Young Living vs. Snake Oils

Here’s a visual way to understand one significant difference between a true essential oil and most of the other stuff on the market today.

Let’s first look at water--H2O--one atom of oxygen and two hydrogen. This in itself is small enough to be permeable to the skin. But we seldom see water in that form. Usually dozens and hundreds of water molecules are strung together. It’s still water, but the longer the chain, the less effectively it absorbs through the skin (or intestinal wall) into the body. It’s sort of like trying to sweep pine needles through the cracks of a wooden deck. It can be done, but it is much easier if the pine needles are broken into small pieces. There are health products that claim to break down long-chain water into short-chain water so it is absorbed into the body more efficiently. In a way, it is “more nutritious” water. (I prefer to use a few drops of Young Living oil in my water, such as lemon, orange, tangerine, grapefruit, Citrus Fresh, peppermint, cinnamon, cassia, Thieves, etc. I’m not certain that it has the same effect, but I suspect it does. And I know I’m getting the therapeutic effects of the oils. I also know that essential oils “digest” petrochemicals, hence the residues of plastic water bottles are gobbled up. The chlorine of tap water is neutralized in much the same way.)

Now think of essential oil molecules as the individual water molecule. By nature, it does not chain together like water. The easy way to know this is because of the aroma. Open a bottle of peppermint and the molecules don’t just sit there...they jump out of the bottle and begin filling the room.

How small are they? In his book, Healing Oils of the Bible, David Stewart explains that there are enough molecules in one drop of essential oil to divide 40,000 of them among each and every cell of your body. Considering their volatility and frequency (highest of any natural substance), you can easily see why an essential oil applied anywhere on the body will be in every cell within minutes.

Let’s consider oils sold by companies other than Young Living. Aromatherapists trained under the British model learn that applying essential oils neet (undiluted) is very dangerous. This fear is appropriate considering that they use adulterated, perfume grade oils. Before Young Living made therapeutic-grade oils available to the masses, this was the only thing there was to work with. Adulterated means that synthetic (dangerous) ingredients are added to give an oil a consistent smell--something very important to the perfume industry. Besides consistency, adulteration is also convenient when an oil comes from a crop that is harvested too early or late in the day or during the wrong season when the therapeutic constituent of the plant is low. Or when the plants are distilled at too high of pressure and heat because volume takes precedence over therapeutic value. So, with adulteration, you end-up with a dangerous, synthetic substance attached to a highly effective delivery agent--an essential oil. Yes, if this type of essential oil is used, it is very important to dilute it with a fatty vegetable oil.

So let’s look at fatty oils. Their chains of molecules are huge. Although a minute potion may be absorbed into the body when placed on the skin, it mostly just sits there and, unless you wash it off, you smell rancid the next day. Imagine a few tiny molecules of essential oil stuck within the folds of these gigantic, fat molecules of olive oil. There is a much better chance that they will escape into the air than there is that they will be absorbed by the body. Hence, it becomes relatively safe to use the dangerous essential synthetic oils that non-Young Living aromatherapists use.

Folks, if you ever go to one of these people, just get a plain old massage. That might have some real benefit. But don’t kid yourself that the oil rubdown is doing anything worthwhile.

When you see the $5 bottle of so-called essential oil in the health food store that is twice the size of Young Living bottles and a quarter the price, you can have a good chuckle. The value of what’s in the Young Living bottle is not comparable to what’s in that other bottle...literally. It’s not hundreds of times better. Not thousands. How can you compare the value of something that is good for you versus that of something that is bad for you but has a similar smell?

But feel free to get that $5 bottle of oil. Let’s says it’s lavender. You can do some interesting comparisons with Young Living lavender. Smell each of them, one at a time. You virtually have to shove the $5 bottle up your nose in order to smell it. Yet, if you breath in Young Living lavender with your nose too close to the bottle, the aroma is so strong and full that you’re likely to burn your sinuses--the molecules are bursting out of the bottle.

On another day, enlist an assistant (this will be a great learning experience for kids) and use two different rooms of similar size. The assistant will take the $5 oil into room #1 and close the door behind himself/herself and open the bottle. You wait 60seconds, then barge in and note the smell--if anything. Leave quickly so that your sense of smell won’t adapt. After a few minutes when your sense of smell has neutralized, do the same in a second room with the Young Living oil.

A third experiment is to get an empty bottle that is the same size as the $5 bottle of oil. Put 10 drops of Young Living lavender into it and then fill the rest of the bottle with a vegetable oil. This may be all it takes to make an oil with the aromatic strength of the $5 bottle. If the Young Living combo is weaker, add a few more drops until the two smells are close in strength. (The two smells will never be identical--one is true, the other is synthetic.) Considering that there are roughly 285 drops a lavender essential oil in Young Living's 15ml bottle, you are now able to make dozens and dozens of your own $5 bottles of oils if you so desire.

We begin to realize just how diluted (and useless) the original $5 oil is. No matter that it says Grade A, 100% Pure, or even therapeutic-grade. It is perfectly legal for companies to market as such because these terms have very little meaning by FDA standards. The only way to know that you are getting something of therapeutic quality is to look for AFNOR on the bottle. While there are a few Young Living singles that won’t have this, most will. If a single does not have this designation, it is because the French governing body has not yet developed a standard for it...it’s probably a rare oil or it was not readily available in France when these standards were being set. Young Living blends are proprietary--Young Living sets the standard for these...an industry-wide standard is useless because no one else in the industry has these blends. In these last two cases, it’s a matter of trust. I personally trust Gary Young to sell only therapeutic-grade oils--I know that this is a spiritual quest for him as much as anything else.

But there’s more to it than trust. I know there are thousands of envious companies that would love the tiniest excuse to knock down Young Living. Not to mention the FDA.

Oh! By the way, when finished experimenting with that original $5 bottle of oil, it makes great ant poison. :)

Have a great week!
Caleb Eaton
Young Living Independent Distributor #110712
www.eatonessentials.com

I AM NOT A DOCTOR and therefore have no interest in the maintenance of sickness. I DO have a passion for learning about health and wellness and, understanding that teaching a subject is the best way to learn it, am thankful that you’ve joined with me on this adventure.

The information shared herein is given by faith in a higher power over that of man.