Unfortunately not all essential oils are created equally. In fact many of the “essential oils” on the market are what is called "perfume quality" or "4th &5th"quality oils. These are over processed, chemical laden, highly adulterated & de-natured products that, in reality, are little more than cheap perfume made from various odorous plants. This includes oils found in health food stores. Many people think that when they buy an oil that is labeled as "100% pure" they are getting good essential oil. This is far from true.

Pure unadulterated essential oil is very hard to come by & can be very expensive. One reason for this is because it can take as many as 500 to 2,000 pounds or more of raw plant material to produce just a pound of pure essential oil.  

To maintain all of the therapeutic qualities, it must be grown on virgin soil and extracted by steam distillation using extremely low pressure & low heat so as not to defile the quality of the essential oil.  

There are 4 grades of essential oils:

PURE - an oil must contain at least 5% oil.  This is the only regulation in the US on the essential oils. Therefore you MUST know your supplier. "Pure" does not mean it has no chemicals added to it or that it is not diluted. One important tip: Read the Label! Does it say: ‘Do not use undiluted’? OR ‘For topical use only’? Then it is NOT PURE

NATURAL - This means the oil was not adulterated with vegetable oils, propylene glycol, SD Alcohol 40 or other chemicals.

COMPLETE - This means the oil was distilled at low heat & low pressure so that all the therapeutic properties are there. They have not been rectified or purified (which means stripped or redistilled.) Essential oils are often redistilled to make a small amount of oil of farther. They can make more profit that way. The problem is, when you redistill the oil you lose the therapeutic properties. It's like using a tea bag over and over again. An example: France is the number one producer of lavender oil. In 1997 they produced 25 tons of lavender and 67 tons were shipped to the U.S. Melissa oil is another example. It is very hard to produce. Out of 52 pounds of pure Melissa oil, 1000 pounds were exported.

What is wrong with this picture? There are anywhere from 200-800 chemical constituents that make up a single essential oil. When the oil is not distilled properly, you will be left with as few as 10. Some of the most powerful healing constituents are distilled at the end of the process.

GENUINE or GRADE A - These are the cream of the crop. Great care is taken at every step of the process. Seeds - not from hybrids, soil - organic soil that never has chemicals put on it. Chemicals are never used on the plants in the field. Distillation of steam at low pressure and low temperature in upright containers and not chemicals are ever used in the process. Must have clarity of definition (one plant could have 200 species). The time in the distiller is also important - cypress oil needs to be distilled 24 hours. Many companies will distill at higher temperature for a shorter time. This will destroy the quality of the oil. The distiller must be no more than 50 miles away from the sight where the plants were harvested, must have Gas Chromatograph readings with an embossed seal that does not come from their own lab. Then and only then can they have the words "Grade A" on the label.