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“Young Living versus dōTerra”

This is an extremely common search phrase and the subject of much debate. Everyone wants to know which one is better, and many have their own heated opinion. I’m not going to play that game. Why? Because I believe that the essential oils you choose to use comes down to what is personally best for you. What you value may be the same as what I value, or it may be different. Personal preference really is an opinion, and it’s not up to me to tell you what your opinion should be. That is entirely up to you.

How do you determine what is best for you? You research yourself, collect the information, weigh it alongside the testimonials you read, look at the products offered, and decide what is going to meet your personal needs. Clearly Young Living is my brand of preference, so trying to tell you which one is better would most likely result in you discounting my comparison of the two brands as biased based on the fact that I have chosen a brand that also provides an income opportunity. So, instead of comparing Young Living with dōTerra and other brands out there (I’ve used several), I’m simply going to tell you why I personally chose Young Living over all of the other essential oil brands available.

First, A Little Background…

June 10, 2011, I had an amazing family day with my husband and my littles. That evening, though, I felt uneasy as yet another police officer had a tragic accident the day before. For the first time, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and was worried about him going to work the next day. Knowing that he’d never listen to me, I did not protest. I simply did my best to shrug off the uneasiness, and I went to bed a very happily married mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old son and an eight-month-old daughter. My husband always got ready and left for work hours before I would wake. That morning, June 11, 2010 was the day my life turned upside down.

I was woken at 7:14 am by a knock at the door. The knock no one wants to ever answer. I opened the door to find his beat partner standing before me and learned that my husband would never walk through our door again. I will spare you the awful details of that day and the weeks and months and years of turmoil after, as that is a story in and of itself. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that not only was I completely devastated; my son was as well. This presented me with severe emotional trauma. Not only was I dealing with the grief of losing my husband, I also had to deal with the trauma of an inconsolable child. I was no longer a happily married woman. I was an emotionally devastated widow.

Raising two small children, one of whom was extremely frustrated and angry because he missed the father he was so incredibly close to, while dealing with the emotional trauma of our situation, the constant back and forth of court hearings for the incident that took my late husband’s life, everyday struggles of life as a single mother, and trying to find a new normal compromised my already struggling health even more. You see, I had already been dealing with an autoimmune issue for ten years; one that was just not improving despite medical intervention. The emotional hell I was in exasperated my physical health even more. After a few years of this constant state of stress, I was absolutely miserable and looking for anything that might help.

My First Experiences with Essential Oils

I was talking to a friend one evening over my frustration with my very food finicky son who refused to put anything in his mouth he didn’t want to try. This was a big problem for me when he would get a fever because I could not get any ibuprofen in him without an awful struggle. I didn’t like giving any of that stuff in the first place, but not knowing about any alternatives at the time, it was all I knew to turn to. She suggested I give essential oils a try. She hooked me up with a bottle of Peppermint, and I was ecstatic when it worked to help bring down his temperature. Finally, a little light in the struggle. I was impressed and with her help chose some other common essential oils to try. I really didn’t know much about them, nor did I have much guidance, but they seemed simple enough. Until… until I broke out in head to toe hives upon using Lavender essential oil.

I rarely ever had allergic reactions to anything. I was told by the distributor that it was just detox and not to worry about it. Just simply push through. My intuition, however, did not agree. I could understand contact dermatitis at or around the application site, but full body hives did not sit well with me. What really left me unsettled though was the angry tone that was taken with me while completely dismissing my concerns when I didn’t agree with her advice. There was no way I was going to put oils on myself, or my children for that matter, when I had had an adverse reaction like this and received no support or guidance for the causes behind it or how to alleviate it. So, I stopped using it and put the rest of the oils I had purchased on a shelf. I didn’t really understand what was going on, and in all the chaos of my life at the time, I didn’t take the time to figure it out.

what affects the quality of essential oils

Fast forward to 2015, I continued to struggle with my emotional health, my physical health, and the emotional struggles of my kids. I finally sought out a couple of natural health providers at the suggestion of my good friend. As I brought my kids and myself to their office every week, I noticed that along with many herbs and natural supplements, there were various brands of essential oils on the shelves. Many times, my provider would reach for essential oils during our sessions, put a drop or two in our hands and ask us to breathe the oils in deeply. I would literally watch the stress and frustration melt from my son in less than a minute. I watched carefully during the sessions over the next few months. Something I noticed is that my provider, though there were several brands on the shelf (all of which the office sold), always reached for the Young Living oils. I specifically asked one day why he always used the Young Living oils with each of us and if he did that with everyone. He said that he used various brands with each client, but for our family, our bodies were telling him that Young Living was the best for our needs.

Remembering my previous adverse experience with Lavender, I then asked him if I was allergic to Lavender essential oil. He pulled three brands of Lavender from the shelf and tested my body with each of the oils. With the first brand, he said unequivocally that my body would not tolerate it. He pulled the second brand, which I had the previous adverse reaction to, and told me that though I was not allergic to it, my body would not tolerate it. He then tested the Young Living, and I had zero reaction. I was a bit fascinated and asked him why. He said it could be due to several factors like the species, the growing conditions, pesticides, the extraction methods, any synthetics or fillers used, etc. With this information, I went home that afternoon and hit good old Google for more information.

The key to high-quality essential Oils

As I sifted through many of the articles, some written by aromatherapists, others written by other essential oil users of popular brands, and articles on trusted aromatherapy research sites, I found information that helped me understand what may have happened with my body and what I was looking for in order to be confident in the use of specific oils. For me the most important factor came down to how the oils were grown, harvested, distilled, and knowing EXACTLY what was in the bottle I would be using on myself and my children.

With the autoimmune issues and toll emotional distress had taken on my body, it was at the insistence of my health practitioners, that I really focus cleaning up my diet and the products I used in and on my body. Since essential oils are very potent, it was imperative that these be clean and of the highest quality. In my research I discovered that everyone pretty much claims to be 100% pure and therapeutic grade. Yet, I also found that these claims were all determined by the company claiming these certifications. So, these company claims alone weren’t really a determining factor for me. In order to find what would best meet my needs I had to define this for myself. I needed genuine, authentic, plant-derived, organic or wild-crafted, unadulterated essential oils that were properly distilled in order to ensure I would be enhancing my health without concern of introducing new toxins to my already taxed system.

Adulteration (additives, extenders, fillers, price reducing ingredients, etc.) is such a big concern because it can interfere with the components of an essential oil and alter the physical, psychological, or emotional effects of an essential oil on your body systems. Adulteration can also introduce new toxins into your system reducing the therapeutic benefits you are seeking and increasing the likelihood of adverse reactions and toxic compounds.

The production method of essential oils is of utmost importance in the extraction of high-quality essential oils that retain the therapeutic benefits you’re searching for.

The seeds chosen must be the proper chemotype.
The soil must be healthy and free from any pesticides.
The geographical location and weather in the area the plants are grown must be ideal for the plant to produce the proper constituents for therapeutic value.
The plants must be harvested properly in conditions ideal for that particular plant. For some this requires hand-picking and may even come down to the time of day it’s harvested. For example the ideal time to harvest Ylang Ylang is between midnight and 4a.m. However, this window can be extended until 10a.m., when the essential oil begins to leave the flower and return to the branches in order to protect the tree from dehydrating. This is actually why you don’t smell these flowers as much in the afternoon as you do in the early morning.
It is imperative that oils be distilled at the optimal pressure, temperature, and time (this varies for each essential oil) to extract the essential oil while retaining the complex mixture of different constituents that produce true therapeutic efficacy. The vast majority of essential oils are extracted using high heat, high pressure, and chemical solvents, all processing methods that destroy the therapeutic qualities of essential oils.

why i chose young living

Armed with this newly acquired information and now knowing what was important for me personally, I started looking at individual brands. I needed a company that was established, respected, accessible, transparent and I needed to know that guidance would be available when I needed it. Unfortunately, these requirements eliminated many brands right from the start, and left just a couple to decide between. When it came down to making my final decision, one company stood out. You guessed it, Young Living. Here are the reasons I ultimately decided to use Young Living:

Young Living has complete oversight of their essential oils from the specific seeds chosen, how they are grown and harvested, the distillation process, to testing and bottling. The fact that they oversee every single step of the process gave me confidence that what is in the bottle is exactly what they promise is in the bottle. They do not rely on outside suppliers.

Young living NEVER uses pesticides and will not use land that has had pesticides used on it in the past several decades. They want clean, nutrient rich soil. I want clean, quality essential oils, and that requires the plants to be just that.

Young Living owns its own farms and has complete oversight over farms it partners with. These partner farms are highly researched before a partnership is formed and must follow all of Young Living’s protocols and practices in order to become and remain a partner farm. If I want to see this first hand, I can go down to the farms and witness it myself. I have now been to three different farms, two owned by Young Living and one partner farm. I highly recommend visiting one of their farms so you can truly comprehend this process. While at these farms I spoke to employees working in the fields and in the distillery. I asked lots of questions about the entire process from the time the seed is planted to the time the oil is bottled, and all of my questions were answered clearly and without hesitancy. One thing that really stood out was how the passion and pride each person had for their duties on the farm shined through in their words and in their facial expressions. Countless times I was told by farmers how grateful they were that Young Living chose to partner with them because they learned so much about quality, sustainability, and effective distillation for therapeutic properties and oil yield. Absolutely nothing is wasted in the process. They find uses for the remaining plant material, which varies from plant to plant, after distillation is complete. They truly love their jobs!

Young Living owns their own distilleries and retains complete control of this incredibly important process, distilling essential oils on site. The distillery is kept clean and you can see the evidence of the meticulous process and record-keeping at each stage. Young Living has spent years perfecting this process as every oil has different optimal conditions for proper extraction. They have optimized the distillation process to produce the greatest therapeutic efficacy of their essential oils, whereas many other companies optimize for yield. This is one of the main reasons other brands cost less; they sacrifice quality for quantity. Another brand may label a bottle 100% pure essential oil and charge less for it. But without proper distillation, the complex mixture of necessary constituents you are looking for to get maximum therapeutic efficacy is most likely absent from their essential oil. You end up using more and getting frustrated because you’re not getting the results you are expecting. There have been many times I have smelled a bottle of Lavender from other brands and it either smells like soap or is super floral. Lavender should have a more earthy smell. And Peppermint oil… that should not smell like sugary sweet candy but should have an earthy mint smell. These are just a couple of examples I have personally come across that have raised red flags of improper distillation or adulteration. When I consider the amount of plant material required to produce just five milliliters of concentrated essential oil, especially when the plant is rare or difficult to source, I have come to better understand the price of essential oils. Personally, I don’t mind paying more for quality, organic foods and for clean, non-toxic products I use on my body, especially something as potent as essential oils. It’s more important to me to have peace of mind on things having a direct impact on our health and wellness.

Young Living takes great care to ensure the distillation process is sanitary and that the essential oils they produce do not come into contact with materials like plastic that can compromise the integrity of the essential oil. Essential oils break down plastics, and plasticizers will leach into the essential oil. I have seen videos filmed by other companies (and put on YouTube by the companies themselves) who show how their oils are produced. What I have seen in these videos include distilling in rusty equipment in the middle of the wilderness in filthy water. The oil is then poured into beat-up plastic water bottles and taken to the marketplace where crude “testing” is done to ensure the oil is what they claim it to be. Suppliers then purchase the oil that has been sitting in the plastic water bottles, which they claim is okay because it’s only “in there for a short time” and rebottle it with their brand label for public sale. Um, no thank you. My goal is to reduce the toxic load on my body, not add to it.

Upon testing an essential oil, if an oil does not meet Young Living’s stringent standards of therapeutic efficacy, the oil is rejected. Sometimes, plants don’t produce the proper complex mixture of constituents necessary to meet standards. Oils from the farms they own that do not meet these standards are poured back over the fields to nourish the soil and the crops. Young Living will not sell the rejected oil to anyone. People over profit. On the contrary, essential oils produced on partner farms that do not meet our efficacy standards are rejected by Young Living, and the partner farm then sells it to other companies who then bottle the inferior oil and sell it to the public. This gives you a good idea of what you may come across when using other brands who rely on suppliers outside of themselves to obtain the product they sell. Aside from very small local farms with very limited selection, other brands rely on outside sourcing.

Young Living has been in business for over two decades and has an extensive research library, more extensive than any other company. Young Living does not simply rely on one test to ensure the essential oils they produce are of therapeutic efficacy. They test oils in corporate labs, and they send the oils out to third-party testing facilities for verification. Not just one third party lab. They use 12 independent accredited labs to supplement in-house testing. The most common test people look for is GC/MS, but reliance on this one test gives an incomplete picture of the therapeutic efficacy of an essential oil. Unfortunately viewing a GC/MS report rarely proves to be of any significant value because most people truly do not even know how to read these reports. GC/MS does not detect heavy metals and does not allow for variances with custom distillation methods used to retain more naturally-occurring therapeutic properties. Of significant note, GC/MS alone will not always reveal synthetic additives.

“The methods for adulterating or even reconstructing essential oils have reached an astounding level of refinement. For example Lavender EO. It contains, in an authentic sample, the terpene alcohol linalool. The proportion of linalool in different Lavender EO may well vary to some degree. While the addition 5% of natural linalool, derived from another EO, can ultimately be proven by strenuous analytical effort, routine GC/MS will not detect it. In other words neither GC/MS or any other instrumental method alone can prove authenticity of an essential oil. That this is so can be verified by looking at some of the analyses posted on the internet. These analyses ostensibly demonstrate the purity of an oil, but anyone familiar with the composition of authentic Fine Lavender will notice quickly that quite some of the posted chromatograms reflect EO which are reconstructed to varying degrees.” ~Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt, Founder of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy

Young Living performs extensive testing. These tests include: Densitometry, Viscometry, Refractometry, Polarimetry, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), Gas Chromatography (GC), High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Automated Micro-Enumeration, Disintegration, pH,Microscopy, Combustibility,Flash Point, Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS), Chiral Chromatography, Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS).

Finally, Young Living has a greater selection of essential oils and blends from which to choose than any other company. There are currently 270 essential oils and blends offered by Young Living. This gives me many more options to reach my wellness goals at various price points to meet my budgeting needs. Additionally, Young Living has over 600 clean, non-toxic essential oil infused products including supplements, cleaning products, personal care products, makeup, animal care, and so much more. Because reducing the toxic load on my already taxed system is a priority for me, this was another important factor in my decision to choose Young Living.

The Young Living difference

When I purchased my Premium Starter Kit, I sought out a distributor who focused on education and support, so I would have help in knowing which essential oils to use and how to use them. Once I found her, I specifically told her I wanted nothing to do with the business opportunity; I only wanted oils to help my children and myself. She cheerfully agreed and helped me order my kit and decide on which personal health goals to tackle first. She also sent me a wonderful welcome package with items to help me utilize my oils with confidence from the start. Once my kit arrived, I began using the oils right away. I have never had an adverse reaction from Young Living oils and neither have my children.

Since incorporating Young Living into our lives, our emotional well-being is incredibly balanced. Those hour-long fits of anger and frustration that turned into total meltdowns I mentioned earlier… they turned in to small outbursts of less than five minutes within a month of using essential oils. They are non-existent now. Over time, we began switching our toxic, chemical-laden cleaning products, fragrances, personal care products, and supplements over to those made by Young Living to clean up what we were using in and on our bodies and in our home. I have finally gotten control over my autoimmune issues. Our family rarely ever gets sick anymore, and if we do it’s very short-lived. Through lots of work and the consistent use of Young Living essential oils, I have learned how to deal with and overcome grief, healed my heart, and allowed it to open once again. I am now happily remarried to an incredible man who lights my soul on fire and have two wonderful, happy, well-adjusted children. I am truly happier than I have ever been!

The positive, transformational results our family has experienced using Young Living solidified for me that I made the right choice for myself and my family. Upon seeing how it was helping us, my friends and family began asking what we were doing because they had similar issues they wanted to address. I shared what we were using and doing, and upon implementing Young Living to address their personal wellness goals, they also experienced transformational changes. It felt amazing to help others who were struggling, too. Being able to help others and make a difference led me to begin sharing Young Living with others and to create our Enlightened Oilers community. If you feel that Young Living may be right for you and your family as well, I would be honored to help you begin your Young Living journey.