Nourish your body and beliefs by knowing the source of your essential oils
As with cosmetics, medicine, and anything else you apply to your body, you want to make sure you are using only the best essential oil brands. After all, you want to improve your overall health and wellbeing – and poor quality essential oils won’t get you there.
Aromatherapists use essential oils in myriad ways that help their clients find spiritual harmony, mental focus, emotional wellbeing, and even physical health. When properly sourced and processed, the best essential oil brands can reinvigorate the senses, help users find sleep, and deepen their meditation practice. Essential oils even fight bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. These properties come in handy as a natural way to nourish acne-prone skin.
And it’s not just a fad. While the use of essential oils has gained popularity over the past decade, the practice actually comes from a long and overwhelmingly human tradition of finding medicine in nature.
The Problem of Finding Trustworthy Essential Oils
So what’s so essential about essential oils? A plant’s essential oil is actually what has kept it alive for thousands of years. It’s the vital natural fragrance that a plant uses to attract pollinating insects and fight off bacteria and fungi. Each pure essential oil has been crafted by nature to protect the plant.
However, the rise in recent popularity and commercial production of essential oils has left some consumers scratching their heads, as the quality of essential oils stretches from 100% pure to diluted and adulterated. How can you separate the essential wheat from the chaff?
That’s what we’re going to get into here. Just looking for the most reliable and all around best essential oil brands? Skip to the bottom for our top picks!
How To Differentiate Between The Mediocre & The Best Essential Oil Brands
What makes the best essential oil brands, you ask? Plain and simple: you want an essential oil that is 100% pure. But there are more factors that go into sourcing the cream of the crop top essential oils.
Selecting Vegan, Cruelty-Free & Fair Trade Brands
If you’re like us, you only want to support brands that fall in line with your beliefs. Below, we’ll help you find brands that are vegan, cruelty-free, and either fair trade or directly supporting the farming communities from which they obtain their product.
As with all your cosmetic products, keep an eye out for logos such as Certified Vegan, USDA Organic, Leaping Bunny, and more while shopping for the best essential oil brands.
Our Picks For The Best Essential Oil Brands
Want to jump right in to the best essential oil brands? While we only recommend the most ethical brands, we still encourage you to do your own research. Visit these brands’ websites to read about their process and what they’re doing to build a sustainable future for the planet.
Rootfoot
Rootfoot is one of the best essential oil brands because they pride themselves on thoughtfully crafting completely plant-based, non-toxic, vegan, organic and wildcrafted ingredients. They seek out organic farms to partner with and create intentionality among business, sustainability, and the earth.
Aura Cacia
Among the first essential oils brands to utilize the GC/MS evaluation process, Aura Cacia is a leader in the field. They put a special emphasis on finding the healthiest organic farms around the world to work with, ensuring they see eye-to-eye on sustainability. Aura Cacia is also the creator of the Positive Change Project, an annual grant program supporting the lives and goals of women and girls.
Another thing we love about Aura Cacia? They offer a variety of roll-on essential oils, that are pre-blended with quality carrier oils and ready to use.
Ellia
The aromatherapists at Ellia take their sourcing very seriously; you can even find a map of each of their oils’ countries of origins here. Ellia cold-presses or steam-distills each essential oil at the plants’ peak growth, to ensure you get 100% high quality and pure essential oil. The offer their very own line of carrier oils and custom blends for mood and mind.
Young Living
With a small start in 1994, Young Living has bloomed from a small Iowa organic farming operation into an internationally trusted source for pure essential oils. With an emphasis on community, Young Living gives back to the community via the Young Living Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to improve the lives of impoverished families in Uganda, Ecuador, and Croatia.
Factors That Impact Quality Of Essential Oils
- Sourcing – The plants themselves can be harmful if they’ve been treated with pesticides and other toxic chemicals. Furthermore, their health can be affected by altitude, climate, and other factors from their country of origin. Look for brands that work with organic farms around the world or have a statement about wildcrafting.
- Processing – Avoid diluted or adulterated essential oils. You want 100% pure essential oils that have been cold-pressed or steam-distilled. Make sure the brand you’re shopping includes its processing methods on the label or on its website.
- Evaluating – While the FDA does little to regulate the standards of essential oils depending on their intended use, there are standards of evaluation within the industry. Check to see if the brand you’re interested in tests their product for dilution or adulteration using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) evaluation.
- Packaging – Make sure your essential oil is in an amber, violet, or otherwise dark colored, tightly sealed glass bottle. When stored in a cool environment away from direct sunlight, essential oils have a lifespan of 1 – 2 years.
- Labeling – As a consumer, you don’t necessarily need to know the Latin names of every essential oil. But you should still take a peek at the label to see if the brand your shopping knows it. As you’ll read below, this does make a difference. Labels should have the country of origin listed, as well.
Benefits of Picking From The Best Essential Oil Brands
When you choose to intentionally shop products from the best essential oil brands, your return on investment is tenfold. Let’s take a quick look at what you get back when you choose the best essential oil brands.
For starters, you get a 100% pure product with no diluting fillers – meaning it actually works.
Let’s revisit that whole Latin name thing. Many strains of plants share common names, like Lavender. However, lavandula angustifolia is the only strain that gives you the calming, anxiety-reducing effects you’re after. And if a product is diluted, you’re really only getting a whiff of the real thing.
Secondly, you’re choosing to support fair trade practices. Many essential oils are derived from plants only found in certain parts of the globe. The best essential oil brands make a point to give back to those communities.
Lastly, you’re taking the best care of yourself by using the best essential oil brands. You can rest easy knowing that you haven’t applied traces of toxic pesticides on yourself or your loved ones. Self-care is self-love!
