What is a Carrier Oil?

Some essential oils are, for lack of a better term, hot or spicy. They can be irritating to the skin.
For example Oregano or Cinnamon. Both, while they won’t hurt your or burn you, can make your skin red and feel hot.

Carrier oils play a pivotal role in harnessing the benefits of essential oils, ensuring safe and effective application. These natural, plant-based oils act as a medium to dilute potent oils, preventing skin irritation and allowing for a controlled release of their therapeutic properties. Opting for a high-quality carrier oil is essential; options like fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil, or sweet almond oil are popular choices due to their non-comedogenic nature and excellent absorption properties.

When blending ‘hot’ essential oils with carrier oils, it’s imperative to maintain the proper dilution ratio to ensure maximum efficacy without overwhelming the skin. A standard guideline is to use 1-3 drops of essential oil per teaspoon of carrier oil for most applications. This balance empowers the carrier oil to facilitate smooth absorption while effectively dispersing the essential oil’s soothing or invigorating effects.

My oil of choice is Fractionated Coconut Oil (buy here). This is coconut oil in liquid form that doesn’t solidify.
My second choice is Apricot oil. (buy here)

Castor Oil (buy here)

· It offers regenerative and restructuring characteristics that offer quality skin moisturizing.

· Great for massage

· It leaves a glossy film that protects essential oils from evaporation.

Jojoba Oil (buy here)

It has a very stable shelf life and when mixed with other carriers, increases their shelf life.

· It is known for its nourishing qualities for the skin.

· It closely resembles the natural oils of our own skin

· It absorbs well into the skin, without the greasy feeling that other oils might have.

· It is naturally protective to sensitive skin

A positive to diluting your oils, even if they aren’t needing it, is that stretches your oils. When find a carrier oil, it truly is personal preference.

I make a roller bottle (more to come on this later in the series) of grounding blend with Almond oil and it makes the oil last longer as in takes longer to go through it.

Something else to know is if you use an oil that you don’t think will bother you and it does, just add a carrier oil to it. DO NOT ADD WATER…it won’t help.