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Which is the Best Essential Oil Company?

by Naomi Ball  
1/24/2014 / Health

"Which is the Best Essential Oil Company?" is a question that is often asked by many people. Unfortunately, it brings up even more questions: "Are you looking for the essential oil company with the best marketing plan and best education?", "Are you looking for the company with the most pure, highest grade essential oils?", "Are you looking for the company with essential oils made in the USA?" This article is in response to several blog posts that have tried to answer this question but have fallen far short of any real concrete answers. Most often the writers address issues that are important to them, and even sound rather convincing but they don't address the whole picture. Often blog writers will even sound hostile or report encountering hostile people who are with competing companies. To make things even more complicated many Christians, myself included, don't want to buy essential oils from companies that have affiliations with Eastern religions. There is not quick easy answer, unless you are talking to a representative from an essential oil company trying to get you to buy their products. So how do you know which is the best essential oil company?
The first step is to understand the history of essential oils. People have been using aromatic plants for healing since the beginning of time. There were problems with some of their methods and remedies which modern scientific minds are quick to point out. Before the printing press was invented all scientific and medical information was hand written or memorized. All communications were hand written letters that were literally hand carried from place to place. So when people tried weird things and it accidently worked they believed the weird things actually helped. There was not enough shared information about essential oils or herbal medicine until recent history.
Jump forward to the industrial revolution, when aromatherapy history began to change. Scientists learned how to recognize various chemicals in plants and they learned how to isolate those chemicals to use in medicine, which eventually led to creating those chemicals in laboratories for medical purposes. Instead of using herbs and essential oils for healing doctors turned to drugs. So what were the herb farmers supposed to do? They focused marketing to the food and perfume industries. The food and perfume manufacturers were more interested in flavor or fragrance and volume than they were in purity, which led essential oil producers to improper distilling and adulterating the oils. That was how things were done until about 20 or 30 years ago when "aromatherapy" became so popular. People began demanding high quality, pure essential oils to use for healing. Furthermore, within the last five years or so consumers began demanding their oils be made from organically farmed plants. So the whole aromatherapy industry has changed for the better.
The next aspect to look at is where the essential oils came from. There are only a few essential oil companies in the USA that actually farm and distill their own oils, they brag about that fact in their marketing materiel and don't bother to mention that the rest of their oils come from other countries. Some hardy herbs like lavender, rosemary and basil are easy enough to grow on American soil and in American climate, and are so popular that they are farmed all over the world. Citrus fruits, for example, were originally from China and Southeast Asia and were imported to Europe in ancient times; some say they were brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus. Now citrus essential oils are produced in the USA, Italy and Argentina. However, many plants just don't thrive or even survive in any part of the world except their original habitat. Therefore those oils have to be purchased form their country of origin.
Thirdly, another aspect to consider the distillation process, the temperature and amount of pressure during distillation affects the quality of essential oil. Even the kind of "pot" the essential oils are distilled in effects the essential oil. Some essential oil experts say that copper pots or the only kind to use. Others say you must use stainless steel to cook the plant materiel. Copper reacts with the essential oils as it cooks, which makes the oil smell sweeter and not so harsh. The oils do not react with stainless steel, the result is that the oils are a bit more sharp or mediciney smelling. So some distillers use stainless steel pots with copper coils in them. Also, the length of cooking time and the amount of air pressure in the pot, and the temperature all affect the quality of the oil. If a retail company cannot afford to send their own expert to other countries to verify then the retail companies have to trust the farmers and distillers and any other middlemen to be truthful in their reports about farming methods and distillation processes.
Essential oils used for healing must be pure, high quality. Essential oils used for candles and soaps do not have to be, in which case a person could use absolutes, which are extracted with chemicals, or even fragrance oils, which might not even be plant based. So when you are looking for a good essential oil company look for the following:
1. Who are they marketing to, what is their purpose? Are they promoting wellness and health or potpourri and candle making?
2. Do they have experts that travel to other countries to verify farming and distilling practices, and /or does the company pay for a third party lab to test the oil?
3. Do they have experts on staff that really care about quality, purity, and healthy living?
4. Do they promote Eastern and Pagan religions and practices?
Keep in mind to be distrusting of marketing hype. The goal of every company is to make money, to make more money than their competitors. They will say what ever they can to make their product look better and the competition to look bad. So look beyond the advertising at the company, the science they use to back their claims and the people involved. You should be able to find out all you need to know on their web site, in spite of all the marketing hype.
There is no easy short answer to the question "Which is the best essential oil company?" If you want to find the answer you have to do a little background research according to your priorities. You will then find your best essential oil company.

September 2013 Naomi Ball is a certified aromatherapist and author of "The Aromatherapy Advocate a Christian Handbook" and "The Aromatherapy Advocate Home Study Course", both written from a Christian point of view. www.aromatherapyforchristians.com

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