Young Living Essential Oil Difference
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT POST!
💧 F RACTIONAL DISTILLATION
One of the most common and widespread practices in the Aromatherapy industry is the“fractional distillation” of essential oils.
For example, some people love their candles, scented accessories and car air fresheners. The age of science that bombarded us in the 1950s is wreaking havoc on us all today in the form of synthetic headaches and hormonal problems.
But people still love its perfumed fragrance and may not realize that it is the source of their headaches and hormonal problems.
Because of this market trend, the aromatherapy industry believes that we, the consumer, would rather have a better smelling oil than one with therapeutic value.
Did you know that 3,000 new chemicals are introduced every year? Is it estimated that there are more than 3 million chemicals and only a little more than 1% of them have been tested for safety? Here are some hard and true statistics for the U.S. alone. The U.S. Congress stated, “It is generally understood that the number of chemical compounds currently recognized in the United States exceeds 3 million and approximately 3,000 new ones are added each year.”
How many of these chemical compounds are they testing before entering our societies? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reviewed more than 36,000 of these chemicals. That may sound like a lot, but that’s only a little over 1% of all chemicals!
We know that personal care products contain some of the worst toxic chemicals. In a study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, they tested 2938 chemicals and found that 884 are toxic, 778 cause acute toxicity, 376 are irritating to skin and eyes, 314 can cause biological mutations, 218 can cause reproductive complications and 146 can cause tumors.


It is a known fact that petrochemicals, plastics and synthetics are known endocrine disruptors. So what does this mean for the aromatherapy industry? Interestingly, not much. At some point, the aromatherapy industry in the U.S. decided that it would be more profitable to provide fractionated oils. They assumed correctly or incorrectly, depending on how you look at it, that Americans want things to smell better rather than work better.
When you smell an essential oil that has gone through the “fractional distillation” process, you get a much more pleasant aroma from the oil.
This is how fractional distillation works. The distillery processes the plant material through its distillation stills. The final product is a true, pure, unadulterated botanical essential oil. It smells like the real plant.
After the original processing of the plant material, either the original distillery or often the purchasing company will take the crude oil and distill the oil 1-3 times to remove the heavier, dirtier smelling (earthier) molecules.
The best way to visualize this is to consider coconut oil. You can buy virgin coconut oil which is solid and opaque at room temperature. If you buy fractionated coconut oil, it is clear and liquid at room temperature. This is exactly the same concept applied to essential oils. These two carrier oils are not the same, nor are the essential oils that have been fractionated. Fractionated essential oils may smell better but do not have the same action.
Plainly speaking, a fractionated oil, although still considered pure, is something completely different. It will still have therapeutic qualities, but those qualities will not have as profound or long-lasting action as its true unfractionated botanical counterpart. When a company decides to remove the heavier molecules, they are removing the earthier scent, but they are also removing the very nature of the oils’ ability to stay in your body longer. Fractionated essential oils are altered. They are not the real botanists.
Young Living is one of the few companies that do not use fractionated essential oils. All of its direct competitors use fractional distillation and it is obvious from a simple organoleptic smell test. Gary Young, the founder of Young Living was more concerned with true pure botanicals than expecting his customers to love the smell.
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