My Guide to Buying Oils Online: 5 things to watch out for
Thinking of buying natural essential oils for aromatherapy and cosmetic products? Well I have compiled a little guide for all those itching to bring their natural creations to life, but haven’t yet bought any of the ingredients. I know that when you are a complete novice at something, buying supplies for a new project can always be daunting, trust me I know, because I am always trying my hand at something. As a beginner, we want to avoid wasting our money on products we don’t need in quantities we won’t use. We may fear that new suppliers will rip us off, not deliver on time or have misleading product descriptions. These are all valid concerns.
As someone who buys 80% of her life online with products ranging from craft supplies, clothing, jewellery, electricals and anything else you can think of, I think that I have learnt a thing or two about online shopping. I am now going to pass on what I have learnt, the hard way, about buying essential oils online.
1 Natural doesn’t always mean 100% pure
In the naturalista community I think that there is a tendency to put our faith in anything labelled “natural” and “organic”. Stay woke. With many expensive oils such as rose, which are complicated to extract from the plant, suppliers will dilute the oil into a carrier oil to around 10% strength and sell it onto us at a cheaper price. Now to the naïve consumer/ buyer we’ll be quick to pat ourselves on the back for finding rose at such a good price, but be aware, the supplier may not be offering what you are expecting. There is nothing wrong with buying diluted oils, so long as all the additional ingredients are listed, but just note that the concentration of the essential oil will be significantly reduced. It may also make it tricky for you to measure just how much of each oil you have inside your finished product.
2 Know the difference between essential oils, absolutes, resins and waxes
Take some time before you start blending and buying to understand the processes that go into extracting oils. Not only will this give you an appreciation for natural substances, but this exercise will also help you understand why things are the priced the way they are. For example, carrier oils are much cheaper than oils such as oud and amber. I learnt this by reading a book called The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (see my review here) and this will give you a simple overview so cop your copy from Amazon.
3 Just because it is not certified by the Soil Association doesn’t mean that it’s not organic
This may seem like I am trying to confuse you but I am just trying to make you aware that not all organic products are certified organic. Do not get too hung up on these certifications because many suppliers do not bother obtaining them. Believe it or not, buying organic products that aren’t certified may be a good option for you when you just beginning to blend and make your own potions. You see, it costs suppliers to obtain soil association and organic certifications as well as hassle complying to strict protocol such as the use of separate machinery and equipment for their organic produce. This means that they incur more costs, and these costs will then be passed down onto the customer, also known as you. If you decide to move onto producing products for sale or for gifts and you want to advertise everyone how amazingly natural they are, then you can move onto the certified organic stuff, but as of yet, just stick to what is most cost effective option.
4 Create an account on the website
I don’t always like to sign up for an account on every website I buy from for a number of reasons. I don’t want to have to create a new password, let alone remember it, I don’t want to receive newsletters and I often can’t be bothered. If I can express pay with paypal, then I will. However, sometimes signing up for accounts can have great benefits, as in saving money benefits. A few months ago when I paid for a EU Regulation course with Naturally Thinking my account had been upgraded to a business account automatically which now means that everything I buy with them is at a cheaper price then what the regular customer pays.
5 Plan ahead and bulk buy
Postage and Packaging charges are the devil’s work. There are very few charges I hate incurring other than p&p. Right up there on the list is paying for processing fees when you booked for tickets yourself online. In those cases I think the company should be paying me for processing my own stuff. To avoid unnecessary p&p charges, I highly suggest that you plan for all the blends you are going to make, buy in big enough quantities, and try to get multiple oils from the same supplier if possible. Now I know that this may seem like obvious advice, but I assure you that you will save a lot of money. This isn’t like buying clothing and electricals where the price per unit stays the same regardless of how many headphones or tshirts you buy, with oils the price per ml will decrease the more you buy at a time.
I hope that my guide to buying essential oils online will help you get started. I will be posting reviews of my experiences with various websites that I buy from in the hopes that it will help you locate what you are looking for. These reviews will give you a personal insight into where I buy what and for how much. Keep following The Mix Elixir for more advice, reviews and general chit chat.
Keep mixing,
M