The Ultimate Guide to Essential Oils

Essential Oils are a H U G E part of my natural living journey. And it all started 10+ years ago when I first discovered the harmful effects of fluoride in toothpaste. (LoL) Yes, my EO journey started with toothpaste! If you have not yet visited the about page where I tell you how I healed my autoimmune system naturally head over there next. It’s a pretty interesting read.

I, like many people, set out on this nontoxic lifestyle in search of healing my body.

I use them daily in so many different ways! If you have not already heard my story about how I used food as medicine to heal my autoimmune system a big part of this journey has also been what we call “ditch and switch”. Meaning after using tools like the Think Dirty App (ps it is free and you defiantly need it if you do not already have it) to look up all the products I was using.

Toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, and dare I say it….. yes my beloved makeup and skincare.

You see I worked my way through college as a makeup artist. Working my way into medical sales in the MedSpa industry before I was even old enough to drink (lol).

My mom owns a salon and has since I was about 9 years old….. when I say I got rid of my shampoos, conditioners and god only knows the other hundred hair products to switch them over to a clean non-toxic version, throwing out thousands of dollars worth of makeup, skincare, and personal hygiene products.

Yes, it was as painful as it sounds.

However, when you are suffering from an “incurable” illness – for me that was an autoimmune disorder called hypothyroidism. When Dr’s say it is, “just something you are going to have to live with and manage with medication the rest of your life” well that is a fork in the road kind of moment.

One that someone thinks – well that sucks.

or

They think – nope sorry doc that is not part of my belief system I think I will go figure this out myself kind of forks in the road.

Obviously, you can guess which way I took at that fork.

Hey if you are not already head over to follow me on Instagram. I post healthy meal ideas, my favorite essential oil DIY’s and lots of other great things daily.

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Let me introduce myself. Hi – I am K’Lee a mother to three boys and passionate about food and clean natural living because after 10+ years of research I pieced the puzzle together and was able to heal my autoimmune system. Early in my journey, 2 things became very clear very quickly!

1. Food is medicine or it is poision. It is healing your or killing you. If you live in the US today they are projecting 1 in 3 Americans will die from a “big 5 killer”
2. Our skin is our largest organ – meaning whatever we are putting on it our skin is litrally “drinking” it in.

Ok. That is a pretty loaded two things. If you want to dive deeper into my story – click here to read.

One thing I must tell you….. I am a self-proclaimed Modern Hippie. Once you start down the rabbit hole of leaving a lean nontoxic life, once you begin to research the real effects food has on our health – there is no going back, friends.

The more you find the more dumbfounding the information becomes.

Like did you know it is perfectly legal for fragrance companies to not name the artificial fragrances to ‘protect their recipe’ when really it covers needing to list ingredients that are known to cause cancer?

Crazy right?

There can be HUNDREDS of unnamed carcinogens in the products you are using right now and honestly without knowing that you would never know where to look to find them!

click here for a free printable checklist

Beginners Guide to Essential Oils

Let’s dive right in. When using essential oils there are a few questions that can help you identify which oils are best. We are Young Living oilers (lol). After doing a lot of research I will tell you not all essential oils are what they claim. I repeated NOT all essential oils that say 100% pure essential oil are actually 100% pure essential oils.

Frustrating I know. The truth is in the US as long as the oil is 10% pure – meaning the other 90% can be a filler of some sort the company can actually legally write that it is a Pure Essential oil.

(Insert a slap head with the palm of your hand moment – or maybe even the red-faced cussing emoji lol)

Based on all my research, and I did a lot of digging, there are only 2 essential oil companies I will buy from. Young Living and Dr. Mercola.

I am not saying they are the only 2 out there selling real 100% pure high-quality essential oils – I am sure they are not.

However, if you have ever invested time in research it can quickly become a part-time job.

So I found 2 that checked out and stopped looking. Now, Dr. Mercola only offers a handful of options, the basics. Young Living however has hundreds of oils! And Young Living has a loyalty program where if you order a $50 subscription or more they give you loyalty credits for free products (Dr. Mercola doesn’t).

And seeing as how we buy a LOT of essential oils, and our cleaning products, and skincare and personal hygiene all from YL – let us just say I receive HUNDREDS of dollars in free products every year.

Doing the math I am getting the highest quality non-toxic products for less than Walmart prices! WIN

So step number one – do your research before you buy.

After looking into Young Living for quite a while I found they not only have legit oils – but the highest quality I found researching multiple companies in their standards. They test the soil of their farms going 50 years into the soil to ensure the soil is pure.

50 years – they call it their seed to seal promise. <- Click here to read up on it!

Ok, now that you have found the real essential oils the next step is – Identify the problem.

Why are you wanting to use essential oils?

For some, that answer is now you know better and want to ditch the toxins (do you hear the crowd cheering, another win for team Modern Hippie).

For others, like me, there are health conditions that you may be looking to heal naturally.

Quick plug – but no pressure. If you are not a YL member yet and want to ‘try before you buy’ head to my Instagram and message me to see if I have any $200 gift cards (limited supply) and for the details.

Second Step – Start Asking Questions

A great starting question to get your wheels turning, How can I use essential oils? What are my reasons for wanting to dive deeper into the world of natural healing & essential oils? Do you have a specific element you are looking to heal? If so begin on Dr. Google (lol) and simply type in

“what essential oils can help with hypothyroid?”

This is literally where I started! Now I have this handy little pocket reference with all the oils Young Living sells and what they do. In the book, you can also lookup elements too like, “eczema” “depression” or “sleep” and it will reference the oils to go look up and use.

What a time saver!

Click the book above if you are interested they have it on Amazon for $14 and I use it all the time.

Once you start asking questions you will find the answers. I remember asking myself well if there is something in my toothpaste messing with my hormones, what else am I using that is too?

And the flood gates opened. I was led to the Think Dirty App (free by the way) and went to town on every product I had.

Now, this was a long process, it did not happen all in one day. Even if it had my budget wouldn’t have allowed for replacing EVERYTHING at once.

Here is a little printable quick start guide to eliminating toxins. I am constantly adding to this guide because I have been detoxing our home and products for a very long time now, so I have to keep remembering areas so I will update the guide.

Step 4 – Ditch & Switch

Ok, now we have become aware that there are toxins that are affecting our health EVERYWHERE. So time to grab that trash can and eliminate them.

Artificial Fragrances

Artificial fragrances contain a chemical compound called VOC- Volatile Organic Compound. Don’t miss the word VOLATILE just because a ‘good word’ organic follows it. They are BAD NEWS!

VOCs are very fine particles that sink into the skin and even worse they can penetrate through the blood-brain barrier. Without getting all scientific here what that means in short is these toxins can break through your brain’s protection walls and enter straight into the brain.

Our culture has normalized artificial fragrances in the last 100 years or so that it has made identifying VOCs as the culprit to a laundry list of heal problems near impossible!

No one stops to think about the strong smells that make their perfume or laundry smell nice causing so much strain on the heart that it has been linked to heart palpitations – YES friend that means it can mess up the natural rhythm of your heartbeat.

It has been linked to chronic ear infections and diarrhea in toddlers. VOCs are known hormone disrupters meaning they can affect the entire endocrine system in one fell swoop. YIKES.

So what everyday products have artificial fragrances? I am afraid to say it but pretty much all of them. It would be easier to ask what do not have VOCs that would be a more reasonable list. The Free downloadable eBook above is a great starting point.

Trust me once you get started you will find these sneaky boogers easily. When we become aware that VOCs are there our mind is fixed on finding them.

Now We ditched lets switch

Ok, so now we have identified toxic products and tossed them so what do we use now? Seven – eight years ago when I started that was a pretty tricky question. Today it is so much easier than you think!

Fair warning we personally use mostly Young Living. Not because I want to sell it….but because after researching the company I can trust the products without needing to do a search on every single product.

Also, we are a subscribe and save member so we get money back on all our purchases.

What does that mean?

Well, with YL if you subscribe to a $50 per month order, you can change the items monthly as long as you stay within the $50 or higher subscription YL tracks your spending and gives you loyalty points (aka free money back) the longer you are a member the higher percentage you get back.

My first year I received well over $250 in free products from this program. And the best part? I was already buying toothpaste, deodorant, face wash, body lotion, and so on.

This is what I call transference of spending.

Say you are buying a foundation at Ulta for $45 and you see it is high on the toxic ratings, so you buy Savvy Minerals foundation for $55 which is all-natural (and I LOVE it) you are not spending “new money” you where already spending on the foundation. And that extra $10 well two things I personally see that back in loyalty credits so it is no biggie for me.

Second, just like buying organic food things made with higher quality ingredients are going to be more expensive. Your skin is your largest organ. Most of us learned this in middle school but never have considered what we put on our skin, like cloths loaded with laundry detergent and fabric softener, skincare, makeup, lotions, hair spray….our skin is literally drinking the toxins from these products.

Think of it this way would you drink bleach? No, yet it is in all the cleaning products and you are touching it without gloves if I am guessing (based on what I used to do). And what about those sweet little baby feet running on a floor mopped with chemicals?

The chemicals don’t disappear when they dry….

The Thieves Cleaner from Young Living, and by the way this was the reason I signed up for YL, says if a child drinks the cleaner just drink water. Please turn over any store-bought cleaner and see what it says about the safety of children if ingested.

The next question I often get is well if that is true it probably doesn’t clean as well. No way it can, right?

Wrong.

Check out this video on Thieves’ all-natural plant-based cleaner test to see for yourself.

We as a culture have been conditioned to believe this as “truth” but I will ask you, who do you think started this rumor?

Bingo.

The cleaning companies that sell these toxic cleaning chemicals. All the dots are starting to connect right.

There are a lot of things I love about the thieves cleaning line but did you know this one bottle can make 128 30oz all-purpose cleaners coming out to $0.88 per bottle. coming in even cheaper than vinegar without the yucky lingering smell!! WIN.

Click the link above to buy a bottle to try it for yourself!

PS I have a $200 young living gift card for those who have never tried young living and want to “try before you buy” in a sense. My email is under the contact section of the blog. If you are interested in the gift card be sure to reach out before you purchase anything so I can explain the details first.

This one bottle of cleaner I was able to toss out ALL my cleaning products and DIY my own. Window cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, everything! This is a way to ditch and switch a lot of products all at once. Saving both time and mental energy.

The free downloadable eBook above has some great DIY recipes to get you started.

In Conclusion

There is a lot to cover when it comes to a lifestyle change, however, this was a quick beginners overview. My goal was to give you enough information to fire that flame inside you to keep going, but not so much that you would feel overwhelmed and hopeless.

My journey to ditching toxic products in my home, my beauty products, and in our personal hygiene products took me a couple of years. So please do not feel like you need to do it all in one day or week or even a month.

Pick the areas that are easiest for you and start there. Trust me you will start feeling amazing about investing in your health and the rest will work itself out.