I know for me, when I was starting my essential oils collection, it felt very overwhelming to know which oils to buy.  I wanted to get the ones that would give me the most benefit while I tried out this whole essential oil thing!  Even posts about “must-have” essential oils were overwhelming, because I didn’t feel like I could go and get 17 different oils all at once!  I’ve built my collection slowly.

I thought it might be helpful for you to know the top three oils I recommend getting first!  These oils mentioned in this post have tons of uses and are very diverse.  Many of them are safe to use with kids, so they’ll be helpful for your whole family.

You may want to read my previous post on which essential oil company I recommend and why.

One quick thing – all of the essential oils I mention in this post will last 10 years when stored in a cool, dark place!  No need to worry about them going bad before you can use them!  Also, each of these are available in two sizes, 5ml and 15ml. The 15ml is a better deal, but when you’re trying to save money, the 5ml is a great option.

Top Three Essential Oils – Singles

Lavender

I’ve been using lavender oil for years and years, but more recently I’ve discovered more uses for it!  I love putting a drop or two on my pillow at night to help me fall asleep.  I often diffuse lavender in our bedroom while I read before bed.  The girls love it when I rub it on their backs before bed too!  Lavender is great for burns and I have personal experience using it on both a small burn on my finger and on sunburn.  Lavender also provides relief from insect stings and bites.  I got stung by a bee or wasp (I didn’t see it closely) and using lavender oil on it helped relieve the sting right away!  I also like rubbing lavender on my temples or the back of my neck for headache relief.  There are many oils you can use for this, but lavender works well for me.  You can read more about lavender’s uses here.

Melaleuca

This oil is extremely diverse in its uses!  Melaleuca is anti-bacterial, so it’s great for infections, as well as cleaning up anything “icky”!  I use melaleuca for treating acne or other facial blemishes (it even works on the “boil” type acne).  I also clean with melaleuca all the time (it’s in my “for anything nasty” homemade cleaner), especially when dealing with mold, bacteria, or spilled bodily fluids (hey, I have kids, so it’s pretty common!).  Since I don’t use bleach, melaleuca is my go-to “chemical” for disinfecting!  Another use is for cleaning the seal of a front loading washing machine, which can get a little stinky.  Melaleuca cleans it right up!  When I feel like I’m coming down with a cold and my lymph nodes on my neck start to feel sore, I massage melaleuca onto my neck to fight off the infection.  I also used melaleuca to fight off mastitis.  I massaged it into the affected breast and placed a warm, moist compress on it also.  I didn’t have to go on antibiotics!  Melaleuca has a very strong, medicinal scent, so it takes a little getting used to.  But it’s one of my top three EOs because it can be used in so many different ways!  Find out some more ways to use melaleuca here.

Peppermint

I have been a little cautious about peppermint oil because it is not generally regarded as safe to use with children under 13 (based on the studies I have read, but feel free to do your own research), and when used in large quantities while breastfeeding it can deplete the milk supply.  (I have used peppermint in small amounts while breastfeeding without any problems, but proceed with caution if you’ve had milk supply issues.)  But I do think this is a great oil to have in your stash!  Rubbing peppermint on your temples can relieve headaches.  It’s lovely when added to a number of homemade products, such as lip balm or foot scrubs.  I like to inhale peppermint (out of the bottle) to eliminate queasy feelings related to motion sickness or anything else.  You can put a bit of peppermint oil on a cotton ball and place it in a room that needs a fresh scent!  Peppermint is very invigorating, so you can use it when you’re feeling droopy in the afternoon.  I’ve added it to coffee before and it’s really tasty (one drop for a whole pot is plenty!).  When you’re congested, you can inhale peppermint out of the bottle to open up your passageways.  Learn more about peppermint here.

Bonus: If you can get just one more, choose Frankincense. 
Frankincense is a wonderful oil and is so great for your skin.  When diluted it will last a long time, so it’s a great investment.  I use frankincense every night on my face (it’s great for dry spots, acne, scars, wrinkles, and many other things!).  I have had acne scarring on my face since I was 17, but after using frankincense on my face this year, it has faded considerably!  I love how frankincense smells and how calming it is!  I like to use it when I need to calm down and refocus.  I also use this one on my lymph nodes when sick or starting to feel sick.  See how else to use Frankincense here.

Many essential oils come already blended together with other oils, allowing the oils to work better together!  Here are my three favorite blends from RMO/NAN.

Top Three Essential Oils – Blends

First Aid

This oil blend is fantastic, and if you have kids, you should definitely get it!  We use it all the time for scrapes, cuts, and minor injuries.  The clove bud oil in this blend acts as a topical anesthetic to relieve pain almost instantly.  I’ve even used this on painful insect bites when I didn’t have lavender with me.  The helichrysum italicum in this blend heals the wound quickly.  I used First Aid on a toe injury (the toenail fell off) and it healed more quickly than I expected.  We use this oil a lot!

Tummy Rub

This oil blend is amazing too, and I carry it with me everywhere.  Because we eat so healthy at home, when I eat out I often feel a little “off” digestively.  I just apply a little bit of this oil to my stomach, and I have relief from queasiness, bloating, or gas.  I have used it (heavily diluted) for the kids too when they’ve had tummy issues.  I think it smells great, so just inhaling it can help me feel less queasy too.

Breathe Ease

I do not personally use this blend with children since it contains eucalyptus oil (feel free to research this yourself), but my husband and I have used it for head congestion and colds.  If you’re familiar with “steam treatments” (where you fill the sink with steaming hot water, close the plug, put your head down, and cover your head with a towel to trap the steam), you can add a drop of this blend to the water to help open up your nasal passages.  (Don’t open your eyes, though, as it could sting.)  You can also put a drop on the floor of your shower while you take a hot shower.  This blend will help relieve lots of different respiratory conditions! A great alternative that’s a little more kid-friendly is Deep Breathe.

You can find all these oils at Rocky Mountain Oils and at Native American Nutritionals.

For deals, specials, and coupon codes, I recommend signing up for the newsletters at Rocky Mountain Oils and Native American Nutritionals. They offer different deals, so sign up for both!  I love all the coupon codes, free oils with purchases, and sales on different EOs. There’s always something fun going on!

If you’re new to essential oils, what questions do you have? I’ll do my best to find an answer for you!

If you’re familiar with essential oils already, what are your top three favorites?

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which I will always disclose to you when using. If you choose to purchase anything through these links, it will help support our family and this blog. Thank you! All opinions in this post are my own.  Also, I am not a doctor, so please consult your physician for medical advice.

It seems like blog posts about essential oils (from one brand or another) have been popping up all over the web for the last year or so!  If you’re like me, you probably have been confused about what essential oils are actually, how they can help improve your health, and where to buy them (so many companies!).

I started writing this post in January of this year, but I put a pause on writing it until I had more personal experience with and knowledge of essential oils.  (I didn’t want to write a big post about EOs, and then stop actually using them myself!)

At the beginning of this year, I started researching essential oils and trying to determine which company was best.  Young Living, doTerra, Spark Naturals, Plant Therapy, Mountain Rose Herbs, and Native American Nutritionals were all companies that I looked into and compared.  One thing I knew was that I didn’t want to become a sales rep for a company.  While it looked fun, I just didn’t want the pressure to sell, and I didn’t like that most of the MLM companies pretty much required you to sell for them in order to get prices that were anywhere close to decent.

Here are the main things I was looking for in an essential oils company (your personal list may look different):
-high quality oils
-good prices (but not so low that you question the quality)
-good reputation of the company/integrity in the EOs community
-reasonable shipping costs and quick shipping
-variety of oils
-excellent customer service (not just with orders but with EO education and answering questions)

I poured over blog post after blog post and read tons about each company.  I emailed friends, and I emailed companies.  Finally, I made my decision.

I decided to place an order with Native American Nutritionals.  (This company has merged with Rocky Mountain Oils, and while they still have different websites and you place orders separately, they are now the same company and sell the same oils.)

NAN/RMO met (and exceeded!) all of my criteria and I had such a good experience with my first few interactions with the company and with my first order.  (And my subsequent transactions as well!)  I heard back right away from my emails with questions, and my order was shipped almost immediately after I ordered.  Another bonus I’ve been excited about as I’ve been a loyal customer of NAN/RMO is the specials and coupon codes that they offer!  They have different oils on sale periodically, and coupon codes come up on occasion as well.  It’s great to be able to knock 10-15% off a big order!

Here is some more info on Rocky Mountain Oils (from the company directly):

Rocky Mountain Oils has been in business for over 7 years. We are dedicated to bringing the most pure essential oils to customers around the world in the most convenient way possible. We test every oil with a GC/MS test to ensure it is the quality that we demand from our farmers. If an oil doesn’t meet our expectations, we get rid of it and do not sell it to our customers. This means our customers can rest assured that the oils they get are high quality and are not being skimped on in any ways.

One thing that makes us unique from other essential oil companies is that we work with small farmers from around the world. We carefully work with small farmers because we believe that they produce the highest quality plants. The healthier (and happier) the plants, the higher quality that the oil becomes. As you would expect, plants coming from small family farms are taken better care of, and are healthier than the large corporate farms used by our competitors.

In addition to that, our plants are only grown in indigenous regions of the world for each plant. Essential oils are their strongest when they are grown in healthy plants and plants grow healthiest in certain parts of the world where the plant was originally grown natively. For example, Lavender grows better in a humid climate like Bulgaria and Hungary than it does in the very dry climate of Utah, USA (where another company grows theirs). While it costs us more money to get our oils from different parts of the world, we truly believe our customers can tell the difference through the quality of the oil.

We also have the largest selection of single oils and blends available anywhere.

Since January, not only have I used my essential oils regularly, but I have also read several ebooks on EOs and taken an online course called Essential Oils and Natural Health.  (Great course; definitely recommend.)

I am more on the cautious side when it comes to using essential oils.  I use them medicinally (always diluted for topical use), and I don’t advise going through bottles like crazy and dousing your whole body in oils several times a day.  Essential oils are very potent and you don’t need to overdo it!  Especially when dealing with children, I am extremely cautious about how frequently I apply them and at what dilution.

All that to say… I won’t be doling out medical advice here.  I’ll be sharing several oils that are proven to work (yep, I’ve got scientific studies for you) for various ailments.

Before we go any further, I want to make these promises to you:

1) I am not going to let essential oils take over my blog/Facebook/Pinterest/Instagram/etc.  I know how annoying it is when someone you follow starts only posting about EOs.  There will still be tons of other great content on this blog and on my social media accounts, though I will mention essential oils here and there.  If EOs aren’t your thing, just skip over these posts.

2) I am not going to make crazy claims about the properties of these oils.  They are fantastic and very useful, but they don’t work miracles. For serious medical conditions, I always advise consulting your physician!

3) I am not going to start a “brand war” on this blog.  I know many of you probably use a different company for your EOs, and I am glad you have found a company you trust.  I definitely am not saying that NAN/RMO is the only place to buy essential oils, just that I love this particular company for all the reasons listed above!  I encourage you to do your own research.

If you’re curious about my top three favorite essential oils, visit this post!  To check out Rocky Mountain Oils, click here!

Disclaimer: I have personally purchased every single essential oil I own. I have not been compensated for this review. I have used affiliate links in this post, so if you choose to make a purchase through one of my links, you will be supporting my family and this blog. Thank you. Once again, I am not a doctor, so please talk to your physician if you need medical advice.