Essential oils are excellent health-boosting products that are more popular than ever on today’s health and wellness market. These extracts of roots, seeds, leaves, and flowers of nutrient-rich plants offer a myriad of benefits, varying widely based on which exact oil you choose. However, the buyer must beware of false or misleading advertisement, for the profits to be had from selling essential oils are sought feverishly by fraudsters as well as by honest businessmen.
Some helpful hints and tests that can separate quality essential oils from the look-alikes are given below:
1- Soak a piece of paper with a few drops of essential oil. If, after the liquid dries, there is an oily residue left on the paper, you are dealing with an impure product. Though the word “oil” is part of the name, essential oils are not oils at all. They are simply extracts. The word oil was used because, like oil, they do not mix well with water. Some manufacturers may mix actual oil in with the essential oil, giving you a diluted product.
2- Be skeptical of an overly low price. Some essential oils, like rosemary and lavender, are relatively cheap, but most are quite expensive. If you see jasmine, rose, or chamomile essential oil, for example, at super-low prices, you should suspect it is not the genuine article.
3- Scrutinize the exact name on the label. Sometimes, a product called lavender oil will just be oil with lavender scent added to it. Also be aware that, if the common English name alone is used on the label, this may indicate a low-grade hybrid was the source of the extract. Look for the Latin name to appear alongside the common English term.
4- Take note of the bottle it comes in. Essential oils are so strong that they must be kept in glass, not plastic, bottles. Additionally, the color of glass should be amber or dark blue to prevent damage from ultra-violet light. A skilled, knowledgeable manufacturer of these oils would be aware of these things and package their products accordingly.
5- Rub the essential oil between two of your fingers to see if it is at all greasy. Only a few of these oils, like sandalwood and German chamomile, are heavy enough to feel somewhat greasy. The rest of them will be light and watery.
6- Watch out for built-in droplet dispensers. These are usually made of rubber or cheap plastic, which would cause essential oils inside to experience deterioration. An orifice reducer, on the other hand, limits the oil’s contact with the air and thus prolongs its life. An orifice reducer is a sort of built-in, reverse funnel that is placed on the bottle’s spout and controls the flow of the liquid when it is dispensed.
7- Look for organic products. This can ensure that no pesticides were used. Also look for wild-crafted essential oils, for these are harvested from wild sources. These factors can help ensure the overall quality of the essential oil.
Some of these tips will help you identify the product as indeed being essential oil. Some of them will help ensure the oil’s purity or quality. It is possible that using only one of these tests alone might not be enough to convince you of the worthiness of a product. Knowing and applying several of them, however, to any particular essential oil product should easily reveal to you the true nature of the product with which you are dealing.
