There are more CBD brands out there than anyone could reasonably vet, and they don't all deserve your trust. Jen and I ran into this early. We were bodyworkers before we were makers, and we had to figure out which products were good enough to use on our own clients, with our own hands. Most of what we tried didn't clear that bar.
The useful thing we learned is that sorting a serious brand from a risky one comes down to six questions, and none of them require a chemistry background. I put a version of this list together for the Hawaii Spa Association earlier this year.
Here's what we look for, and how we know when to walk away.
1. Start with the THC status, and ask for proof
This first question is more consequential than it was even a year ago. THC-free, sometimes labeled broad-spectrum, means the THC has been removed. Full-spectrum means it hasn't. For a spa that matters for two reasons. First, you may have clients who are drug tested for work. Second, the federal definition changing on Dec. 11 caps total THC at 0.4 milligrams per container rather than measuring it as a percentage, which changes what qualifies.
So ask for the THC status in writing, and ask for a lab result that backs it.
2. Ask for a real certificate of analysis
A certificate of analysis, or a COA, is a third-party lab’s report on what’s actually in a product. A generic COA that has been sitting on a company website for two years tells you about a product they made at some point. That’s not necessarily what’s in the jars sitting in your treatment room.
So ask for a current COA. Also ask how often they test. Whether it’s quarterly, per batch or once a year, the answer tells you whether they’re testing on a schedule or testing when someone asks. The good brands make their results easy to find rather than making you request them.
It’s worth knowing what you’re looking at when it arrives. A COA will show the cannabinoid profile, which is where the THC number lives, and many will also report on pesticides, heavy metals, residual solvents and microbials. You don’t have to interpret the numbers yourself. What you’re checking is that the date is recent, and that the panels you care about are actually on the page.
3. Read the claims like a regulator would
A brand that says its product cures, treats, heals or prevents anything is breaking the rules. Those words aren't allowed on a CBD product. A company using them either doesn't know that or has decided it doesn't apply to them, and neither is who you want your business attached to when a client asks you a hard question.
Watch for before-and-after photos implying a clinical outcome. Careful brands talk about what a product may support and what people use it for, and that restraint is a signal rather than a weakness.
4. Find out who actually made it
Ask who formulated the product, and listen for whether the answer is a person or a facility. Both exist in this industry and both can be legitimate, but they're different propositions. A brand that can tell you who developed the formula, what they know and why they made the choices they made is a brand that can also answer your next question, and the one after that.
We're obviously not neutral here. Jen taught herself to formulate because nothing on the market did what we needed in a treatment room. That's the background we bring to it. What I'd say more generally is that when something goes wrong with a product, you want a human being on the other end of the phone who understands the formula rather than a distributor reading from a sheet.
5. Ask how and where it's made
A few plain questions go a long way. Where is the hemp grown, and can they name the farm? What's the extraction method? Is the facility following Good Manufacturing Practices? Can you read the full ingredient list and understand most of it?
None of that requires you to become an expert. You're checking whether they know their own supply chain well enough to describe it without hedging. Vagueness at this stage tends to mean vagueness further up the chain.
One practical note on ingredients, because this is the part that affects your staff and not just your clients. If you're putting a product into hands-on treatments, the therapist is exposed to it far more than any single client is, so the full ingredient list matters for them too. Ask what the base is built from, ask about fragrance and preservative systems, and ask whether anyone has flagged sensitivity in regular use. A brand that has thought about the practitioner as well as the client will have an answer ready.
6. Ask the people who use it every day
Massage therapists and estheticians handle a product eight times a day and form opinions fast, about absorption, about slip, about whether a client's skin reacts, about whether the scent is still pleasant on the fourth appointment. That's a kind of testing no lab does.
If you're considering a line, ask whether you can get enough to run it through a few real sessions before you commit to a shelf. Any brand that's confident in the product will say yes.
The short version
Green flags: a current, third-party COA you can find without asking, a clear THC status in writing, careful language about what the product does, a named formulator, a supply chain they can describe, and practitioners who've used it and will say so.
Red flags: medical claims, a COA that's old or generic or unavailable, no clear answer about who made it, and any reluctance to have the conversation at all.
The last one matters more than people expect. Every question in this piece is one we'd be glad to answer. A brand that gets defensive about a certificate of analysis will be defensive about everything else too.
If you're working through this for your own menu and want a second read on what you're carrying, I'm happy to help. It's the kind of thing that's much easier with someone who's already been through it.
