Curious about essential oils? I’ll go through what exactly they are, how they are made, how to use, tips and tricks, and more. So let’s dive right in to the beginners guide to essential oils!
Want to skip to grabbing your starter kit? Click here (ahh how exciting!)
At first I was skeptical of using essential oils but after hitting a particularly overwhelming point in my life I was willing to try anything to support my mental health. I immediately fell in love with the way Peace & Calming essential oil made me feel and have never looked back since. Our family has successfully used oils for sleep, tantrums, household cleaner, immune support, minor boo boos, cooking, and so much more. Just like I care about the quality of the food my family eats, I care about the quality of the products we use on our bodies.
What exactly are essential oils?
Have you ever smelled fresh lavender and felt relaxed? Or have you ever had a warm cup of peppermint tea to settle your tum? Or chamomile to unwind? If so then you have already experienced the benefits of essential oils.
Essential oils are the highly concentrated, aromatic essence of trees, shrubs, flowers, and herbs. They are the oil of the plant from which they were extracted (basically concentrated herbs).
Though essential oils seem all the rage these days they actually have been utilized for thousands of years by many cultures (Romans, Greeks, Egyptians) to support their health and wellness.
How Oils are Made:
Essential oils are extracted by many different methods like solvent extraction, cold pressing, maceration, and enfleurage, but most commonly by steam distillation. This is why it’s important to know how your essential oils are made. Some low-quality essential oils can be made from plants that were treated with pesticides and extracted with chemical solvents. These are NOT the oils you want to use for you or your family. Instead opt for pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils made from high-quality plants and herbs that don’t contain GMOs, pesticides, harmful chemicals or chemical solvents, such as Young Living essential oils.
Making an essential oil takes a lot of work and in some cases, tons of plant material to make even just a tiny amount of essential oil. For instance:
- To make just 1 oz of Rose essential oil, you would need 60,000 roses
- To make almost 1 gallon of Lavender essential oil, you would need about 220 lbs of lavender flowers
- For some oils like Sandalwood and Jasmine, you need to have precise timing. Jasmine must be picked as soon as the flowers open, and sandalwood must be 30 years old before harvesting
It’s no wonder high-quality essential oils may seem expensive. Have you ever thought of purchasing 60,000 roses? Another factor that affects pricing is the rarity of the plant needed and each distiller’s quality of standards. But when you consider you can replace DIY and household cleaning products with essential oils, it usually comes out to be cheaper and more natural.
How to Use Essential Oils:
Aromatically
Scents are powerful and the fastest way to reach the mood center in the brain is through our nose. In less than a second, essential oils hit the limbic system and have the power to affect our mood.
- Inhale the oil directly from the bottle: simply smell it! You can rub a drop or two on your hands and cup your nose or just inhale directly from the bottle.
- Diffuse the oils with a diffuser which disperses the oils in a micro-fine vapor throughout the air.
- Place on diffuser jewelry to enjoy throughout the day. Etsy is filled with great quality options including necklaces, earrings, and bracelets.
- Add essential oils to play dough or enjoy our scented play dough sensory kits to create a relaxing environment for your children during imaginative play.
Topically
Essential oils are rapidly absorbed by the skin, which is not surprising considering the skin is the largest organ of the body. In fact, one of the best places to apply essential oils is the bottom of the feet – which have over 2,000 pores and some of the largest pores on your body.
- Before applying essential oils directly on your skin, consider adding them to a carrier oil (coconut, almond, avocado etc.). Carrier oils help to dilute essential oils and make it easier to use on larger areas of the body (like the back) and help to time release essential oils to make them last longer. Always dilute with carrier oils when using them on children.
- You can also bathe in the oils. It is best to mix 15-20 drops with Epsom salt in a separate bowl, then pour the bowl in the bathtub.
- Mix essential oils together in rollers to have your favorite blends on the go. More information/recipes included with the free booklet given as part of your welcome gift.
Ingesting
Essential oils can be taken as a dietary supplement, but this is where it really depends on the quality of the essential oil. Remember to look at your product labels. Young Living is the only brand of essential oils I use to take internally.
- Simply add a drop of essential oil to your water or cup of tea. Young living has an entire vitality line perfect to flavor your beverages (lemon, peppermint, grapefruit, etc.)
- You can also cook with your essential oils. Some examples are black pepper, cinnamon, thyme, oregano, etc.
Where you purchase matters:
Young living commitment to quality is called Seed to Seal. They have set the highest standards for planting, harvesting, and distilling on the farms they own and co-op. And best of all, you can see it first hand. Young living is the ONLY company that not only allows you to visit their farm but encourages it to experience Seed to Seal themselves. Just like I go to the farmers market to buy our food and want to know who grows our food, I wanted to know where my oils were coming from.
These days you can find essential oils at just about any health food store, even the dollar store. But just like you can buy toilet paper at many stores, the quality is definitely not the same. To decrease the price of oils most manufacturers will dilute it with synthetic fillers and fragrance or contain cheap essential oils produced from crops with pesticides. Yes it brings the price down but it also diminishes the therapeutic effects, makes it no longer safe to use topically, and can even be harmful to the health. Check the labels – they typically say not for “internal use” or “do not put directly on the skin”. I even challenge you to smell the difference. Peppermint, for instance, shouldn’t smell sweet or like candy. It should smell like a fresh-cut herb. When you compare Young Living’s Peppermint with another company – there’s simply no comparison.
And Amazon is no better, unfortunately. There are some imposter oils that are labeled Young Living, when actually they are diluted or replaced with fake oils. Yes, really. Young Living does NOT sell oils on Amazon.
How To Get Started:
Ready to get started? Hands down the best and most affordable way to get started with essential oils is by purchasing the starter kit.
You get 12 oils, a diffuser, and other goodies for just $165. That’s like paying less than $10 per bottle and just $45 for the diffuser. You also get wholesale membership (to get 24% off future purchases) for free. Think of it like Costco, but way better and there are no monthly minimums or fees.
At retail, this set would be over $400! So that’s a 60% savings just by getting this starter kit.
Included
- You’ll get an adorable diffuser
- Twelve 5ml bottles of pure essential oils (lavender, frankincense, peppermint, lemon, raven, thieves, citrus fresh, valor, peace & calming, stress away, panaway, digize)
- 2 AromaGlide Roller Fitment to add to your oils and turn into roll ons
- 10 Thieves Waterless Hand Purifier Sachets
- Thieves Spray, 1 oz. (to disinfect on the go)
- 2 NingXia Red 2-oz. samples
- Product Guide
- Essential Oil Display Tray
- 24% off all future purchases (no monthly obligation)
- Access to our online education group including diffuser recipes, roller ball recipes, cleaning recipes, quick answers to your questions and so much more!
- A welcome package full of freebies from me as a thank you!
Essential Oils Details:
One 5 ml bottle contains 75 drops of essential oil. I typically use 2-3 drops of oil per use, sometimes less. I use about 5 drops in my diffuser. So you can see that a little goes a long way.
There are entire books written on all the ways to use essential oils but here are a couple of my favorite ways to use each oil included in the starter kit:
Lavender:
Called the swiss army knife of oils. If you don’t know where to start, reach for lavender. Great for setting a relaxing atmosphere, sleep, skin support, minor boo boos, and so much more. I even put a dab on bug bites and blemishes to get rid of them faster.
Frankincense:
This oil promotes feelings of calmness and balance and smells great in the diffuser- when you’re feeling overwhelmed, during mediation, or even during yoga. It’s also a personal favorite to use for skin support and apply to fine lines and wrinkles.
Peppermint:
Peppermint gets me going in the morning and diffusing valor and peppermint is a perfect blend to get your morning started right! Peppermint added to warm water is also my go to tea when I have an upset stomach or to add to my wellness tea.
Lemon:
Use it to replace your lemon juice in water because it’s made from the rinds (not the juice). Definitely good for internal use and smells great in the diffuser. Combine lemon and peppermint in the diffuser when you need to get work done or for homework time for the kids. It’s also a natural goo-be-gone and I’ve personally used it to get paint off floors, stickers of walls, and gum out of hair!
Raven:
Camphor, lemon, wintergreen, peppermint and eucalyptus make of this blend. Raven supports the respiratory system and is ideal for diffusing when feeling under the weather. Mix with a handful of coconut oil and rub on the chest for a DIY chest rub. My favorite is adding a couple drops to a warm shower (where you won’t step on it)-it feels just like a spa!
Thieves:
This blend is made with cinnamon, clove, rosemary, eucalyptus and lemon. This blend is for immune support which is ideal especially for this time of year. You can add a drop to a spoonful of honey to take internally or add to tea for a delicious wellness drink. Diffusing this smells just like cookies and a perfect alternative to burning toxic candles in your home.
Citrus Fresh:
A refreshing blend made with orange, tangerine, grapefruit, lemon, and spearmint. We got rid of dryer sheets years ago and ever since have used dryer balls with citrus fresh added to make the laundry smell fresh. I also love diffusing to make the home smell fresh and clean. Also you can add to water to give yourself a refreshing twist on plain water.
Valor:
This blend is made with black spruce, camphor, blue tansy, frankincense and geranium. It’s the perfect blend to help with anxious feelings (work, parenting, school). Diffuse this with frankincense for the perfect blend of courage and calm.
Peace & Calming:
Peace & Calming is made with tangerine, orange, blue tansy, ylang ylang and patchouli. Perfectly named and my faithful friend throughout the day. I also love diffusing this blend with lavender in the evening to help everyone unwind and get ready for bed.
Stress Away:
Copaiba, lime, cedarwood, vanilla, ocotea, and lavender make up Stress Away. It smells so good I replaced my perfume with this years ago! Inhale and take a deep breath as many times and you need throughout the day and it will quickly turn into one of your favorite oils too!
PanAway:
PanAway is a blend made with wintergreen, helichrysum, clove and peppermint. It’s so good for sore and tired muscles. My favorite for after exercising, long drives, or even that time of the month.
Digize:
This blend is made with tarragon, ginger, peppermint, juniper, fennel, lemongrass, anise and patchouli. This blend is what I reach for when I ate something that upset my stomach or just ate too much. It can be taken internally (I put a drop under my tongue) or rub clockwise on your belly.
Essential oils have made so many positive changes in my life and I can’t wait for them to help you too! Click on the button above to get started today <3
Testimonies
" I sleep so much better using my diffuser with peace & calming, lavender, and cedar wood. The pan away helps my sore neck and shoulders after working on the computer all day. So many oils and products I can not live without now! I love seeing my grandson when he is having a hard time ask to smell some oils...life changing!!!" -Christine D.
