There was a time when people kept telling me the same thing.
“You’re glowing.”
Not once. Not one person.
Over and over again.
We had left to cruise the Caribbean, and somewhere along the way I had started a simple little daily ritual. After showering, I mixed Arborvitae essential oil with fractionated coconut oil and rubbed it over my entire body.
My arms. My legs. My chest. My face.
Every day.
I wasn't trying to conduct an experiment. I wasn't keeping notes or taking before-and-after pictures. I certainly wasn't thinking that years later I would be sitting here reading a scientific paper about Arborvitae and human skin cells.
I just liked how it made my skin feel.
And then something started happening.
“René, Your Skin!”
People noticed my skin.
They told me it looked beautiful. They told me it glowed.
And I could see it too.
My face even seemed different. It looked thinner and less puffy. My skin looked healthy and alive in a way I hadn't really seen before.
Of course, I was also living on a sailboat in the Caribbean.
I was outside. I was moving. I was swimming. I was eating differently. I was surrounded by salt air and sunshine and doing something I had dreamed about doing.
There were plenty of possible explanations.
But there were two other things I noticed.
I wasn't getting eaten alive by bugs.
And despite spending an enormous amount of time outdoors in the Caribbean sun, I didn't remember getting sunburned.
At the time, I didn't think much about any of it.
It was simply part of my life.
Until now.
Then I Found This Study
Recently, I came across a published laboratory study looking specifically at Arborvitae (Thuja plicata) essential oil and human skin cells.
Well.
You can imagine how quickly that got my attention.
Researchers studied human dermal fibroblasts—the cells found in the connective tissue of our skin—and looked at what happened when Arborvitae essential oil was introduced into an inflammatory cell model.
They reported changes involving several inflammatory biomarkers as well as activity involving pathways associated with immune response and tissue remodeling.
And suddenly I was transported right back to the Caribbean.
The glowing skin.
The change I saw in my face.
That bottle of Arborvitae I reached for every single day.
Now, before anyone runs off and covers themselves in Arborvitae because René on the sailboat said so, there's something important you need to know.
This study does not prove that Arborvitae caused what happened to me.
It was a laboratory study involving cells—not a clinical trial where people applied Arborvitae to their bodies.
The study was also funded by dōTERRA, and both researchers were employees of the company at the time. That's important information, and I'd love to see independent researchers take this further.
But none of that changes what happened to me.
It simply means I can't tell you why it happened.
And strangely, I think that makes the story more interesting.
Looking Back With Different Eyes
I wasn't trying to cure anything.
I wasn't expecting my face to change.
I wasn't standing in front of the mirror every morning searching for results.
I was simply a woman living aboard her sailboat, cruising through the Caribbean, rubbing a mixture of fractionated coconut oil and Arborvitae into her skin every day.
And people started telling me I glowed.
Could the fractionated coconut oil have contributed? Absolutely.
Could changes in my diet, activity level, stress, environment or hydration have affected my face and skin? Of course.
Could Arborvitae have played a role?
After reading this research, I can't help wondering.
The bug experience makes me wonder too. Some plant compounds and essential oils have demonstrated insect-repellent properties, although that doesn't mean my Arborvitae mixture was a proven mosquito repellent.
And I want to be especially careful about the sun.
The fact that I didn't burn is my experience—not evidence that Arborvitae provides sun protection. I would never tell someone to substitute an essential oil for proven sun protection based on my story.
But I'm also not going to rewrite my own history because science hasn't explained it yet.
I didn't burn.
I didn't get bitten.
My skin looked incredible.
People noticed.
That's what happened.
Maybe the Glow Was Bigger Than a Bottle
There's another possibility I've been thinking about.
Maybe some of that glow had absolutely nothing to do with what I was putting on my skin.
Maybe I glowed because I was happy.
I was living on a sailboat.
I was waking up surrounded by water.
I was experiencing new islands, new people and a completely different rhythm of life.
Maybe the woman everyone saw glowing wasn't simply a woman with beautiful skin.
Maybe she was a woman who felt alive.
And perhaps that's why finding this study all these years later has affected me more than I expected.
It didn't just make me curious about Arborvitae.
It reminded me of her.
That version of me.
The woman standing barefoot on a boat somewhere in the Caribbean, smelling faintly of Arborvitae and coconut oil, probably with wild hair and absolutely no idea that one day she'd miss that version of herself.
Maybe Arborvitae helped my skin.
Maybe the coconut oil helped.
Maybe Caribbean air helped.
Maybe happiness helped.
Most likely, it was a little bit of everything.
But I know one thing for certain.
I remember that woman.
And she glowed.
Rooted in Faith. Guided by the Sea.
— René | 2 Salty Dawgs