Adulterated Oils - Guest Author - Stacy Manfredi

We are very excited today to have an experienced oiler share some of her knowledge with us! This article has some valuable information about the quality of your oils.  Hope you enjoy.









Adulterated Oils...why you need to be super careful!!

By Stacy Manfredi 

I want to talk about adulterated oils today. There has been much talk about why buy Young Living oils when you can buy a cheaper oil at the grocery or health food store. I have done a lot of reading and researching about essential oils. If I was going to use these on my family, I wanted them to be safe!! Here is a good read:

Quoted from Essential Oils Desk Reference by Life Science Publishing

"Today much of the lavender oil sold in America is the hybrid called lavandin, grown and distilled in China, Russia, France and Tasmania. It is brought into France and cut with synthetic lunalyl acetate to improve the fragrance. Then propylene glycol, DEP or DOP (solvents that have no smell and increase the volume) are added and it is sold in the United States as lavender oil.

Often lavendin is heated to evaporate the camphor and then is adulterated with synthetic linalyl acetate. Most consumers don't know the difference and are happy to buy it for $7 to $10 per half ounce in health food stores, beauty salons, grocery and department stores and through mail order. This is one of the reason why it is important to know about the integrity of the company or vendor from which you purchase your essential oils.

Frankincense is another example of a commonly adulterated oil. The frankincense resin that is sold in Somalia costs between $30,000 and $35,000 per ton. A great deal of time- 12 hours or more- is required to properly steam-distill this essential oil from the resin, making the oil very expensive. Frankincense oil that sells for $25 per ounce or less is cheaply distilled from gum resins, alcohol or other solvents, leaving the essential oil laden with harmful chemicals. Sadly when these cut, synthetic and adulterated oils cause rashes, burns, or other irritations, people wonder whey they do not get the benefit they expected and conclude that essential oils do not have much value."  (excerpt from Essential Oils Desk Reference by Life Science Publishing)

The book goes into further detail about adulteration and how dangerous it is for people to opt for the cheaper lesser quality oils since they could be potentially dangerous. This is one of the biggest reasons why I chose Young Living. If you are thinking about using essential oils, I highly recommend Young Living. I wouldn't trust any other company's claims about quality and purity.