With the industry flooded with almost all adulterated and low quality essential oils, finding a reliable supplier can be hard. However, it is possible for anyone to recognize the suppliers that are not high quality. Below are things to ask yourself and the things to look for when visiting an essential oils company’s website.

Are adulterated or synthetic oils being sold?

‍First just go to their Lavender and see if they are selling Lavender 40/42. If you see that, you can stop right there and exit their site. Lavender 40/42 is composed of almost entirely synthetic fragrance.

‍Another oil to look at is Birch oil. Since the closure of the main pure Birch supplier in the USA, now almost every single drop of Birch oil is synthetic. If the company is selling Birch oil, they are most probably supplying other essential oils that are also poor quality, adulterated, and even synthetic.

‍Look on their website for the terms commercial grade, perfumes, perfumery supplies, fragrance, flavors, scents, natural isolates, or aroma chemicals. This is all standard language for selling adulterated or synthetic oils. Most companies hide the fact they sell adulterated, low quality, or potentially harmful essential oils and toxic filled herbal supplements. If a website is selling things like camphor or menthol, you can know they are not selling pure essential oils.

‍Many companies will add smell enhancers to their essential oils and blends to keep the fragrance nice and consistent. Because of weather conditions, oils from different batches will have slightly different fragrance tones. The more you are used to smelling pure quality oils, the more your nose will become more sensitive to identify these slight differences.

‍Be extremely cautious about purchasing from a company that is selling candle or soap-making products. Most all will be providing synthetic and adulterated oils.‍

Even if a supplier claims to isolate specific chemicals from natural oils, in most all cases that is not true. You can easily see if what they are saying is in alignment when noticing their price. The cost of an isolated chemical from a natural essential oil will cause the price of that chemical to be greater than the original essential oil price. This is simply because more work is required to extract a single isolated chemical.​

​Example: The chemical Menthol can be made synthetically or is commonly extracted from high temperature distillation of Cornmint or Peppermint. If you find a company selling Menthol for less than the cost of the raw oil, you can be assured they are really selling the synthetic.

​False marketing claims are rampant on the internet. We see 100% pure and Therapeutic Essential oils being sold everywhere when in fact it is sadly not true. If you see any indication of synthetic or adulterated essential oils, we would ask you to support another supplier that is truly dedicated to quality and health.

Is the pricing in line with the industry?

True Therapeutic Quality Essential Oils cost quite a bit more to grow and distill than the alternative low quality, synthetic, or adulterated oils being marketed as pure. By simply reviewing a company’s pricing, often you can quickly see what type of quality they are truly offering by their prices.

​Quote: “One of the things we quickly look for when reviewing a company is their pricing on the more expensive essential oils. I have reviewed numerous essential oils companies that actually claim to be selling pure high quality essential oils for less than what it actually costs to produce them.

Take Rose oil for example. There are several different types on the market but I consider Rose oil from Bulgaria to be the most therapeutic. There is quite a large difference in pricing and quality that can be purchased direct from a distiller before any adulteration even happens.

At the low end there is the Rose absolute. This is really not an essential oil you would want to use for your healing practice because there are more therapeutic alternatives available. A lot of companies claiming to sell only the highest quality oils sell this low quality to their customers.

Another thing I find in conflict is a company will claim to sell Organic Rose Absolute. In my experience, the true organic farmer who spends more time and money growing his crop organically will not want to then it extracted with a solvent. By extracting the oil with a solvent that would no longer make the product organic and should always be labeled as such. Any company claiming to sell Organic Rose Absolute is either badly misinformed or openly deceptive.

There is a large price difference between regularly cultivated and organically grown Rose oil. There is also another large price difference between the Rose oil that was distilled at the government distillers, which most Rose is, and oil that has been distilled with greater care to the therapeutic properties at a private distiller.

A company that is selling the highest quality Rose oil from Bulgaria will have the plants grown on a private organic farm and distilled at a private distiller where extra care is taken to insure the highest therapeutic quality. This oil will naturally be more expensive than a company selling a average lower quality government-issued Rose oil.” – Pahamy, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Woman

Quote: “I was contacted with a question about Peppermint essential oil. This woman said that the (name deleted) company that was supposed to supply only the highest quality and had a video out stating how wonderful their Peppermint was and how the oil was only distilled from the leaves of the plant and nothing else. She wanted my opinion on the matter.

I was quite amused because I knew the company and their supplier for the Peppermint oil they were selling. Not only was the company not getting their essential oil from only the leaves, but they were also selling expert-supplied high pressure/temperature distilled low quality adulterated Peppermint oil.

I took the time to explain that sometimes when the term leaf is used it really means the whole herb. I also shared that if a company were actually employing people to distill only the leaves of the Peppermint crop, it would take a huge labor force to get all the leaves handpicked and distilled before the crop went bad.

Since the labor force would have to be paid, it would naturally increase the price of the essential oil beyond what the average customer would normally pay. Since the company’s price did not reflect the increased cost of the labor force, but was more in line with the standard price of whole plant peppermint.

Their video was just marketing hype to sell more of their poor quality adultrated Peppermint oil.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

How do the farms grow their plants?

​An interesting trend among essential oils companies is to market their products as organic in their conversations and printed material. When you go look at their websites you find no mention of organic or how their plants are actually grown.

​Quote: “I have found almost all of the companies that market all types of standards, certifications, organic certificates, and the highest therapeutic properties are really just selling standard low quality expert supplied oils.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

​Because of the organic certification scam and many other games being played at the consumers expense, it is vital to work with a supplier that is concerned about true quality, sustainable healthy farming, and taking care of the soil. In some countries the organic certifications are such that many organic farms are not allowed to properly take care of their soil and the plant quality over time slowly diminishes. Look for a supplier that is concerned about true quality that comes from taking care of the soil, the plant, and the environment.

Do they rely too heavily on testing and certification hype?

Testing, certifications, and organic certificates are easily used to try to sell inferior products to the uneducated public. If a supplier is hyping up their products using those as an example, do not be fooled. Look at what the company is really doing and see if that lines up with what they say.

‍Quote: “I received a telephone call from an excited customer. She had a friend who is an Energy Practitioner and was into using essential oils from a particular company. This company put out major marketing hype of their unsurpassed testing, highest quality, and certifications of purity. She said her friend was so confident about her oils being the very best, she did not even want to look at other alternatives.

I was told that after quite a bit of hounding, her friend finally agreed to blindly energy-test a large range of single essential oils. After many tests her friend found out she always chose the true therapeutic oils not the ones she was used to using. Her friend said finally said, ‘I’m going to have to give your oils a try.’” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

Are they using the best part of the plant from the best part of the world?

In some cases vastly different quality essential oils can be produced from different parts of the plant and from different parts of the world. A good supplier should understand the difference in quality and provide you the highest quality for the money being spent.

​Quote: “Cinnamon, Clove, Dill, Juniper, and so forth, are all terms companies try to use to get away with selling low quality essential oils. These oils should come from specific parts of the plant and not the whole plant material. Cinnamon should come from the bark, Clove from the buds, Dill from the seeds, and Juniper from the berries.” – Pahamy, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Woman

Quote: “Cinnamon Bark is significantly more therapeutic than what suppliers sell as just plain Cinnamon or Cinnamon Leaf. Extracting the oil from different parts of the plant will produce a different quality oil. Also, many times what companies sell as pure Cinnamon oil is mostly or completely a synthetic oil that was manufactured as a flavor additive.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

Quote: “Rose oil from India is less than one-tenth the price of Rose from Bulgaria. They also happen to be completely different plants and have their own unique smell and properties. If you have never experienced Rose oil before, and you purchased a high- priced Rose oil without knowing the country of origin, the company may be selling you low quality oil for a enormous markup. Also if you purchase Rose oil that smells rosy, you are purchasing all or part synthetic oil. Real high quality Rose oil has a more wonderful honey- scented flowery fragrance.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

Quote: “If you just purchased an oil that was labeled Eucalyptus, you really do not know what oil you are dealing with. If someone drank an outrageous and unrealistic amount of two ounces of Eucalyptus globulus or Eucalyptus radiata essential oils, it could make them deathly ill. On the other hand, drinking two ounces of Eucalyptus citriodora will not have the same effect. Understanding the oils you are purchasing is extremely important.” – Pahamy, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Woman

​Your supplier should provide you with the common name, botanical name, country of origin, and how the plant is grown. If a supplier is selling any oil that has been altered, like Bergamot, they should tell you that information as well. (Most often Bergamot is sold that has had the phototoxic chemicals eliminated.) Many suppliers will not provide you the proper information you need to be assured you are making smart purchasing decisions.

​Quote: “I was reviewing a new start up essential oils company that was touting it had the worlds best essential oils. After visiting their website I found it to be a quite nice but with a lot of marketing hype. I also found their oils were missing some very basic information.

Wanting to know more about their company, I called the customer service division. After being on hold for over forty minutes, I finally spoke with a representative. The representative really had no knowledge about essential oils and when I asked her about the country their Frankincense came from her response was, ‘That’s proprietary information.’

I quickly educated her as to why knowing the country of origin was important for Healers and also in determining quality of their oils. She assured me that all their oils were the absolute best and highest quality. Since the pricing on their website was in line with what high quality oils sell for, I purchased a bottle of their Frankincense for testing.

When the oil arrived, I was immediatly disappointed. I could smell that their oil was the low quality inexpensive Indian Frankincense that they made me pay two to three times the average price for. Despite all of the assurances from the company representative, the oil I received was not the higher quality oil that I was told and thought I was purchasing. To make matters worse, they would not even give me a refund because I opened the bottle.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

​The more you learn about the natural health industry and true quality products, you will begin to catch companies and experts in the games they play.

​Quote: “Quite a few companies are now selling Amyris essential oil. What I find interesting is when the country of origin is listed, nearly every company is labeling their oil from Haiti. Even when we question them about this oil, they are so distant from the actual farmer or distiller they do not understand how they are labeling their oil incorrectly.

Almost every single drop of true Amyris oil comes from wood that was grown on farms in the Dominican Republic. Hardly any oil is obtained from any other country and wild-crafting is no longer being practiced due to the various restrictions. I personally would be quite surprised to see a wild-crafted oil from some country other than the Dominican Republic on the retail market. I would personally have to talk to the harvesters to be sure the information was truly correct.

Companies that insist their Amyris oil is from Haiti do not understand that unethical smugglers bring the wood into Haiti for distillation in order to make more money and avoid governmental restrictions and taxation. A company should always list where the plant matter is from, not where the distillation process is happening.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

​Another important point to look out for is correct labeling of the essential oil blends. Many suppliers do not list the ingredients of their essential oils in the order of most abundant to least. Some will not even label when a carrier oil is add to the formula. Because of the wide array of essential oils used in the blends, many companies take that as on opportunity to extend their profit margins by adulterating.

​Quote: “When reviewing a company’s essential oils, I often run into them not listing the essential oils in their blends or not listing them in the correct order. When I call them for more information about why, I normally get a response like, ‘We list them randomly and don’t list all the ingredients because we don’t want people to copy them.’ What we have normally found when the test results are in is they are really trying to cover up other synthetic additives.” – Pahamy, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Woman

Quote: “I have experienced ongoing adulteration with the top essential oil companies. Many will ‘enhance’ their formulas by adding synthetic or naturally derived scent enhancers but others try to get away with almost 100% synthetic. One such experience was so shocking that it was the keystone that started me on the path of truly understanding how the experts were running their businesses.

While I was working for a world’s top supplier for therapeutic essential oils, I happened to be in the receiving area when several pallets arrived. On the boxes there was the name of a perfume company. With my curiosity peaked, I opened one box and saw four one-gallon plastic bottles. Removing one bottle, I read the label, ‘Synthetic Rose Fragrance’. I took a sniff and recognized it immediately as being one of the smells of their top selling blend formulations. Being the safety officer for that company, I put the bottle back and walked over to the chemistry lab and asked the technician, ‘So what do you do with the synthetic rose fragrance?’

He answered, ‘Oh, that’s our (name deleted) blend.’

I stated, ‘I thought you used essential oils in your (name deleted) blend.’

We do,’ he replied, ‘but it’s only a couple drops per gallon. Really that’s our (name deleted) blend.'” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

​When you are reviewing a supplier, look at their information. You will probably find things that make you question what is really going on, like where do they purchase their essential oils or how is a specific oil extracted. Contact the company and see if you can get answers your questions. Really any company that is dedicated to quality will also be dedicated to assisting you in learning more.

If the company cannot or will not answer your questions, do not purchase from them. With the world’s experts selling massive amounts of poor quality and adulterated oils as therapeutic quality, one should be sure the quality they are paying for is the quality they are receiving.

​Is your oil truly therapeutic?

Being confident in your Therapeutic Essential Oils purchases all stems from associating with companies that are dedicated to quality, health, and the welfare of the planet. Many times companies will market they are selling the highest quality oils when in actuality they are selling something else.

​Quote: “A doctor friend of mine was vacationing and needed some Helichrysum italicumoil. He went to the local health food store and purchased a bottle labeled ‘Pure Essential Oil’ that a salesperson told him was the Helichrysum italicum variety and of really high quality. My doctor friend was excited because the oil was half his normal cost.

When he returned home he shared with me about how upset he was because the oil he purchased ‘did not do any good at all’. He wanted to know why one Helichrysum would work great and the other would not work at all.

I told him there is estimated to be six hundred different species of Helichrysum plants. Because of the much higher price for the Helichrysum italicum grown in the proper soil conditions, many companies will try to blatantly label poor quality or different species of Helichrysum as the therapeutic italicum.

Also some companies will try to sell you Helichrysum angustifolium and say it is interchangeable with the Helichrysum italicum variety when in fact they are not. Most all Helichrysum angustifolium sold is really Helichrysum gymnocephalum. The angustifolium is a generic made-up name the experts try to say it is good as the italicum species when in reality it is not. This lower price oil is not the same.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

Quote: “Back in 1998 when I quit the essential oils company I had been working for, I was active in sharing with a lot of people the reasons why I quit. This led to the company’s CEO, who happened to live in the same neighborhood and attend the same church as I, coming over to my house to talk with me. Basically, he said the company was going to sue me if I did not stop telling people that they were selling poor quality and adulterated oils.

I said, ‘But you do.’

He asked for an example so I gave him one, ‘Just look at your Ylang Ylang.’

To that he responded, ‘Well, we can’t get the good stuff!’

I quietly chuckled and said, ‘It’s not about you getting the good stuff or not. It’s all about you telling people you are selling the highest therapeutic oils and then you sell them the low quality Ylang Ylang for the high quality price.’ – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

Quote: “There are about forty different species of Lavender. Each of these has different chemical constitutes and medicinal characteristics. On the open market, their quality and price can vary greatly. There is a considerable difference in prices of Lavendula angustifolia and a Lavender hybrid. It is important to know what oil you are purchasing.” – Pahamy, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Woman

Quote: “If a company is purchasing Birch or Wintergreen from an expert and not from a distiller direct, you can almost be assured it is synthetic.” – Pahamy, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Woman

Receiving a bad batch of essential oil?

No matter how many checks and balances a company has, because of mistakes or the unscrupulous behaviors of some a company or farm, they will eventually receive a bad batch of oil. This might range from a wrongly distilled oil to one that is completely synthetic. What is really important is how a company will deal with these bad oils.

Quote:  “If you want to know more about a company, call them up and ask how they deal with bad oil. Some companies will say they never receive bad oil because their ‘expert’ checks the oils before they receiving them.

In all cases where this happens I have found those same companies are regularly selling poor or adulterated oils because that is the type of oils their expert supplies. A company should always only purchase from suppliers that have established competency.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

​The Siahus company works with their farmers.  They get them to understand they want long term relationships that are to both their mutual benefits.  They make it clear to their farms that if they encounter them purposely adulterating an essential oil or herb they will stop doing business with them.

They make it clear that they understand mistakes can happen, like an accidental mixture of two different species of plants during a distillation.  They expect honest answers when questions arise.

​Quote:  “I received some Sage oil and when the testing came back it showed .01% Carvacrol. Since we know that Sage does not naturally produce Carvacrol we contacted the village to find out the distilling process used for that oil. Because they were honest and up-front with me, I still hold them as a very valuable source for producing high quality essential oils.

What occurred was after they were finished distilling the Oregano, they tried to save some time by distilling the Sage without properly cleaning the distiller. Even though they were instructed to thoroughly clean and perform a distilling run with an empty distiller, they were afraid of losing valuable Sage oil because of the extra time that would take. Because there was Oregano residue left in the distiller, an entire batch of Sage oil was tainted and could no longer be sold as a Therapeutic Essential Oil.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

​We found that the Siahus company expects honest and open communication by all parties about farming, distillation, and any other aspect of their relationship with their farmers. They are truly in the business of supplying their customers with true therapeutic herbs and oils.

​When looking at a company’s website, learn about their procedure for dealing with bad herbs or essential oils.  If they do not have this listed on their website, call them up.  Two points to consider are:​ ​

‍1. Because of the high cost of shipping overseas, a company would not under normal circumstances ship bad oils back to the distiller or farm.  If a company insists they always ship a bad batch of oil back, they are probably misinformed or dealing with an “expert” middleman and their standard adulterated oils.

‍2. Some companies may claim that they destroy a bad batch of oil.  This is just marketing hype and really not what they are doing.  Why would someone destroy something that can be sold to soap or candle makers?  Many different business purchase adulterated and synthetic fragrances, so selling the bad oil would assist in recovering some or all of the expenses.  We have found that most all companies that say they are destroying the bad oils are really selling them to their customers.

‍To gather in the needed supplies, a true therapeutic supplier will be working directly with many small farms around the world. Often this involvement will require them to make advanced commitments in purchasing the herbs that are grown.

The quality of the herbs will slightly to significantly change due to weather.  Even though a farm takes care of their plants and soil, because of weather extremes sometimes an herb or essential oil does not meet the therapeutic requirements Healers are looking for.  A therapeutic essential oil company must have many other alternative companies that are willing to purchase low quality oils. It is important to have these business connections to continue to support the small farms in keeping their operations running.

​Quote:  “I got a batch of Cinnamon Bark from our village in Madagascar that had a very unusual smell.  The therapeutic properties were fine but this oil was non-conforming to our standards to sell as a truly therapeutic oil.  I sold a bit of this oil to a soap manufacturer that was willing to try the new cinnamon.  That manufacturer absolutely loved the fragrance of the soap and said it was the best cinnamon soap they had ever made.  They were excited about always using this Cinnamon for their soap from then on.

I had to inform them that once the batch was gone they would probably never experience that unique smell again.  The weather conditions were such as to significantly alter the chemistry and produce this very unique essential oil.” – Man Found Standing, Natural Practitioner and Medicine Man

​When a person is using essential oils and herbs for their therapeutic benefits, it is important for them to truly understand what is happening in the natural care industry. Not only is adulteration rampant but Big Pharma also has their agenda to control the industry as well. The Siahus company strives to educate people about truth in the industry so they can make wise purchasing decisions.  Once you follow your inner knowing and become aware of what is truly happening in the industry, we truly believe your love for natural healing and the Creator’s gifts of nature will continue to grow.