locations” as a relevant criteria, you should be the one contacting DoTERRA about their claims.
I heard that from the owner of the company at NAN / RMO as well and I think it makes sense. I contacted doTERRA about other claims and you know it’s a large company so it’s harder to get answers.
Hello again, Martin. I just found out that Robert Tisserand speaks to the importance of oils coming from plants grown in their indigenous locations in this book. It’s an affiliate link. https://amzn.to/1FtPZmh. Apparently he demonstrates how the location of the plant has a strong correlation on its constituent profile, sometimes making valuable constituents even non existant when grown outside of certain regions.
Also, there are numerous scientific studies on the internet on essential oils and plants that are noted to be from indigenously grown plants so one would think that they are choosing indigenous plants for a reason. Thanks again and I hope that helps.
“… there are numerous scientific studies on the internet on essential oils and plants that are noted to be from indigenously grown plants so one would think that they are choosing indigenous plants for a reason”
Links?
—–
“Apparently he demonstrates how the location of the plant …”
Point me to the exact location in the book that refers to this..
Plants have no memory of where they are planted.
Hi Martin,
Here are some links for you. Sorry, but at this time I don’t own the book. I could ask the person who wrote this to me and see if he has a reference page for you but I can’t guarantee that.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15607195
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ffj.3132/abstract
https://web.nchu.edu.tw/pweb/users/taiwanfir/research/9893.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sandy_Van_Vuuren2/publication/8210584_In_vitro_biological_activity_and_essential_oil_composition_of_four_indigenous_South_African_Helichrysum_species/links/00b7d52dd33598f7ed000000.pdf
If you are interested in more, just do a search for “indigenous essential oils” and you can find more.
Hi again. If you do a “look inside” of the Tisserand book on Amazon you will see he talks about indigenous plants a lot in the book and you can see the page #s yourself. Thanks again.
Did I miss something? Lol…I don’t see where you said which company is your personal favorite?
Thoughts on Heritage Essential Oils?
Hi there. Did you get to the end of the series? https://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/natural-remedies/announcing-the-best-essential-oils-company-and-a-great-sale/
Thanks for the quick responses, yeah I know some companies can be a little touchy…Anyway, I’m glad my RM purchase was not a bust! Just ordered some more from NAN. 🙂
Thank you so much!
Quick update, I just checked the Native American Naturals website and it is the exact same EO as Rocky Mountain Essential oils! Very cool!
Yes, they are in a partnership – more coming on that :)! Stay tuned…..