Why Young Living?
For me, once I started delving into the various essential oil companies out there was one thing that kept jumping out at me: Young Living & their Seed to Seal™ guarantee.
Let me clear some things up. I wasn’t looking for the cheapest essential oil company. I wasn’t looking for a company with the catchiest slogans or marketing plans. I wasn’t interested in starting a business. I was looking for relief for extreme discomfort following a car accident in 2013. I had tried chiropractor visits and they helped but the pain always returned. After using Young Living essential oils my discomfort has decreased tremendously. It is still there, but not as constant. I have a routine I use now for flare-ups and I have returned to a different chiropractor who is open to essential oils and treating the underlying issues with my back while using essential oils to support that goal.
In summary: I was looking for the most effective product. I wanted the highest quality essential oils. I wanted a product that was safe! I found every single item on my list in Young Living.
The Price Complaint
I find it baffling that people mention price at all when talking about essential oils. Let’s talk quality. Let’s talk about a company that prepares its soil for years in advance so that it is the best possible environment for their aromatic plants to grow.
If you have the time watch that video and the others in the series. It’s a couple years old but the information is still relevant. I am still amazed that Young Living’s oils do not cost MORE after watching those videos considering all of the time & effort they put into their essential oils.
I realize money is tight. I’m not a millionaire. I have debt and bills every month. However, I realized when researching essential oils that the choice I made could cost me more in the long run. Please read Rebecca’s post on this. She blogs at A Beautiful Ruckus and is my enroller. In my opinion the entire series on essential oils is a must-read when on the fence about what oil company to choose but I have linked to the last part of the series.
How many of us don’t bat an eye when paying a couple dollars more for organic food? Personally I’ll pay a little bit more for meat that is antibiotic free. Why? Because I’ve done my research and my health in the long-term is more important to me than a couple of dollars extra spent today.
Now before anyone gets all uppity on me and throws the “But Young Living essential oils aren’t certified organic!” trust me I know that.
But Sarah, you might ask, why don’t you care that Young Living essential oils aren’t certified organic? Well dear reader I will tell you!
Why are Young Living essential oils ‘missing’ the organic label?
This company holds it’s farms & partner farms to a standard that is light years ahead of organic. Young Living is committed to producing pure essential oils without any contaminants that can be introduced by chemical pesticides or fertilizers. They use cutting-edge natural, organic, and low-impact farming and manufacturing methods.
Another reason is that Young Living is committed to sourcing and growing plants in the climates that they are best suited to and will produce the highest quality oils. Frankincense is an example of this; it is farmed in a country where organic certification is decades away. Other plants grow best in the wild and wildcrafted plants cannot be “certified organic” under current guidelines.
Certified Organic is not the same as 100% organic. Let’s say it again all together: certified organic is NOT THE SAME as 100% organic. If a company is touting certified organic essential oils I steer clear. Why? Well if you check out that link it will tell you that, “A raw or processed agricultural product sold, labeled, or represented as “organic” must contain … not less than 95 percent organically produced raw or processed agricultural products.”
You might be thinking, What the heck does that mean? Let me tell you. It means ADULTERATED essential oils. The other 5% can be, “organically produced, unless not commercially available in organic form, or must be nonagricultural substances or nonorganically produced agricultural products,” (emphasis mine) so this could be glycerin or alcohols to be used to dilute the essential oils. Since we discussed yesterday in Are Essential Oils Regulated in the U.S.? that essential oils fall under the cosmetic industry their ingredient list can be protected by trade secret status. If you are going to pay for essential oils make sure you are paying for only essential oils please and not some filler ingredient.
In my humble opinion to put Young Living essential oils on the same level as other essential oil companies that advertise as organic is an insult to Young Living. They are above organic standards.
Why Young Living was the ONLY Choice for Me?
If you’ve been researching for quite some time you most likely have run across articles bashing Young Living or the term therapeutic grade. From my post yesterday we all know essential oils are not regulated by any governing body in the US.
Let’s look at some miscellaneous info so I can hopefully explain why Young Living was my only choice:
- AFNOR/ISO standards deal with the chemistry of the essential oil not how the oil was grown/harvested/sourced when it was in plant form. If an oil tests within AFNOR/ISO standard then it meets the minimum chemical profile set by the industry. What this means is that two oils of vastly different qualities can both pass an AFNOR/ISO test. Also, just as standardized tests may not be the best method in our school systems they also cannot accurately describe the complex chemical profiles of essential oils that may differ from batch to batch and cannot be nailed down to one specific profile or even range of profiles. True essential oils will vary from batch to batch due to growing season, weather conditions, soil nutrients etc.
- Young Living does not own the trademark to therapeutic grade. You can look this up if you don’t believe me. If another essential oil company were to adhere to the standards of Young Living then I might consider their oils to be of therapeutic quality. Young Living does trademark Seed to Seal™ but to me that is not misleading as Young Living follows their essential oils from the seed to when they bottle (or seal) their oils. As we discussed in yesterday’s post according to Federal Trade Commission Act, “advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive.” Young Living’s Seed to Seal™ guarantee is very truthful and definitely non-deceptive. You can visit the lavender farms in Utah if you doubt me. Go ahead, I’ll wait. In fact if you watched the video I linked above they should really consider BEYOND Seed to Seal™ as a trademark.
- There is an essential oil company that uses the trademark Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade™. To me this is a misleading trademark (especially considering they are just a rebottler of essential oils) because there is no governing body that certifies essential oils. Who is certifying their certified pure oils? Who knows? Someone out back, random strangers walking past? They have a whole line on their site but I generally ignore it. Since, they do not follow their oils when they are plants (do not own their own farms) how can you truly know they are therapeutic grade? Or if you can’t stand the term therapeutic grade how can you truly know their oils are high-quality? Are their suppliers using essential oils as natural pesticides instead of harmful chemicals? Do they hand weed? I could go on and on. Check out this link for 12 questions to ask an essential oil company.
Final Thoughts
I realize I’m about to offend and irritate a LOT of people when I post this. It is important to me and to those in my downline or even those of you reading my blog that you do your own research and form your own opinion! However, in my mind if I care about what I put on and in my body (especially a substance that can cross the blood-brain barrier) then I want the knowledge that the company I am buying from has the highest quality product and the best practices. Forget about the French vs. British debate. Forget about whether you are pro-internal usage or only use topically. That’s not what matters when picking an essential oil company. Even if you choose to never ingest an essential oil you should still want the highest quality you can obtain. If you enroll with me and you choose to only use aromatically or topically then I will support that 100% and offer you suggestions and tips that are in line with that thinking. If you choose to never use an essential oil neat I will respect that. I dilute the essential oils I use the majority of the time as well.
If you are thinking “I’ll use a less expensive/perfume grade brand and I just won’t ingest.” Let me tell you that’s a terrible idea. Essential oils pass easily through your skin due to their molecular weights and when you don’t know where your essential oil came from when it was just a plant you could be allowing harmful chemicals into your body by applying other essential oil brands even if you choose not to ingest. Is it worth the risk just to avoid a higher cost? Or due to some aversion to MLM companies? No it’s not. It could be dangerous especially if you plan to use essential oils around children.
Also, no Young Living company rep is going to come knocking on your door because you choose not to ingest. Does anyone show up from your local pharmacy if you choose to use a lower dosage or recommended amount than what is on the label? No. Just like with Young Living you are free to make your own choice with how to use the product in your home as long as you are safe about it. The company knows their oils are high quality and therefore some of the oils are regarded as safe to ingest per the FDA GRAS list.
If you are against Young Living purely because it’s an MLM then that’s foolish. (I was foolish once too so no hard feelings. I googled for ages attempting to find a company that stood up to Young Living to no avail. I wish I had listened to my gut sooner but now you can avoid my delays because you are equipped with knowledge!) The requirements to maintain a wholesale account with Young Living are not stringent there are no monthly minimums. They require one $50 purchase per year and if you choose not to make that purchase your account goes inactive with no penalties. They do require the purchase of a starter kit but there are many levels to pick from for your budget or you can try out some oils at wholesale prices via my offer on my Young Living page. You are NEVER required to sell or recruit your friends or have parties like in some other MLM’s. You can choose to do the business side and I can help you through that process but it is not required. Ever.
To sum up, I originally chose Young Living because out of all of the companies I researched to me they stood out. Yes, I choose to ingest but I had already made that choice before cementing my decision to use Young Living. No, I personally have never purchased another brand of essential oils. I have smelled singles and blends from other companies and do not care for them. I have had wonderful results with Young Living and have full confidence that I will continue to have those results in the future. If you use some other essential oil company besides Young Living and you did due diligence and researched them thoroughly and are fully confident in their oils then congratulations to you, but don’t be offended if I refuse your offer of homemade products for all of the reasons above.
If you would like to know how to get these awesome essential oils into your home please visit my Young Living page or email me at sarah@graceinoils.com. If you already use Young Living then rock on fellow oily friend! Leave me a comment or follow my blog and share my musings (rants) on the world of essential oils!
Hi! I joined team Oily Ruckus just over 6 weeks ago and am so happy that I did! Love your thoughtful and well researched posts about YLEO!
xo-
stephany
Doesn’t our team rock? Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words. Have a great day!
Rock on! You do an excellent job in making a touchy subject very clear. I am also a Young Living distributor and will continue to be one.
Thank you for your well researched article.