Before, essential oils are considered as luxury: only a few household appreciate its prowess in the healing and stress-relieving department. How times have changed: in the year 2014, the market demand for global essential oil is 165 kilo tons; come 2018 it became almost 227 and experts are saying that the compound annual growth rate could be as high as 8.6% up to the year 2025. With the growing demand, essential oil brands keep coming into the market so fast that consumers like us are having great difficulty in choosing the best brands.
More than knowing about how you’ll choose a brand, in this article you will also know about the top 7 best essential oil brands in the market. Are you ready?
Signs of a Good Essential Oil Brand
Most of the time, we use customer reviews as a guide on what to buy and what to just remain in our cart for the foreseeable future. Still, we both know that doing that is like going through the endless isle of brands half blind because we’re looking at what worked for them and praying that it will work for us too. So here’s the game changer; look at these elements next time you plan to buy an essential oil.
- Purity – the effectiveness of essential oil depends largely on its purity. Take note: some companies use chemical fillers to increase the volume of the product AND sell it at lower price (since 100% is expensive); some even suggest that mixing additives boosts the potency of the oil. Unless they reveal scientific research, don’t listen to them. Essential oils are still best when they are bottled 100% pure.
- Membership in reputable institutions – other brands may lie about the authenticity of their essential oils but that is less likely if they (or their retailers) are a member of a renowned, regulatory institution such as the NAHA or the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy.
- Safety – since some essential oils are meant to be ingested, FDA has released brands that are “Generally Recognized as Safe”. If the brands say their oils are not food grade, then check for other tests they underwent to prove that they are safe to be inhaled or be applied on skin. Do this checking especially if you see labels such as “Therapeutic Grade” because this term is unregulated – meaning anyone can claim that their essential oils are of therapeutic grade quality.
- Customer Service – A product is more reliable if their customer service can be reached easily. In a brand, look for toll-free hotlines, website, or email address. Contact one or more of them and ask specific questions about the oil you are thinking of purchasing. Gauge their response and see how well they know their product.
- Price – Last, but definitely not the least, look for the price. Premium high quality and 100% pure essential oils are generally expensive than the others, so if you see such labels and note that their price is cheap, be careful. Still a lot of brands offer affordable oils without compromising the quality; you just need to check the reviews and of course see for yourself.
We’ll make it easier for you to choose your next brand by enumerating and reviewing the 7 best essential oil companies in the market according to our product research and multiple customer reviews.
1. Young Living
As of now, this brand is in the market for 25 years! That’s a great accomplishment since essential oils only became viral these past years. What’s great about Young Living is that they make sure of the quality of their product by supervising it from the start up to the point when they are marketed by their retailers. Their seeds are harvested from various farms worldwide giving them the advantage of producing more arrays of oils. Their manners of production range from steam extraction for distillation, cold pressing, and resin tapping – all of which produce effective essential oils and are in accordance with the DSA ethics. One of the most impressive things about Young Living is that they give personal customer support. The only thing considered a downside in this brand is its price; compared to others, this brand is costly. Still, with excellent quality, it’s a great trade off.
2. Healing Solutions
Healing Solutions may not be a staple if you always read essential oil reviews, but head over to Amazon and you’ll realize that they are one of the best-selling brands, with more than 5,000 reviews on just one product. Their website says that they have a full-time, in house Essential Oils scientist which guarantees the purity in every bottle. Additionally, their products underwent extensive in-house GCMS testing; currently the company is planning to publish the results for all their products. GCMS, short for Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometry, tests the individual components of an essential oil to check for its purity and quality. A company that does this test gets points for diligence. Read the appraisal and endorsement for this brand here.
3. Edens Garden
This brand is fast becoming a staple in many households. In their website, Edens Garden pledges that their products are 100% unadulterated. Moreover, the essential oils’ test results including the Materials Safety Data Sheets are available upon request. As for safety, they have a 3rd party GCMS testing centre which checks their oils at the highest standards. Built in 2009, this company is relatively newer, but their confidence on their product is commendable; offering a 30-day Money Back Guarantee should consumers not like their oils. The customer service is also approachable, offering as many channels as they can to accommodate questions. If you’re looking for affordable, high-quality products that come in a set, Edens Garden is the way to go.
4. doTERRA
doTERRA is taking quality checking to a whole new level by creating an internal CPTG testing process. CPTG stands for Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade. This means that in every bottle, there is only 100% pure essential oil. They also undergo the GCMS test as explained in their website. Founded in 2008, the pioneers of this company are known science professionals, some of whom previously worked in Young Living. The most impressive thing, however, is their Global Botanical Network. This scheme allows them to work with distillers and farmers from across 40 countries. The most common way of production is steam distillation and cold pressing. Two things about doTERRA though: they are quite expensive and the test results are not published in their site.
5. NOW Foods
Since NOW Foods are already in the market for 5 decades, it’s not surprising that they have an assortment of natural food products and dietary supplements up their sleeves. It’s also not shocking that they enter in the essential oils business since oils are also ingested for therapeutic purposes. The products are 100% pure, except for the jasmine blend which uses synthetic scents due to the extremely expensive price of jasmine oil. Transparency-wise, NOW Foods have published their Materials Safety Sheets in their website for each of their product. Aside from having an in-house quality testing, they also use third-party laboratories when needed. The only problem about NOW Foods is how they handle customer service: there is a list of phone numbers, but there’s no toll-free line. What they have is a feedback form to be responded to via email.
6. Plant Therapy
This company made its launch in 2011 with the goal of providing premium quality essential oils at affordable price. Even though Plant Therapy is relatively young, they know the importance of transparency in the market, thus, if you want to know about their oils, all you need to do is go to the product page and scroll down for Test Results which you can download in PDF format. More than that, you can also see the Materials Safety Sheet for each essential oil. Plant Therapy uses a third-party testing center for their quality checks. While it’s true that this company is still a baby and in great need of customer reviews, the quality of their product and its affordability make up for it.
7. Rocky Mountain Oils
Like NOW Foods, Rocky Mountain Oils not only specializes in essential oils – they also have products for skin care, wellness, and nutrition. Although they started way back 2004, only 6 of their products are organic according to the USDA; but no worries because they use a third-party laboratory to check for the purity of their oils through the GCMS. Because they are confident with the grade of their oils, they offer a 90-day Refund Policy should you find anything unsatisfactory with their products. When it comes to customer service, they have a 1-800 number which you can call on weekdays from 7 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon.
That’s it! The 7 Best Essential Oil Brands in the market as of now. My suggestion is for you to make a quick tour to their website to see for yourself. Remember that you can test their oils by purchasing their least expensive variant. Don’t hesitate to contact their support team and download the resources available in their site to facilitate your own, little investigation. Live better with essential oils!
References:
- Market demand of essential oils worldwide from 2018 to 2025 (in kilotons): https://www.statista.com/statistics/750725/global-essential-oils-market-demand/
- Top 10 Most Respectable Essential Oil Companies – Ratings and Evaluation By Brenda: https://www.airlifebetter.com/best-essential-oil-brands/