Essential Oils UK

Essential Oils UK

The UK essential oils retail industry is flourishing. This is mainly due to UK consumers being more committed to looking for natural alternatives to support their health.

Nevertheless, essential oils UK retailers are still losing out, which has a negative impact on us all. Plus, the essential oils UK retail market is now a more complex one, and not so easy to navigate.

This article will hopefully provide the information needed to orientate the essential oils UK retail sector, so that those wishing to buy essential oils in the UK can do so with greater confidence.

It has been specifically written to help Essential oils UK customers do the following:

• Distinguish the difference between ‘essential oils UK’ and ‘UK essential oils’.
• Reveal why there are now so many sub-standard essential oils available in the UK.
• Provide information as to why the UK essential oils sector has changed in recent years.
• Explain how the changes in the essential oils UK sector affect us all, both economically and culturally.
• Define how to purchase essential oils UK from UK essential oil businesses.
• Avoid the pitfalls of buying essential oils online, in the UK.
• Buy quality essential oils UK.

Disclosure:

This article has been written by Rachel Wild of Wild As The Wind Essential Oils & Natural Skincare. Whilst providing an overview of the essential oils UK market, and how best to navigate it, you will also find an overview of Wild As The Wind Essential Oils towards the end of this article.

Essential Oils UK Versus UK Essential Oils?

For the purposes of this article it is important to differentiate between the terms ‘essential oils UK’ and ‘UK essential oils’.

The term ‘UK essential oils’ suggests that an essential oil has been manufactured in the UK. However, the growing conditions in the UK are not suitable for the production of many essential oils. This is why the vast majority of essential oils are produced elsewhere.

It is, however, possible to produce a small number of aromatherapy oils in the UK. Certain plants used for the production of aromatherapy oils can thrive in the UK climate, but most cannot.

Most ethically produced essential oils are extracted from plant materials, via a process of distillation. Some are expressed from the skin of fruits, via a process known as cold pressing.

Different plant parts are used for the production of individual essential oils, to achieve the best results. This is because the concentration of essential oils, or volatile compounds, are found in different parts of each variety of plant.

Please see the list of plant parts used to make essential oils later on in this article.

Aside from the growing of plants in the UK, for the production of essential oils, it is also possible to import some of the more resilient plant materials for further processing.

This is particularly true of resins, but it is a less viable proposition where other plant materials are concerned. Plus, the cost of importing plant materials has risen exponentially in recent years, and storage conditions, especially in transit, are not always ideal. This can lead to mould and moisture issues, among other problems.

Nevertheless, the benefit of importing plant materials for producing essential oils in the UK, is clear. Distilling aromatherapy oils on UK soil means that UK ethical standards are applied to the process.

This often results in a superior essential oil than if the plant parts were distilled in the country of origin, where the adulteration of essential oils is common practice.

Certain overseas essential oil producers, motivated by increased profits, routinely adulterate essential oils, rendering them inferior, and often toxic. Please refer to Adulterated Essential Oils, later on in this article.

UK Essential Oils Defined

The term ‘UK essential oils’ can be applied to aromatherapy oils that are distilled in the UK from plant materials grown in the UK. It can also be applied to aromatherapy oils that are distilled in the UK from plant materials that are obtained from overseas.

For obvious reasons, essential oils that are wholly produced outside of the UK cannot be called UK essential oils.

Essential Oils UK Explained

The internet has presented us with a dilemma when it comes to finding UK suppliers of essential oils. This is because the internet will deliver non-relevant results unless we use geo-specific keywords.

This is where the term ‘essential oils UK’ comes into its own.

Effectively, when we use the term ‘essential oils UK’ online, it specifically relates to businesses that retail essential oils in the UK. And, importantly, it does not mean that the essential oils have been produced in the UK.

‘Essential oils UK’ is likely the most common search term used to access UK essential oil retailers online.

The drawback of this term, however, is that the results provided by search engines often include non-UK based essential oil retailers. I will delve into why this is an issue in the section entitled:

Restoring Consumer Confidence In Essential Oils UK

Essential Oils UK Brands

There are a good number of essential oil brands who retail aromatherapy oils in the UK. However, many of them are not actually UK essential oils businesses. This is particularly true of the large essential oils brands who retail essential oils in the UK.

It is difficult, at first glance, to tell whether an essential oils brand originates from the UK or otherwise. For this reason the following sections have been added later on in this article:

• How To Identify A True Essential Oil UK Business
• List Of Essential Oils UK Brands

In recent years we have seen a number of entries into the essential oils UK market from China and America. Whilst increasing consumer choice, this has impacted the UK economy, and has led to decreasing trust levels within the essential oils UK market.

The reason for many of these negative outcomes are detailed in the following sections of this article.

• Essential Oils UK & The UK Economy
• Essential Oils UK Market Overview
• Essential Oils UK Online Disruption
• Restoring Consumer Confidence In Essential Oils UK Online

However, suffice to say, the greatest negative impact of recent changes in the essential oils UK market, from a consumer standpoint, is that there are a lot more risks involved in buying essential oils in the UK than before.

But the impact to UK economy stability cannot be underestimated…

Essential Oils UK & The UK Economy

There are a growing number of people who wish to buy essential oils UK in the truest sense of the phrase. They don’t simply wish to buy essential oils in the UK, they want to buy their essential oils from a UK essential oils business.

The main reason for this is because essential oil consumers are more conscious of the need to support the UK economy and essential oils UK retailers.

Thankfully, there seems to be a growing awareness that UK small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, and that we all benefit from supporting UK businesses.

Prior to 2020, (the pre-pandemic era), UK small businesses, and UK small to medium sized enterprises, (SMEs) accounted for over 60% of the UK economy. But, there was a dramatic decrease in UK businesses in 2020, which was a continuing trend in 2021 and beyond.

The following graph, obtained from the Department for Business and Trade, depicts the dramatic decrease in UK businesses that began in 2020.

Source: Business population estimates for the UK and regions 2023: statistical release.

The key reason for the dramatic decrease in UK businesses in 2020 and 2021 is because access to bricks and mortar UK businesses was restricted, and consumers turned to the internet to buy the products they needed.

UK businesses that didn’t have an online presence were the first to be hit by this trend. But UK essential oil businesses, who were established online, were also affected.

Essential Oils UK Online Disruption

Seizing the opportunity to enter the UK essential oils market, or to further expand their UK essential oils market share, American and Chinese businesses invested heavily in increasing their online presence at this time. This was mainly achieved through sponsored social media advertising to increase brand awareness and drive traffic to their respective websites.

Search engine algorithms are geared towards ranking websites in preferable positions based on traffic flows.

Also, predatory recruitment policies, again via social media, allowed overseas essential oil companies to gain rapid market penetration.

Multi-level marketing essential oil brands specifically targeted people who were unable to work during lock-downs, or who had permanently lost their jobs and businesses throughout this period.

The consequences of these tactics were dramatic for essential oils UK brands, many of which lost a lot of traction online.

Prior to 2020, Wild As The Wind Essential Oils could be found in the first three results pages within major search engines for a number of important search terms. Sadly, the same is not true today.

Internet users rarely venture beyond page three of search engine results pages, with many failing to get passed page one, before their purchases are made.

At the same time, the UK saw an increased reliance on major online shopping platforms, like the American owned Amazon. In addition, Chinese online shopping platforms, like Temu, came to the fore.

Not only did this further compound the issue of lost online visibility for essential oil UK brands, but it also delivered a plethora of highly suspect essential oils to the UK buying public. This includes counterfeit essential oils, labelled as though from a well known brand, and unnatural oils being passed off as pure essential oils, with less recognisable branding.

Major online shopping platforms do not assign quality controls to the merchants that operate within their platforms. Nor do they vet merchants for credibility, or curate who can or cannot participate.

Instead, what they do is facilitate easy access for overseas essential oil businesses to the UK aromatherapy market.

Such easy access would otherwise be denied.

UK essential oil brands also have access to some of the major shopping platforms available, some of which have taken advantage of the opportunity.

*Wild As The Wind has not, and will not, support these third-party shopping platforms. They are also avoided by the essential oil UK brands that Wild As The Wind hold in high esteem.

Search engines deliver different search results for each individual user, based on algorithmic data. Individual user preferences are stored and used to tailor results for each user. When Wild As The Wind performed a search on Ecosia, (“the greenest way to search, from “the search engine that plants trees”) for the search term “essential oils UK”, Temu was delivered as the first result on page one.

In addition, other businesses, based in the US, like iHerb, were also featured highly. When UK customers buy from iHerb, the courier handling the order, demands import and sales tax, before they will agree to deliver the order. There is no information relating to these charges made available at the point of sale. The customer only knows about the additional charges days later, long after the order has been placed, and the payment for the goods has left their account.

“Greenwashing” seems to have been elevated to even more lofty levels, courtesy of search engines like as Ecosia.

Essential Oils UK Market Overview

Tragically, the UK essential oils market is now awash with fake oils, that have either been synthesised in labs from unnatural chemicals, or are adulterated to maximise profits. Many of them are toxic.

This has tarnished the industry as a whole. Nevertheless, with many UK essential oil consumers not being able to tell the difference between a fragrance oil, and a natural aromatherapy oil, the UK essential oils market continues to grow.

According to Statista, the UK essential oils market was valued at, in excess of, £124 million in 2023.

Further growth is expected, with forecasted figures for 2027 exceeding £130 million, representing a 9.7% increase between 2022 and 2027.

Whilst it’s not possible to accurately assess what proportion of the UK market is held by essential oil UK brands, it is safe to say that overseas interests are benefiting exponentially.

UK Essential Oils Market Practices

Essential oils UK brands have been further impacted through a process of acquisition. Neal’s Yard, a leading UK essential oils brand, changed dramatically after it was acquired, some years ago. It now focuses its attention on larger, more profitable markets, such as the US, and has adopted American-style business practices.

It seems that DoTERRA and Young Living brought multi level marketing to our shores, and Neal’s Yard are exporting it right back to where it came from.

Multi-level marketing (MLM), also known as direct marketing or network marketing, is a method of selling products directly to consumers using independent sales representatives. MLM companies tend to appeal to new recruits with promises of wealth and independence. While not illegal by definition, many MLMs have become infamous for their controversial business practices—and others have been revealed to be little more than illegal pyramid schemes.

Forbes: Understanding Multi-Level Marketing

All of the essential oil brands mentioned also operate their MLM schemes in the UK. And, UK essential oil consumers initially seemed happy to purchase their oils from them. However, the tide is definitely turning.

MLM schemes are an excellent way for increasing market share, permitting MLM essential oils brands to quickly establish and expand their customer base. But, there are inherent drawbacks to this business model, particularly where essential oil customers are concerned.

These drawbacks are illustrated in the next section: MLM Essential Oils: Business Spotlight.

The flipside of MLM schemes is more encouraging. Customer satisfaction levels are high amongst essential oils UK brands that operate online.

For example, at the time of writing, Wild As The Wind have a 5.0 star rating for all products within the Wild As The Wind Online Shop, and the same is true where Facebook reviews are concerned. A single 2.0 star review, with no comment, has meant that the 5 star rating within Google Reviews, has been reduced to 4.9 from 33 reviews.

Oshadi would also be enjoying a 5.0 star rating on Truspilot if it weren’t for a single 1.0 star review, which has lowered their score to a 4.0 star rating. (It is clear from Oshadi’s well informed response that customer dissatisfaction was a result of insufficient essential oil knowledge on the part of the customer. Their diplomatic response will have hopefully remedied this.)

Kobashi have a 5.0 star Google Reviews rating from seven reviews, and NHR have a 4.9 star rating from 21 reviews.

All of the essential oils UK brands mentioned, have a direct relationship with their customers. To the authors knowledge, none of these essential oils UK brands use third-party [self-employed] sales agents, unlike the MLM schemes.

This means that all customer contact and customer care is handled by the businesses themselves, allowing customers to have direct access to the knowledge base within each business.

MLM Essential Oils: Business Spotlight

The issues with MLM schemes affect all of the MLM essential oil brands, but for the purposes of this article, a single example is all that’s needed to illustrate the problems. To this end, DoTERRA have been selected. But, this does not mean that they are any better, or worse, than essential oil brands operating comparable schemes in the UK…

Consumer confidence in the most well known MLM essential oils brand operating in the UK, DoTERRA, has been plummeting. Consumer confidence levels are reflected on platforms such as Site Jabber and Trustpilot, etc…

DoTERRA has a rating of 1.6 stars, from a possible 5 stars, derived from 81 reviews, on the custmer review platform Site Jabber, as at August 2024. According to the Site Jabber platform, this low score indicates that:

…most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about doTERRA most frequently mention essential oils, credit card, and pyramid scheme problems. doTERRA ranks 459th among Vitamins & Supplements sites.

Visit the DoTERRA reviews on Site Jabber.

Trustpilot scores are better, with a 3.3 rating, [August 2024], but they still confirm that the optics for DoTERRA in the UK are very poor.

Within a raft of 1.0 star ratings, [amounting to 36% of the overall reviews], grievances range from “profit before people” and “greedy”, to outlining insulting and exploitative business practices. One customer, who praises the quality of essential oils, but still provided a 1.0 review, pleads with the company to “Change your business module doterra, please!”

More concerning perhaps, other reviews detail inducements to write 5 star reviews on Trustpilot.

One customer, who provided a 1.0 star review, revealed that she was offered a small Oregano Essential Oil sample in exchange for a 5 star review, and concludes her feedback by saying:

You offer me a tiny bottle of oregano oil, tell me I can use it neat on my skin for arthritis, and even put a few drops in my lasagne for flavour, and then expect me to publicly lie to get said oregano oil? Pffffft….. get out of here! What makes me mad is that plenty of people will fall for their bs. So wrong….

Full review available here: https://uk.trustpilot.com/reviews/64f5430abb2a9bb315a88da1

This review highlights another issue. Oregano Essential Oil should NEVER be used undiluted on the skin! And, why is it being advocated for arthritis?

There are a good number of essential oils which are broadly advocated for this condition, within well respected essential oil texts and peer-reviewed scientific papers… and Oregano Essential Oil isn’t one of them. [Oregano Essential Oil is unsuitable for chronic use.]

The reason for such potentially harmful misinformation can possibly be explained, thus… Because the MLM business model relies on increasingly recruiting more and more people, the central knowledge base is consistently watered down. Recruitment chains can be 20, 30 or 40 people long, with no restrictions as to the ultimate length.

Everyone operating within the scheme needs to recruit others in order to make a profit. This means that many of them are scrabbling around to recruit as many people as possible, from a diminishing pool of candidates.

Participants are all ultimately in direct competition with each other to recruit as many people as possible within a specific geographic location. Latecomers to an established chain are faced with extraordinary diminishing returns. Energy expended does not correspond to equivalent success rates.

The endeavours of the end-chain recruits are very unlikely to be profitable, yet the numbers of end-chain participants far exceeds those higher up the chain. This means that the majority of those participating in an MLM scheme for a primary or secondary income, will invest a lot of time, with very poor results.

It also means that these participants are time-poor with very little opportunity to devote themselves to attaining knowledge about the properties and benefits of the essential oils they are trying to sell.

Sadly, misinformation about how to use essential oils is altogether inevitable.

To learn more about the issues mentioned here, please read a previously published article: Wild As The Wind, DoTERRA Or Neal’s Yard?

Author’s note: I view MLM business practices as damaging to the essential oils UK market as a whole.

Some of the damaging effects are reflected in customer satisfaction levels, but my concerns are more widespread.

In order to deliver profit to everyone within the scheme, MLM schemes artificially elevate prices for the consumer. It also means that the profit is endlessly dissipated, and cannot be used for reinvestment in the business.

All businesses need to make a profit to stay in business, but those that do it at the expense of their customers, do so at the cost of damaging industry perceptions. Poor consumer perception delivers damaging effects to the essential oils UK sector as a whole. And, this negatively impacts everyone who operate within the sector.

Sadly this includes UK essential oil businesses that are properly managed, thereby making enough profit to stay in business, whilst also operating in the best interest of their customers.

Wild As The Wind Essential Oils & Natural Skincare is continually reinvesting profit in order to extend our product range, and improve our offering. We have recently invested in bringing label printing in-house, in order to provide the best quality cosmetics labels possible. We were featured in an ERS case study for doing so.

The Wild As The Wind Essential Oils & Natural Skincare business approach has always been to keep operational costs as low as possible in order to purchase the best quality oils, and deliver them at affordable prices to our customers. An MLM approach is effectively the opposite of this.

This is why Wild As The Wind regularly receive feedback like this:

I have recommended your products to many of my friends – including/especially those who, like me, are a wee bit disenchanted with a certain large supplier of essential oils – their business model specifically. Finally and most importantly, thank you for all you do, I love your products, and I am so glad I found your website. Keep up the good work.

Caroline, Marlow, Buckinghamshire

Please see How To Avoid MLM Schemes later on in this article.

DoTERRA In The News

A small sample of the many news stories about DoTERRA…

FTC Takes Action Against doTERRA Distributors for False COVID-19 Health Claims: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/03/ftc-takes-action-against-doterra-distributors-false-covid-19-health-claims

The Federal Trade Commission has brought lawsuits against three current and former high-level distributors – so-called “Wellness Advocates” – of the Utah-based multi-level marketing company doTERRA International, LLC, for making claims that the company’s essential oils and dietary supplements could treat, prevent, or cure COVID-19. The distributors, all current or former healthcare practitioners, [one doctor, and two nurses], made the claims in a series of webinars in early 2022 and touted their medical expertise in recommending the products.

According to Sam Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection; “Today’s actions against doTERRA ‘wellness advocates’ should be a reminder that distributors for multilevel marketing companies can face consequences for making deceptive claims.”

NAD Issues Decision Regarding Claims for doTERRA Essential Oils: https://www.manatt.com/insights/newsletters/advertising-law/nad-issues-decision-regarding-claims-for-doterra-e

The NAD [National Advertising Division – a US Agency] were tasked with investigating doTERRA’s “Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade” claim. The NAD determined that the claim was without foundation, and recommended that it be discontinued.

How To Identify A True Essential Oil UK Business

There is clearly an appetite to embrace natural health in the UK. Increasing interest in essential oils UK provides clear evidence of this.

And whilst there’s not much to celebrate about the downsides of the essential oils UK sector, there is much to be grateful for, too.

In a recent study of online essential oils brands, the UK out-performed other countries where essential oil quality and trust is concerned:

According to the criteria established for this study, essential oils can be considered of a good quality only for 8% of the products on Polish websites compared with 32% for German websites and 38% for English websites

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8292048/

Whilst a 38% trust score is not ideal, the positive take-away from this is that there are a good number of essential oils UK brands who are providing high-quality essential oils, with accurate product information.

The more we support the essential oils UK brands who are getting it right, and avoid the ones who are not, the more we elevate our preferred essential oils UK brands to market prominence. On this basis, essential oils UK trust scores will increase.

This will go along way to silence the controversy that exists within the essential oils UK market, and will hopefully influence the global reputation of essential oils, also.

Better still, it will likely mean that the essential oils that are purchased will be of superior quality, and the UK economy will be buoyed by increased UK business activity.

Finding Trustworthy Essential Oils UK Brands

One of the most positive aspects of this article, is that UK essential oil consumers are figuring out ways of discovering reliable, trustworthy essential oils UK brands.

Some are avidly scouring the depths of online search engine results pages, but most are seeking recommendations from reliable, trustworthy sources – friends and family members.

Personal recommendation has certainly been the driving force behind Wild As The Wind. So, despite online visibility declines, online essential oil orders have increased.

But, for those who’s love of aromatherapy isn’t shared by their nearest and dearest, the path isn’t so straightforward. This is because it will inevitably involve an online search.

Unfortunately, there is no quick and easy way to establish which essential oil UK brands originate from the UK, and which ones don’t. Simply checking whether essential oil prices are stated in pounds sterling, and looking in website footnotes for a UK address, will often fail to distinguish an essential oil UK brand from an overseas brand.

But, thankfully, whilst a little more sleuthing is necessary, it doesn’t have to be arduous.

A quick look at the ‘About’ page of a website can be very revealing. And, if there’s no ‘About’ page, this should also tell you something!

Also, checking out how orders are processed is key. Wild As The Wind Essential Oils & Natural Skincare use the Royal Mail for our deliveries, which is a clear indication of where we are based.

The ‘Contact Us’ page may also be helpful. Again, if contact information is missing from a website, this can speak volumes.

Nevertheless, even if a UK contact address is stated, this is not a clear indication of where the business originates from. Shell addresses in the UK are more frequently being used, especially by Chinese companies.

For this reason, it is advisable to do a quick internet search for the address. And, if the stated address leads to a UK fulfilment centre, then there’s a strong likelihood that the business in question is an overseas concern.

But, in the interest of making life a little easier, there is a list containing a small number of essential oil UK brands, below.

Pitfalls Of Buying Essential Oils Online

Some of the issues of buying essential oils online have already been covered. These include:

• Counterfeit essential oils
• Adulterated essential oils
• Unknowingly supporting essential oil companies with questionable business practices
• Unknowingly negatively impacting the UK economy

There are a few more potential downsides to buying aromatherapy oils online, especially from overseas suppliers, the UK essential oil customers need to be aware of…

Whilst the price of the essential oils may be stated in pounds sterling on a website, your order may still be fulfilled abroad. This will mean that your purchase can attract sales taxes and import duties, which the vendor may not have made clear at checkout.

It is a common tactic, that makes the price of the products a lot more attractive.

The first time you will likely be aware that your purchase was a lot more expensive than you realised is when your goods arrive in the UK, and you are notified that they will only be released to you after you have paid all of the additional costs.

Another disadvantage of buying essential oils from overseas essential oil vendors is that you can wait a long time for your order to arrive.

Plus, there is a greater likelihood of your parcel sustaining damage, the further it has to travel.

The storage environments on land, and whilst in transit, may also damage the contents of your parcel.

Resolving delivery issues, or the problem of receiving damaged goods, are not so easily resolved with overseas essential oils businesses.

List Of Essential Oil UK Brands

This is a short list of essential oil UK brands. It is, by no means, exhaustive.

The creation of this essential oil UK brands list is also not an assurance of product quality. However, certain essential oil UK brands have been omitted from this list on the basis that their essential oils are known to be of questionable quality.

At the time of writing, and to the best of the author’s knowledge, all of the following essential oils UK brands were offering essential oils of excellent quality.

1. Wild As The Wind
2. Oshadi
3. NHR Organics
4. Kobashi
5. Tisserand – Originated in the UK, and still have offices here, but Robert Tisserand [owner] has moved to the US
6. Neal’s Yard
7. G Baldwin & Co.
8. Penny Price

Restoring Consumer Confidence In Essential Oils UK

There are two ways of doing this: It is possible to buy essential oils UK from proprietary retail outlets, such as the NHR shop in Brighton, or you can buy directly from essential oils UK brands online.

Most essential oils UK brands operate online. However, not all of them are retailing pure essential oils. Due diligence is required prior to making an essential oil purchase from an online essential oils UK retailer.

A third option would be to purchase essential oils through a third party. However, buying essential oils from retail chains, health food shops, and supermarkets, can be problematical.

The buying departments for these types of retailers have no specialist product knowledge, and are just as susceptible to buying adulterated essential oils as the general public.

Plus, retail chains and supermarkets are often owned by overseas interests.

By contrast, independent health food shops are often UK owned, so as long as they are carrying an essential oil brand you know you can trust, then they are an excellent alternative to buying direct from your preferred essential oils UK brand.

How To Avoid MLM Schemes

Ultimately, the only defence UK essential oil customers have against being hoodwinked by an MLM scheme is to develop discernment. Learning to differentiate between passionate enthusiasm for the products, and an evangelically zealous sales pitch in order to generate profit.

Perhaps, focussing on ‘intention’ is the key? And asking ourselves the right questions? For example:

• Does this person care about me? Or, are they more interested in themselves?
• Are they looking to help and support me? Or, are they looking to support and help themselves?

List Of Plant Parts Used To Make Essential Oils

Sometimes a combination of plant parts are used to make an essential oil. Other times, a single plant part is used, such as the rhizomes for distilling Ginger Essential Oil, or the roots for Angelica Essential Oil.

It’s not feasible to grow a superior quality of Ginger in the UK, but Angelica is one of the plants that excel in the UK climate.

Sometimes the plant materials are dried before distillation, but the distillation of fresh plant parts is also carried out.

List Of Plant Parts Used To Make Essential Oils

• Petals
• Buds
• Needles
• Seeds
• Berries
• Leaves
• Twigs
• Bark
• Rhizomes
• Roots
• Heartwood

*The heartwood of Sandalwood trees is used to make Sandalwood Essential Oil.

Adulterated Essential Oils

The temptation to adulterate essential oils is considerable. Producing genuine essential oils is a very labour-intensive and costly operation. It requires access to large tracts of fertile land, horticultural skills, and often the costly acquisition of distillation facilities, which can cost millions.

It also takes a lot of time to seed and grow a crop, and there are many risks involved, especially during times of disrupted weather patterns, like we are experiencing these days.

The adulteration of essential oils can help to bypass some of the hard labour, and can be a means of avoiding large losses when poor harvests are encountered.

However, some producers of fake essential oils seek to eliminate all of the risks, costs and time involved in producing essential oils altogether, by artificially synthesising volatile compounds in a lab. The end product may be an approximation of an essential oil in terms of appearance, with aromatic similarities, but it is most certainly not an essential oil.

This is the most unscrupulous way in which essential oil consumers are disabused. For those unfortunate enough to purchase synthetic products, the outcome of using them can often be damaging to their health.

There are many ways in which pure, natural essential oils are adulterated, also.

Cutting an expensive essential oil with a less expensive essential oil, with similar characteristics, to boost profit margins, is one of the most common methods.

Diluting essential oils with carrier oils is another method, but is a lot easier to spot. Using carrier oils to adulterate an essential oil will change the viscosity of the oil, as well as reducing the intensity of the aromatic qualities of the oil.

Sadly, the practice of using synthetic chemicals to adulterate natural essential oils, is also increasingly widespread.

The sad reality is, adulterated essential oils are often not only stripped of their beneficial qualities, or their efficacy reduced, but, they are also often rendered toxic and harmful to the user.

This is why it’s so important to only buy essential oils from a UK essential oils retailer that you can trust.

Wild As The Wind Essential Oils

Wild As The Wind is a UK essential oils and natural skincare business, based in the South West. In addition, we supply a good number of detoxification clays, Bach Flower Remedies, and a small number of detoxification supplements.

Wild As The Wind carry one of the most comprehensive ranges of essential oils in the UK.

Despite being of exceptional quality, Wild As The Wind Essential Oils are some of the most affordable therapeutic grade aromatherapy oils available in the UK.