Essential Oils, Calming & Anxiety

[BastCat]

How can I be sure to get the 'Real Thing', when purchasing Lavender, Bergomot, Jasmine, Lemon Balm and other Essential Oils? Amazon.com and other places are known to have a lot of fakes from China and other places, even made in the USA.

Customer ratings don't mean that much anymore either. You can go to Amazon's website and they explains how they adjust the ratings and reviews.

Numerous times I've seen reviews left for items that aren't even for those items.

Manufacturers are allowed to put practically anything on the bottle they want. It doesn't really mean anything if it says 100% or natural or authentic.

Does anyone have any recommendations of good quality brands of essential oils? Especially good for calming and anxiety in people and cats?

[Blueruth]

This company has an excellent reputation. I have gotten good dry lavender off of Amazon but I couldn't tell you the vendor. Growing catnip is easy and probably the best but you have to research it because it turns into another herb so you have to pick early.

mountainroseherbs.com

[BastCat in reply to Blueruth]

Which company has the excellent reputation? Have you grown catnip indoors before, and are you suggesting it for people or cats? I've used liquid catnip and didn't notice any changes.

[Blueruth in reply to BastCat]

Mountain Rose. I pasted the link in the comment.

I grew catnip awhile ago. My neighbor grew it over the summer and I used to pluck some... cat loved it. They like the dry stuff too. No idea about liquids. My advice is to get a good book on herbs and essentials. The founder of mountain rose has published at least one. They also have a journal. Personally I find herbs to be more about a whole body experience than chemical. At the most basic level if you enjoy the scent you are naturally going to feel more relaxed.

[Cllasy]

If you have a hospital nearby stop in their pharmacy and see if they sell them. My hospitals are very good!