Aura Cacia
www.auracacia.com
A Commitment to Quality Sets Aura Cacia Apart
Sue Andrews, Wellness Department Coordinator
This August, the staff from the wellness department piled into the car and drove forty-five minutes north to Urbana to visit the Aura Cacia facilities. Aura Cacia is housed in a small, nondescript building that sits off the highway. To be honest, it was not what I expected at all. Aura Cacia is a leader in essential oils and natural body care throughout the nation. Walk into any natural food store in any other state and you are guaranteed to find them on the shelves. I was surprised that this little building could be the home of an industry giant.
When we arrived we were greeted by the staff and my favorite herbalist and aromatherapy educator, Tim Blakley. Tim gave us a great presentation on aromatherapy and also shared recipes with us on how to use essential oils everyday. My favorite tip was sprinkling peppermint on the bottom of your shower in the morning. The steam will diffuse the oil throughout your bathroom and peppermint is an excellent pick me up. Or how about using an essential oil as a deodorant? Sprinkle a few drops of sandalwood in your hands and pat your hand under your armpit; it will keep you smelling fresh all day long. One easy way to use a specific oil is to put some body lotion in your hands and sprinkle a few drops on the lotion before you apply it. You can smell like a geranium all day!
Besides using aromatherapy in your bodycare, how about using it around the house? I always put a few drops of tea tree oil in my toilet to keep it smelling fresh and clean. I also sprinkle lemon on my kitchen counters before I wash them down. Basically Tim helped us to understand that it is simple to use essential oils everyday in a variety of ways.
Tim also showed us why Aura Cacia is the leader in essential oils. One of the distinctions that stuck with me was their commitment to quality. They meet face-to-face with the people growing the plants that make their essential oils. Frequent trips to Europe and Australia to visit their suppliers also demonstrate their commitment. Aura Cacia uses only pure, authentic essential oils. Their high quality testing program utilizes gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. This machine can detect if the oils that are sent to them are cut with synthetics or chemicals to mimic the scent or smell of the plant. These chemicals are harsh and abrasive to skin. Why would you want that in your body lotion? Isn’t the point of body lotions to soothe and protect your skin?
We were given a test during our tour; we had to smell three different essential oils and decide which one was real. It was amazing how us common folks with common noses could tell the difference between the oils. I personally was amazed at how I could almost smell the chemicals in the tainted oils. These are some of the excellent examples of their commitment to you the consumer and their philosophy of making pure quality essential oils.
We were given a tour of the production facility and actually watched the products being placed into packaging. Deb Sullivan is the plant manager and runs the plant like a well-oiled machine. All of their products are packaged in the same facility—essential oils, massage oils, and bath salts. The bath salt filler machine was insane! It runs approximately 1.2 million 2.5 oz. bath packets annually. That must be about three hundred packets per day. I was surprised by how Aura Cacia takes great strides to reduce their carbon footprint in the production facility as well. It is the simple things that they do, like recycling all paper, using recycled packing peanuts, and even finding better ways to package their products so there is not a lot of waste, that prove their commitment.
After all was said and done we were given an excellent meal and a great bag of goodies. (One of them being the new oatmeal bath packets in stores soon!) We hopped into the car and headed back to the Co-op, our heads filled with aromas and amazed at how such a great company is right down the road from us.
