Save hundreds a year by making your own beauty products, cleaning products, and spice blends…
That’s what I set out to do years ago when I was on a super-tight budget and just starting to raise my family. I realized the easiest way to save money and avoid harmful chemicals was to make them myself.
For many years, I shopped almost exclusively at Mountain Rose Herbs (MRH). They carry many of the products I use from organic herbs to tinctures, to carrier oils. I’ve since branched out to other companies, but MRH can still be a good option for many. Here are the pros and cons of my honest Mountain Rose herbs review.
What is Mountain Rose Herbs?
Most of us in the DIY and natural health space have heard of (or used) MRH. But for those of you who aren’t familiar, the MRH herb company sells a wide variety of herbal products, essential oils, and bulk herbs. You can also find supplements, herbal tea, and skincare items, like salves.
They’re based in Eugene Oregon and were founded in 1987 by renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar. They’ve changed owners over the past 30-plus years, but remain focused on quality products and are still considered a reputable company. In 2010 they became fair trade certified.
MRH also offers educational resources for those interested in learning more about herbs and natural remedies.
Bulk Herbs
For many years I got all of my dried herbs from MRH. Like all of their products, they’re sustainably sourced and grown with strict quality control measures. They have a wide variety of herbs, including some harder to find ones. In 1999 they obtained organic certification so all of their items are organic and focus on sustainability.
Aromatherapy
You can also find an increasing variety of essential oils and other aromatherapy products. Mountain Rose Herbs’ essential oils and essential oil blends are all certified organic. They also offer pre-diluted roller bottle blends for easy topical use. And they carry a variety of diffusers, natural perfumes, and hydrosols. If it has to do with essential oils, they probably have it.
Body Care Products
If you’re not into DIY or don’t have the time, then they also offer a wide variety of body care products. You can get everything from bar soap, to face wash and herbal hair dye. They even have a line of products specifically for babies and young children.
And Everything Else
Here are more categories of items you can find at MRH:
- Organic herbs, spices, and seasoning blends
- Mushrooms and seaweeds
- Sprouting seeds
- Teas
- Essential oils, including blends, diffusers, and roll-on bottles
- Hydrosols and aromatherapy sprays
- Burnables and natural candles
- Oils and carrier oils
- Butters and waxes
- Cosmetic clays
- Facial and hair care
- Containers and home goods
- Books
Pros and Cons of Mountain Rose Herbs
There are certainly plenty of advantages to ordering from Mountain Rose Herbs. But this wouldn’t be a balanced review unless I included the downsides of the company too. To recap, the upside of MRH includes:
- Organic products
- Commitment to sustainability and fair trade
- Large selection of herbal remedies and DIY ingredients
- Sometimes have really good sales
- If you’re enrolled in a recognized herbal program you get a student discount
As with everything, there’s a yin to the yang. Here are the downsides I’ve discovered with MRH:
- Long shipping times (usually several weeks)
- Higher prices than some of their competitors
- A portion of the company funds awards grants to projects that some may not agree with. We always encourage you to research the brands you support.
- Customer reviews are mixed. Some people love the products, while recently others have experienced some issues with herb quality.
What I Do
I encourage all readers to do due diligence and research all options before choosing where to purchase products. When I first started making my own products I heavily relied on MRH. Since then I’ve started using products from other companies.
They still meet my standards of organic, wild-crafted, or ethically sourced. And I’ve found they’re more affordable. I can get items delivered in 2 days, instead of 2-3 weeks. Most often I get organic items from Amazon. For essential oils, I like Plant Therapy.
Mountain Rose Herbs does occasionally have sales, and they’re more worthwhile if you’re stocking up on a lot of products at once.
I ordered from MRH for years and liked many of their products. I do believe they have a commitment to high-quality sourcing and share a desire to protect the environment and grow sustainably. As always, I encourage you to do your own research and support companies whose values you share and whose products you consider high quality.
You can find all of Mountain Rose Herbs’ products and learn more about them here.
Where do you get your herbs and other DIY products? Do you use Mountain Rose Herbs? Leave a comment and let me know!
Can you be more specific about the MRH issues?
Hi Katie, I just wanted to thank you for this. I see the ethical issues with MRH as well. Due to this, I ended up placing an order with another herb store instead of MRH.
Hi Katie! I’ve been purchasing from MRH for years and was about to place another order from them, including essential oils, which I have never purchased there so I wanted to do some research first. In doing so, I stumbled across your article. After a bit of digging, I was able to find the unethical practices you’re referring to. I sadly will no longer be purchasing from MRH. As much as I love their products, this issue is much more important to me. However; I am disappointed that Amazon is pretty much the only alternative you have listed. While I am aware that it is difficult to find ethical, sustainable brands, and Amazon is extremely easy and convenient, I would love to see more alternative companies listed for herbs, teas, and ingredients. Amazon operates using very shady business practices, and reportedly supports several unethical organizations (including the Population Council, which is on a much larger scale, and so arguably worse, than one woman’s unethical doula practice). Thank you for bringing the MRH issues to my attention, and I will be sure to let them know that they have lost another loyal customer. I hope to see more ethical brands listed as alternatives on your website!
Thanks so much for this! I was trying to research MRH quality and your post came up. I’ll certainly be ordering all I can from them in the future!
How can you recommend supporting Amazon and all the things they represent? I have no idea what you think is so terrible about MRH, but at least they are a small company committed to sustainable organic products. Amazon on the other hand is hugely exploitative of workers and the environment. Amazon bought whole foods and removed small local products and local-washed their stores by sticking local stickers on products that were produced already in their state by larger corps. They removed mom and pop start ups from whole foods and almost decimated local produce producers, by only shipping from California. Amazon removed all products not owned by conglomerates of the big food producers (Haines corp, Kraft foods, etc) from Whole Foods, so now you have trouble buying things from independently owned organic companies like Eden foods. Amazon is also so huge that they really need to be downsized because they have become a monopoly with very little competition. They have no commitment to organic standards or the environment. I think I will continue to support the little guy rather then the huge shark.
Thank you for posting this, I just placed my first and last order with MRH, my gut kept telling me to look elsewhere but I wasn’t able to find any organic roasted carob root, found plenty of roasted powders but no roasted root or pods as it may also be called
I also buy my Herbs etc in bulk for the very same reason
I’d rather make it myself, I know what’s in it and more important what’s not
Since placing my first and last order I’ve received two emails explaining why it takes so long for them to ship, why not spend less time defending slow shipping and more time packing the order?
This abortion doula thing was all I needed to see, I went to back their website looking specifically for this and noticed they seemed to remove the word abortion, but not doula. I consider this a deceptive practice, makes me wonder what else they’re hiding
Prior to reading the comments posted here I’d never heard of one of those
I’m not a fan of amazon, I do not like Jeff Bezos, the company he keeps nor the groups he supports. Every purchase made on amazon is another shekel in his pocket, something I can NOT justify
Thank you very very much for this article
Thank you for sharing about MRH. I am about to get married and I’m working on filling my pantry and was about to buy from them. I don’t have a large family (yet) so to me it doesn’t make sense to buy pounds of spices. Do you have any suggestions on where I could get smaller quantiles of organic spices? I know I can just go to the store and get some in jars but I’d rather get them without jars since I have my own. I also live in a rural area and don’t have easy access to any bulk bins. Thanks
I normally just buy from Amazon these days: https://wellnessmama.com/go/amazon/
Hello, I am looking for a place to buy good quality, but cheap ingredients for different diy recipies at home. I have come across the brand, essential depot. Have you heard anything about this brand? They say they are “organic,” but I know that who they certified through matters.
I’m not familiar with that brand…
Thanks for this article. I only ordered from them once and while the product seemed good the shipping cost was beyond ridiculous. There’s no way it costs that much to ship something from Oregon to WA. I did really like their online catalogue and ease of finding what I want however I can’t justify the added cost for their product and have been painstakingly looking elsewhere trying to find what I need. In addition to that I found the many reviews of people stating they ordered something but are certain they got a lesser quality product with a label on it claiming to be something else very concerning.
Katie,
I think you ought to do a follow-up to this article. I can see based on several comments that a lot of people did not understand that you no longer support MRH. I think these people just read the headline and that was it. I also understand why you no longer support this company or recommend them. I will not be ordering from them anymore either.
Thanks for all that you do!
hi. how are you? I got irish sea moss powder from MRH. it came quick but I dont know if it’s the real thing? I started have this left side pain for the past 3 weeks and it just makes me wonder, since it’s the powder is it even the real thing?
Bless you Katie for your heart, hard work and sharing your research.
Hello wellness mama! You’re my go to for a knowledgeable source when I’m not able to spend a ton of time researching because I need a quick fix. I appreciate your heart and dedication to helping others. Thank you! I’ve been looking for an essential oil supplier that is high quality and affordable (as we all are, I’m sure). I was going to go with mrh until I began unearthing unnerving things. I then began to look into other options and plant therapy keeps coming up as having great ethics and potentially quality however, they are not listed as food grade. I ingest several oils (responsibly and knowledgeably of course!); peppermint, oregano, ginger, etc. Have you found this company’s products to be of high enough quality to be safe or do you use another company’s oils for those you ingest? Thank you sooo much for taking the time to read and respond!
Yes, their oils are the highest quality I’ve found…
Thanks Raychel for the thoughtful comment. I do appreciate the sourcing practices you follow and your commitment to quality. Unfortunately, a large reason that I’ve decided not to recommend MRH any longer is more important to me so I’m now using and recommending other high quality sources. Specifically, I disagree with the ethical decision MRH made recently in awarding a grant to a self professed “abortion doula” and refusing to reconsider when customers and readers brought up their concerns. We are all, of course, entitled to our own opinions on these issues and my point is not to change yours, but only to stand for my own. I also feel like in today’s tumultuous political climate, you would have responded differently if the person in question was a racist, accused sex offender, or a supporter of a controversial politician. Your company made a decision that you have to be comfortable with the outcome of, and in kind, I also have to choose to recommend companies that I can ethically support.
Well said. MRH has made a point of skirting around this subject, to the degree of removing abortion doula from the description after backlash. Either be honest or don’t. People can make their own decisions from there.
Hi Katie,
Thanks for being such a long-time partner of Mountain Rose Herbs’. We’re sorry to see you go!
We realize you likely are already aware of these business practices of ours, but we wanted to share this video with you about how we hand-pack and hand ship all of our items in case it’s helpful for your readers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnwzD4tBBCA.
Because we’re a small company that believes in doing things the old-fashioned way—by hand—is the best way to ensure freshness and quality, our orders take longer to pack and ship than they might for products that have been prepackaged and are sitting in an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. We also choose a transparent pricing model, which separates item costs from shipping costs and simply passes along the cost of shipping to the customer. We are always looking for ways to make our shipping more affordable. However, we understand that free and fast shipping is very important to some shippers and realize some potential customers will choose to go with sources like Amazon to source their herbs, spices, essential oils, and other botanical goodies. We completely understand and wish we could find a way to compete with the big ecommerce options out there. However, we haven’t been able to find a way to do that without sacrificing the quality we hold dear.
Thanks again for so many years of recommending us to your readers. And we wish you luck on your continued journey of creating affordable body care, home cleaners, and more for your family!
Herbally yours,
Raychel
Marketing Director
Mountain Rose Herbs
You say that there have been readers of yours that disapprove of going to MRH with supposedly important reasons on why, but yet you don’t provide the reasons on why? Pretty suspicious.
You can read through the comments about the issues here: https://www.facebook.com/MountainRoseHerbs/videos/179688966300543/
Katie,
In my search for some cold remedies on your site I stumbled upon this article was really glad to see that you no longer support them, and I support your decision for that for the very same reasons.
Thank you for everything you do! Your blog has been with this mama since the beginning of my pregnancy (he is three now!) and I’m so thankful. Hugs!
Hello,
I enjoyed your article about Mountain Rose Herbs, but I saw you didn’t mention much about their essential oils.
Do you have an opinion on those? I am currently looking for a safe and reputable distributor of essential oils after having a really bad reaction from doTerra. I was heavily leaning toward this company because they are local to me, and also Rocky Mountain Oils. If you can share any experiences you’ve had with either (or with a different company all together), I would appreciate it!
Thank you for your time! 🙂
Their oils are very good, but my personal preference is Plant Therapy…
I do love Mountain Rose Herbs products and quality. The advice to save up items to order in quantity is excellent advice though because their shipping costs are generally not reasonable. I want to order three bottles of essential oils (and their essential oils get a thumbs up from a variety of essential oil quality connoisseurs) for my massage therapist daughter for her birthday and the shipping cost to send it about 100 miles would be over $16. I just can’t do it. And I’ve been unable to bring myself to spend so much for so little before. So do as Katie does, assemble your needs/desires into larger orders and I will buy this batch of oils elsewhere!
Do you still recommend their essential oils? I noticed that you recently switched your essential oil links to the plant therapy website. I was wondering if there was a reason why you switched. Thanks!
They’re not bad, I’ve just found other ones that I like better…
Hmmm, good question and I am not sure of the answer. I’ve actually switched to Plant Therapy and Eden’s Garden for most of my oil usage (although I’m always trying out many different ones to test quality). You might want to check out this podcast interview I did with an aromatherapist were we talk all about oil usage: https://wellnessmama.com/podcast/safe-aromatherapy/