essential oils · health · natural lifestyle

Top 10 Life-Changing Young Living Products

I sat down to make a list of my top 10 Young Living products, and ended up with a list that was 30+ items long!

Asking me to pick my favorite oil or Young Living product is like asking me to pick my favorite child. It’s not really possible because I love them all differently, and for different reasons! However, I made the attempt.

To narrow it down to TEN, I set some criteria. I made a web and categorized all of my favorites by use. Then I really thought through which ones have been the most life-changing, most frequently ordered, have multiple uses, and why I used each of them. After MUCH contemplation, these are the ten that think I love the most.

  1. Lavender Lotion. If I stopped using oils today, or started getting oils from another company, this is the product I would continue to buy from Young Living. My whole life I have struggled with dry itchy skin, patches of eczema, cracked hands and heals and no lotion has really made a difference. This lotion is everything. I always keep a bottle at home and at work. When it gets to be half empty I go ahead and order a backup. No more eczema patches, and as a math teacher, I am a HAND MODEL. I have students watching my hands all day long. I cannot have haggard, ratchet looking hands. This lotion keeps my hands and feet soft and smooth, and I think, younger looking! You know how most lotions you apply, only to feel the need to reapply a half hour later or even sooner? Not this one. It is long lasting too! Learn more about Lavender Lotion here.
  2. Thieves Cleaner. This ONE cleaner replaced so many cleaners in our home that were full of harmful chemicals. It’s a concentrate, so not only does it last forever, but each 32 oz spray bottle that I mix up costs pennies, so it saves us a ton of money every single month. What did it replace? Pretty much every cleaner in our home. And when I switched to from using Clorox wipes in my classroom to using Thieves Cleaner, my students with asthma comment that my classroom is the one they feel safe in and that they can actually breathe. That is huge! Read my post on Thieves Cleaner and it’s many uses here. I also did a whole Ditch and Switch series if you are interested in making the shift to a chemical free home.
  3. Thieves Essential Oil. This oil. It is the one I reach for if myself or anyone in my home falls below the wellness line. We are diffusing it, applying it (diluted), adding it to our epsom salts bath, and personally I am adding it to a capsule or making a tea. I have an entire post on Thieves as well. It belongs in every home. I feel the need to add that if you are a DoTerra user and you are thinking “oh that’s basically OnGuard,” I disagree. I have tried OnGuard in the diffuser and topically and 1) it doesn’t smell as wonderful to me and 2) Thieves is the original and OnGuard is a copy. It’s like if you want Coca Cola and someone hands you a Sam’s Cola. If you would like to read more about the many uses and applications for Thieves, I wrote this one on common uses, and lesser known uses in this post.
  4. Lavender Essential Oil. I have indeed bought more bottles of this oil over the past 10 years than any other. The reason I know this is because I do a strange thing – I keep my empty oil bottles. There are SO many more lavender bottles than any other. That’s because lavender is the most versatile of all essential oils. It has been referred to as the Swiss Army Knife of oils. It’s good for allergies, skin, hair growth, sleep and anxiety just to name a few. It has dozens of uses. You can read my blog post on lavender here to learn about even more uses. Be cautioned about using just any lavender. Lavender has no regulation and anyone can slap a lavender essential oil label on a bottle and sell it. Lavender that you find on Amazon or at Walmart likely has no health benefit and is really just lavender fragrance. Fragrance itself is harmful and a whole other conversation for another post. If you want real lavender that satisfies the health claims I am making here, make sure you purchase from a company who has their own farms, grows the plant and distills the oil themselves – Young Living is the only company that does all of that.
  5. Valor Essential Oil. I am honestly surprised that this one is on my list. It didn’t make my original cut. I had to not only include it in my top 10, but put it higher on my list because of one word: VERSATILITY. Once I started thinking practically about what I use from Young Living and started list making what I use most often and why, this one appeared on EVERY list. It’s my go to for: back pain (it’s actually called “chiropractor in a bottle” by many), TMJ! Apply on jawline at bedtime. NO. MORE. TEETH GRINDING. Nerves/Anxiety – it’s in my Liquid X roller which will be the topic of an upcoming post. Valor + 4 other oils in combination have completely calmed this previously anxious girl. Valor also helps so much with SLEEP. And maybe one of it’s stranger uses is that it helps stop SNORING. How weird is that? Don’t take my word for it. Apply to the big toes of the person in your life who is snoring and you can thank me for this life changer.
  6. Life 9. I was reminded of the power of this AMAZING probiotic. I have tried other probiotics in effort to save money, but I would just go back to being bloated, having worse lactose intolerance and gluten issues, and just being backed up. I would also go back to feeling more sluggish overall. My most recent testimony is that in the past year I have hit menopause. I gained weight and inches in my middle. None of my pants fit anymore. I started watching what I ate more closely and working out daily but it didn’t help. I would cry at least once a week over it, mourning the youthful figure I once had and wondering if it was gone forever. I sat down one day and brainstormed if there was anything else I was or wasn’t doing. I had stopped taking Life 9 because of money. I had spent a couple of years trying every other probiotic under the sun just to cut cost. Then I went to a small local Young Living event last month and talked one on one with a Young Living exec who works in the supplement department. He asked me if I was taking Life 9 and when I said no, he asked why in the world not. He said to do that one thing and watch the difference. The next day I started taking Life 9 again. I have lost an inch if not two in my waist just in a few weeks. No more muffin top, back rolls, my old pants are fitting. The waistband of my leggings and joggers aren’t rolling down anymore. I’m having much greater bowel movements (sorry, not sorry if that’s TMI!) I am just blown away by the very recent difference I’m seeing, especially considering the fact I haven’t been able to exercise as much in the past few weeks due to my children’s busy schedule as well as my own. The Young Living exec said the difference (which I already knew and had forgotten) is that all YL supplements are made with essential oils which help make sure the body uses the supplement entirely. The addition of the oils whose molecules are tiny help make sure the supplement travels throughout the body. Over the counter probiotics are often not used by the body at all and just get expelled through our urine. The addition of the essential oils is crucial to making sure the body fully uses what we are putting in it, much the same way you should take a turmeric supplement that has black pepper (curcumin) otherwise you are just peeing it out. The 9 different probioitic strains are the exact ones we need for a healthy gut. We NEED good bacteria and not to take anti-biotics! Healthy gut goals! 75% of our immune system is located in the gut folks. End of probiotic Ted Talk.
  7. Copaiba Vanilla Shampoo and Conditioner. This pair was such a great find and game changer and YL favorites of mine! Since we went chemical free in our home and all-in using essential oils, I have developed an intolerance for fragrance. Artificial fragrance burns my nose and makes my throat close up. Sadly, most store bought shampoos and conditioners have very strong artificial fragrance added. I was on the search for a shampoo and conditioner that smelled great but no artificial fragrance added, would clean and condition my hair, were absent of harmful chemicals like pthalates, and didn’t leave my hair frizzy (I have wavy, almost curly hair). That’s a tall order! I have tried dozens and dozens over the years, and this pair is the only set I have found that checks all of those boxes.
  8. Regenolone Lotion. This one also makes the cut because of it’s versatility. Attention anyone with arthritis, knee pain, back pain, painful bunions, healing stitches or deep cuts. As I’m contemplating how to explain to you what Regenolone is, I realize it’s going to sound a little bit like a miracle potion, and I would say that it is! Re-gen-o-lone re-gen-er-ates skin, tissue, cartilage. All I know is that before I started using it I had severe arthritis in my wrists, almost unbearable back pain that made me a huge grouch to be around, knees that ached and crackled when I would scale a set of stairs, and the most painful bunions that would only allow me to wear sneakers. When I use it WITH CONSISTENCY, there is no more crackling or pain in my knees, no back pain or sciatic pain in my legs, my wrist pain is almost a memory and my feet are feeling great and visibly look better! I have recently also discovered it helps with healing scars. I have had the deepest darkest C-section scar for years that I was hugely self-conscious of. It would even hurt from time to time when I lean against the edge of a bathroom or kitchen counter. I have noticed the pain minimize and the scar I swear is getting smaller and less visible! I will keep testing what it can do, but if I need any part of my body made new, I’m putting this on it!
  9. Kidscents Line. This may be cheating a bit, because this line has dozens of products, but there is no way I could pick just one of them for my top ten. It was such a game changer as a busy mom when I discovered this ready-made line of rollerballs for kids as well as chemical free bath gel, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste! And they are all potent enough to use for adults! When I first started using oils, I went all-in and did all the DIYS. For me, the longer I use oils, the fun and excitement of making rollers and products myself wore off, and I wanted something easy and ready made. Enter Kidscents line! Snifflease, Tummygize, Sleepyize, Owie, Geneyus and Kidpower, and they all do what their name implies. The Kidscents line is not only what I recommend to friends with kids, but anyone who is apprehensive about diluting and making rollers themselves. These are READY TO GO, gentle enough for littles, but potent enough for adults! If I get a cut or scrape, I am grabbing Owie. If I want a good night sleep I’m applying or putting Sleepyize in the diffuser (each of the Kidscents oils are available in roller form and regular oil bottles). If my tummy is upset, I’m putting Tummygize on my belly. Can’t focus? Geneyus. Need courage or to soothe anxiety? Grab Kidpower. Runny or stuffy nose? Snifflease. Whether you have kids or not, you need this set in your home. All the relief, only oils have NO SIDE EFFECTS or medicine head!
  10. Lavender Lip Balm. I have tried so many lip balms and chapsticks over the years. For the longest, EOS and Carmex were my go-to. But then I learned about all of the harmful ingredients in Carmex and the toxins in artificial fragrance and flavors in EOS products. And we are putting this on our mouths and licking it off! How about a lip balm with a list of ingredients that we can pronounce and find in nature, that is not only chemical free, but actually heals your lips so you don’t have to apply as often? Have you ever noticed that the more you apply products like Chapstick, the more you seem to need Chapstick? If you will try this lip balm you will never go back. I have one in my purse, my desk drawer, in my car, by the night stand, in the bathroom and for each of my children! THE. BEST. EVER.

If you are reading this and already a Young Living user, I’m curious if you agree with my list. What products would you add? If you are new to Young Living, what are you excited to try? You can get started with your very own account, get 24% off all products, and place your first order here.

If you are wondering why you should consider using essential oils and make the switch to a more natural lifestyle for your family, and why I chose Young Living specifically, I explain all of that in this post.

Note: I am a Young Living Brand Partner and may receive compensation via any links shared here.

essential oils · natural lifestyle

Lavender Essential Oil: Nature’s Swiss Army Knife

Most people know to use lavender for sleep, calming, and relaxation, right? It’s everyone’s aromatherapy go-to. For the lavender you pick up at Walmart or Target, this is perfect. However, what many people don’t realize is that a little drop of high quality lavender, like Young Living or DoTerra, contains many different constituents. These constituents benefit the body in many different ways, therefore the oil can have many different uses. Here are some lesser known uses for lavender essential oil that you may not be aware of.

  1. Lavender helps promote the healing of minor cuts, scrapes and bruises. Get yourself an empty roller bottle and carrier oil (grapeseed is best for absorbing into the skin) and add ten drops of grapeseed for every drop of lavender. Pompeii brand is my favorite. I use 10 ml roller bottles so I will fill about a tenth of the way with lavender and the rest of the way with grapeseed. This 10:1 dilution will help your lavender last longer and help make sure it is safe and diluted enough for even the most delicate and sensitive skin. This is a go to at our house for all family members! It’s your all natural neosporin, your aquaphor, and your hydrocortizone. Lavender helps accelerate the healing process.
  2. Lavender helps with focus. You can pair it with oils like cedarwood and vetiver. We call these three our focus trio. It’s really good to help with focus and concentration. Isn’t it interesting that lavender helps with sleep and relaxation, but can also help with what we would perceive to be the opposite? The reason for that because it has many different constituents and those constituents help with different aspects of supporting the body.
  3. Lavender helps promote hair growth. You can add a few drops to your shampoo or conditioner, along with cedarwood and rosemary. If you will add these you will be so glad you did. They will help promote thicker fuller hair, or if you are wanting your hair to grow longer. If you dislike DIY and prefer ready made Young Living makes a Lavender shampoo and conditioner that is divine.
  4. Lavender helps with allergies. I love to call lavender “the sneeze stopper.” It’s really good for allergy season. If anyone in your household is sneezing, you can just apply a drop to the tip of your nose and it will help with that.

Lavender is undoubtedly the Swiss Army knife of oils, with many, many uses that I have not even covered here. For more uses, check out my older post, Lavender: Young Living Starter Bundle. However, a part two will definitely be needed in the future.

This article contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

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Oils for Emotional Support

https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/referral/2183425

Oils for Emotional Support (per Gary Young, Young Living Essential Oils founder) ❤️

Are you ready? This is straight from the notes I took from our live session with Gary Young during convention in 2016.

YOU might want a pen and paper to jot down specific oils that pertain to you for your own needs. I can tell you my wish list definitely grew after this session! HERE WE GO! (Oils are in ALL CAPS)

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Emotions are the most powerful tool you have in your arsenal. Powerful in creativity and construction and equally powerful in destruction. You can use them to drive you into greatness or into the grave. But the will drive you one way of the other. If you do nothing you will stagnate, which is the same as death.

What can help you navigate your senses in a constructive way? COMMON SENSE. Where else can you buy it? Use it.

Every substance that God created has a frequency. Every man-made thing does too. God-made frequency (oils) leads to construction and man-made (not oils) leads to destruction.

There are many ways to travel through life be sure to choose one.

When you are presented with something, never say “no I don’t want to do that.” When you say that you build up a wall of negative energy that says “I don’t want to do that.” Self sabotage. You’re letting someone decide what you will or wont do. You end up spending more energy building walls than accepting life.

We’re not all cut out to do the same things. But don’t short-change yourself from experiencing life. Instead maybe say “let me think about it.” Don’t shut the door or build walls. Never close life out. Say words that leave the door open. Don’t put a wall around you that may block what you need.

Life is based on structure, belief and behavior patterns. How are you creating the pattern of success if you’re saying “I don’t want to,” “I can’t,” or “I’ll try?”

You either did it or you didn’t do it. There is no try. Two words to eliminate: CAN’T and TRY. You will never reach success using those two words.

We have the power to change, to adapt to any situation. No other living creature can do this. We can change our behavior pattern. How?

CLARITY. If you have a behavior pattern you don’t like, use while your sleeping, diffuse it. You’ll start noticing a shift.

FORGIVENESS. The behavior pattern could have been instilled in you from a parent or grandparent. You may feel like you are betraying them by doing things differently. No one was meant to be a cookie cutter. You are very special to God.

Our behavior patterns are those of our parents and ancestors and are encoded in my DNA. The function of DNA is to store genetic info.

ABUNDANCE. Put it on your checks and in your PO Box/ Mailbox. Put abundance on your checks when you pay your bills. Where as perfume. This is to attract prosperity and also to attract others to you.

We can change how we see ourselves. We can change our beliefs which will change our attitudes which will change our behaviors.

Don’t be a victim of yourself instead of a successor.

You always want your children and your grandchildren to be better than you.

Rear sight (present emotion) and your front sight (distant emotion). Use your past emotion to lead you to your future destiny. It’s as simple as CHOICE.

Every blend is created specifically for a need. Absolutely no oil blends were created for profit.

COMFORTONE. For bowels support. “smooth move”

Everything that goes on in your life is determined by emotion. It’s always there before the physical manifest. Runny nose, sore backside all began with an emotion.

Talk to God about your day what you feel good about or not, do a self- evaluation. Be more gentle, attentive, caring. Your greatest power is in self-evaluation and it only has power if you’re honest with yourself.

Take responsibility for your choices.

You can be whatever you want to be. You have to first choose it.

MOTIVATION. Put drop on pillow before you go to bed or use in bath. Keep on nightstand. Snort it. Will help you get out of bed.

En-R-Gee. Up the spine.

Put Motivation and En-R-Gee on at the same time. En-R –Gee up the spine and Motivation on your feet.

Pay attention to how you talk. There’s always pressure from some place in the world and you feel burdened. Here is the key to getting out of that space. The new behavior is using essential oils, becoming greater than you were.

PRESENT TIME should be on your person at all times. Helps keep you feeling burdens of life. You are secure with who you are and in control. This is when God resides with you – present time. When God resides with you, you are the most powerful force on the face of the earth and nothing can stop you.

When the sun sets at the end of the day, are you satisfied with what you accomplished? If you’re satisfied you will keep trying so always keep your expectations a little higher than where you are.

HARMONY. When you wrestle with yourself in your self-talk. When you’re playing mind games it comes from insecurity.

Gary was first to bring EOs to America.

Use when playing mind games. >HARMONY, CLARITY and BRAIN POWER plus VALOR.

Writing is the most powerful tool that you have to release. Write down things you like, don’t like. What you want and don’t want. Write constantly.

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This is just the first half of my notes from Gary’s 2016 session! Stay tuned for the second half in an upcoming post.

If you are interested in grabbing any of these amazing oils, you can find them here.

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Essential Oils Companies that let you visit their farms…

I thought this was very interesting! #repost

Sarah Goff called 15 essential oil companies and asked if she could tour their farms to see how the essential oils are made. I have toured Young Living’s farms several times. You can check them out too.

Here is a list of the company, phone number, and answer to what Sarah learned.

1. NOW essential oils: 888-669-3663, they do not grow their own plants. This either means that their “oils” are made in a lab or they buy plants from random farms.

2. Piping Rock Essential Oils: 1-800-544-1925, the representative told me no. She did not give me any explanation.

3. Aura Cacia essential oils: 1-844-550-7200, the rep said that they do not grow their own essential oils. She would not give me the names or numbers of the farms where they buy the plants.

4. AnimalEO: 320-286-3277, the mailbox was full. 😂

5. Mountain Rose Herbs essential oils: 800-879-3337. The rep said I cannot see the farms because their plants are sourced. She would not give me the name or numbers of the farms so I could ask them.

6. Edens Garden essential oils: 949-388-1999, the website said to not take the oils internally (Young Living Vitality oils are FDA regulated to take internally). The rep said that she had never received a question like that before and asked to place me on hold. She returned to tell me that they do not own any of their own farms and that I cannot calls those farms.

7. OnePure essential oils: only available by email. They did not respond to my message.

8. Healing Solutions essential oils: 1-800-819-4098, the rep had to place me on hold. He returned to say that I cannot see the farms. He said that the company is not equipped for face-to-face consultations.

9. Gurunanda essential oils: 866-421-0309, the rep told me that they source their oils and that I cannot see the farms.

10. Plant Therapy essential oils: 800-917-6577, the rep told me that they do not own their own farms and I would not be able to take a tour to see the plants or oils be made.

11. Rocky Mountain essential oils: 1-866-493-8159, the rep said that they do not own their own farms. I quoted, “We do not have any direct correlation with the farms, so it would be impossible for us to set anything up.”

12. doTERRA essential oils: 1-800-411-8151, the rep had to place me on hold. He said that I can only come on tours that are offered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:30, 12:30, and 2:30. I told him that did not work with my schedule, and he was not sure how to respond.

(Edited to add: DoTerra does not allow tours of their farms. I got clarification that the times listed about are for tours of their headquarters, not farms. According to DoTerra’s website, they do not own any farms.)

13. Jade Bloom essential oils: 1-844-787-3645, after listening to a long message, they do not take phone calls. I emailed and asked to see the farms. They have not returned my email.

14. Melaleuca essential oils: 208-522-0700, Mindy Buda actually made this phone call 🖤 she said that the rep told her that there are no farms for Mindy to tour. The rep then said she doesn’t know where the farms are and cannot give any other information.

15. Young Living Essential Oils: 1-800-371-3515, I called and pretended to be someone who is interested in the oils but not yet a member. I was directed to the Visitor’s Center (1-800-371-0819). I was told that I do not need a tour guide or anyone with me while I tour the farms. The farms are open M-F 8am-6pm, Saturday 9-5, and closed on Sunday. She said I can also tour the distilleries where the plants are made into oils.

I feel like these results speak for themselves. I was very emotional after making all of these phone calls and getting answers.

Why do some companies not know where their farms are?

Why wouldn’t they give me a phone number?

Why do some companies not have anything to do with how their plants are grown?

Why was I given an answer of “no?”

Why can’t I ingest something that I made from plants?

Why do some oil companies make their oils in labs and not from plants?

Why can I only visit a farm WITH a tour guide? Why can’t I go by myself?

Why did every company claims to “set the standard” and have the “highest quality oils available,” but they had no part in farming the plants?

Why don’t the employees know where or how the product is made?

How can you sell something to someone knowing they are going to put it on themselves/their kids and not know anything about it? ”

Feel free to call these numbers and see what they say.

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The photos included in this blog post were taken on my visit to one of the many Young Living owned farms. All research described above was done by Sarah Goff, shared with permission.

You can get started with Young Living Essential oils here.

– Angie