Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Essential Oils

It's been forever since I have written a blog post! Today, I am choosing to write about essential oils because I have been doing a lot of research on them and I've found so much information it is overwhelming!

My interest in Essential oils started with a friend that said they were a great way to boost the immune system. That is right up my alley because I get sick often, as do my kids! I ended up doing a Facebook event with some Young Living reps. They taught us about 10 of the top oils, how to use them, what they did, and they gave us some info about the company. They answered a lot of our questions throughout the event. It was very informative! I learned a lot about essential oils, though there were some major red flags that went up.

The first red flag was the reps were not medical professionals, but I felt like they were pushing medication on me. They went through the oils, listing what the oils are good for and ways to use them to prevent or treat medical conditions without a medical background. 

Another red flag was that they said the oils are safe to ingest. Not only did they say it, they insisted it! They said you can add the oils to your water, put a drop on your tongue, fill capsules and swallow them, etc. I know that Young Living says this is safe, but where is their proof? Where are their medical professionals?

The biggest red flag of all for me was that a Young Living rep told me I could use essential oils to replace my Synthroid. WHAT? A rep of a multi-level marketing (MLM) company told me I could stop taking my Synthroid and use essential oils to replace it. This rep does not have a medical degree, and as far as I know, is not in the medical profession at all. But she insisted that I could use essential oils to replace my medication. I don't know about you, but I can't see taking medical advice about how to treat my thyroid issues from someone that doesn't have a medical degree.

At the end of the Young Living Facebook event, they so wonderfully posted a slide that said we could own the oils and a diffuser...for $150! They insisted it was a wonderful deal! Someone asked about cheaper options, and they kind of hid that in the comments, I guess they wanted to be able to make more money off of everyone.

By the time the class was done, I knew I had to do my research. With all the red flags and then the steep price, I knew there had to be more info out there that would help me make a decision on the best oils for me to use. So I took to the internet, searching for as much information as I could find.

I came across Whole New Mom Blog and found some great information...A 7 part posting about what essential oil company is best. This series of blog posts really addressed a lot of issues with essential oil companies. As someone that is new to essential oils, I learned a lot! I found a similar blog post from The Hippy Homemaker. It was good to get different opinions.

I continued to do research and I also asked some family and friends that were not associated with Young Living their thoughts. Some people recommended a Young Living rep while others said they didn't know much about the oils even though they have some.

My sister was probably the biggest help! She gave me the info of a friend of her's that sells her essential oils. I had met her friend before so it was nice to have a friendly face to talk to, even though our conversation was through Facebook!  Anyway, she gave me some great information to read and sent me to her website, Scentsible By Nature and her Facebook page Aromatherapy - Scentsible By Nature. I read all of the articles she had posted and found some amazing information, including proof that you shouldn't ingest the essential oils or put them directly on the skin without a carrier oil. She also has some great products and she mixes the oils together to create blends that help with stress, sickness, etc. She really had a lot of useful things to say. She wasn't trying to sell me anything either, she was truly just giving me information and she told me to make up my mind on what I wanted to buy and who I wanted to buy from. Unlike Young Living, who claimed their products are the best and no one else can compare to them.

I know I still have a lot of research to do, but for now I will definitely not be ingesting essential oils and I will continue to do my research to figure out the best products for me.