Essential oil purity

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The Nitty Gritty on Essential Oil Purity Today, I’ve decided to pull my hair up and get serious about the purity of essential oils. After all, if I’m gonna be rubbing them on my stomach/feet/chest/face (the list goes on and on), sniffing them, and even tasting them—they had better be 100%, no-nonsense pure. Unfortunately, NOT all essential oils are created equal. Here’s the riff: every essential oil company claims their contents are “pure.” Ugh. So who can you trust? Personally, I trust certified aroma therapists, dermatologists, massage therapists, oil distillers, naturopathic physicians, and holistic nutritionists. So I researched what these specialists look for when selecting their essential oils. Here are the collective criteria: ● Rigorous Testing ● Unadulterated Oils (Yep--those oil companies shouldn’t be committing adultery either) ● Plant Potency ● Published Main Chemical Components ● Scientific Backing Cheers to Lots of Testing: When it comes to testing, essential oil companies differ—a lot. Some brands do all sorts of less-than objective tests (cough, cough) or even certify their oils by merely paying “sniffers.” True story. I’m of the opinion that the more tests involved the more trustworthy the oil. And that’s one cool thing I found out about the doTERRA brand. They don’t mess around with verifying their oils objectively, and they definitely don’t test just once a year. Each batch (liter) goes through what I like to call the “Accountable Eight” via 3rd party testers: organoleptic testing, microbial testing, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), hilarity testing, isotopic analysis and heavy metal testing. Only if an oil passes this intense line-up, is it considered CPTG (Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade). If oil doesn’t pass every last test, doTERRA rejects the entire batch. And if the oil continues to fail, doTERRA will keep that oil out of stock until it has a batch that passes. Back in 2015, doTERRA did that very thing w/ “Melissa Officinalis” (aka Lemon Balm) and “Roman Chamomile.” Both of these oils are big sellers, so keeping them off the market until they met their standards, well; let’s just say that’s a big trust builder for me.


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