Choosing An Essential Oil Company

I love essential oils, there are just so many awesome things they can used for. But as with any medicinal, they need to be used cautiously. Choosing a company that sells pure unadulterated oils is important. There are a lot of essential oil companies out there claiming to have the highest quality oils, so choosing the right company for your needs can be a bit confusing. In this post I share a few of the most important things to look for when choosing an essential oil company.

3rd Party Testing

Choosing an oil company that is selling 100% pure unadulterated oils is the most important thing to look for. You don't want any nasty chemical additives in your essential oils. This can be confusing sometimes though because there are a lot of misleading marketing terms being used by some popular essential oil companies, like "certified therapeutic grade" or "medicinal grade". These terms mean very little in the aromatherapy world, as there is no governing board or agency to issue such certifications. They're nothing more than marketing terms.

The only way to truly determine the purity of an essential oil is by GC-MS testing. GC stands for gas chromatography. This portion of the test separates a chemical mixture into pure chemicals. MS stands for mass spectrometry. This portion of the test identifies the pure chemicals and determines quantity. So basically it's a scientific test that determines the chemical makeup of a mixture and would reveal any unwanted additives.

Always look for a company that provides batch specific 3rd party GC MS test results. Preferably right on their website, easy to access.

Accurate Safety Information

Since essential oils are powerful medicinals, it's important to have access to accurate safety information. Avoid companies that promote unsafe practices like casual ingestion (essential oils should only be ingested under the supervision of a licensed aromatherapist, and only short term to address very specific issues), drinking essential oils (oil and water don't mix guys, so it's no different than ingesting undiluted oils), using oils undiluted, etc...

Also, not all essential oils are safe for everyone. Many should not be used around babies or very young children. Some oils should be avoided during pregnancy or while breastfeeding. Some should not be used around those with certain medical conditions. Try to look for a company that provides at least basic safety information on their website or bottles, like whether or not an oil is kid friendly or should be avoided by those with a particular medical condition.

Fair Trade Practices And Sustainable Farming

Look for Earth and human friendly companies that are dedicated to fair trade practices and sustainable farming.

It takes a lot of plant matter to make just a small amount of essential oil. Over 200,000 rose petals are needed to make just 5 ml of rose oil! When it comes to essential oils it's very important to pick a company that is dedicated to sustainable farming.

Affordability

Price is also something to take into consideration. A higher price doesn't always mean a better product, so why spend more than you have to? There are actually quite a few essential oil companies out there selling pure oils at very good prices.

My Top Picks

Mountain Rose Herbs: I love Mountain Rose Herbs! They're based out of Eugene, Oregon and sell bulk herbs, teas, and essential oils. Everything they sell is organic and sustainability farmed or wild harvested. Their oils are high quality, proven with batch specific GC MS test results, and they're prices are great! You can check them out here.

Plant Therapy: Plant Therapy is an especially great choice for those with kids that are newer to essential oils and may not be familiar with safety recommendations. They very clearly label their oils as kid friendly or not.

Batch specific GC MS test results are available right on their website. They're prices are fantastic and shipping is always free! You can check out their site here.

Aromatics International: Aromatics International also has batch specific GC MS test results right on their website. And I like that they print safety recommendations straight on their bottle labels. You can visit their site here.

If you enjoyed this post, check out:

-My 5 Favorite Kid Friendly Essential Oils

-DIY All Purpose Herbal Salve

Follow me on:
Facebook
Pinterest
Instagram

Comments

Water Relay Races For Kids

I don't know about your kids, but mine absolutely love games involving water and getting wet in the summer time. In this post I share 5 of our favorite water relay races to play with friends. These are perfect for birthday parties, homeschool get togethers, and other group events. Sponge Relay: For this relay you will need: - 2 teams of several kids each -2 large sponges -4 small buckets or containers of some sort Divide your participants into 2 teams and have each team line up single file at a predetermined starting place. Hand out a sponge to the first participant in each line. Set a bucket of water by each team. Set an empty bucket about 20 ft away from each team. The two empty buckets should be the same size and should have a "fill line" marked half way up. On a count of 3 (or ready set go) the first participant in each line should dip their sponge in the bucket of water, run to the empty bucket, squeeze the water from their spo

Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit

One of my family's favorite hobbies is rock hounding. We love collecting and trying to identify neat rock and mineral specimens that we come across. You can put together your own simple kit for identifying rocks and minerals with materials you likely already have around your home. In this post I will explain how to put together your own mineral identification kit and how to use it to identify rocks and minerals you find on your adventures. Making a Rock and Mineral ID Kit Grab yourself a printable Rock and Mineral Journal for recording your observations here: Printable Rock and Mineral Journal , and then gather the following supplies: -A pencil -A coin -An iron nail -A piece of glass (an old pocket mirror works well) -A ceramic tile -A small watertight bottle or container -Some vinegar -A magnet -A magnifying glass -A dropper (optional) -Rock and mineral guide (optional) -A small container or bag to keep it all in Fill the small watertight

STEM Art: 21 STEAM Project Ideas

My kids love STEM projects and we're always looking for ways to add more art to our homeschool days, so I decided I am going to try to dedicate one morning a week this year to STEM art activities. In this post I share some of the ideas we're planning to try, plus a few favorites we've done in the past. What is STEM Education? STEM education is a blended and often hands on approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, which are some of today's fastest growing industries. STEM education offers students the opportunity to problem solve and work on real world problems and questions. Sometimes the acronym STEAM is used, to include the arts. Adding art to STEM education encourages creative thinking and problem solving skills. It can also help make the other included subjects more appealing to some students. STEM Art Projects Penny Spinners- Learn about centrifugal force and make your own spinning tops with this fun post from Teach Beside Me. Explo

40 Things To Look At Under A Microscope

Microscopes are a scientific instrument that all kids should get a chance to learn how to use. There are so many everyday things that look really amazing up-close. Under a microscope you can see that objects and even plants and animals are made of tiny intricate parts. The microscopic world is amazing! In this post I share 40 things to try looking at up-close under a microscope. 40 Things To Look At Under A Microscope: 1. A feather 2. Soil 3. An insect wing 4. A human hair 5. An animal hair 6. Pond water 7. Diatomacious earth- diatomacious earth looks SO cool magnified! 8. Cheek swab 9. An insect leg 10. A drop of blood 11. Mold 12. Sand 13. A shaving from a chicken bone- try both a piece of hard bone from the outside and some spongy bone from inside a bone. 14. Kombucha 15. Snake or lizard skin after they shed 16. A flower petal 17. A sliver of wood 18. Sugar 19. Salt- try different types 20. Thread 21. Saliva 22. A s

Learning About The Human Body Part 1: The Skeletal And Muscular Systems

At the end of each school year, I sit down with my daughter to discuss what topics she wants to learn about the next year. One of her science topics she picked to study this year was the human body. Instead of ordering a boxed curriculum set, I decided to put together my own human body unit. In this post I share some of the resources we used for learning about the human skeletal and muscular systems, plus instructions for a couple hands on learning activities. You can find my post about the human respiratory and circulatory systems here , and my post about the human digestive and nervous systems here . The Human Skeletal System Our skeletons are the frame of our body. They give us structure, without them our bodies would be limp like noodles. They also provide places for muscles to attach so our bodies can move. Why Does Your Body Need Calcium? Experiment: This is a simple experiment you can do to explore why calcium is important for our bones. You will need: -several clean

Search This Blog