Essential oils are volatile compounds produced by a number of plants. Depending on the plant, these oils may be stored in the roots, wood, bark, resin, leaves, twigs, beans, nuts, flowers, stems, rinds, berries, or seeds. Plants use essential oils as a carrier for the removal of toxins from their systems; essential oils are also used to deter enemies, e.g., herbivores and insects that would want to eat them, or other plants that would otherwise encroach on their living space; or to attract specific insects to facilitate pollination. It is also thought that the evaporation of these oils is used by some plants for thermal regulation. Essential oils have very complex structures and can consist of up to several hundred different constituents.

METHODS OF ESSENTIAL OIL PRODUCTION

There are actually quite a number of different ways to extract aromatic compounds from plants. However, for the production of true essential oils that are meant to be used for aroma-therapeutic purposes, there are really only 3 relevant methods. Please note that all descriptions below are rather simplified explanations of how the processes work. Technically, there is quite a bit more to each of them.

1. Steam Distillation

This is the most commonly used method to produce essential oils, but it is not possible to use this efficiently for all kinds of essential oils.

• A container (usually made of steel) is filled with plant material.
• Steam is injected from the bottom into the container. From there the steam moves through the plant material, in the process rupturing the cells that hold the aromatic compounds, and thus picking up and transporting these volatile molecules with it.
• The mixture of water vapor and plant molecules will then exit through a pipe at the top of the container, and into a condenser. There the vapor/molecules mix is cooled down to a liquid state.
• Since essential oils and water do not mix, this liquid will now consist of two layers, water, and essential oil. The latter will either float on top of the water or sink to the bottom, depending on the density of the respective oil. Either way, the two liquids can now be easily separated.

2. Mechanical expression

This method is used for extracting essential oils from the peels of citrus fruits (e.g., lemon, orange, grapefruit). The whole fruits are put into a rotating container / drum, which mechanically pierces / slices / scrapes the rinds (scarification). This way the cells in the rinds containing the essential oils are damaged, releasing the oils. Water is then used to rinse the fruits, and the water / essential oil mix is then directed into a centrifuge; spinning at high revolutions will separate the oils from the water and from any solid pieces, or fruit juice, which may also be present.

3. CO2 extraction

CO2 extraction is an interesting and rather new way, but it is also still very costly to do. It is basically a solvent extraction method but using totally harmless CO2 as the solvent rather than e.g., hexane, or alcohol. The result of this process, whereby CO2 is pumped at extremely high pressures (in a liquid state) into the vessel containing the plant material, is an oil similar to a steam-distilled essential oil, but which also contains a number of heavier, non-volatile molecules. CO2 extracts thus have an oil profile more similar to the original oil in the plants. The CO2, by the way, can be easily and completely removed from the oil, and be re-used.

INTEGRITY OF ESSENTIAL OILS

How does one know whether an essential oil is pure? The short answer is that, in most cases, it is practically impossible for the layperson; and it can be very difficult even for an expert, unless he or she is equipped with the most sophisticated scientific instruments.

Nowadays there are hundreds of essential oil brands in the market, and all of them will tell the consumer that their oils are one hundred percent pure, are therapeutic grade (which, by the way, is a completely meaningless term in the first place), are sustainably harvested, are laboratory tested, etc.

But most of the sellers are either completely ignorant of the actual facts, or they are simply and intentionally lying. The unethical practices of tempering with essential oils can range from the oil not being an essential oil at all, to the oil being stretched/diluted by way of adding inferior, meaning cheap and/or artificial, substances.

A well-documented example of such fraud is lavender oil… much more so-called ‘lavender essential oil’ is sold than could possibly be produced by harvesting all existing lavender fields. And this fact applies to several other essential oils as well.

There are also a few, somewhat less severe, cases, where an oil is actually pure, but of inferior quality, because the plants have not been grown in a favorable environment, because they have not been harvested in the correct way, because they have not been produced in the correct manner, or because of a combination of the above reasons.

Since there is no official body anywhere in the world that governs/regulates essential oils (as it is, e.g., done with cosmetics products), it is up to the consumer to find out who tells the truth and who doesn’t; and the best way to do that is to look at the product as well as the company.

Looking at how an oil is packed can give a clue, but it is unfortunately by no means enough, as anyone could theoretically have an inferior oil in a good-quality packaging.

The better oils will always be in dark-colored, UV protected glass bottles, the label will have the scientific name of the oil stated as well, the word fragrance will not be used anywhere in the text, the bottle will probably have a child safety cap, and so on.

Price can be another criterion… even though a high price is not a guarantee for a good quality oil, a low price for an oil that is being touted as high-end is always an indication that something is amiss, because truly pure, high-quality oils simply cannot, for many good reasons, be cheap.

Most brands will simply buy the oils in bulk from some (possibly even questionable) source without knowing any details about the oils, like e.g., the specific chemical composition, the origin, the production method used, et cetera. They will then refill these oils into their own bottles, slap their own labels onto them and sell them as high-end essential oils.

Therefore, the very best way to determine whether you can believe/trust the seller is by having a good look at the company/brand. And this is the point where companies like STYX start to shine, because with STYX you can not only look at the products in detail, but you can also look at the company and the people working there in great detail.

And when you do that, you will find that STYX is a traditional family business, now in third generation ownership, that STYX is situated in Austria, Europe, a country with probably the most stringent regulations and laws in the world with regards to skin care, body care, and cosmetics products.

You will also find that STYX is a company with ultra-modern storage, production, bottling and laboratory facilities, that it is ECO and COSMOS certified, and that it operates under the most stringent quality control measures and with green, CO2 neutral energy.

You can visit STYX any time you are in Austria. You can join a company tour; you can meet the owners. You will gain an insight into the whole production process, from harvesting and quality control, and until the point when the products leave STYX Austria for their final destinations.

Ask yourself this question: how many other brands can offer you such detailed, and absolutely crucial, confidence-boosting insights?