I get it I get it.
You hear the good stuff about Young Living Essential Oils.
You bought them.
You are excited and you can’t wait to open these little bottles of miracles till you hear one or more below:
“Eucalyptus and Peppermint is not safe for kids.”
“You should avoid some oils if your child has epilepsy.”
“Can I use this or that for my G6PD child?”
“Thieves? You shouldn’t use it on children.”
“What oils should I avoid for my pregnancy?”
“What! You use RC? Don’t you know you shouldn’t use blends on young ones? It’s like introducing food to babies. You HAVE to introduce A SINGLE eo at a time so if there’s an allergy reaction, you can trace down which one causes it.”
You think, “Oh no! Would I poison my child? What if something goes horribly wrong!”
Ok ok, so now, deep breath. 1…. 2….. 3…. let’s tackle this together in a logic based approach. And no fear, there are oils for every situation, for every type of user out there. My intention for writing this lengthy piece is because I wanted to instil confidence in oilers, rather than people getting frightened just because of something random they hear or read on the internet.
FIRST, determine your risk appetite.
If you are super conservative and really want to stick to the straight and narrow, then use oils that are suggested in solid resources such as Gentle Babies book (for pregnancy, young ones), Essential Oils Desk Reference or the Reference Guide for Essential Oils mobile app.
Still want to avoid the debatable oils? Then sure, use the ALTERNATES suggested for each condition in the 3 resources I’ve listed above.
When determining your risk appetite, note that your willingness to take risks can change too in various situations. For example, pregnancy, oiling for newborns, oiling for a kid with special needs, etc.
I also want to interject a side note about opinions from friends and the internet here. Nowadays information gets around real fast. And it can be quite hard to verify credible sources. Like literally, any Tom, Dick, Harry can be a writer and share their opinion. So here’s some questions to ask yourself, to ascertain whether you would take the info with a pinch of salt or you would sit up and take notice:
– Is the person talking about YL oils? Because there is a whole world of difference between YL oils and other brands in these processes – soil preparation, choosing of seeds, harvesting, distillation methods, monitoring methods, testing methods, frequency of testing.
– Does the person has solid hands on experience and facts to back up what he or she say? That she’s not just passing on an internet opinion?
– Are you able to follow on the trail of logic that the person presents, or is the opinion or article relying on alarmist titles to influence you?
SECOND, so what if your risk appetite is higher?
Here’s what you can do to try oils that seems to be debatable on the internet:
– Try diffusing in a confined room. Go really low in drops, for example, 1 or 2 drops in a water based diffuser. Diffusing is the gentlest and the most scattered way of using an eo. If there are any reaction, whisk the person out. You may slowly ramp up the amount diffused as you gain more confidence that all is well.
– If diffusing is ok, try applying a very diluted amount. For example, 90% diluted with a carrier oil, on soles of feet. You can decrease the dilution over time and apply on other parts of body too as you go along.
– Because oils are metabolised very quickly in the body, much more often than not, the body will give you an uncomfortable reaction IMMEDIATELY if it’s not happy.
THIRD, rely on your powers of observation
Personally I prioritise a lot more on observation of the person reacting to the oils and place a lower emphasis on internet opinion or research. Why? Because everyone is different, with different DNA, cellular make up, skin types, etc that can create varying responses to the same oil used. And no research can cover the various responses out there. Also it’s often fallacious to apply a blanket statement on everyone.
For example, I can tell you straight off that I respond super well to Hyssop but Ju will cough with Hyssop, for the same condition we have. She also coughs with any blend that has Ginger inside, if we apply on her chest. Funnily enough, she’s good with tummy application.
And while Peppermint Vitality is the much touted solution for pregnancy nausea, I have a friend who prefer Lemon because she feels kinda off with Peppermint. Honour your gut instinct. If your body is telling you to back off that oil, honour it and stop using.
————-
I hope this lengthy post helps inculcate confidence for fellow oilers out there! Please share it or tag friends here if this is useful for them to know.
I’m really not the smartest oiler out there but I really wanted to write this for the longest time because I wished new oilers would use oils with more confidence vs a fear based approach. My oiling journey has been pretty rewarding and illuminating and I wish for the same for you!
