You’re thinking about diffusing Young Living Patchouli essential oil to help calm your nerves after a long day, but you’ve owned that essential oil bottle for years. You rotate the bottle with your fingers, searching for an expiration date. Nothing.
So, that begs the question, do Young Living essential oils expire? You scour the internet looking for an answer. Look no further because we have a straightforward answer for you.
Contents
- Do Young Living Essential Oils Expire?
- 5 Tips on How to Properly Store Essential Oils
- Places to Store Your Essential Oils
- Do Young Living Fragrance Oils and Blends Expire?
- Young Living Essential Oils Shelf Life
- When Should You Throw Away Young Living Essential Oils?
- Disposing Young Living Essential Oils
- Conclusion
Do Young Living Essential Oils Expire?
No, 100 percent pure essential oils do not expire but they can degrade over time. [Insert end of the article here]. But wait, there’s more!
Before you go, you probably want some tips on how to prevent your Young Living 100 percent pure essential oils from breaking down over time. To keep your essential oils chugging along, you need to know how to properly store them.
5 Tips on How to Properly Store Essential Oils
The highest quality essential oils are only as great as how you store them. Although Young Living’s essential oils don’t have an expiration date, they do recommend good storing practices to get the most out of your oils.
Follow these five tips for maintaining the integrity of Young Living essential oils (really, any pure plant essential oils):
- Make sure the lid is sealed tightly
- Contain in a dark glass bottle
- Keep away from heat and sunlight
- Store in cool temperatures
- Keep in a dry and dark place
A tight sealing lid on your essential oil bottle is important for several reasons. The most obvious reason is to prevent them from spilling. Another important reason for a tightly sealed lid is to prevent your essential oils from oxidizing.
The best lid option you can choose is an orifice reducer. For more information on retaining purity in your essential oils, check out our article, “10 Ways to Test the Purity of Essential Oils at Home.”
Treat your essential oils like a vampire (and not the Edward Cullins type of vampire!). Your essential oils do not like the sun!
Store Young Living essential oils in a dark bag in a dark place. A tinted amber or cobalt glass bottle helps block out light and heat.
Places to Store Your Essential Oils
As long as you follow the five tips above, you can practically store your essential oils anywhere. Here are some ideas of where you can store essential oils:
- Refrigerator
- Freezer
- Towel closet
- Bedroom closet
- Food pantry
- Display shelf
- Office drawer
- Purse
- Gym bag
- Vehicle console
- Vehicle glove box
Some users store their essential oils in fridges and freezers. This method works perfectly fine and will not affect your oil’s efficacy.
Though, you don’t need to store them in a fridge or freezer. I place my essential oils in a black bathroom bag and store them in my towel closet where it stays dark and cool.
The food pantry is a wonderful place to store your oils if you use the supplement and edible type. Young Living offers its Vitality product line for dietary purposes.
The only negative to storing essential oils in a vehicle is the possibility of your vehicle overheating, causing your essential oils to break down quicker. It’s best to store your essential oils somewhere cooler during the warmer months.
Do Young Living Fragrance Oils and Blends Expire?
There isn’t enough research done on fragrance oils and blends when it comes to expiration or shelf life. The thought is since fragrance oils and blends are mixed with water and other solvents they are more prone to grow mildew and degrade a lot faster than pure plant essential oils.
Young Living Essential Oils Shelf Life
Different types of essential oils degrade slower than others. Below is a list of Young Living essential oils that degrade slower and which ones degrade faster.
Young Living Essential Oils That Degrade Slower
Young Living Essential Oils That Degrade Faster
- Lime oil
- Lemon oil
- Orange oil
- Tangerine oil
- Bergamot oil
- Lemongrass oil
- Frankincense oil
- Pine oil
- Spruce oil
- Tea tree oil
- Angelica root oil
- Cypress oil
The essential oil types that degrade slower are ketones, monoterpenols, esters, sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpenols. The grouping types that degrade faster are monoterpenes, oxides, phenols, and aldehydes.
Essential oils that are made with monoterpenes are the fastest degradable oils because they are more prone to oxidation. Some essential oils that have monoterpenes are citrus, neroli, lemongrass, frankincense, pine, spruce, tea tree, angelica root, and cypress oil.
Most essential oils are considered an in-between shelf life. These types are the aldehydes, oxides, monoterpenols, esters, ethers, phenols, and ketones.
The oils with the longest shelf life contain sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenols. Oils that fall into this category are cedarwood, ylang-ylang, myrrh, ginger, vetiver, patchouli, and sandalwood.
When Should You Throw Away Young Living Essential Oils?
Although Young Living essential oils don’t expire, you should know when to toss an essential oil and buy a new one. Here is a list of when you should throw away your essential oils:
- It has a bad odor
- The color changed or is cloudy
- Liquid consistency changed
Disposing Young Living Essential Oils
How you dispose of essential oil is important. Here are some do’s and don’ts to follow when throwing away Young Living essential oils.
DO’s When Disposing of Essential Oils
- Check with your city/county/municipality
- See how to dispose of oils
- Check with your waste management company
- What’s their procedure for chemical product disposal?
DON’Ts When Disposing of Essential Oils
- Pour essential oils down the drain
- It clogs your pipes and is harmful to the environment
Conclusion
The key thing to remember is 100 percent pure Young Living essential oils do not expire but can degrade over time. Fragrance oils and blends have a shorter shelf life because they are diluted in other substances and carrier oils.
Follow the five tips in this article to best preserve your Young Living’s essential oil’s integrity. Understand and feel at peace using your Young Living Patchouli essential oil.
I currently work as a medical receptionist, but my ultimate goal is to work as an occupational therapy assistant. Helping others achieve a better quality of life is something I’m after. That’s one of the main reasons I started this blog. Learn more about me.