What Are The 3 Most Important Things to Consider When Choosing An Essential Oil? Grade, Grade, Grade!
September 1, 2008 – 11:16 amThe grade of essential oil that you use trumps your knowledge of how to use it. You can spend a lot of time and money learning about the different properties of essential oils, but if the oil you are using is perfume or food grade oil, the results you are looking for will either not be there, not be as optimal as they could be, or even be harmful.
The grade of the essential oil that you use is MORE important than which particular oil (lavender, basil, etc.) you are choosing to use. The first question to ask when choosing an essential oil is: does the oil have the ability to deliver the full content of the plants underlying benefits?
Almost all essential oils say on the label 100% pure or 100 % (lavender) essential oil or therapeutic grade but is the description on the label really what is in the bottle? There are no labeling laws in the U.S. for essential oils so the supplier can label their oil anyway they want.
So, how do you determine if the oil you are using is therapeutic grade? Ask your supplier! You and your clients deserve the highest quality. Anything less will not have the ability to deliver the benefits promised and may actually be harmful.
Ask your supplier the following questions
Is the essential oil grown free of pesticides and in an area away from toxic air (such as near a highway)?
Are the oils distilled over a long period at low pressure to retain all of the fragile constituents and bottled in their whole natural state with no additives, extractions or solvents?
Does the supplier grow their own plants? Are the plants tested at the farms to insure they are at their peak for distillation?
Are the essential oils received from outside suppliers (and those grown by the supplier) tested by an in house and independent laboratory to insure that there is no adulteration and that all relevant markers are met?
Do the essential oils contain frequency that is measurable?
For your observation:
Do your essential oils smell slightly different from crop to crop? Perfume grade oils will not smell different because they are made to conform to a “smell standard”.
Are oils that you can ingest or add to cooking like basil, lavender, peppermint, ect. able to be ingested? A bottle that says “external use only” is a dead give away that the oil is NOT therapeutic-grade.
When you place a drop of a pure oil like lavender on a piece of paper does it leave an oily residue? Essential oils are not fatty oils and therefore contain no oily substances.
I will let Daniel Penoel, M.D. sum it all up for me:
“I would rather have a drop of genuine essential oil than a 55 gallon drum of junk product”
Love & Light,
Maria
8 Responses to “What Are The 3 Most Important Things to Consider When Choosing An Essential Oil? Grade, Grade, Grade!”
I have used essential oils a lot in the last 20 years and have used several companies. I was trained in california by a student of Robert Tisserand–long before aromatherapy became a “buzzword” I now buy all of my essential oils and other products from Grittman Oils in Friendswood. I know about where all of their oils come from, the various grades, the various uses that apply to a certain oil. I believe that it takes years to become fully knowledgable in the use of essential oils, and a massage therapist owes it to herself to be informed and educated.
Sincerely,
Darcy Truehan, LMT
League City,
By Darcy Truehan on Sep 4, 2008
Darcy -
Thank you for your comment. The use of essential oils is not limited to therapists – oils are God given plant materials that anyone can use and share.
Essential oils have been used from 3000 B.C. safely and effectively starting with the Egyptians. The Bible contains over 1,000 references to essential oil use.
It is from those looking for profit and control that the safety of essential oils has come into question and a need created for extensive education.
I find the only harm that can come from using oils is when you use a grade that is adulterated in any way. I do not see any use for an essential oil that is not therapeutic grade.
Why would I want to use an essential oil that cannot deliver what nature provided and may be harmful due to manipulation or lower standards of distillation?
Any company that sells different grades of essential oils cannot fully understand (and may be not even deliver) the power of the therapuetic agents present in pure plant materials.
Regards, Maria
By Maria G. Turchi on Sep 6, 2008
Thank you for your insight Maria. I have also used EO’s for about 20 years, mostly for personal application (fragrance) and I have one question spurred by something you said: that EO’s are not fatty oils and should leave no residue when put on a piece of paper. Can you please explain what you mean by that?
By Crystal on Sep 7, 2008
Crystal -
Plants contain 2 types of oils: Essential Oils and Fatty Oils. Fatty oils are pressed from the seeds (nuts) and are used as carrier oils, such as almond oil.
Fatty oils contain large molecules which cannot pass through the distillation process necessary to produce essential oils, which contain small molecules.
When essential oils are adulterated, particularly with petrochemical solvents, you will have fatty oils in the essential oil which will then leave residue.
Regards,
Maria
By Maria G. Turchi on Sep 10, 2008
Dear Maria and all readers,
Thank you for discussing the importance of sourcing high quality, pure essential oils for their therapeutic benefits. It is a valuable reminder to question your source and know what you are buying.
I have one critically important comment to make about this point:
“Are oils that you can ingest or add to cooking like basil, lavender, peppermint, ect. [sic] able to be ingested? A bottle that says ‘external use only’ is a dead give away that the oil is NOT therapeutic-grade.”
This is not necessarily a true statement. Essential oils vary in intensity and toxicity and customers have differing levels of experience and knowledge of proper use. The supplier who advises customers to ingest pure, undiluted essential oils, as is directly from the bottle, is inviting liability.
It is NOT SAFE for just anyone to ingest pure, uncut essential oils! You can burn the mouth, the esophagus, cause severe gastro-intestinal upset and even die from ingesting certain essential oils. Essential oils are very potent, can be toxic and should only be used by trained professionals. If you wish to consider essential oils for ingestion, consult a trained and experienced aromatherapist and please educate yourself. It is responsible, and a duty in our litigious society, for the supplier of your essential oils to warn against ingesting them.
There are myriad “essential oils” out there in stores, online and in professional massage catalogues. I believe Maria may be trying to point out that fragrance oils are not safe to ingest and will be labeled as such. However, in my experience, the absence of a label stating “do not ingest” or “for topical use only” may imply that the essential oil is cut with vegetable oil (or some other substance) so that it is safe, or safer, in case it is used inappropriately. These are often sold to retail consumers for home use rather than for professional aromatherapeutic use.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this article. I welcome your thoughts.
In wellness,
Melissa Alosso, VP
Pure Pro Inc
By Melissa Alosso on Sep 10, 2008
Melissa –
I appreciate your comments. . Essential oils are gifts of nature and have been used safely for thousands of years.
Anything you put on your skin is ingested into your blood system so it is important to be aware of the purity of what you are putting on your body, inhaling into your lungs or taking internally. Each one of these applications deliver benefits internally.
In choosing an essential oil to use, any essential oil that would otherwise be safe to ingest internally such as peppermint, lavender, frankincense, etc. that is labeled external use only is NOT therapeutic grade even if the label says so. The ingestible essential oils I use have the FDA Supplemental Facts label on them.
Adding vegetable oil to an essential oil does not make it safer if the underlying oil is adulterated. The purpose the mixing oil serves is to slow down the absorption of the oils through the skin – by adding larger fatty molecules - so if there is any topical sensitivity it will be minimized.
Education is important and what I teach people is how to find true therapeutic grade oils. There are many health food stores, online sellers and others who sell essential oils so to try to limit their use is impossible.
What is important is to teach people how to find a therapeutic grade oil that will truly deliver the benefits they are seeking and in the process cause no harm.
Love & Light,
Maria
By Maria G. Turchi on Sep 15, 2008
Maria,
I am a founder member of the Aromatherapy Trade Council in the UK, although now living in Cyprus. This organisation was started in 1993 as a self-regulating authoritive body for the UK aromatherapy trade. This was to ensure that members of the ATC supplied only therapeutic grade essential oils which was a guide for professinals and the public alike to be able to source true aromatherapy essential oils. Labelling was a major issue and in the UK we decided that, due to the fuss the pharmaceutical companies were causing, to put on ‘for external use only’. As a clinical aromatherapist in the UK and now Cyprus, I am not permitted to advise internal use of essential oils as they can then be deemed medicines and will need to be licensed. Something that we and I am sure therapists around the world do not want. So although I appreciate your advice I can say that that particular statement is misleading. Having been in this business for many years I know the source of my oils and of course you are right in saying that only true therapeutic grade essential oils will give the results you are looking for. Maybe a similar organisation in the USA and Canada would solve a lot of problems for therapists and public alike.
I appreciate being able to comment on this.
Happy oiling
Sue
By Sue Worwood on Sep 19, 2008
Sue - thank you for your comment.
The essential oils I use are labeled as supplements, not medicines. No massage therapist can diagnose or prescribe. Before I start a session with a new client, I tell them about the different grades of oil and what grade I use. I then get permission to use oils on them during their session.
I have given lectures at health food stores, senior centers, holistic gatherings and hospitals. I teach classes at massage schools and set up my own classes in hotels. It is up to the individuals who come to these classes and who come to hear these lectures to interpret the information that I give and apply it to themselves and their patients as they see fit.
I for one am for less regulation. What I do is educate people about therapeutic grade oils and let them make their own choices about how to use them.
Regards,
Maria
By Maria G. Turchi on Sep 22, 2008