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You’ll find a wide range of prices when it’s time to buy essential oils, but watch out for products that cost just a couple of dollars. Often that’s the mark of an impure or low-quality oil. Generally, you’ll pay between $10 to $35 for a 15 ml bottle of the highest-grade pure essential oil. Some hard to extract or precious oils may cost significantly more. Often, however, buying a set of popular essential oils is more economical than purchasing the bottles separately, as long as you’ll use all or most of the oils in the set.   Choose organic, therapeutic-grade,...

You can buy many blends of essential oils, but it’s also easy to create your own mix. Decide how you will use the blend of oils. Do you want an energizing mix? Are you looking for something to help you sleep or calm your nerves? Or maybe you want a blend to help treat a skin infection or muscle soreness. Whatever your goal, choose essential oils with the same desired qualities.   If you simply want a wonderful fragrance, mix essential oils in the same fragrance group, such as woody, herbal, citrus, floral, or spicy.   Start by identifying the...

Inhalation Inhalation is the most common method of using essential oils and the basis of aromatherapy. You can inhale the oil directly from the bottle or pour a few drops into a diffuser, which spreads the fragrance over a large area. You can even wet a cotton ball with essential oil, and then set the fragrant cotton near you or in any area you want fragranced.   Topically Many essential oils are used topically, which means they are applied to the skin. However, since essential oils can be irritating to the skin on their own, the essential oil is should...

Essential oils are plant compounds extracted from bark, flowers, leaves, roots, stems, seeds, or fruit. These extracts are typically made by distilling or cold pressing large amounts of plant matter to produce a very concentrated substance. Essential oils are volitile compounds meaning that they sublimate, or enter the air quickly through evaporation.   Essential oils are prone to oxidation meaning that they degrade over time when exposed to light, heat, and oxygen. This is why it is important to keep your bottles closed when not in use and to store them in a cool dark place.  This is also why...

Because essential oils are not subject to any strict regulations or government oversight, you’ll encounter a lot of marketing hype and unsubstantiated claims when shopping for essential oils. These guidelines can help you make an informed decision. If the price is super low, watch out. It can take hundreds of pounds of plant material to produce one ounce of essential oil, so these products are often pricey. A suspiciously low price usually means inferior quality and potentially what you are buying is not an essential oil at all. While there are no official regulations defining “therapeutic-grade” essential oil, when used...