Brand Review: Young Living

If it’s not your first rodeo with essential oils, then you know the name “Young Living”. Or maybe you haven’t ever used oils, but you’ve still heard of Young Living essential oils. The point is, you are here because you want to know if it’s the right brand for you. 

Hunting for the perfect essential oil brand for you can be overwhelming, especially with essential oil companies popping up everywhere. You may not know where to start, and contradicting online opinions doesn’t make it any easier. Everyone from big companies to long blog posts seems to have an opinion on what the best essential oil brand is. Still, the truth is the essential oils industry is unregulated, which means that those opinions are very subjective. That’s why I’m so glad you’ve landed on this article.

In this post, I’m going to give you an objective review and rating of Young Living essential oils on A+-F scale based on price, quality, and selection. To learn more about our rating scale, go here. 

But before we get started, it’s important to understand that the perfect essential oil brand for you may look different than the perfect essential oil brand for me. So it’s crucial that you have a clear goal in mind. What do you want to get out of your essential oils? Are you looking to reap the powerful therapeutic benefits of oils or do you just want to drop some on a wool dryer ball to make your laundry smell like lovely lavender fields? 

If you want to kick that afternoon slump, ease anxiety, heal a common skin ailment, or get serious beauty sleep, then you are going to want a high-quality brand with a large selection – a brand you can trust and look to for answers when you need them. If all you want to do is create some non-toxic DIY cleaning supplies, then a not-so-pure, cheaper brand is not the worst idea for your wallet. So now that you have your goal in mind let’s dive in. 

The Basics: Who is Young Living? 

Gary Young founded Young Living Essential Oils in 1993. Since then, Young Living has made itself a leading name in the essential oils industry, mainly due to its proprietary Seed to Seal production process. This MLM company is sometimes referred to as “the world’s best” – in this review, we will break it down for you. 

Price 

Young Living is a multi-level marketing company, which means that to get the most bang for your buck you would want to become a wholesale member. There is no requirement of a monthly order for wholesale membership for Young Living. To keep your wholesale membership open you must order 50 PV (purchase volume) per year. 1 PV equals $1 USD. 

With that being said, Young Living’s essential oils are definitely on the more expensive end – which can either be a great thing, or a bad thing, depending on your goal with essential oils. Let’s check out some of the most popular essential oils and their prices. 

Lavender $31.91 for 15 mL retail price $24.25 wholesale 

Frankincense $99.34 for 15 mL retail price $75.50 wholesale 

Peppermint $28.59 for 15 mL retail price $22.00 wholesale 

Just by looking at these numbers, it makes sense to assume that these essential oils are high quality, but to know for sure, let’s deep dive into the quality of Young Living essential oils. 

Quality 

Alongside of another big name brand doTERRA, Young Living is said to have one of the most extensively-researched production processes in the essential oils industry. Gary Young’s holistic approach to the quality-setting of the essential oils is referred to as the proprietary Seed to Seal production process. Compared to most other brands who use low-heat steam or cold-pressed distillation, Young Living uses a slow steam extraction procedure which brings out the essential oils without any unwanted adulteration or additives. 

Seed to Seal has 3 pillars: sourcing, science, and standards. All three are used in every aspect of their production process including testing and retesting. Though they don’t go into much detail beyond that. 

If you are looking for certified organic essential oils, Young Living says that although they don’t use chemical fertilizers or pesticides on their farms, they can’t place the word “organic” on their labels because some countries’ organic standards do not match those of the US. 

Something that I like about their site is that it offers farm tours of where harvest their oils from. I like this for 2 reasons: 1. They are transparent about their harvesting process 2. Their oils are harvested in their native country. That being said, they don’t offer a ton of specific testing information on their site. That is definitely something I would like to have easier access to. 

Selection 

From single oils to blends to collections, Young Living’s selection is not lacking. I love how they have kid and animal friendly collections! They also offer lines specifically for beauty, cleansing, fitness, household, and overall health. Their site is easy to navigate to find exactly what you’re looking for – but can be a little overwhelming at times. 

But when the overwhelm settles in, Young Living offers help and expertise for their customers. On their site they also have an essential oil’s safety guide which is especially important if you are just getting into essential oils. 

Young Living Rating 

I am rating Young Living an A. Which means they have really great value and quality. Young Living’s oils are perfect for therapeutic benefit and for those who want to use them as a lifestyle. To me, Young Living falls short in testing transparency. It was hard for me to find any detailed information on the exact testing they do. Some of the higher rated companies will have a batch number on each bottle so that a customer can look up the exact testing results. Because I use oils daily, and for therapeutic benefits, I would like to see the exact results of the oil I am using on myself and my family. 

Young Living could be a good option for someone just entering the essential oils world or someone who is looking to make essential oils a lifestyle.