How to Get Thick Essential Oils Out of the Bottle

Yes, it's happened to the best of us. We finally receive our first Vetiver, Patchouli, or Myrrh (for example) in the mail and are ready to diffuse it when...it simply won't come out of the bottle! What should you do? First, I'll tell you what not to do.

Don't heat the oil.

Ugh. There's some bad information out there on the internet telling us to warm essential oils to get them to pour easier. Don't! Heat is not a friend to essential oils.

Do this instead.

There is a tiny hole surrounding the large opening in the bottle's orifice reducer (the plastic top that allows oil to drip out). The large hole is called a stem. The stem is actually for air to pass into the bottle so that oil can pour out. The tiny hole is where the oil flows from, not the stem! They can be hard to find, but usually someone with a keen eye can find one (I've involved my husband if necessary). Young Living oils come with a side drip orifice reducer; they drip out of the side.



Pointing that tiny hole toward your diffuser (or other container), hold your bottle at a 45 degree angle. My photo doesn't show the angle very well, but the point is not to hold it completely upside down vertically, which will block the stem from allowing air flow.

Have patience. Wait at least 30 seconds in that position. The oil WILL come, I promise!

And, by the way, for thin oils (like those in the citrus family), point the tiny hole upward, away from the diffuser. It will come out a bit more slowly.

This is information that I learned as I worked with thick oils, before I began aromatherapy education. I could have used it before I got my first bottle of vetiver! :) I hope you find it helpful.