The world of essential oils is abuzz with terminology and concepts unfamiliar to most people. When buying essential oils, or at least getting a service like an in-home massage that includes essential oils, how do you know you are getting a quality product?

The glossary below can serve as a guide to major terms in aromatherapy. In general, the four main aspects you want to look for in an essential are: GMP Certification, USDA Organic Certification, GC/MS testing and listing of its Botanical Name.

Botanical Name:
Make sure the essential oil has its botanical name listed when choosing essential oils (the Latin spelling). The first Latin name is the Genus which is a broad category, and the second name is the species, which is specific. There are many different species of any one genus, such as cinnamon, tea tree, and lavender. Each species will produce a different product, even if it has the same common name as another oil. The Botanical Name well help you recognize the exact type of oil you have, it’s “phyto and can also ensure that the product is not a deceptive cost-cutting essential oil blend.

Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade:
This is a marketing term used by Doterra essential oils to describe their rigorous purity testing. The label denotes that the essential oils they produce are certified by their own internal standards and not by a third party, like organic certification. However, Doterra’s internal standards are very high which produces a quality product.

Co-Impact Sourcing:
This is a term used by Doterra essential oils. It is a business model that helps underdeveloped areas by providing jobs through long-term fair trade contracts with suppliers.

EOBBD:
EOBBD stands for Essential Oils Biologically and Biochemically Defined. This means creating a “biological fingerprint” of the plant, based on identifying its Botanical Name, as well as confirming its place of origin or place of harvest, and confirming its chemical identity by GC/MS testing.

Fair Trade Certified:
A Fair Trade Certified product simply means that the suppliers are being paid fairly for their products, with the resulting profits allowing for responsible employers whose employees have sustainable, livable wages. Ethically, being fair trade certified ensures that workers are not being exploited to work less than survivable wages.

FCF:
FCF stands for furocoumarin free and indicates that phototoxic (see below) components have been removed from the essential oil. Steam distillation is usually the way to remove furocoumarins, and is usually done after a different extraction method, such as cold press extraction.

Food Grade:
Quite simply, food grade means that the essential oil is safe for consumption. Even though an oil is food grade, strict adherence to the company’s suggested dosage should be maintained in order to reduce health risks.

FTIR Testing:
FTIR stands for Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. It is a reliable way to test the purity of essential oils. An infrared light is shown through the oil, and the amount of light that is absorbed is compared to previous samples of high purity.

GC/MS Testing:
GC/MS stands for gas chromatography and mass spectrometer testing. This is one of the most reliable ways of testing an oil’s purity, and can identify contaminants or synthetic chemicals.

A gas spectrometer is a machine that separates an essential oil into its component parts while turning the liquid oil into a gas. The mass spectrometer is used to then identify the separated molecules.

GMP Certification:
GMP stands for Good Manufacturing Practices Certification. It is a set of strict standards put forth by the FDA and are very difficult for companies maintain, ensuring the highest possible quality. GMP standards range from sanitations, to record keeping, to process validation.

Notes:
Notes are descriptions of an essential oil’s volatility, and when and how long the aroma of a oil occurs.
Top notes are generally the first thing you smell, and disperse quickly. They are mostly describes as bright or refreshing. Citrus oils are usually top notes.
Middle notes emerge right after the top notes dissipate and are the main “body” of the blend’s aroma. Chamomile, eucalyptus, and rose are examples of middle notes.
Base notes are heavy molecules that tend to linger. After the top and middle notes have evaporated, this is lasting smell on your skin. Common base notes are clove, ylang ylang, and frankincense.

When making essential oil blends, it is good practice to include all three notes in your formula. For example, in CedarOak’s Signature Blend, the sweet orange is the top not, lavender is the middle, and cedarwood is the base.

Origin Source:
It is important to know where the plants used for the essential oils are grown. Some may be harvested from their natural habitat, while some may be planted in a different region and grown on farms. Because of soil differences, there may be differences in the quality and chemical components of the plant, and this can have an effect on its aroma and benefits. Also, the origin source provides the ethical and quality practices of the supplier’s farm.

Phototoxic
Certain chemical compounds (particularly furocoumarins) react when exposed to ultraviolet light by causing inflammation, reddening, or burning of the skin. Ultraviolet light includes sunlight and tanning lights.
The most frequently phototoxic essential oils are cold-pressed citrus fruits. The following are the most common: Bergamot, Bitter Orange, Cumin, Fig Leaf, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, and Mandarin. If the previous oils are steam distilled, they are not considered phototoxic.

Purity
A pure oil can be defined as derived and traced from its botanical source and does not contain any synthetic substances, fillers, vegetable oils, additives, pollutants, pesticides, or heavy metals.

Seed to Seal Promise:
Seed to Seal Promise is quality control model created and used by Young Living essential oils that concentrate on 3 pillars:
Sourcing: using reliable sources from corporate owned farms, partnered farms, and farms that meet their high standards
Science: using a multitude of rigorous testing techniques including gas chromatography and infrared spectroscopy
Standards: sustainably sourcing plants and complying with laws, environmental standards, and commitment to uplifting communities

Storage Bottle:
Essential oils can lose their potency when exposed to light, so quality essential oil products should always have a blue, amber, or brown tinted bottle.

SureSource Guarantee:
The SureSource Guarantee is a method used by Nature’s Sunshine that creates an strong line of tracability to the oil’s origin. GC/MS testing both at the harvest site and Nature’s Sunshine’s labs ensures that the origin of the essential oil can be traced back through its distribution line.

Therapeutic Grade:
Therapeutic Grade is a misleading marketing term. By their nature, essential oils have a therapeutic effect, and are consequently therapeutic grade. Therapeutic Grade suggests that the essential oil may be more potent, producing a “therapeutic effect”, but this is untrue. Therapeutic Grade may also serve to differentiate an essential oil from Food Grade, although ANY essential oil not listed as food grade is not safe for consumption.
Additional marketing terms are “pure grade”, “clinical grade”, and generally any certification other than the legitimate ones listed here.

USDA Certified Organic:
A farm has to undergo rigorous qualifications to be certified organic. Because of this, essential oils certified as organic are generally of higher quality and contain no heavy metals or inorganic pesticides.

Volatility:
How fast the oil evaporates or oxidizes. Essential oils are volatile oils, which means they disperse into the air.

Wildcrafted:
Wildcrafted essential oils are harvested in their natural habitat, and contain elements from the soil that creates a more “true” aroma.

At CedarOak, our aromatherapy choices are carefully considered. When scheduling an in-home massage from us, feel free to inquire about our oils and ask about any information regarding the above concepts.