When I first joined Young Living I will admit I didn’t know much about essential oils. I was just looking for creative ways to support my health. I was trained as holistic nutrition consultant but I had never really heard anything about essential oils in school. I was lucky that a trusted friend knew more than me and led me down the path to a reputable company with amazing products.
I had purchased essential oils once or twice before that and used them for perfume and once for moist lips but I had no idea what the other uses were. Since buying my premium starter kit, I have learned so much more and even took a 3-day seminar from an independent organization called CARE. Now I feel much more informed on how to make the best choice when it comes to choosing and using essential oils on myself and my family.
These are some questions you should ask before buying essential oils…
5 Questions to Ask to Find the Best Essential Oils
Does the essential oil company have its own farms?
Young Living essential oils owns 10 of its own farms all over the world, from Croatia, Oman to Utah, these farms are open for a visit anytime you want. They also have 4 cooperative farms where they work with the farmers everyday to maintain their high standards. Young Living is extremely transparent about its sustainable and organic farming practices. They have such a good reputation they are the only company allowed in the Kingdom of Oman where the best Frankincense comes from. Before Young Living started over 20 years ago, little if any research had been done in producing them to refine growth, harvest, and distilling techniques to maximizing therapeutic techniques. It is important to grow essential oils plants in their native climate to maximize health benefits of the plant.
For oils unique to different parts of the world that need to grow in their own special climate and soils where the company does not have farms, Young Living works with partners farmers. In these cases, Young Living does not simply rely on the reputation of the partner, but sends representatives for testing and monitoring throughout the planting, growing, harvesting, and distillation process. This is done to ensure their standards are met for the complete Seed to Seal® Process because later testing alone is not sufficient to ensure such standards have been met. Oils obtained from partners must also undergo rigorous third party testing as well as testing in Young Living labs before they are accepted for the Young Living label.
Does the company use organic farming practices?
Many other essential oils from other companies are re-sold and re-bottled many times, making the sourcing information ambiguous. Did you know an essential oil can be labeled 100% pure regardless of how and where the plant material was grown. We all know that the way food crops are grown makes a huge difference in the amount of nutrients they provide. Wouldn’t that idea be the same for the effectiveness of an essential oil? Besides essential oils are not just for smelling good but are intended to support healthy body systems. Young Living even uses essential oils for pest control on its farms instead of dangerous pesticides. It is important to know if soils where essential oils plants are grown are being tested to be free from pesticides, and chemical fertilizers. Also the soil needs have the proper mineral content for optimum growth of the plants which is something Young Living monitors heavily.
How is the essential oil distilled?
The majority of essential oil are made by steam distillation where certain temperatures are applied to the plant material for a certain amount of time. This creates the oils and the water that runs off is called a hydosol. It takes hundreds of pounds of plant material to make just one small bottle of essential oil, which can be very costly and time consuming. A common practice is to stretch the essential oil with mineral oils, vegetable oil or a cheaper grade essential oil to increase profits, such as substituting germanium oil for rose oil, which is much cheaper. Also many times synthetic fragrances are added to make an essential oil more profitable but less safe and effective.
Young Living never uses fillers in their oils and has third party testing to ensure the purity and potency of each product. Young Living owns and operates distilleries all around the world; USA (2), Ecuador, France, Oman, Taiwan, Egypt, Israel, Kenya. These include four large distilleries in Utah, Idaho, Ecuador, and Oman. The Utah distillery is the largest and most technologically advanced distillery in North America. A new distillery is also being added to the Highland Flats farm which would bring the total to 10 distilleries.
Is the essential oil labeled as a dietary supplement?
Not all essential oils are the same and they cannot be ingested because they are in fact not pure. If an essential oil says “not for ingestion” then definitely do not take it. Many Young Living essential oils are labeled as a dietary supplement such as the, Vitality line. For best guidance read the label or the Young Living website which will give directions for appropriate use.
Always use common sense, listen to your body and avoid using them internally for children. Also if you don’t feel that ingestion of essential oils feels right for you there are many other great ways to use them such as in a diffuser or rubbed on the skin with a carrier oil such as coconut oil. Even if you don’t think ingestion of essential oils is right for you, I feel much better having one labeled for the Vitality line as a dietary supplement than a lesser quality essential oil labeled that it is not for use internally.
What is the education and training of the company leaders?
Many times the heads of essential oils companies have very little or no experience in distilling and growing essential oils. It is important to find out if the company is advancing the study of essential oils and contributing to the field of research on the subject in medical journals. It is important to know what the training is of the people who are overseeing the distilling of the oils to make sure they are of the utmost quality. The founder of Young Living has studied essential oils distillation and farming for over 25 years and has worked with experts all over the world perfecting the best practices.
Does the essential oil smell like perfume?
Essential oils are much more earthy than synthetic perfumes at the mall. Once you have used essential oils for a while going to the your local Macy’s perfume department will be almost unbearable because of all the fake smells. A good example is peppermint essential oil, the ones from the health food store often smell like a candy cane but real peppermint oil has a rich minty smell but it does not smell like Walgreen’s after Christmas.
How to Learn More:
For me, Young Living essential oils checked all the boxes in quality and purity that is unmatched by any other company.
You can sign up for my essential oils FREE 14 day e-course here.
If you want to shop for Young Living essential oils, learn more here.
Pin it here:
