I use lavender oil in a diffuser at night. It helps me fall asleep. I also use it in my soaking tub with epsom salts to relax. My son in law uses eucalyptus when he is stuffed up. Essential oils are just a nice add on for me. For years I would simmer cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg on the stove for a wonderful holiday aroma. Now I can use my diffuser. I just like things to smell nice and if it makes me feel better that’s a win!
I am a fan of using Vick’s Vapo-Rub, which is menthol and eucalyptus oil, for chest colds.
I don’t use lavender oil, I use dried lavender sprigs from my flower garden, add it to a potpourri bowl of dried flowers in the bedroom.
I prefer the kitchen to smell like my home made soup-of-the-day.
When it comes to expensive “essential oils”, I think of what they say about a fool and his money.
My youngest D has a good friend whose very lovely mother uses and sells essential oils through one of those two top companies. Her house always smells wonderful and some of the products, especially the hair care ones, seem nice, though too pricey for me even if I could get past financially supporting the scheister who started the company.
D asked me last night if she could add a certain oil to water to drink. H has some EOs because he makes a natural insect repellent for his own use with oils bought on Amazon, but the oil D asked about can be toxic when ingested.
D has just become used to seeing her friend’s family use oil for everything as assumes it’s safe. Thank goodness she asked me without just going ahead.
Maybe it’s time we become proactive and warn our kids about safely using EOs because they’ve become ubiquitous.
“oil D asked about can be toxic when ingested.”
Yes, that brings up a good point which was briefly mentioned in the article as well. Just because this stuff is supposedly natural, a lot of essential oils can actually be harmful if not used correctly.
I am a user of essential oils. Smell is one of our most primal senses. I find certain oils to be relaxing and others to be invigorating. I’ve found a few dabs of peppermint oil on my workout top will get me going on days I’d rather just flump.
As we were waiting for the vet to arrive and put one of my old cats to sleep, the cat went into clear distress. I used a diffuser with lavender oil and the resulting decrease in distress was quick and obvious. Would it have occurred anyway - maybe. But, given my own response to that scent I am certain it is what helped poor BooBoo in his final hours.
What really infuriates me about essential oils and other natural “cures” is that they are touted as safer and purer than “Big Pharma” when, unlike medications made and sold by pharmaceutical companies, they are purely profit driven. They don’t have to undergo the rigorous, expensive testing and vetting by the FDA that is required for real medications, and they don’t have to spend a dime in research and development. And yet, magically, their practitioners are less motivated by greed than big bad MDs. Hmmm…
So, so, so wrong.
LOL I started reading the article in the OP and as soon as I read the above quote I just clicked off the link. Utter nonsense.
And I am no fan of pharmaceuticals either and take no prescription meds, but that kind of talk just seems like gibberish to me. Guess for $1B in sales a year you would be willing to say anything you think people will buy into.
Hahaha! “Aligns your DNA”?! Aligns it with what? What does that even mean?
I would be leary of ingesting oils, because I imagine the industry is as unregulated as the dietary supplement companies.
I do like the aromatherapy aspect of essential oils, though. Citrus, mint, eucalyptus, and vanilla are some of my favorites for using around the house. I don’t believe they have any magical healing properties. The smell just makes me happy.
I am open to both traditional medicine and alternative therapies. We have personally experienced good outcomes from using essential oils in our family. We like that they support the body’s immune system, not that they will ‘cure’ anything. It’s like when you take Vitamin C and Zinc when you feel a cold coming on…those things don’t cure the body, but they help strengthen the body to fight off the cold.
I think that we as a nation forget that we can have some personal responsibility for our own health. We can choose to exercise, change our eating habits, decrease the pace of our lives to become less stressed, and essential oils is just another option for us. Just depending on doctors to give us medicines for every ailment and not doing any proactive self-care is like handing your life over for someone else to make all the decisions.
I am a strong proponent of advocating for yourself, asking questions, and being a partner with your medical team to decide what path you will take to be the best, most healthy person you can.
" would be leary of ingesting oils, because I imagine the industry is as unregulated as the dietary supplement companies."
Vey correct observation. As long as they do not make a specific “disease” claims, they are golden. The FDA has nothing against them. So BS like “aligns your DNA” is what some creative heads came up with… sounds scientific enough for the unenlightened part of the population. 
We had a class project helping a fictional small business with re-branding their products to not sound like they were medicinal. Lots of oils and herbs were in those concoctions. 
it is not that hard to make them sound like they are treating something without naming that something… slap the FDA disclaimer at the end, and it is fine.
I have no knowledge of Young Living practices, but doterra as a company uses fair trade practices around the world to support the communities where they want to purchase harvested oils. They try to cut out the middlemen and work directly with the farmers in the area. And then they also ask the farmers what kind of help would be most beneficial, and their foundation grants project money for school buildings, or barns, or clean water supplies.
I am okay with the amount of money I pay for oils, and I am glad to know some of my money makes it to the laborers in the fields around the world.
For those that want to support a small business: go to your farmers’ market and buy your oils from a local herbalist.
https://www.bulkapothecary.com/categories/aromatherapy-essential-oils.html
Read and weep Doterra low lever sellers LOL.
MLM is just exploiting the product in the way that nespresso exploits coffee, it isn’t about the actual product. The issue is the model. I buy some EOs by the liter for making soap and lotions, there isn’t any magic, some of them are just really nice (you cannot beat a nice lavender soap). Some are considered ingestible with the right processing and classification (e.g mint types). YL=LDS church. MLM model is the same.
I don’t get the Nespresso reference? Probably because I don’t drink coffee. They are not MLM. Care to explain, @Sybylla?
Yeah, got me lost on the Nespresso.
It is overpriced for a tiny amount of the product but over packaged and sold as a system. I can buy a pound of green coffee bean for $5 (decent beans even LOL) while one nespresso pod contains 5 grams (LMAO) of coffee. The coffee, like the EOs, isn’t the actual issue.
In the instance of Nespresso (not that I buy it), you are paying for the convenience and the delivery method for brewing that cup of coffee. That’s a different marketing strategy/gimmick than the big EO companies use, IMO. More akin to snack packs which are expensive per volume vs. the same treats in bigger packaging. Heaven forbid you have to portion out your own snacks.
MLM is what separates the oils from Nespresso and any other “repackaged” products. Nespresso does offer a HUGE convenience factor. One can get a quality espresso by pushing a few buttons. There is a hardware part that is also involved… Herbal oils… the branded ones - they are just as easy to use as those that one can buy from a herbalist.
Decent analogy with snacks, but there is more to Nespresso - patented brewing tech. Getting hot water shot through the capsule at 16 psi (I think) is not a small feat. It looks like Nespresso tech has been licensed to other coffee equipment makers. I saw DeLonghi, KitchenAid, and Breville branded Nespresso machines the other day.