I LOVE EOs! Yeah, I said it. I am a skeptic when it comes to most things considered “hippy dippy” but essential oils completely won me over a few years ago…..
**Cue the flashback track**
Almost 4 years ago, I was a sleep deprived but happy stay-at-home mom with an energetic two year old boy and a colicky breastfeeding infant. Life was pretty good except for a nagging tooth infection following a root canal that was going to require a 30 day dose of heavy antibiotics and would end my breastfeeding experience with my daughter. My heart was breaking at the thought of switching her to formula, especially with all the formula recalls, articles about allergies being linked to formula usage and her already existing soy allergy… the road ahead looked bleak.
Out of desperation, I turned to essential oils to heal my tooth and get my health back in order. I started oil pulling with unrefined unprocessed organic coconut oil before brushing and my dentist saw a difference in as little as a week! My gums and teeth were improving, but I still needed to reach the infection at the base of the tooth root. I needed a miracle…..
I’d heard about the wonders of oregano oil, so my first purchase, I knew, would include this oil.
I threw a call out on Facebook to all of my friends to see which company I should purchase from and my peers would steer me towards Young Living…so I checked them out. The prices were a bit of a turn off, but I liked what I saw when it came to purity and long-term reputation. “If I’m gonna do this, I should do this right.”
From where I was standing, after all the dust had settled from my fast and furious Google “research”, my only two real options were DoTerra or Young Living.
- Both offered Oregano Oil that could be used in the mouth. Check!
- Both were pricey. Ugh!
- Both were MLMs… double Yuck but whatever, I’m not getting into the business end, its just personal use for me!
- Both had good reputations. Check.
- Both boasted the highest quality oils, suitable for ingestion. Check.
- Both offered a similar cold and flu blend (Thieves vs On Guard)
The factors that helped me make my decision:
- Trusted friends & family spoke up in favor of YL
- YL had a 20+ year track record – the oldest by far
- YL Seed to Seal Guarantee
- First press vs 2nd or 3rd press: If you own the distillery, why wouldn’t you keep the first press when you’re producing it anyways but first press is more highly prized? It’s a “Duh” business move….of course you would!
- 2nd, 3rd and other presses are sold off to competitor companies who adulterate the mixture by diluting and mixing with additives or preservatives for more mileage.
- I love that they’re willing to scrap an entire batch/harvest because it doesn’t meet their standards. Most companies are unwilling to do that…. if they even own the fields the crop was grown in!
About a year into my love affair with essential oils, the curiosity started to get to me again. At that point, I was taking part in little vendor shows at neighborhood kid resale stores and there would usually be another oil lady there from either DT or YL (depending on the month). After a couple of months, I finally mustered up the courage to ask the Do Terra rep if I could smell her oils and compare side by side with my own kit of YL oils. All the drama talk of “Us vs Them” was getting under my skin and I just HAD TO KNOW once and for all. The results were more surprising than I ever thought they would be….
I always carry Lavender and Peppermint with me in my purse; I don’t leave home without it. I’d overheard her talking about how their lavender and peppermint were so superior to YL because of the smell difference so I honestly expected the DoTerra oils to put up more of a fight….
- Lavender: I started with lavender because I knew it would be the most obvious one for me. Up until I started YL, I thought lavender smelled like crusty old ladies, attics and bad perfume. Young Living lavender smells like a real flower would, it doesn’t give me a headache and I rather enjoy the smell of YL’s oil. One sniff of the DoTerra oil and BAM! My nose wrinkled up and I reeled away….. it was better than those cheap lavender air fresheners but it still smelled terrible to me and now I was starting to get a headache.
- Peppermint: I’ve used peppermint for many things and have grown accustomed to the smell of YL peppermint oil – its in constant stock around my house! The sniff test revealed to me that DoTerra peppermint oil includes some additives or perfumes because it smelled like a candy cane to me. Having cut most of the sugar from my diet and knowing how to make candies and sweets, it makes no sense to me why a natural plant (aside from licorice) would smell sugary sweet unless it was not as pure as it claims.
Here’s another troubling thought directly from DoTerra’s website: CPTG Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade is a registered trademark of dōTERRA Holdings, LLC representing internal standards of quality assessment and material control. The CPTG protocol is not administered by government or industry regulatory agencies and does not imply regulatory approval of dōTERRA products.
The more you dig, the more you’ll find on the cat fight between the two companies especially since DoTerra was the lovechild of past YL corporate officers who thought they could “do it better.” If you chase this one down the rabbit hole, you’re just going to feel dirty. I try to just ignore the drama because, frankly, I don’t care. I just want oils that are consistently good and I’ve found that in Young Living.
I am not going to tell you which brand to choose because like me, you’re just going to have to do a little research and make your own decision on which path is right for you and your family. I always advocate listening to your gut when it comes to making decisions that affect your family and trust me…. you’ll end up using oils for just about everything on just about everyone, so it should be a family decision.
I achieved what I wanted to with essential oils and no smear campaign is going to change the story about how I avoided additional dental surgery and potentially irreversible internal damage from antibiotics by using essential oils. I continued to breastfeed my daughter up until her 2nd birthday and that is irreplaceable to me. That’s memory gold.
I have many, many more life-changing stores about how essential oils have worked for me, but I’m going to save them for another time. My goal here was just to help others understand why I chose Young Living in the beginning and continue to choose YL, the rest is up to you.
Oh, and by the way, for all those naysayers who say it’s dangerous or illegal to use essential oils internally…. Young Living, in case you hadn’t heard, has actually been cleared by the FDA for internal usage as a dietary supplement. Last I checked, it was the only one cleared to do so. The Vitality Line – check it out.
If you’d like to see more stories about how people have used essential oils in their lives, check out www.oil-testimonials.com.
Got questions? Want to learn more? Drop me a line! I love to talk oils and I can even arrange an Intro to EOs class for you either in person or online!
Shop or sign up for your distributor discount at Young Living here
The Outcast: Mommy Blog 