Essential oils continue to be popular for aromatherapy, skin care, hair care, and much more. Many of the essential oil options that you see today are inspired by the holistic healers of the past who used these various oils.
That said, not all essential oil options are worth your time or money. This is because some options are better than others due to the ingredients they’re made with, quality testing, and even how they’re tested. To help you spot the diamonds in the rough, we take you through how to find quality essential oils.
What Is Essential Oil?
Essential oil is a highly concentrated oil that comes from various trees and plants from all over the world. The oil is made by cold pressing or by distilling roots, leaves, bark, stems, and other various parts of the tree or plant. This results in a concentrated oil that’s more potent than the plant itself, especially in large quantities.
So, what does this mean for you? Overall, an essential oil captures the essence of the plant without the need for 12 lavender plants in your home. What’s more, essential oils tend to offer unique cosmetic and aromatic benefits, ranging from helping you maintain healthy-looking skin to improving your sleep.
Things to Look For in Quality Essential Oils
The best essential oils stand out from the pack due to their level of quality. That said, determining what makes an essential oil quality isn’t always straightforward. The good news is that we have some factors you can look for in essential oils to determine whether or not they’re a safe choice for your needs.
Purity
First and foremost, you’ll want the purest essential oils. Look for essential oils that are 100% natural and pure. In other words, you want to find oils that aren’t mixed with other oils or ingredients.
The only exception is if you’re shopping for an essential oil blend because these are mixed with carrier oils by default. Even in these cases, you’ll want to make sure the essential oil mixed with the carrier oil doesn’t have any extra ingredients.
Third-Party Testing
The last thing you want to do is test a company to do all of the testing themselves. While many companies are honest about this, there’s always going to be some bias when a company is testing its own product.
Therefore, we recommend sourcing essential oils from companies that have their oils tested by third parties for the best results.
Trustworthy Brands
When it comes to shopping for essential oils, quality brands make quality oils. You’ll want to source your oils from quality brands like Wholesale Botanics to avoid running into any quality issues. For example, Wholesale Botanics has a commitment to quality assurance through all-natural ingredients and intense testing.
That said, you should also look for brand reviews to get more of an idea about how reputable a brand is. This can be done through Google, Yelp, and other online resources.
The Packaging
This one might sound silly at first, but the packaging of an essential oil is more important than you think. Essential oils need to be stored in the right containers to avoid spoiling early. Plus, the wrong storage containers can impact the aroma of the oil. What’s more, the containers should protect the oil from the light, as this can also have an impact on the quality and performance of the oil.
For these reasons, you’ll want to look for essential oils that come in amber glass bottles or other colored glass bottles. These bottles should also be sealed to protect against air slipping in and spoiling the oil.
What Are the Signs of Poor-Quality Essential Oils?
Knowing how to spot poor-quality essential oils is also helpful. Thankfully, poor-quality essential oils are easy to spot by looking at the following:
- The label doesn’t have anything about the plant’s Latin name or scientific name.
- You’ve never heard of the company.
- The oil is stored in plastic or clear glass bottles.
- The aroma of the essential oil isn’t potent or doesn’t smell as it should.
- The cost is lower than average by a wide margin.
- The company doesn’t have an organic certification and doesn’t indicate how its ingredients are sourced and tested.
If you notice any of these red flags, you’re not looking at a quality essential oil.
Get the Best Quality Essential Oils Today
Whether you want to relax for a massage or enjoy the relaxing aromatic benefits of lavender, having quality essential oils is, well, essential. At the end of the day, the better the oil, the more potent it will be, the longer it will last, and the more of its benefits you can experience. In fact, getting poor-quality essential oils can result in rashes and other discomfort when used topically or aromatically.
For these reasons, we always recommend sourcing your essential oils from reputable brands like Wholesale Botanics.