It is important to know that all essential oils and aromatherapy oils are not created equal. Fact is, only 2 percent of all essential oils produced in the world are superior quality, Young Living Essential Oils make up most of that 2 percent. This means that all other brands of essential oils are inferior quality, it’s simply a matter of how inferior.

You might be thinking right now, “so how are we suppose to know the difference!?” That’s why I wrote this article, so you know what goes on and I’ll provide you with my super easy way of determining if an essential oil is junk, or if it’s the best.

Become Essential Oil Savvy

Fact: he following essential oils come from edible plants: Lavender, Thyme, Oregano, Orange, Lemon, Frankincense, and Geranium – there are plenty of others but this list is all you need to know to become “instantly savvy”.

When an essential oil comes from an edible plant or tree it also means that the essential oil ‘should’ also be able to be taken internally for use as a dietary supplement, and/or used to flavor foods in cooking. That ‘should’ is the big keyword here.

Why this is key: inferior quality essential oils (all of them) contain very harmful chemicals that you will absorb through your skin and your nose/lungs. What happens after your body is exposed to chemicals is the chemicals become trapped in your liver, brain, and fat – no ones body knows how to process chemicals. This is precisely why we have such an epidemic of certain diseases today. Minimizing our exposure to chemicals will greatly improve the quality of our lives and save us many thousands of dollars in healthcare expenses.

This also explains why some say you should never take an essential oil internally… no one wants you to ingest an essential oil that will cause you harm!

What to look for…

The next time you see a bottle of any of these essential oils take a look at the label… does the label state “Not For Internal Use” or “For Aromatic or Topical Use Only” – if you see that statement know that it is a warning. If it is on any of these listed essential oils you can be 100 percent positive that the essential oil is in fact low quality. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about this and it does not matter who the brand comes from.

With that in mind, your bottles of Lavender, Thyme, Oregano, Orange, Lemon, Frankincense, and Geranium SHOULD state on the label “How” to use them as dietary supplements.

The image to the right clearly provides instructions on how to use this Young Living Essential Oil as a dietary supplement.

If you’re like me and have trouble reading labels at the store and have forgotten to bring your reading glasses there’s another thing on the label that you will be able to see without reading glasses. It’s the “Supplements Facts” box – you’ve seen it before, it’s on ALL products that CAN be ingested safely. See the image on the left. The white colored box in the format shown is only on things that can be used internally.

These images are of actual bottles of Young Living Essential Oils.

In short, if you can’t eat it you don’t want to be putting it on your body or breathing it!

Additionally, and I know I’m going to sound like a kill-joy here, for the very same reason it’s best to always avoid scented and aromatherapy products, none of them use a superior quality essential oil. They do not contain superior quality essential oils because manufacturers are concerned with price points, not necessarily your health and well-being.

Other Terms That Mean Absolutely Nothing in Regards to Quality

  • Pure
  • Organic
  • All-Natural
  • Wildcrafted

The above terms mean absolutely nothing because there are a million ways to ruin, adulterated, dilute, and fabricate in a lab (which means there is no real essential oil of any quality present at all) an essential oil. All of these are and can be inferior quality.

Myth: If an essential oil label or website states “pure” or “organic” or “wildcrafted” or “all-natural” you’re getting a high quality oil. The truth is, when those terms are on a label it ONLY means that there is a very remote possibility that their definition of the original meaning of those terms might once have been true. today those terms are so abused that when I see them I roll my eyes in disgust and think to myself, “yeah, we’ll see about that. I know how to tell the difference.”

It seems a shame that a plant that someone went to lengths to grow organically or wildcrafted gets completely ruined after being harvested. But it happens day-in and day-out, it’s just the nature of the industry.

I know it’s hard to believe, but keep in mind that we are conditioned to think that when a label says something is “pure” or “organic” we’re getting something that’s the best. It’s not true, not even close to being true.

7 Ways an Essential Oil Can be Made Inferior, Ruined and Toxic

  1. After the plant is harvested it sits in the back of a tractor trailer for hours, days, or weeks in the blazing hot sun = ruined.
  2. The plant is not put into the distiller within 30 minutes of being harvested = ruined.
  3. Chemical solvents are used to extract the essential oil from the plant material in the distiller = ruined + toxic.
  4. High heat is used to extract the essential oil faster and more thoroughly = ruined.
  5. High pressure used during distilling to extract more essential oil out of the plant = ruined.
  6. After being distilled chemicals are used to “enhance” the essential oil so it “appears” to be of a higher quality than it is = ruined + very toxic.
  7. Companies “extend” a few drops of essential oil in extremely cheap quality carrier oils = ruined + toxic.

The above represents 98 percent of all essential oils sold in the world.

You must turn the bottle around and look at the back of the label and practice my little tip above if you want to be assured you are buying the best and that you’re not paying a fortune for something that’s junk quality.

Therapeutic-grade Essential Oils

I see now that even the term “therapeutic-grade” is being abused. Young Living trademarked the term therapeutic-grade to make it easier for the consumer to distinguish the superior from bad. I can assure you that the other brands using the term “therapeutic-grade” are not selling therapeutic-grade essential oils… they are in fact buying and rebottling the essential oils that Young Living rejects from vendors. Young Living rejects something like 80 percent of all essential oils that come in from vendors because when they’re put through the battery of tests they fail miserably, there are plenty of vendors out there adding chemicals to falsely spike the analysis, Young Living’s testing equipment can detect when that has occurred.

That’s why I like Young Living so much, they do not mess around at all when it comes to quality.

Young Living has and continues to set the world standard in quality for essential oils. They are the benchmark in superior quality. You don’t get to be the best by cutting corners.

When you see claims of other essential oils are as good or better than Young Living you can rest assured they’re not. Young Living analyses all other brands of essential oils and aromatherapy oils being sold, they are not as good or better. Those claims are a fabrication to convince the unknowing consumer to buy their oils and aromatherapy products. If their Lavender or Frankincense was as good or better, there would be directions on how to use them internally.

This is why I only use and recommend Young Living Essential Oils.

So, next time you have a few minutes and you’re at the health food store or you’re thinking of ordering some pure essential oils from a beautiful website, remember this article and practice my simple tip.