A Note On Our Sourcing - Essential Oils

At a recent market, I was asked a very poignant and pleasing question:

"Where do you source your essential oils?"

I was super happy to answer that the majority of my essential oils are sourced via MOM's Organic Grocery - a staple along at least the Eastern US and a company I strongly support for its equitable treatment standards (that we know of, of course).

In addition to MOM's - I order bulk oils, less-popular oils that they don't carry, or oils that NEED to be steam distilled to be safe for skin use during daylight (e.g. Lemon Essential Oils) from other carriers. (Tratak Organics - a small D2C India based company, Greenwood Essential - both companies are committed to ethical sourcing and quality assurance, more on that below)

This led to the couple encouraging me to look into brands such as doTerra, which makes a claim of "Certified Pure Tested Grade (CPTG)" Essential Oils. They're an interesting company and engage in a practice that isn't my favorite. This is not me saying to switch y'alls providers or anything - but one thing I hate is an over-inflation of worth using jargon. CPTG is a trademarked term by doTerra and not an industry standard. This means they are the only ones making, and self-regulating that standard across their many countries of manufacturing factories. (As a side note, in 2023 the head of the board of doTerra invested $1.3 million to Ron DeSantis' campaign; Members of their leadership and board regularly donate to Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah who is explicitly aligned to influence collegiate education and attacks trans folks via sports and "protecting women" though near all women athletes are in support of their trans sisters enjoying the sports with them too. Again, do you but here at H&V we will NOT line the pockets of those who aim to make our trans black existence a crime)

Back to the Cert's -

For better or for worse, there are no set standards by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for "therapeutic grade essential oils" as a category different from other essential oils. The term "therapeutic grade" became a trend initiated by herbalists/aromatherapists to flag to clients the intended use and quality - which is important, but not indicative of a set of standards or regulations. The standards the ISO has set for oils cover nomenclature (naming of components in the oils), preparing for testing, packaging, and vocabulary for the raw materials (more listed at the end of the article). I think that having nationalized "certifications" in the organic sphere can lead to pricing out smaller, often Black and Brown companies who cannot afford the cost of getting the certifications done. An example is tea. Tea certifications for "organic-ness" is often country by country, expensive, and the specifics may not be relevant to the geographic location. Certifications are often a rich man's game. And the rich are often white and/or exploitative. I'm not making any claims to doTerra's intent, or how they operate as far as their quality control. But with CPTG being a trademarked and meaning very little outside of doTerra's property line, the fact that their about section has not 1 word about sustainable or ethical sourcing on their website (they claim to be "working with local farmers", but I'm sure tech companies claim "working with local miners" while exploiting the local population of women, elders, and children too, again they never say the word "Ethical"), and the constant financial backing of politicians along the anti-trans, anti-black, pro-establishment and oppression waves of the spectrum are why H&V will NEVER be using doTerra's line. I so appreciate the clients who brought them to mind, because now I can reinforce that I operate to be Approachable, Accessible, and Authentic. The approachable truth is that MOM's is the joint for getting most of what I need affordably (and ethically still). That means I can keep prices down and the products accessible. And the Authentic truth is that when I don't know, I'll say so and take the input and go looking - what I find, I share cause that's authenticity to me.

But Wait! How do I know what I'm getting is legit, if words like "therapeutic" have no regulatory standards.

I'm a researcher by trade, I've experienced working in the laboratories of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To do this work as Heritage and Vine, I comb decades and centuries of information for specific sources and knowledge.

So with my companies that I have already worked with, and supported by other research I encourage YOU to look at the following when choosing your oil sources.

What you CAN look for: be it on the bottle or box it comes in

• Botanical Information- the label should list ALL ingredients. Not all essential oils will be solely that EO which may be diluted, even in their EO state, for safety

  • One thing I LOVE about MOM's is they list the dilutions if applicable right on the FRONT. You don't have to look for it. My sandalwood EO says "Sadalwood 16% in jojoba oil" right on the front. Sandalwood is extremely irritating if in contact with skin neat. This is a safety move and they're upfront with it.

  • Ingredients should include the latin names of the plants (or somewhere on the label if not listed on the front)

• Origin Country - this section may include sourcing information like the part of the plant used

• Extraction Method - often either stem distilled or cold-pressed for most EOs

• Third-Party Testing - THIS IS SOMETHING I COULDN'T CONFIRM DOTERRA DOES. Trusted suppliers often provide GC/MS test results (Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry). MOM's does. Its essentailly a chemical test looking for any adulterations or contamination.

  • Look for batch numbers - some folks can't afford external testing, but may have decades to generations of knowledge doing a thing. They'll likely have internal quality control measures and list a batch number on products so they can alert consumers to any possible issues. This is another equitable transparency measure that encourages trust

Conclusion

I encourage us all to learn and share as we go. If you find something you like, tell others! They may or may not like it for their own reasons but that's the beauty of it, we can make that choice once we're aware of the option.

I encourage us all to remember that the best herbalists often had no titles, books, or websites. They were known locally, regionally, some of them nationally or internationally by their RELATIONSHIPS and quality of intentional care. That's my aim with H&V. What is meant for me is for me, I trust that. So what I control day in and out is my capacity to listen, learn, aid, and share. No external jargon will change what is internally there. Most trademarked fancy words will make up for accessible, clean, easily comprehended and easily fact-checked labeling (and I am a fan of some dope esoteric language). In short, I encourage us to all support companies that make it clear, make it plain, and are healing to both us and the natural world as much as possible.

Sources:

DeSantis Donation - https://americanjournalnews.com/ron-desantis-pac-doterra-gregory-cook/

Spencer Cox Donation - https://www.businessinsider.com/doterra-utah-governor-cox-mlm-essential-oils-school-covid-19-2021-9

ISO Esential Oil Standards - https://www.iso.org/search.html?PROD_isoorg_en%5Bquery%5D=essential%20oil&PROD_isoorg_en%5Bmenu%5D%5Bfacet%5D=standard

MOM's Essential Oil Info - I checked my bottles lol