Essential Oils: The Conundrum of Quantities
Essential oils are one of the latest health trends to sweep the market, and its more likely than not that you or someone you know has used essential oils. Regardless if you’re a first-time buyer or already have a wide selection of oils the purchasing processes for essential oils can be difficult. This is due to the large selection of essential oils flooding the market.
The branding for essential oils promises natural benefits from the products use, however walking into a store and glancing at a vile of oils you’ll notice that the ingredient list is long, and full of complicated chemicals that you probably don’t really know what the chemical is. That’s where this article comes in! Compiled below are four products, so while some products are not the expected container of oil, they will still provide the benefits that are associated with the classic essential oils.
Keep in mind that long exposure to some scents can cause impairment, such as linalool found in lavender based oils. In order to avoid any possible side effects, read the instruction pervaded by each product in order to safely use each product. If you have any pets be sure to look into possible scents that can be toxic for animals. For example, eucalyptus, while a very popular scent when it comes to relaxation, can be severely poisonous to dogs and cats (Tina Wismer, 2016).
Before we begin, here’s a disclaimer on how the products listed where chosen. Because there are no guidelines or required testing for the selling of essential oils, the products selected were rated based on price, how natural the product is, and ease of access.
Keap Candles
Pricing: For a single wick candle the price tag is $39.50, this makes it a more expensive candle however when compared to other candles that are marketed as non-toxic. Each candle can burn for approximately 45 hours making the pricing of about 88 cents per hour a very reasonable amount.
Natural Product: The company Keap goes above and beyond in informing their customers in what they are purchasing. While using natural oils as well as synthetic, Keap has a program that gives a consumer an inside look as to what these ingredients and whether they are actually healthy. Fun fact, they are and the company has a whole blog post dedicated on telling you the science behind it (Keap,2018). What I like about this product is that it goes beyond just having safe candles, the whole packaging is environmentally conscious. The box, can be composted as well as all the labeling on the jar. The glass container is easily re-purposed or can be returned to Keap free of charge and reused in another candle.
Ease of Access: This product is made in a small building in Brooklyn, New York. Because of the size of the company you can’t purchase the candles from any retailer, and must purchase through their website. The downside to this is that Keap does have shipping and handling fees, approximately $5, However this cost can be voided with a purchase above 40 dollar (about 2 candles).
Product Summary: While slightly more expensive than pure essential oils, Keap candles offer cheap environmentally conscious essential oil infused candles. Keap candles utilize a blog that provides helpful information regarding the product, such as what wax is used. As well as inform customers on the process of creating each product.
Chesapeake Bay Candles: Essential Oils
Pricing: Each bottle of Chesapeake Bay oil cost $8.00. This price is more expensive than products found in major chains such as Walmart (which have bottles for $4.00). this coupled with the need for a diffuser which can be priced at $30.00 if you stay with the Chesapeake Bay brand. This is going to be the cheapest, option of the listed items costing around $40. Keep in mind this price includes a diffuser so the price can be significantly lower.
Natural Product: When looking at the labeling Chesapeake Bay has a particularly interesting ingredient list. This is because the list only contains about four ingredients, and all of them are recognizable. Chesapeake Bay brands itself as 100% natural and it shows in the composition of each bottle of oil. For example, the Awake scent (orange, ginger, and tangerine) from their Mind & Body collection is clearly labeled as 100% natural. The ingredient list is as follows Sweet Orange, Tangerine, Ginger, and Vetiver. All except the vetiver is what you would expect to be present in the oil, as for the vetiver that is a simple fragrant grass and still a natural ingredient.
Ease of Access: Chesapeake Bay oils are readily available both for purchase online as well as in stores. The company is partnered with multiple companies such as Amazon, Target, and Yankee Candle. This allows for the product to be easily accessible both in person as well of online.
Product summary: Chesapeake Bay essential oils are 100% natural oils and the best bet for finding pure essential oils in person. While slightly more expensive that brands found in other vendors, the elevated cost is balanced by its short ingredients list as ease of accessibility.
Rocky Mountain Oils
Pricing: There is no set price for a single bottle of essential oils from Rocky Mountain Oils, the price changes depending on the product selected. For a single bottle of Rocky Mountain lavender oil the price is this $22.95 which makes it the most expensive oil on the list. Because it is also a bottle of oil one will need to have additional costs for diffusers. Purchasing with the same brand the oil diffuser is $59.95 (Urbane Sienna Dark Bamboo Diffuser) this diffuser is the middle price range for diffusers listed on the website the lowest being nearly $50 and the higher end being nearly $70. They also recommend the purchase of carrier oils the cheapest being $9.95. In total if you were to purchase the entire bundle you would be looking to spend around $92.85 making it double the price of the Chesapeake Bay Oil and diffuser combo.
Natural Product: Rocky Mountain Oils are the only products that have any form of testing to confirm its label of natural as well as confirm that there are no contaminants in the product. There is no set ingredient list on the webpage with information regarding the product however, the test attached to the page do give chemical composition of the oil as well as percentages of elements within the product. Based on the given lists the oils provided a clear idea of the composition of the oil.
Ease of access: The product is only available from the Rocky Mountain Oil website, making the product slightly more difficult to access, however this is offset by the ability for free shipping to be applied to the order. This means that while not accessible in person the product is still readily available online with the added incentive of free shipping.
Product summary: The most expensive product on the list it is the only set of oils that has confirmed safety testing as well as quality of the product. The product may not be fully natural due to dilutants however, the safety test run on the products shows that the product is safe for use. The product is only available online, which can make getting the oil difficult however the company offsets this disadvantage by offering free shipping for the essential oils.
Plants (Just for Fun)
Pricing: There is variation on pricing depending on what product you purchase. Seeds can be as cheap as $2.00 while buying already grown plants can vary from $4.00 + depending on size of the plant. Overall very affordable.
Ease of access: Can be ordered online from various retailers as well as in many chain stores such as Home Depot.
Natural Product: It’s the actual plant that the oil is extracted from, as natural as one can get. They also make a pretty decoration.
Summary of Product: There isn’t much else to say. When you go to the source of essential oils you get all the benefits. There is variety of uses that the plant can be used in. Cheap and readily available, sometimes the original source is just as effective as the manufactured product.
Conclusion
There are many products out there centered around essential oils. While marketed as natural, many products include chemicals to dilute the oils. Each product has advantages and disadvantages. If you’re looking for the overall best deal, in my opinion would be the Chesapeake Bay products. This is due to being the only confirmed 100% natural oil on the list as well as a relatively manageable price point.
Works Cited
Chesapeake Bay Candle. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.yankeecandle.com/chesapeakebaycandle
Essential Oil Profile Directory | Uses and Benefits for Over 120 Oils | AromaWeb. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.aromaweb.com/essentialoils/default.asp
Fragrance Transparency: Natural vs Synthetics. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2018, from https://www.keapbk.com/blogs/keap/fragrance-transparency-natural-vs-synthetic-perfumes-candles-scents-scented-better-safer-sustainable
Keap ® | Candles Made Better. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2018, from https://www.keapbk.com/
Mint (Peppermint) Seed. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://bentleyseeds.com/products/mint-seed
Organic Vegetable & Herb Seeds — Organic Seeds. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.homedepot.com/b/Outdoors-Garden-Center-Seeds-Accessories-Organic-Seeds-Organic-Vegetable-Herb-Seeds/N-5yc1vZc8qk/Ntk-semanticsearch/Ntt-seed?NCNI-5
Rocky Mountain Oils. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2018, from https://www.rockymountainoils.com
Wismer, T. (n.d.). A Warning to Pet Owners Who Use Essential Oils. Retrieved December 14, 2018, from http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/do-essential-oils-pose-a-risk-to-pets
