Why I Quit Selling Young Living Essential Oils
Why I Stopped Selling Young Living: My Essential Oil Journey
Let's start at the beginning of my essential oil journey and why I got started with Young Living in the first place. Back around 2013, I was having complications with some cysts, and the pain was unbearable. I had a friend who was selling Young Living, but honestly, I wasn't interested at the time. It wasn't until I had a doctor appointment with my OBGYN, who said I had a large cyst and would probably need a hysterectomy, that I reconsidered. I was so upset and overwhelmed by the news.
As I was talking to my friend, she said, “Melissa, I want you to come over to my house right now. I'm not selling you anything; I just want to give you something to try before you make a decision.” I thought to myself, what is there to lose? Due to FDA regulations, I have to be careful with my words, but let's just say I didn't decide to have a hysterectomy until 2020. I'll leave it at that.
It took me a good six months to decide to even use essential oils (I thought they were hokey pokey at first), but after doing my research, I chose Young Living Oils. Why? They are the only company that was completely open to me visiting their farm and distillery to check out how authentic and pure their products are. Everyone else said no. It just so happened that I got to visit the Lavender farm and distillery in Utah to see for myself. Additionally, I love the fact that Young Living Oils do not have an expiration date and that they can be ingested. They guarantee that no pesticides are used on the plants they grow for their oils.
You see, my grandmother used to plant peppermint in her garden, and she would pluck a leaf off and put it straight in her mouth or in her tea. You should be able to do this with your oils. The FDA says you only have to have 5-10% pure oil to be considered pure. That means you could be ingesting a lot of chemicals with other brands if you are not carefully doing your own homework.
After just a month of using essential oils, I became completely obsessed. I started noticing the incredible benefits they brought to my family and me. It wasn't long before I was diffusing oils almost every day and creating my own cleaning products. These little bottles of nature's goodness quickly became an integral part of our daily routine.
This photo shows my current oil collection, which covers two entire walls. I have them meticulously organized in alphabetical order using fingernail polish holders. Though there are a few oils I rarely use—usually ones I received for free or through promotions—these are just a small portion of my collection. I haven't yet decided what to do with those.
I'm incredibly thankful to Young Living for introducing me to natural living and opening my eyes to the power of essential oils. However, I feel it's time to move on and explore other options that align better with my current beliefs and values.
So why did I stop selling Young Living? Here's why:
Over the years, I've used Young Living oils to help myself and others, but I never fully embraced it as a business venture. Recently, I’ve found myself increasingly conflicted when friends and family reach out for health advice, only to realize they cannot afford Young Living's high prices. This has taken a toll on my emotional well-being, as I deeply want to help but feel constrained by the costs involved.
A particularly heart-wrenching experience involved a grandmother caring for her autistic grandson. Despite her desperation and my desire to assist, I knew she would struggle to afford the oils I recommended. This experience prompted me to reassess my position with Young Living.
I also want to mention how restrictive Young Living was with their rules as a brand partner. Almost to the point where they were censoring me. I published a ton of posts featuring how to use essential oils and included my Young Living independent distributor information on my blog, linking my commission-based link in each post. In 2015, Young Living both called and emailed me, demanding that I take all those posts down due to the use of words like bug spray, mosquito spray immune support, allergies and more. They wouldn't even tell me which posts were problematic or what words I could use. Despite my efforts to comply and fulfill their requests, they kept returning with more demands. I remember crying on the phone, pleading for guidance on what I was doing wrong, but they provided little help. Eventually, they left me alone, but by then, my passion had dimmed. I stopped posting about how the oils were helping me, even though I was completely in love with them. It wasn't until later that I realized the issue wasn't what I was saying, but that I had a financial gain from recommending a non-FDA approved product. Other oil companies made similar claims without issue, and I now understand it was because of the MLM structure.
In my ongoing research as a health and wellness blogger, I discovered that there are other companies out that offer high-quality, third-party tested oils at a fraction of the price. Simply Earth is one that I have tested myself. Simply Earth is not an MLM, which allows them to sell directly to consumers without the need for inflated prices to pay consultants.
Simply Earth also offers an affiliate program, which is an added perk, allowing me to share all the products I use in my personal wellness journey without feeling restricted. I still believe that not all essential oil companies are the same and I now have the freedom to continue exploring other brands.
Here is a comparison chart between Simply Earth, Young Living and Doterra.
The main thing to keep in mind is Simply Earth doesn't have as many oils as the other two brands but they are always adding more things.
Simply Earth also has monthly boxes that you can get to help you learn how to use your oils.Each box comes with recipes too. This month's box is a candle-making kit. Which I will be talking about soon, I am just waiting on the box that I ordered. If you are on TikTok I just started a new handle @OkHomesteader (My other account is @ConsumerQueen) and I will be talkabout all things homesteading and natural wellness. I will be doing a video on my first box there.
While I still believe in and love Young Living products, I want the freedom to also talk about and promote other products that I find beneficial. This way, I can provide a more comprehensive and authentic perspective to everyone.
Simply Earth isn't the only oil brand I will be checking out, it's just the first. I want to be able to provide accurate and honest feedback during my wellness journey. I will be talking more about my wellness journey over at https://theoklahomahomesteader.com/.
Thank you for being part of my journey and for understanding my decision. I look forward to continuing to share valuable health and wellness insights with you.
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