Storing Essential Oils: How To Retain The Maximum Therapeutic Benefit

There's a lot of varying information about how essential oils should be stored, and what their shelf lives might be. Should you store them in a dark cool place? Refrigerate them? Make sure they all get used in a few months, or don't worry about it because "pure essential oils" last forever? The truth is, the answer to these questions depends completely on the oil itself. Here's a quick look at how to care for all your oils, to ensure you receive the maximum therapeutic benefits.

The lifespan of essential oils, if simply left in their bottles in the average home ranges from a few months to almost indefinitely. Over time, certain factors in the environment degrade the natural constituents of certain oils and not others. These environmental factors include: the presence of oxygen (or simply exposure to air), heat, and light. Theoretically, oil left in an open bottle, sitting in the sunlight will then have the shortest lifespan, and a closed bottle -- with very little airspace -- in a dark, cool cabinet will have the longest. Yet because oils vary so greatly in their natural chemical makeup, this is truly just a generalization.

One terms that's often used, whose meaning is difficult to pin down is "shelf life". This term is used by manufacturers to help guide consumers as to how long the oil will be "good" for if kept in the most common conditions: in a closed bottle on an open shelf somewhere in your house. For the advanced practitioner, this term has little meaning however, because with the right storage conditions, even very delicate oils can last a very long time.

It's also important to consider that its not the end of the world if an essential oil's aroma gets a little flat. It will still retain much of its therapeutic benefit -- if you still like the aroma, wonderful! Inhale it! At the same time, some oils actually cause skin irritation to some people if they've gotten old. This has been proven for lavender and tea tree essential oils. Again, they many still impart their therapeutic benefits, but for some people (about 18% of the population) get skin reaction to these oils if they've aged too long. The bottom line here is that its still safe to enjoy the aroma of older oils that have theoretically short shelf lives, but its probably better to avoid using them in other ways unless they've been stored in a very protective manner.

Looking at the aging of individual oils and groups of oils, it is the cold-pressed citrus oils which oxidize most rapidly. You could even conceive of why this might be: these oils have been directly extracted from fresh fruit, whereas other oils have been steam distilled or solvent extracted. They are the most close to nature as you can come.

The most delicate of the citrus oils is grapefruit, with an unrefrigerated, closed bottle often being noted to have a shelf life of six months or less -- other citrus oils will last longer. In the case of cold pressed citrus oils then (though not steam distilled citrus oils), storing your bottles in the refrigerator is a smart choice. If you really want to get into the "nitty-gritty", if you're using the oil often, keep a small portion in a bottle outside the 'fridge for daily use, and keep the larger portion inside the refrigerator to dispense oil from on a weekly basis. This way the oil that's kept cold with its cap on stays this way without being disturbed as much as possible.

The next group of oils to consider are the florals. Interestingly, the essential oil steam distilled from the flower of a citrus tree, neroli, is the most sensitive to degradation as well. Neroli has been noted to simply go flat, and some say its important to not only keep it in a dark, cool place, but not even shake the bottle! Other florals certainly have longer shelf lives, on the order of one to two years. It may be the sweeter floral aromas that oxidize most rapidly: lavender and ylang ylang are examples. Rose otto, on the other hand, can still be wonderful after five years.

The essential oils distilled from herbs, grasses and evergreens also have a relatively long shelf life, on the order of one to two years. The spice oils, somewhat overlapping this group, have a shorter life when considering their effervescence. The loss of this very top note of "spicy-ness" will not have a huge effect on certain therapeutic properties; ginger, for example, will still have a strong anti-inflammatory action even if this top note is lost. It's also important to note that many of these oils are available as "CO2" distillations, which, according to their manufacturer, have a significantly longer shelf life when compared to the steam distilled varieties.

Then there are the oils that actually improve with age. This includes many of the very earthy aromatics: sandalwood, patchouli, vetiver, frankincense and myrrh. Their fresh, top notes when first distilled are considered harsh, and not necessary for their therapeutic activity. Rather, the aromas become smoother and more beneficial with age. These oils of course require no special storage considerations.

Here you can see the very wide range of correct answers as to how you should properly store your essential oils. The first consideration is whether you'll be using your oils within the first few months after purchase -- if this is the case, there's no need to concern yourself with storage. If you'll be keeping them longer than that, decide how long you'll want to be storing them, and which of those oils falls into the "very delicate" category, the "moderately delicate" category, and the "gets better with age" category. With this knowledge, you can then decide whether to put some of your oils away in cold storage, to maintain their utmost freshness. Through these guidelines, you'll be able to always use oils with the greatest health benefits.

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The author has made available much information about aromatherapy, such as using clove and other high quality essential oils.

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