[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Essential oils have great benefits, but when it comes to DoTerra vs Young Living, which is the better brand? This is something a lot of people ask about because they are arguably the two largest essential oil brands out there. The two brands have a lot of similarities, but there are also some key differences that make it clear which one is the obvious winner.

If you’re debating between the two companies, you’re not alone. Whether you’re looking for essential oils or you want to help sell essential oils, both of these brands can help you. While some may claim one is better than the other, it may just depend on what you’re looking for. It’s important to keep in mind that these two companies are the giants of the essential oil world. They are well known for a reason, and they both have great reputations. There are a lot of great things about each brand, so keep reading if you’re interested in Doterra vs Young Living essential oils.

Where Did Essential Oils Come From?

doterra vs young livingEver since ancient history, there have been aromatic elements used to help soothe people’s health. This has been around since the beginning of history. However, most of the time it is credited to the ancient Egyptians. They used these oils to help soothe aches and pains, and they were also used in massage.

The use of aromatic elements continued on throughout time, but it was always an Eastern medicine practice. Commonly used in places like India and China, essential oils have been a pivotal part of helping people become healthy. Doctors and practitioners use them frequently throughout these areas.

It wasn’t until much later that essential oils became popular in the United States. While they were sometimes used by alternative practitioners, they were not known for helping cure ailments. When massage became more popular in the United States, aromatherapy came with it. Aromatherapy was used during massage to create a soothing atmosphere. It helped the individuals to relax and the massage went smoother.

Years later, a few essential oil companies started popping up. They didn’t have the brand following that they do today, but they educated those interested in essential oils. Then, Young Living started. With its multi-level marketing format, essential oils became the new household item to have and to cure your health problems. DoTerra followed closely after, and they both became the two giants in the essential oil industry. Because of this, they are often pinned against each other. DoTerra vs Young Living oils is a common thing that people inquire about because they are so well known. That being said, which company is truly better? Well, it depends on what you are looking for. There are a lot of ways that Young Living is better and a lot of ways that DoTerra is better.

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Essential Oil Basics

Essential oils have gained a lot of popularity in the past few years, and for good reason. There are a few different things you can do with essential oils. Originally, people used essential oils for diffusing. When you diffuse essential oils into the air, you get a nice scent. It’s not as strong as fragrance oils, but they are natural and can make your home smell great. They were also often used for aromatherapy. This means that they were diffused into the air with a certain outcome expected.

People like to diffuse oils for relaxation, focus, and even to help them breathe. Depending on what you want, you diffuse different oils. There are many oils that have been proven to be effective in aromatherapy.

Nowadays, people are using essential oils for many different things. Some people add them to their all-natural cleaners. This is a great way to make your cleaner smell great and work more effectively. They can help to kill germs and other build up that happen throughout your house.

A lot of people also add them to their homemade soaps, laundry detergents, or lotions. If you are sensitive to fragrance oils, essential oils are a great way to lend a mild scent to anything that you make. They won’t cause harm to your lungs like fragrance oil, and they are much better for people who have asthma and the like.

As essential oils have grown in popularity, people have found more uses for them in all aspects of life. There are even some people who use essential oils for health benefits. There are some that can help you clear your airways, build your immune system, and even help with pains, like headaches or stomach pains.

What you use oils for is completely up to you, but it can affect which brand might work better for you. Before you decide which brand is right for you, ask yourself what you are going to use the essential oils for. And if you are planning on selling with one of these brands, it’s important to look over all aspects before you commit to one.

DoTerra vs Young Living Brand

doterra vs young livingWhen it comes to essential oils, DoTerra vs Young Living are the two largest brands out there. This is mostly due to multi-level marketing. Basically, they have people sign up to sell their products for them, which is largely why these brands are so big. That being said, you can definitely find essential oils outside of these two brands cheaper. But, with these essential oils, you are supporting a smaller business because you are helping the person who sells to you earn money.

And if you think you want to sell essential oils, signing up to be a salesperson of these companies could earn you some extra money on the side. They are both really great brands with some awesome morals.

These two brands are each other’s biggest competitors. They are the two largest multi-level marketing suppliers of essential oils, and they compete largely with each other. Other companies that you buy essential oils from get their oils from many third world countries. This is important to note because they are often not paying fair wages for the oils that they get there. That means you could be buying oils that were not fair trade. They may have factory workers, underpaid women, or even children working in the fields and processing the oils. This is the largest issue with essential oils, and many companies don’t disclose this. Thankfully, DoTerra and Young Living do.

When it comes to fair wages, doterra vs young living are both equal. They show you where they grow their plants and where each of the oils comes from. That means you can rest easy knowing that you are not buying oils that came from a third world country.

DoTerra and Young Living both have plants in the United States. DoTerra uses the co-impact sourcing, and Young Living has their seed to seal on their brand. The gist of both of these is that the brands are there through every step of the way. They grow the plants, harvest them, and produce the oils themselves so that they know it is the highest quality. That means that you are going to get the highest quality oils from both of the companies.

Related Article: Best Essential Oil Brands

Marketing

Both of these companies do a lot of marketing, but their biggest marketing strength is that they have others market for them. When someone sells the oils, they market to those they know in hopes that they can sell the oils and make money. That being said, you’ll have to do a lot of marketing yourself if you plan to sell for them. But, they are great companies to work for because of their morals.

Charity Work

One of the biggest benefits to these companies is that they do charity work. A lot of essential oil companies are involved with third world countries, and they frequently do business with them. These individuals are not paid fairly, and this causes a huge economic disparity. DoTerra and Young Living oils make sure their oils are created fairly, but they also do charity work to offset the work that other companies do.

Their charity work is well known throughout the country, and DoTerra actually has their own foundation. It’s called the Healing Hands Foundation. They work with people all over the world to make the world a better place. Essential oil quality aside, these two companies really are great to do business with.

DoTerra vs Young Living Oil Strength

doterra vs young livingWhen looking for essential oils, it’s important to look at the strength. No matter what you plan on using the oils for, you want them to be potent. The last thing you need is to purchase these oils that aren’t cheap and find out they aren’t potent at all. When it comes to DoTerra vs Young Living oil strength, it really depends on the individual oil.

Some have noticed that DoTerra oils smell stronger than the Young Living ones. That’s not to necessarily say that the DoTerra strength is higher. While the smell is one indicator of how great the oil is, it’s not the only one. Just because a scent is stronger doesn’t mean that the oil is more potent. It’s important to keep this in mind.

A lot of people said that they preferred the Young Living oils because they weren’t as strong smelling but still seemed to work well. That being said, the Young Living oils aren’t the best for diffusing. If you plan on using the essential oils for cleaning and healing, Young Living works great. If you plan on diffusing only, you might think about sticking with DoTerra.

Another thing people mentioned about the oil strength were the blends. Many say that the DoTerra  blends are stronger than the Young Living ones and seem to work better. A lot of their blends are similar, and there has been some controversy as to which company started the blends first. But, almost all the blends on the market that are there for the same ailment have similar oils, so this shouldn’t affect which brand you choose to go with.

When comparing these two companies, you should look at where each plant is grown. If a plant is grown outside of its indigenous area, it may not be the highest quality of oil. But, with so many oils out there, it can be hard to track where each plant is coming from. Young Living grows most of their oils in the United States, where DoTerra works with those in the native countries.

DoTerra Sweeter

doterra vs young livingAn interesting thing that some people mentioned was that the DoTerra oils smell sweeter. Getting essential oils is a very involved process. It takes the extract of the plant and condenses it into a powerful oil, and so much of how the oil smells is dependent on where the plant comes from. It’s possible that DoTerra oils smell sweeter because of the plants they are getting them from.

Scent can be affected by the surrounding plants and the gene of the plant itself. You will never have two plants that smell the exact same, so there will be some variable in the scents with each oil. Whether this is a pro or a con is up to you. If you find yourself wanting sweet smelling oils, DoTerra is best. But, if you like the tartness of lemon and orange, and the bitterness of frankincense, you should go with Young Living.

But, there aren’t any regulations on these oils. Both DoTerra and Young Living claim to be pure, but they have set their own potency standards and no one is really checking the standards up against anything else. So, some have said that these companies could be altering their oils or taking out certain molecules to make them smell better. This is a pretty serious claim, and when asked about it, DoTerra just said that their essential oil was “complete.” They claimed that there were three different distillations and then a complete rating, and most of their oils were complete. That may mean that they have messed with the oils or that they are not the highest quality.

Young Living Brand

doterra vs young livingWhen it comes to essential oils, Young Living was first. They were really the big heavy hitter on the market that made essential oils a thing. Their company came long before all the knock offs, and that’s something to be said. If they work so hard and were the first to introduce them, they really believe in their product.

Young Living has had some recent controversy over the years, but they are still a great company. They get heat because they were the first essential oil out there, and many naysayers appear saying that essential oils don’t work. Young Living has done exceptionally well despite these comments and falsehoods.

Young Living grows most of their plants in the United States. This may be a good thing because they can have more control over how the plants are grown. They don’t have to work with so many people overseas, and many tout this as a benefit in the long run. That being said, and we’ll elaborate on it more later, it can be hard for plants to be high quality if they are not grown in their native areas. This is because the plants do not flourish as readily or easily as they do when they are grown in.

In a blind smell test, DoTerra oils actually came out ahead. Many people believed Young Living oils had an almost chemical or synthetic smell to their essential oils. That doesn’t mean that they added anything into them, but it is still something that many people do not care for. This could be because they grow most of their plants in the United States.

DoTerra Brand

doterra vs young livingWhen DoTerra was formed, they created a company that was founded on having better essential oils that could be widely available to the public. They try to grow most of their plants in their indigenous areas. That means they grow the plants where they naturally come from. This is actually pretty important. We know that plants grow better when they are planted in their original habitats. It’s much easier to grow a palm tree in Hawaii than it is to grow one in Michigan. This is true for all other plants as well.

When a plant is grown in its indigenous area, it is higher quality. That means the essential oils should also be higher quality. However, there has also been some controversy with DoTerra. Their oils smell really good, and some say they smell a little too good. There were worries that DoTerra was filtering their oils to get a better smell.

DoTerra doesn’t have any certified organic oils, so that may be something that is worrisome to you if you like to use organic products. When the oil is not certified organic, that may mean they use pesticides, which could end up in your essential oils that you purchase.

DoTerra doesn’t explicitly say where each and every oil that they source comes from. This may be a concern for many considering they tout fair labor laws.

How They Get Their Oils

What’s the most interesting thing of all is that DoTerra and Young Living actually use some of the same suppliers. Depending on the oil, DoTerra vs Young Living may not be a thing at all! They share one of the same suppliers, but that’s not for all of their oils.

How they distill the oils is a very drawn out process. This is why essential oils can cost so much. They take a lot of time to get the oil, so it can be a labor intensive process. It starts out with the growing of the plant. When the plant is ready to harvest, they take the harvestable parts to a distilling machine. Depending on the plant, this could be the flower, leaves, or the stems.

The plant is mixed with water and the steam gets filtered down below. The steam droplets don’t mix with the essential oils because water and oil do not mix. Because of this, they can then take the essential oil that sits upon the steam droplets and bottle it up. But, this can be hours long, and it’s very labor intensive.

They often repeat this multiple times. The first distillation is thought to be the most pure distillation, so it’s usually the most expensive. When it comes to DoTerra vs Young Living, both of these companies have oils that are first distillation. Young Living touts their thieves oil and DoTerra touts their peppermint oil.

But, it doesn’t end after the first distillation. There are multiple distillations that occur, and each distillation afterward is thought to be slightly diluted and less pure. It’s important to look at each individual oil to see what distillation they were when they were gathered.

Making a Business

If you plan on making a business with either of them, you should do your research. Neither one is going to necessarily guarantee you more money than the other, but it really just depends what you are looking for. DoTerra is definitely one of the most expensive brands out there for essential oils, but they are also marketed as the most pure. They are therapeutic grade, and a lot of people believe that their oils are the highest quality that you can get on the market.

Young Living is known for being the first, and that’s a huge way you can market the brand. They have a lot of reading material that you can study up on and share with people who purchase from you. DoTerra’s starter kit is more popular than Young Living, but they both come with popular oils.

DoTerra vs Young Living Oil Quality

doterra vs young livingWhen it comes to oil quality, it’s a toss up between DoTerra vs Young Living oils. Both companies have great reputations in the oil world, and for good reason. They know how hard it is to get the pure essential oil. They both use steam distillation, which is the highest industry standard out there.

While they are both amazing companies, their oils will vary. A lot of people say that they like the tart oils of Young Living better. They seem to be stronger and more pure. Plus, when doing the essential oil purity test where you put a drop of essential oil on a piece of white paper, they come out ahead. You won’t see the oil on the paper at all, which is exactly what you want.

There are also certain oils, like DoTerra Frankincense, which is actually a blend of oils. This could be bothersome to some people who are hoping for a higher concentration of just that oil. DoTerra’s blends are said to be the best out there, and they are more than sufficient in helping with your health ailments. Their customer service is great, and their reps are often really helpful.

Choosing One

When looking to start your essential oil journey, you want to go with a company that you can trust. The first step you should do is go on the websites of each company. Don’t trust one rep to tell you why their company is the best. Look at their ratings and reviews and see what it is that sets them apart from other essential oil companies out there. And if you are looking to partner and do business with them, look to see what their business models are like. One company may have better brochures and marketing materials than the other. Plus, when you sign up on a team, you may do better with one of the companies and not the other. It’s important to do your research before signing up for either.

DoTerra’s BBB rating is above four stars, which is really great for a multi-level marketing company. Unfortunately, Young Living got their accreditation taken away from the BBB. This was because they were making claims about their essential oils that were not proven to be true. That doesn’t mean they were wrong, but without the scientific data to back it up, it was considered to be false. If the Better Business Bureau is important to you, then DoTerra would be the way to go.

If you’re unsure which essential oil company to choose from with DoTerra vs Young Living, you don’t have much to fear. Either way, you are going to get some high quality essential oils. If you are planning on using the essential oils for cleaning or body use, Young Living is the brand that we recommend. That’s because their oils are all pure and will be stronger for these things. However, they don’t smell the best, so you give that up when you choose this company.

If you plan on using essential oils for diffusing or for fragrance, we recommend that you choose DoTerra oils. Their oils smell really good and less synthetic, so they are perfect for that fragrance that you need.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Dr. Barry

Dr. Barry

March 8, 2019