Oh lovely Doterra. For Doterra is a lovely company but today I am here to explain why I am no longer selling Doterra oils. Network marketing is a conundrum isn’t it? A cloak and dagger business renowned for selling overpriced nonsense to excitable housewives while not really being about said products at all, but ultimately about selling a lifestyle based on persuading others to sell a lifestyle to their own others. And on and on it goes…
There now. I have summed it up for all of us. And in that one paragraph lies the very reason why I stopped working with Doterra, despite the fact that I truly believe that they create some of the finest essential oils on the market.
For starters. I just couldn’t cope with the very first rule of marketing those oils: that here on the internets we do not talk about Doterra. We do not link to them in blog posts praising their rather incredible peppermint oil. Or say that their lavender oil is quite the purest we have ever experienced. We can’t say that.
We have to say pssssstttt…come here. I know this great lavender oil but you have got to give me your email address so that I can tell you what it is and why it is so great and you mustn’t tell anyone else unless you tell them in secret too or else the FDA will come out all guns blazing and close the entire company down and in fact only those who are already making megabucks with Doterra will be permitted to talk about it because the rest of us cannot be trusted not to make spurious claims. Email address please??
Oooh I feel better getting that off my chest. For yes though I must confess to being uncomfortable with a company the FDA are apparently “uncomfortable” about, I truly LOVE Doterra regardless. In fact I cannot imagine never using their On Guard products again simply because during an entire Winter usually hounded by coughs and colds, not one person in my family has had to endure anything more than the merest of sniffles, so enveloped are we in a kind of fierce aromatic bubble.
I Truly Love Doterra…
I love Doterra but I cannot be a part of marketing their products because I cannot authentically market them to you without looking like I am trying to deal drugs, or persuade you to give up your career in favor of joining my cult. I want to be able to say this lavender oil is the best on the market, here’s the link, please buy it if you think it will serve you and I am happy to tell you more about these products I truly believe in if you are interested.
I want to be able to accompany posts about Doterra with images of their products, but that is not permitted. Here on
Keeping the Site Online…
You see that is ALL I wanted to do when I first joined Doterra. Have a range of products that supported the lifestyle I describe here at
I have never been about relentless sales here on
This then is ultimately about trust. When I say I LOVE something I want you to trust me enough to know that I really do LOVE it. I want my recommendations to feel like an ordinary part of the conversation here on the site and I want those recommendations to feel like those made by your best friend, so you can take them or leave them safe in the knowledge that I recommend them from the place of authority that is having personal experience of those products without trying to force them down your throat. Because a best friend wouldn’t do that and she definitely wouldn’t declare Frankincense oil to be a cure for breast cancer or a million other ills – which is above all else what Doterra fear most: their representatives making ludicrous claims about their products online.
Spurious Claims About Essential Oils…
But here in lies the rub. Those of us online may not be making such grandiose and frankly occasionally preposterous claims about the powers of essential oils, but offline in the course of emails and Skype conversations those very same claims Doterra so fear and the FDA are looking to eliminate exist and are frequently repeated among the chattering marketing classes. The tumor in the jar drawn out from the breast by the power of Frankincense alone may be the stuff that urban legends are made of but it is a claim I have heard more than once and one I want no part of.
Doterra understandably cannot legislate against conversation so they have brought down the heavy guns on small bloggers (though not upon those who are the Diamond Leaders in the industry with blogs of their own): making it possible to make whatever claims one wants once an email address has been acquired, or indeed to make similar claims on social networks because media like that is transient and apparently without influence, but not possible to market those same products on anything with the permanence of a blog post. For me that makes working with Doterra impossible because I do not want to have to manipulate my readers but would rather now say, by all means buy Doterra products because they truly are worth the investment, but I can no longer ask you to buy them here because marketing like this simply doesn’t sit well with me. Doterra wellness advocates are all over Pinterest and I know you will be able to find an alternative advocate.
Thank-You…
Finally I want to say thank-you to all those of you who were part of my Doterra journey Without your loyalty and trust in me and the products I recommend here,
Have a lovely day Housekeepers.x
The FDA has no scruples in their attempts to run the US, believing the rest of us are idiots, and can’t make decisions about our own health. Even going to the health food store is a challenge because the workers, even if they know their stuff, can’t advise you on supplements. Thankfully we can still buy what we want. At least for now.
Thanks for your honesty. I do understand the dilemma.
Thanks Melissa: it really is a problem for all concerned and I absolutely understand why Doterra and other companies in the US are struggling to make rules that satisfy everybody.
My decision is completely based on whether I can make the business model work for Brocantehome and ultimately I just wasn’t comfortable not being able to discuss products I believed in (and still believe in) here on the site.
Thanks as always for your input. Hope you and yours are well sweetheart.x
For the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies it is all about the almighty dollar! Heaven forbid that something natural, dare I say, works better? I understand. I too love Do Terra, but I have never been a great salesperson. Ironically, my husband is a pharmacist! Drugs have their place in dire emergencies, but even in our house,natural is the way to go!
Curious question,does the laundry detergent you are now selling, work better than your homemade recipe? I have never made laundry detergent, never seem to have time.
Hi Jeanette. I am as you know completely dedicated to keeping things totally natural with as few potentially toxic chemicals as possible and at the beginning of my housekeeping journey I made all my own products simply so that I could guarantee their safety and control the fragrances that had long irritated me.
But as life has got busier and the natural homemaking industry bigger I have found it easier to look for alternatives to some of the products I used to make, and as laundry powder is so time-consuming to make, it was one of the first products I looked for a shop bought alternative too. So I have since been using various non-toxic alternatives with varying degrees of success and keeping a little batch of my own lavender powder for hand-washing my blankets because I cannot compromise on the fragrance and softness of those!
Up until I swapped to Modere I was never completely happy. Finley is permanently filthy and some marks just wouldn’t shift. Add to that the fact that some natural detergents and powders have an almost musty smell and I really did feel like I was compromising for conveniences sake, paying over the odds for a natural alternative and trying to make it all work on a low temperature was to boot by adding more than the manufacture said was necessary.
With Modere laundry powder it is all different. For a start it actually works. Second the amount of product necessary to make it work is tiny in comparison with the shovels of the other stuff I had been using and thirdly (and this is the best part for me!) it has almost no fragrance at all other than the scent of line-dried laundry which has thrilled my whole family.
This means that I can add a drop or two of the essential oils I love and get the fragrance I want in my own laundry room ad for that alone I couldn’t be happier.
So yep: to cut a long story short, for convenience’s sake I prefer and now exclusively use Modere. The initial cost of the product might initially seem high but I have been amazed by how long it lasts and how little I use and would not hesitate to recommend it to you.x
Sounds like you are just pushing a new line of oils to me. I truly don’t even believe you ever sold doterra. Everyone has a marketing scheme, even you.
Thank-you for your comment. I not only sold them, I had a dedicated community for them. And no, I am not pushing any other oils – in the post I still actively recommend Doterra, I just chose to stop marketing them and all other network marketing related products- even Modere mentioned above.
While they might be a valid marketing scheme for many, they simply weren’t right for me and that is what I am trying to explain.
Hi Alison, I was a professional Aromatherapist for 25 years until I retired last summer. I didn’t know any Aromatherapists who would touch Doterra with a barge pole for exactly the reasons you’ve just set out. Well done for bringing it out into the open. If you’re looking for a new supplier, I used to use Penny Price Aromatherapy, Oshadhi and Purple Flame – all in the UK.
Hi Alison, I was a professional Aromatherapist for 25 years until I retired last summer. I didn’t know any Aromatherapists who would touch Doterra with a barge pole for exactly the reasons you’ve just set out. Well done for bringing it out into the open. If you’re looking for a new supplier, I used to use Penny Price Aromatherapy, Oshadhi and Purple Flame – all in the UK.
So do these “rules” apply to other MLM companies such as Young Living??
What are some reputable company’s to buy oils from?
I love rockymoutainoils.com
What are some reputable company’s to buy oils from?
I love rockymoutainoils.com
Young Living ! I cannot emphasize enough how pure and therapeutic their oils are.
I love YOUNG LIVING as well, and I love how they have everything open to public, nothing is behind doors. Product is awesome and compensation plan is off the top of all other MLM companies.
doTERRA’s compensation plan is better than Young Livings. I cjose doTERRA because of the purity, source to you, and because I signed under a certified aromatherapist, master herbalist and veterinarian- that chose doTERRA. I would never go with an oil company that doesn’t provide GCMS reports. .. and I too never want to be without On Gaurd again! ?
doTERRA’s compensation plan is better than Young Livings. I cjose doTERRA because of the purity, source to you, and because I signed under a certified aromatherapist, master herbalist and veterinarian- that chose doTERRA. I would never go with an oil company that doesn’t provide GCMS reports. .. and I too never want to be without On Gaurd again! ?
love doterra, would never change them.