Teach Soap

What are some of the best more organic/natural essential oil, herb, and carrier oil companies out there? I like Mountain Rose Herbs' products, but am curious as to what other suppliers are out there. Also, in your opinions, does Mountain Rose Herbs have high or low prices compared to other companies? I know they are pricier than Bramble Berry, but that is understandable as their products are organic and a somewhat higher quality than BB's. (Though I do think that BB has great quality!)

Thanks all.

Mountain Rose Herbs is the only supply company I know of that has such a large assortment of certified organic EO's & oils. The Sage & Liberty Naturals has some organic oils but if I remember correctly they do not specify if the oils are certified organic.
Mountain Rose is more expensive than some companies, but since most of their products are certified organic, I'd expect them to a bit pricier. You pay more for certified organic.

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Genny

Thanks Genny!

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Olivia :)

wow that's a big difference! I just compared Mountain Rose's olive oil to Brambleberry's best Olive (which is a blend of virgin & grade A), which is about a $549 difference. Brambleberry is $29 vs Mountain Rose's organic olive for 7 lbs would be almost $600... sheesh

Yep, certified organic will cost you much more.

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Genny

The price difference surprised me, so I had to go and look up BB's and MRH's olive oils myself. I'm confused how you came up with those numbers? Bramble Berry's olive oil is $29 for 7 lbs. like you said. But Mountain Rose Herb's olive oil is $13.50 for 16 oz. Since 16 oz. = 1 lb., then $13.50 x 7 = $94.50 for 7 lbs. So, as far as I can tell, and if my math is correct, this is a $65.50 difference. That's still a big difference, but not nearly as big as a $549 difference.

Maybe you were looking at Mountain Rose Herb's price per gallon - if you did that, the math would come out to be more like $600 difference, like you said, but such a comparison is not really a true comparison. The units do not match, as a gallon is a lot more than a pound.

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Olivia :)

I was just about to ask the same question about the prices. I had to go and check to see if there had been some kind of dramatic price increase.

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Genny

Soaper's Choice has some too.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

ha ha you are right Stoked i was just checking to make sure everyone was paying attention. Of course 7 lbs is apples'n oranges to 7 gallons. Thank you for pointing that out. I really do appreciate this forum and the people in it. Apparently 1 gallon of olive oil weighs right at 7 pounds ( http://bit.ly/1gAL0yf ) so it's just a tad over x3 as expensive for Mountain Rose's certified organic olive vs BB's Blend. I think I will be switching from BB's pomace to the Grade A blend extracted w/o the hexane.

Not that I don't love Brambleberry for all the many reasons but it seems that Soapers Choice has the best prices on organic olive oil, 7 lbs of extra virgin organic for $21.49, just saying...

Mountain Rose Herbs does have the biggest selection of organic essential oils but you can find a few on Amazon through companies like Aura Cacia and Now Foods.

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If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane
~Jimmy Buffett

I recently found out about one other company, Native American Nutritionals, who sells essential oils. They say on their website that there oils come from unadulterated organic ingredients, though I can't find that they are certified organic. Based on some of the things I have read, they seem to have very, very, high quality EOs, though. They are more expensive than MRH; about half the price of YL. I would take their oils over YL though, because I think they are a much better quality. (And I'm a little leery of YL)

But anyway! Has anyone tried this Native American Nutrionals' oils?

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Olivia :)

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Yes, I think they do perform gas chromatography on their oils. I really have no idea what 'mass spectrometry', 'specific gravity', or any of those other things you mentioned are...

But... I'd love to learn, if you have time to explain!

I first heard of this company on this blog (below). This one lady was trying to find a high quality essential oil company, what she considered the 'best' essential oils company, and picked Native American Nutritionals out of several, including MRH, YL, DoTerra, Aura Cacia and some others. I really liked how she chose, she was extremely thorough, and spent hours researching and on the phone grilling these companies about the quality of their oils. She didn't have a pre-determined bias, but just went by the facts, and decided on NAN.

I thought her articles were great and very informative! It's worth reading through them. Here is the first for anyone interested:

http://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/ ... tial-oils/

If you don't mind my asking, soapbuddy, where do you source your aromatherapy oils from?

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Olivia :)

I refuse to buy essential oils from MLM companies. They are overpriced, you are paying their downline, they lie (sometimes by omission) and advocate using essential oils internally. I am a Holistic Health Practitioner with over 1,700 school hours and I would never suggest to anyone using essential oils directly in their mouth or dropped into their water. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. What these MLM companies are doing is practicing medicine without a license. That's illegal, at least in the US. Some of them have no clue what they are doing. A weekend class will not make you an Aromatherapist.

It really irks me when I see their MLM blogs and they talk about using essential oils UNDILUTED on their baby's diaper rash, or putting lemon essential oil in their water and drinking it. Did you know that undiluted essential oils used in your mouth can burn the mucosa in your mouth permanently? They also talk about when you start using essential oils and you get sick from them, that's because you are detoxing. That's BS. If not used properly (and NOT internally), essential oils will not make you sick unless you have allergies. Some essential oils should not be used on the skin at all.

I will not support a company that claims their oils are the best and come to find out they are just as good as any other REPUTABLE company, with just as good quality and much, much better prices.
there is no such thing as "therapeutic" grade. That was invented to make it seem that their oils are better the anyone else s. It's just a hyped up marketing word. There is no official designation in the US for the word "therapeutic. The problem is most people off the street that have not had the proper training would not know that.

For my Aromatherapy blends I use av-at.com I have used them wholesale for years. They have quality oils that I know I can trust.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I agree with you.

I will look into the Appalachian Valley Natural Products company. Are their essential oils organic? They say on their website that their essential oils do come from organic plants, but they are not certified organic. The same as Native American Nutritionals. How can you know if a company's EOs really are organic if they aren't certified so?

To clarify, I don't think this one Native American Nutritionals company calls themselves 'the best'. It was just this one person's opinion that they were the best for her, in her situation, considering her criteria.

Is NAN an MLM company?

I read all about this one technique called 'Raindrop Therapy' (I think started by YL), but it sounds a little too invasive to me, since you're using quite a bit of neat essential oil on your spine and back. This step on one site (after the neat essential oils are dropped onto the back and rubbed in) says:

Step 5

Take a hand towel that is folded into thirds lengthwise and soak it in hot water.
Wring it out and lay it along the entire length of the spine.
Take a dry towel and fold it in half lengthwise and place it over the wet towel.

Pay close attention because the back can become very hot!

The heat will generally build slowly in intensity to where it will peak in five to eight minutes and then cool down to where it feels pleasant. The water in the towel drives the oils deeper into the skin. The more out of balance, the more virus or bacteria activity in the body, or the more inflammation in the spine, the hotter the area will become along the spine. Some people will experience no heat, for some it will be mild and very pleasant, while for others it may be hot and a little uncomfortable. Pay attention to what the person is saying. Ask questions. If it gets too uncomfortable, remove the towels and apply V-6 Mixing Oil on the back and work it in. This will usually remove the heat in minutes.

After putting the towels on, wait a few minutes to see how the person is responding. If the back does not become very hot, have the person roll over so the back is against the towels on the table. This usually creates more heat.

http://www.webdeb.com/oils/raindrop.htm

Is this the detoxing theory that you were referring to?

Concerning taking essential oils internally (NOT SAYING I'm going to try it, ), is there absolutely no safe way to do so? Just the act of ingesting essential oils can't be a bad thing, because anytime we eat an orange or lemon, put fresh mint leaves in our tea, or season our food with different fresh herbs, we are ingesting essential oils. It seems to me it is the way they are taken internally that matters. Obviously, ingesting them neat is a bad idea, or diluting them in a wrong way. But I can't believe they are entirely harmful to ingest, because we eat them in foods all the time!

Thanks for your help and expertise, soapbuddy!

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Olivia :)