Using Essential Oils Sustainably

Two passions of mine: oils and sustainability.

Something I want people to know about using essential oils is that you don’t need to have every single oil to use essential oils right. You don’t need to have a shelf full to the brim of pretty, colorful bottles to successfully incorporate oils into your routines. In fact, there are probably about 10-15 essential oils that you would be just fine to cycle through using and be really helped by those tools! A really fascinating aspect of essential oils is that there are so many similar properties between them, which means you can use one that may be more affordable and get similar if not the same results as another, pricier oil.

Another great way to make using essential oils sustainable is by diluting them with a carrier oil, such as fractionated coconut oil. When it comes to essential oils, like many things, the principle less is more can be applied. When you use a carrier oil, you need less essential oil to cover more surface area or last longer than if you used it neat, or undiluted.

We use Thieves every single day

by diluting it with carrier oil and applying to the bottoms of our feet!

There are about seven essential oils that I go through like wildfire in my home because we USE them and we are so helped by them every single day. Much of the rest of them are extra help, but not our seven that we pull out every single day. That’s the great thing about the starter kit! You get 12 oils, some of which are the ones I use every single day, and the rest are tools you might need for a particular time or situation, but not necessarily every day. As you begin using essential oils, work with them, allow them to work on you, and find your must-haves or the tools that you benefit from the most, and don’t feel like you have to try everything to be successful.

The Starter Kit

12 of the most-used and versatile essential oils

Any additional oils we have are for specific reasons or support in particular areas of life but not everyday necessities. For example, Raven, which comes in the starter kit, is so helpful for respiratory support during the winter months, but I don’t often reach for it in the spring or summer months. Snifflease is the same way: crucial for a sick day for my son, but not something I go through every single day. So we buy and restock these oils much less than say, Thieves or Lavender. When I like the way a particular oil smells, I use it as a candle alternative! But I never want to have oils sitting on a shelf, unopened or unused. That is not a sustainable way to bring these tools into the home.

Raven:

Amazing respiratory support, but not needed every single day

Think about it: the company who distills and distributes these oils does so in a sustainable and responsible manner, meaning everything that is produced has been done so to the highest standard and is ready for use in our homes. Why would we squander that hard work by getting something that isn’t going to be utilized or put to good use? Don’t buy a fancy bottle of rose essential oil just because. First off, it’s expensive and you may not be able to afford it at the time. Second off, the amount of rose petals it takes to produce that bottle is immense! Unless it is something that you really need to be using to help you, let someone else benefit from that resource.

This is probably an unpopular opinion, as people in the business of Young Living (myself included) make money off of other people loving and buying oils. Don’t hear what I’m not saying! Essential oils are incredibly useful tools that I believe can help every person in one way or another. However, I do think we can approach our use of these oils in a sustainable manner by not unnecessarily filling our massive oil shelves with them, just to be looked at. If I have an unopened bottle of oil, I find a way to use it for others or I give it to someone who needs it. I don’t need three full bottles of something when someone else could benefit from even a few drops of it: these oils, nay, PEOPLE deserve to get the chance to use them.