hi guys!
i know its been a while since ive sat down to have a chat.... but ive found a little time tonight and there are a couple of things i want to talk about. You may have seen posts regarding our recent event about essential oils - just wanna touch base on that a little bit.
Over the years, customers have asked time and time again if bodygoodies sells essential oils, or if and when we will. Ive always wanted to make my oils available to you - its just so hard for me to do as i need every ounce of oil i get in - to make other product. product you cant buy elsewhere. But essential oils - you can. However, theres a catch to that. essential oil quality is SO important and so hard to know what is quality and what isnt. some quality you can sniff out, some can be sent away for testing at a $1500.00 ea. price tag, some can be mixed into other things to test purity and authenticity. But who has time or money or all the necessary resources for that if you arent in the field?
I have watched a movement happening over the years - not just in our little retail store, but in society - new recipes popping up for things to do, make, eat and etc DIY with essential oils ... when i see them, im both excited and terrified! ... excited that people are catching on , wanting and willing to use essential oils in their lives in place of toxic, harmful products- and yet i fear that people will use any oil out there they can get their hands on...... not knowing any different. not realizing how very important the quality of the oil they are using, especially depending on what they are using it for matter.so.very.very.much. ( i cant stress this enough).
since bg has been around, there are two essential oil companies we have always recommended. Young Living and DoTERRA. I like them both. I respect them both. people have their positives and negatives to say about both companies,----- but when it comes to quality --- anyone with any experience with essential oils is not going to say anything bad about how GOOD the quality of these oils are. And, anyone with experience knows that they certainly aren't cheap! cheap essential oils tend to ring alarm bells and raise many o red flags for us. These two companies are not cheap, and they shouldn't be.
you get what you pay for. but you get more than just quality oils. You get YEARS of hard work and research. You get comfort that the homework has been done on the crops and the fields and the particular oils benefits and contraindications. you get BLENDS that have been SAFELY formulated for you. You get therapeutic grade, safe oils to diffuse into the air, clean your homes with, cook with, and a clear layout of what is ingest-able and what isnt. I love the core of these companies. I respect the hard work thats gone into building these brands - its not just a pretty label, its QUALITY. its word of mouth, its research and development, its testimonials from customers that left their mainstream and went down the not so beaten path. the essential oil journey is awesome - its life changing, its rewarding and exciting. But it can be dangerous if its not done with caution. and thats where these oil companies selling all over amazon and in your big box retail stores are terrifying me. because first of all, they arent all over their web sites showing any sort of proof to back their claims - they also arent posting loads of information on the essential oils themselves - to educate you..... and if you go to look up an essential oils uses for yourself elsewhere- youre going to find all those random blogs and pages littering the internet with crap loads of misinformation and conflicting information on WHAT the oil is good for, not good for, and recommended dosage/usage.
and THIS is why i recommend Young Living and DoTERRA. they have. they have TONS of info, crazy awesome informative blogs, years of science and research in the fields, and in the field. THEY know their oils like bodygoodies knows soap! they have credibility and history .. they are hands on and certified, all the things you want from a company you can trust. Their key is knowledge and their quality is undeniable. They know they need to educate you - as essential oils are not FDA regulated and they certainly arent out to hurt you - so education is key when it comes to selling something and using something that should be treated and respected as much as modern day medicine.
sheesh - i could go on forever. i want to get into so many nitty gritty parts of this industry but i dont want you to stop reading so ill save it for another time. lol.. maybe we will do a bodygoodies live essential oils 101 talk someday ;)
So, to make things make a bit more sense here - basically there are different ways to grow plants, different ways to extract the oils from them, different grades of whats extracted, different ethics that deem things safe or good. and....... there are different uses for your oils.
you should want the same quality in your tea as you do in your home made mouth wash. You should want the same quality in your household cleanser as you do in your diffuser and on your body. it all matters.
One of the things i love SO much about Young Living is the crazy amount of knowledge they make available to their customers. I love their openness and willingness to educate you on their product ---- not just what its for. I LOVE their blog.https://www.youngliving.com/blog/ ( i find myself putzing about on it at night when i cant turn my mind off, even if i am sometimes cringing at the DIY body product posts lol .. its ok though, skincare isnt their focus... essential oils are. the delivery system isnt necessarily their main concern) HOWEVER, I love the code of ethics they drive their business by, i LOVE that they monitor the fields of crops that they source from farmers who grow the botanicals that they do not personally grow. I love that they test it all for purity and quality and you can smell it and feel it as soon as you crack open a bottle of any of their oils. I appreciate them. so much.
they make available to everyone - the things i would stress out over!! They have done the homework for you. they have put together blends for just about anything you could want it for. granted, as they branched into other things ( like body products lol i am not such a fan) its not their fault, they arent skincare experts - they are essential oil experts! so i cant be too mad about it. ha.BUT.. lets not get off the topic here. .... ahem, so as i was saying... they've done the homework for you... but you still have to do some of your own. You have to be careful with essential oils and i have always stressed that. They should be treated like medicine and used with the same caution. ... and thats why i love young living. they do. they respect the power in the plant. both good and bad. they know they power they posses to heal and help such a huge spectrum of things... and the power to do harm if not grown, harvested, blended and/or used properly.
they have credibility, they have history, they have quality. You know that saying i used earlier in this post.... you get what you pay for ---- well it most definitely applies here. I have much respect. You know, you can go look up something about any essential oil and youll find conflicting information ALL over the internet, but in my years of working with oils, one name i never doubted, is.... gary young. There are a few names i always go to when i really need important information on essential oils - Ive always respected and trusted the opinion and knowledge from gary young mostly due to his blog. I love his blog. I start on the " last" page which would be the first, and work my way from there. If youre interested -- heres the link. https://www.dgaryyoung.com/blog/ his posts are awesome. you can hear his passion and you know hes obsessing over oils and their qualities. you know he has gone over and over them and constantly searching for better or new or more. he reminds me of me. hes a perfectionist with his product. he wants to know everything and stops at nothing.
Anyhow, so my whole point to this post - bodygoodies isnt going to be getting into selling our essential oils much at all. a few things here and there, but just a few. honestly, i respect the power of oils and use them safely in the product i make for you guys, but im going to leave it to the experts to provide and you to decide the ones you ingest and bring into your homes to diffuse and cook with and make your own products with. bodygoodies uses oils from all different suppliers all over the world who supply quality oil in bulk quantity - they are not packaged in sizes for the average household needs.. and certainly not at a price tag that would slip into a grocery expense. it doesnt make sense for me to package and sell my oils - first of all, i need them! lol ... but most importantly, its the education and knowledge so readily available from the source of the product youre purchasing when you purchase from a company like doterra and young living. both names i trust.
That said, i believe we are going to be starting a forum type setting in house once or twice a month - we havent worked out all the details yet - but we want to make ourselves available to you for questions and answers regarding skincare and essential oils. We will keep you posted on the details of all of that. Personally, its something ive wanted to start back up for a very long time - i just didnt have the time, energy and availability. Now that Maddi is on board, and well, as you can imagine shes grown up with essential oils being a huge part of her life ex;
maddi: " mom my throat is sore" ...
me: " put a few drops of lavender in your tea and get to bed"
haha.. so yeah, Maddi and her cousin Kasey are pretty versed in the essential oil field and are willing to help me out with education and making resources available to you guys through Young Livings practices and products available - so i can keep busting away in my little soap kitchen next door ;) although, i do plan to attend the essential oil meetings to chime in with DIY and skincare tips from here out!
let us know what you think!
would you be interested in attending skincare/essential oil forums at our shop?
thanks!
until next,
-heidi