Essential Oil Sustainability
With essential oils gaining popularity, and the marketing on them gaining traction at alarming rates, how can we responsibly source essential oils?
Companies have a goal of making money, this is the root of most businesses, even reputable ones. That’s not a bad thing, it’s how we can make a successful business and keep going. Without money the business fails. This is also true of essential oil businesses, and that is not a bad thing. However, this does not mean that we can buy essential oils willy nilly without consequences. The way the essential oil market is ramping up now, and the rate some essential oil companies market and sell their oils, matters. So what can we consciously do to make sure we are being sustainable in our aromatherapy practices?
We can make sure we buy from a reputable company:
Honestly this is easier said than done and I find it rather infuriating that some essential oil companies out there clearly only want to make a profit and care little for the resources they burn or the employees that they hurt. Look into your company that you purchase from and make sure that it’s something you want to support. Often times many undesirable “secrets” begin to pop out of the wood work on companies. Do you know these secrets? Do you know how they treat employees, are your questions answered when you ask them? As difficult as it is to garner information to be 100% certain there are things that a consumer should be able to easily access or know. Like where did they source the essential oil from? If they can’t list the country of origin they got the oil from I wouldn’t consider purchasing from them. Look at their business structure as well. MLM companies, while convenient, often treat their employees like garbage or burn people out of the MLM when they don’t align how they believe they should align. They are barred from saying anything negative, and other consultants or reps even go after those who they feel aren’t working hard enough or complaining too much. Sustainability doesn’t always refer to resources used, it can also refer to how they treat their workers, staff, harvesters etc.
On top of that many large companies have little to no regard for how they are harvesting these oils or how much they are using. If your company is recommending using essential oils at an alarming rate on the daily it might be time to support someone else. Essential oils take a lot of plant matter to produce and if a companies only goal is for you to use more to purchase more it’s clear that they don’t care for how much plant matter is used up to make these oils. Look into their marketing, how are they presenting the essential oils. Do they have safety alongside them that matches up with the NAHA or are they telling you to apply oils neat, rub them on your feet and ingest them daily?
To be quite honest if we are looking for sustainability in essential oils we really shouldn't be putting money towards companies whose main goal is to keep making as much as they can to sell as much as they can.
Check out some of my favorite places to purchase essential oils; Simply Earth and Plant Therapy.
we can make sure we aren’t over buying on essential oils:
The majority of households do not need a ton of essential oils , 3-5 oils will serve you well. This might differ for some people but the 5 I recommend that I think everyone would get the most use out of are: Tea Tree, Lemon, Rosemary, Roman Chamomile and Ho wood (or Lavender or Frankincense)
Having these oils on hand will serve you well and will cover a multitude of issues from sickness and sinus issues to muscular aches/pains all the way to sleep issues. Most oils have multiple uses and you don’t need a different oil for different issues. We can use oils responsibly and sustainably if we just take the time to educate ourselves on their different uses. You can use Lemon for example for cleaning, diffusing when sick, to help clear congestion and to lift your spirits. Many other oils have multiple uses making it easy to buy a little and use for a lot.
Use less essential oil:
We can also be more sustainable by using less essential oil as a whole. We do not need to use essential oils all day long. Stop diffusing for hours on end, diffuse for 15-30 minutes at a time and then take a break. Diffuse up to 3x daily max. Dilute essential oils, this is safe and also helps to make your oils last longer. Creat DIYs with low dilutions. 1-3% dilution can be used in healthy adults for daily use although I recommend a lower dilution for true daily use. Save higher dilutions like 5-10% for sparse one time use and make small batches of those high dilutions so they don’t go bad as quickly. Use carrier oils with a long shelf life, fractionated coconut oil can last year. Lotion bases can last a long time as well. Make small batches of anything you make with oils so they don't go bad as quickly and you have time to use them.
Also learn how to properly store essential oils so they last their full shelf life. Buy smaller bottles of essential oils you don’t use as often, this also makes the oil cheaper which is useful in pricier oils as well. When we stop thinking of oils as something we can use up bottles at a time and begin to think of them as precious resources we should be sparingly with we will really get the best use out of them. Often times we don’t need large amounts of an essential oil, and a lower dilution will serve us better anyways.
Use a hydrosol or herb instead:
Sometimes, an essential oil isn’t what is needed and we need something else. For example with younger kids forgo the essential oils and use hydrosols instead. Hydrosols are by product of distilling essential oils; it’s the left over plant water basically when you diffuse and separate the essential oil. A small about of oil can be retained in the water but generally speaking hydrosols are regarded as much safer than essential oils and can be used in many ways essential oils shouldn’t be. Hydrosols can be ingested, where as essential oils shouldn’t be ingested casually without help from a professional.
Look into an herb as well, often times an herb is needed where an essential oil is not. If you are having an upset stomach a peppermint tea might be beneficial where a peppermint essential oil could be too strong. Knowing when to use essential oils is a powerful tool, and knowing when not to use them is valuable knowledge that few people have. Once we let go of the mindset that essential oils are cure alls we can begin to explore plants in all their forms and support ourselves in the best most sustainable way possible.
Want a great shop to buy herbs or hydrosols? Check out Mountain Rose Herbs and get quality supplies for all your herbal needs.
Have some knowledge in aromatherapy:
It doesn’t need to be fancy, you don’t need to pay or pay a lot. But just know how to safely use essential oils. If you know how to use them then you can do so responsibly. Often times when someone has hundreds of oils on their shelf or they use a bottle a day it’s because they weren't educated properly on the use of essential oils. Maybe their training came from instagram or from their company. It does so much good to know what is proper essential oil use and how to stay safe using essential oils.
Some of my favorite resources are Lea Jacobson’s books in ebook or print from. Tisserand and Youngs book for healthcare providers. Rebecca Park Totilo and her book on therapeutic blending. Valeries Worwood’s book on Aromatherapy and Janie O’Dell’s introductory book on using essential oils. These are all great books to get you started in your aromatherapy Journey and learn even more. There are also other ways to learn about aromatherapy without spending money.
Aromahead has a free beginner class, Aromahut uploads many educational videos on aromatherapy to their Youtube, Plant Therapy has a wonderful blog full of information that really helps people to learn about essential oils and even just following some aromatherapists or institutes on aromatherapy on various social media can help provide some information that will be helpful. Be wary of advice that doesn’t follow the NAHA or people who claim to be trained who really aren’t however. If they sell oils, they probably don't have great advice and if they recommend things like causal ingestion they probably aren’t properly trained (or they choose to ignore training) and it would be best to avoid advice like that.
All in all there are so many ways to be more sustainable in our essential oil practices. The best we can do is recognize that essential oils are not a cure all and lessen our use of them. Too often it is the recommendation to use as much oil as you possibly can and that is neither sustainable nor beneficial to us or the earth. We should begin to respect using oils, and with respect comes sustainability. Use essential oils with a purpose, not just because it’s the cool thing to do.
