EODR - Single Oils - Quality Assurance

 This section describes over 80 single oils, including botanical information, therapeutic and traditional uses, chemical constituents of each oil, extraction method, cautions and application instructions

How to be sure that your essential oils are pure, therapeutic grade? 

How can you be sure that your essential oils are pure and therapeutic grade? Start by asking the following question from your essential oil supplier: 

• Are the fragrances delicate, rich an organic? Do they "feel" natural? Do their aromas vary from batch to batch as an indication that they are painstakingly distilled in small batches rather than industrially processed in large scale?
  
  
• Does your supplier subject each batch of essential oils through multiple chemical analysis to test for purity an therapeutic quality? Are these tests performed by independent labs?
  
  
• Does your supplier grow and distill organically grown herbs?
  
  
• Are the distillation facilities part of the farm where the herbs are grown (so oils are freshly distilled),or do herbs wait days to be processed and lose potency?
  
  
• Does your supplier use low pressure and low temperature to distill essential oil so as to preserve all of their fragile chemical constituents? Are the distillation cookers fabricated from the costly, food grade stainless steel alloy to reduce likelihood of the oils chemically reacting with metal?
  
  
• Does your supplier personally inspect the fields and distilleries where the herbs are grown and distilled? Do they verify that no synthetic or harmful solvents or chemicals are being used?
  
  
• How many years has your supplier been doing all of this?

How to maximize the shelf life of your essential oil

   The highest quality of essential oils are bottled in dark glass.  The reason for this is two-fold. First, glass is more stable than plastic, and does not "breathe", the same way plastic does. Second, the darkness of the glass protects the oil from light that may chemically alter or degrade it over time.

   After using an essential oil,  keep the lid tightly sealed. Bottles that are improperly sealed can result in the loss of the some of the lighter, lower-molecular-weight part of the oil. In addition, over tie oxygen in the air reacts with and oxidize the oil.

   Essential oils should be stored away from light, especially sunlight-even if they are already stored in amber glass bottles.  The darker the storage conditions, the longer your oils will maintain its original chemistry and quality.

   Store essential oils in a cool location. Excessive heat can deranged the molecular structure of the oil the same way ultraviolet light can.

Diluting essential oil

   Most essential oils require dilution with a vegetable oil when being used either internally or externally. The amount of dilution depends on the essential oil. For example, oregano will require four times as much dilution of that of Roman Chamomile. Vegetable oil such as V-6 Vegetable Oil Complex are specifically formulated to dilute essential oils and have a long shelf life (over two years) without getting rancid. For more information, please see "Personal Usage Guide"