a certified aromatherapist’s thoughts on dōTERRA and young living essential oils
I often get asked my opinion on where to buy essential oils, what essential oil distributors I personally use, and more specifically — what I think about dōTERRA and Young Living. If you’re unfamiliar, dōTERRA and Young Living are the two biggest international multi-level marketing companies selling essential oils. While I personally choose not to be affiliated with either, I’ll start by acknowledging this is merely my opinion and I do not place judgement on anyone for engaging with these products. There is nuance and context to everyone’s story and I respect everyone’s decision to do as they choose. As a certified aromatherapist with hands-on experience, I’m happy to share my thoughts on this curious and controversial topic.
Firstly I want to talk about the MLM aspect. I don’t love MLMs in general, but again there’s nuance to every situation. When someone falls in love with a Tupperware set and wants to share it with their community (aka, sell it to them), I see no harm in that. However, recommending something with medicinal qualities and potential health hazards to your community is very different — especially if you’re not professionally trained in what you’re recommending. Typically this model appeals to health conscious clients through exaggerated claims — and profits greatly while doing so.
anyone, regardless of training, knowledge or experience with essential oils, can sell dōTERRA and young living.
If you’d like to become a sales rep of either company, it’s quite easy. Actually you’ll find that often the opportunity presents itself to you, sometimes on multiple occasions. Even as writing this post in my local cafe, I was approached by a man who gave me his wife’s Young Living business card — you can’t make this up. Aside from the general safety precautions they provide on their website (which anyone can access) there isn’t really much information about the product, where it’s from or how it interacts with us.
Essential oils are extremely potent extracts of botanical matter. You’d like to think there’s no contraindications to usage considering the casual, widespread distribution of them — but the fact of the matter is, there is so much happening within us when we engage with essential oils. Studies on aromatherapy are becoming more available, but there is a lot we are still learning. These sacred plant medicines should be treated with the utmost respect and care. We must deal in accordance with their profound potency — as an example, it takes 30-50 roses to produce a single drop of rose essential oil. 1 drop of essential oil is equivalent to 30 cups of herbal tea. Acknowledging the strength, you can see how incorrect usage and in too high of concentration can lead to adverse and even potentially dangerous effects.
Now, i’m sure there are some reps out there who have aromatherapy training under their belt. I’m merely noting that nothing is required to begin selling, and that lack of requirement feels careless to me. I’ve seen so many unsafe usage recommendations and false health claims in the process of selling these products. It has been shown that some representatives take advantage of folks with health concerns that are looking for any alternative route to cure what ails them. Again, these reps are looking to sell product, or to sell the idea of getting involved in their team — either way, they want you to use these essential oils regularly and incorporate them into your lifestyle so you will continue to purchase.
For instance, X essential oil can be helpful in treating rosacea, but the representative may not acknowledge the dilution rate necessary for safe topical use. If the essential oil is applied directly to the skin, it will make the condition way worse.
Another issue I have is with the recommendation to consume essential oils internally, which I see from these companies and many of their representatives. I was trained to avoid consuming essential oils internally. Many reps advise customers to add “1-2 drops” to water and consume daily. I get it, that’s a way to encourage customers to ramp up their usage, and inevitably buy more product (thanks modern capitalism)! It’s not fully known how essential oils are metabolized, but I can say that essential oils are the most potent substance in the plant and should be handled as such. Many cases of serious harm from essential oil use come from internal consumption. Not to mention the disruption to our internal microbiome! dōTERRA will point out that there aren’t any studies to prove this, but there IS research showing how powerful these oils are at killing bacteria. We have 2-3kg of symbiotic bacteria and yeasts in our gut which make up our microbiomes. You ingest a powerful antibacterial substance and you guessed it, it will kill your bacteria. This disrupts our good bacteria which is essential for our overall health and well-being.
There is so much information out there on essential oils that is widely accessible to the public. However, there is an art and science to blending — the synergistic quality of essential oils in combination with one another to promote maximum benefits, and the unique needs of each individual client. This takes practice, training, and a deep understanding of not only aromatherapy but also anatomy, physiology, herbalism and more.
As a certified aromatherapist with many years of practical experience, I do not wish to be affiliated with any company that undermines Aromatherapy in such a way. But wait, there’s more!
dōTERRA and Young Living essential oils aren’t “better” than all the other brands out there. They still tout this ideology and have an air of superiority to them. If they were the best of the best quality, I would maybe re-consider selling/using them. In my professional opinion, only organic essential oils should be used. To their detriment, dōTERRA and Young Living aren’t organic. I understand that it can be hard to get an organic certification — an expensive, exhausting, time consuming feat, particularly challenging for small business. However, we’re dealing with the two largest essential oil distributors — I don’t imagine they are lacking in resources enabling them to secure this certification, should their products actually be organically derived.
On top of this, some of the terminology used to describe the quality of their products are of their own creation. They use terms like “certified pure tested grade” which is a certification for quality that was created by dōTERRA for self-regulation because there is no industry standard in the essential oil industry. It’s important to know this because when a company is creating their own language that’s not used industry-wide, it holds no real meaning of integrity. Furthermore, when they hold the copyright to this claim, there are no other companies able to use it and therefore nothing to compare it to. Young Living touts their “Seed to Seal” program, which is lovely in theory — they talk about sourcing and testing and it all sounds great, but they don’t show any actual test results. Again, there is no regulatory body holding them accountable to live up to their claims. Essentially, it’s more of a marketing term than anything with actual substance. I remain skeptical.
How do we know the quality of an essential oil? I stated that I only work with certified organic essential oils. This means that they have been produced from botanical matter that was grown using organic principles. The term 'organic' refers to an overarching system encompassing farming and/or foraging practices that have the intent of preserving soil quality, minimizing the use of synthetic practices, contributing towards long-term sustainability. Aside from personal health implications, this is important for the health of our planet and Mother Nature. The presence of an organic certification from a reputable authority is the only real way to know if an essential oil is organic.
Another way that I assess the quality of the essential oils I work with is by referring to the Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry, which is a way to identify the individual constituents and substances within a test subject. Essential oils are made up of various chemical constituents at differing levels. The chemical constituents and amounts present within an essential oil are what make it interact with the human body in the way that it does. The quality of the environment in which a plant is grown, the climate in which it’s grown, the altitude, etc. can cause different oil batches of the same type of plant (Lavender, for example) to have slightly varying ratios of these chemical constituents. In other words, not all Lavender oil is created equal.
Let’s explore the less widely-known controversies of these two brands. Both have a cult-like community of members, which immediately strikes skepticism in me.
The founder of Young Living, Gary Young, was involved in many scandals before he even started the company. He was known to produce a long list of false claims and projects involving pseudomedicine. Perhaps the most troubling offence was when he was charged with practicing medicine without a license, which resulted in the death of his baby daughter during child birth. In 1986, he claimed he could cure Cancer. He tried starting multiple health clinics that all got shut down and were the result of several serious charges, as the services of the clinic were not up to medical standards. All of these scandals occurred before he started Young Living, but by portraying himself as a medical professional and often claiming to be one, he enticed desperate people into these schemes. I personally don’t trust someone with that kind of history. I do believe people have the capacity to change, but his track record is disconcerting.
Gary Young passed away in 2018, but his company remains and continues to be at the forefront of scandals. In 2017, Young Living was forced to pay for the importing of illegally harvested ingredients. In 2020, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Young Living by an ex-community member. The lawsuit came around the same time when members of the MLM claimed the products were effective against Covid19.
dōTERRA doesn’t have a clean track record either. In 2014 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an FDA Warning Letter to dōTERRA for its distributors marketing products as possible treatments or cures for Ebola, cancer, autism, and other conditions. Federal agents conducted an investigation of doTerra's files.
In 2020, some doTerra distributors attempted to benefit from public concern regarding COVID-19 by claiming that the company's products have immune boosting properties, despite no scientific evidence to support such claims. The Federal Trade Commission warned the company it must stop making such unfounded health claims and exaggerated earnings by its distributors.
As a woman and feminist, this next point enrages me. More than a dozen women working for dōTERRA’s frankincense supplier, a Somaliland company called Asli Maydi, reported poor pay, sexual abuse and unhealthy work conditions. According to the Fuller Project, abuse continued for years after victims contacted dōTERRA.
[Information provided by Wikipedia]
With further research you can find more unsettling information about the false claims these companies and their representatives are making regarding public health. Again, there is nuance and context to every situation, and I am not here to shame every representative of these companies. I understand there are many reasons why someone may get involved. Often times, it provides income to single or stay-at-home mothers who need the flexibility that’s available with working in this context. I truly wish success for those who are involved in the distribution of these products and do not engage in spreading misinformation. And if your friend, family member, colleague etc. is selling these products and you want to support them, then by all means do so! Heed caution in taking their advice regarding usage and safety if they’re not trained in aromatherapy.
At the end of the day, I think raising awareness about the benefits of aromatherapy on our overall health and well-being is amazing and I am grateful for their contributions to this. I just don’t think a MLM structure is our best option for such a powerful product with potent effects on our health. This is my individual opinion on the topic and why I personally have chosen not to affiliate myself with these companies. I know this is a controversial topic and I welcome further discussions with anyone interested. Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts!
