One of the reasons I trust in Young Living wholeheartedly is because of the absolutely beautiful testimonials I receive daily from the members in our Pure Culture community, and from my own family and friends.
This alone speaks volumes, as I trust my heart and intuition completely.
Its can be difficult to decipher truth from fallacy in a Google search, as they're is a massive attack on anything natural #iykyk, but at the end of the day you have to do your own research and follow your own heart. When you're at the top you will always have people who lie, steal and try to take you down. I’ve personally met Gary Young, listened to him speak, visited our farms and can attest to our purity and Seed to Seal process with my own eyes and hands in the soil of which our oils grow.
I encourage you to purchase the biography of Gary Young, it is inspiring. His truth is beautiful and you will learn the beginnings of our company over 36 years ago; our integrity, stewardship to the land and our farming practices.
main differences
One of the main differences that brought me to Young Living is that we are the ONLY company that owns are own farms, distilleries and lease farm land from countries all over the world; all other companies buy from brokers and third party's. Young Living owns our farms and distilleries to maintain the strictest standards of quality and allows them to be in control of every process of the production of our oils, seed to seal; choosing the seeds, cultivation, distillation, testing and sealing the final bottle. Above all other oils, they supply the most premium grade, unadulterated oils as nature intended.
Not to mention, anyone can visit any of our farms to see the practices first hand. I've had the opportunity to visit farms in Ecuador, Utah, Idaho, Spain + Hawaii.
the importance of distillation
To truly understand "purity" you first need to understand the distillation of Essential Oils. Essential oils are created using several methods of extraction such as steam distillation, solvent extraction, cold press or expression, and CO2 extraction. The majority of essential oils today are extracted using steam distillation, which we will be discussing below. There is a lot of misinformation floating around the internet on steam distillation. People may mention various thoughts about first distillation, second distillation, and complete distillation.
which one is better, how do you define different distillations, and how does it all work?
Unfortunately, most information you read is incorrect. Many internet authors do not take the time to research and understand different distillations; they just base their information on assumptions or reiterate ideas from other misinformed posts. I believe that it is critical to know what you are using and if it is right for you. If you are not interested in finding out how your essential oils are processed, then I highly recommend that you either stop using essential oils, or, at the very minimum, read the labels and use them only for aromatic purposes. That’s how important it is that you understand production methods.
With all the debate going on about first distills vs complete distills, it is not really about which one is the right one, but rather, which complete method, from farming to bottling, does the company practice? The real question should be, was the correct method for that particular plant material used to create the finest quality essential oil to obtain the most desirable end-user action? In other words, does the essential oil work the way you desire it to work?
The reason understanding the distillation process is so important is that many oils from many companies are labeled pure essential oils. That, however, is a meaningless claim. Federal regulations allow companies to label their essential oils as pure when, in fact the product actually contains fillers in addition to pure essential oils.
you can’t rely on purity claims on the labels
Pretty much every essential oil on the market, from hundreds of different companies, state that their essential oil is a variation of the following:
“Pure Therapeutic Grade”
“100% Pure Therapeutic Grade”
“100% Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade”
This is all seemingly fine and well, however, there is no actual certification or regulatory agency in the United States or Canada to back up any of these claims. Basically anyone can call their oils “Certified 100% Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils” or some variation of those words, and no one from the general population would be able to verify if they are what they claim. If a company claims that their essential oils are pure, or therapeutic grade, we would hope that most likely they are, in fact, just that. This is why you need to know your essential oil company and Young Living is transparent from Seed to Seal.
if you're trying to sell a product as a high quality product, why would you state it as a lower grade?
Therapeutic grade implies that there are lower grade essential oils. You will hear people claim this is all nonsense and that there is no such thing as therapeutic grade essential oils. They are either essential oils or they are not. That is not the whole story, though. Just like an egg is not just an egg, nor is water just water. There are different qualities based on many factors. For essential oils there are hundreds of factors that make it what it is.
To say Lavender essential oil is just Lavender would be a mistake. Not only are there many different types of Lavender, there are also different methods of seed selection, farming, extracting, and testing methods to ensure the right constituents are contained within the final product. A baking instructor could give 12 students in their classroom the exact same recipe to bake at home and all would come back with interestingly different outcomes.
The same is true with essential oil production. Just because the same Genus and species of plant may have been used, does not mean the same oil will be in the bottle of two different companies. Essential oil production is a delicate science that requires a tremendous amount of knowledge and understanding of proper full production from the beginning to the end.
for an example
Cypress EO requires a minimum of 24 hours of distillation at 265 F and 5 pounds of pressure to extract most of the therapeutically active constituents. If distillation time is cut by only two hours, 18 to 20 constituents will be missing from the resulting oil. However, most commercial Cypress oil is distilled for only two hours! This short distillation time allows the product to cut costs and produces a cheaper oil, since money is saved on the fuel needed to generate the steam. It also causes less wear and tear on equipment. Sadly, it results in an oil with little or no therapeutic value.
In large commercial operations, distillers introduce chemicals into the steam-distillation process to increase the volume of oil produced. Chemical trucks may even pump solvents directly into the boiler water. This expands the production as much as 18 percent. Another way that essential oil producers increase the quantity of the oil extracted is through re-distillation. This is the repeated distillation of the plant material to maximize the volume of oil by using second, third, fourth stages of steam distillation. Each successive distillation produces a weaker and less potent essential oil.
other factors that effect quality
Other things that effect the plant quality and therapeutic properties are the seeds being used, YL selects herbs for their proper genus, species and chemotype and we collect the seeds from the strongest plants and harvests.
The cultivation of the land is ridiculously important, ensuring above organic practices, using essential oils for pest control, reinoculating the soil with missing enzymes, minerals, and organic mulch (the mineral content of the soil is crucial to the proper development of the plant, and soils that lack minerals result in plants that produce inferior oils), weeding by hand etc.
Cultivation covers everything from soil preparation, seeding, fertilization, watering, including irrigation and rain, sun exposure, climate, air quality, pest control and bacteria control, to harvest methods and timing. As you can imagine, each step of the process is critical to creating the most choice plant materials to use for essential oil production. This is something most people don’t consider or even know they should consider. While all are important, one area that is interesting is the company’s ability to determine the exact right time to harvest their crops. The maturity of the plant is paramount to producing the right constituents of an essential oil. We understand that a baby should be born at just the right time just like picking an apple from a tree when it is ripe has a far greater nutrient value than one picked two weeks before ripening, as is the case with most store-bought produce.The cultivation process is an area of consideration simply because it determines the constituent value and usefulness of the essential oil that it creates. While most areas of the cultivation process can be controlled there are a few areas that are completely out of human control such as sun exposure, too much rain, and air quality from wind patterns.
The timing of the harvest is one of the most important factors in the production of therapeutic oils. If the plants are harvested at the wrong time of the season or even at the incorrect time of day, they may distill into a substandard oil. In some instances, changing harvest time by even a few hours, can make a huge difference. Example, German Chamomile harvested in the morning will produce oil with far more azulene (a powerful anti-inflammatory compound) than if it is harvested in late afternoon. Other factors that are taken into consideration is the amount of dew on the leaves, the percentage of plant in bloom, and weather conditions during two weeks prior to harvest.
While reputable farmers do all they can to promote quality growth, occasionally what is called an “act of God” occurs that is outside of their control. When this happens, why should you be concerned?
Most essential oil plant life growers are more concerned with bottom line sales and production than the actual constituents. There is an exact right time of day that a plant should be harvested. There is a specific amount of time that plant life should “rest” after harvest to obtain the highest quality of essential oils.
When things go wrong, either inside or outside of the control of the farmers it is important to know how your oil company deals with such potential mistakes. Do they test the oil and buy it if it is in range of their quality? If it is not in range of their quality and they do not buy it, do they know if the grower allows someone else to buy it? If they do, does your company still work with that company knowing that an inferior product is being sold to the highest bidder? Is that unethical to you? These are all questions you need to answer. If you do not care, then be prepared to get oils that should essentially be dumped down the drain.
all plants are not created equal
These are just SOME of the things that effect plant quality, there are so many more and I could literally talk about this for hours. At the end of the day it would be completely wrong to say that all plants are created equal. Just like I mentioned above, an egg is not just an egg, and water is not just water, there are many factors to take into consideration and if you don’t know who you are purchasing your essential oils from you cannot guarantee the therapeutic effects of that oil.
This is why I support Young Living, and I am proud, passionate and grateful for this amazing company.
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