What are the Best Carrier Oils for Essential Oils?

If you’ve read our blog ‘The Ultimate List of Carrier Oils & Their Benefits’ then you’ll know all about the difference between each oil and what wonderful properties they can bring to your skin and hair. But you might be wondering how to take the next step and add essential oils to your carrier oils. Let's take a look at carrier oils for essential oils…

Why Use Carrier Oils With Essential Oils

Essential oils not only smell fantastic, but they can bring fantastic properties to your skin and hair. However, not only do they evaporate very quickly, they are also incredibly strong and can irritate your skin if you use them without diluting them first.

This is where carrier oils come into play! They ‘carry’ the essential oil to the skin in a safe, diluted and controlled way. Carrier oils such as jojoba or sweet almond oil don’t evaporate and they also have very neutral scents which means they won’t interrupt the beautiful aroma of the essential oils.

How To Use Carrier Oils With Essential Oils

Essential oils are so easy to use with carrier oils. Simply add a few drops of your chosen essential oil to your carrier oil, mix, and away you go!

The important bit to get right is the dilution, as too much essential oil can irritate your skin or cause sensitisation. 

• Check the IFRA document for your essential oil, you can find them here
• Decide where you are going to apply the diluted oil to your skin, and select the right IFRA category using the table below

• Use the maximum level of use in the IFRA document to calculate the maximum safe dilution rate.

For example, if you are going to create a body oil with our may chang essential oil then you need to check the IFRA document, select category 5A and the maximum safe dilution is 0.18%. That is 18ml of essential oil per 1 litre of carrier oil.

Another example. Say you want to dilute our organic rose geranium essential oil for a face treatment, you check the IFRA document for category 5B and the maximum safe dilution is 5.8%. That is 58ml per 1 litre of carrier oil.

Here's a quick guide to percentage dilutions

1% dilution - 1ml of essential oil per 100ml of carrier oil. 

2% dilution - 2ml of essential oil per 100ml of carrier oil. 

5% dilution - 5ml of essential oil per 100ml of carrier oil. 

Remember, each essential oil is different so check the IFRA document before you start.

Do Carrier Oils Help Essential Oils Work Better?

Not only do carrier oils make essential oils safe to be used on the skin, they also help them work better and longer. This is because carrier oils stop the essential oils evaporating too quickly, keeping them in contact with the skin for longer. The longer they stay on the skin the more they are absorbed, along with their wonderful benefits.

You’ll also notice the beautiful aroma from the essential oils lingers more which is great for aromatherapy.

The Best Carrier Oils for Essential Oils

The best carrier oils to use are cold-pressed, which means they haven’t been heat or chemical processed and you get all the benefits of the pure oil for your skin and hair. There are so many different carrier oils and everyone gradually finds their favourite for various uses. But here are our top carrier oils for essential oils.

Grapeseed Oil

Grapeseed oil is smooth, light and silky on the skin and absorbs quickly. It’s perfect for adding essential oils to for aromatherapy rollerball blends or massage.

Coconut Oil

There are two types of coconut oil that you could use - virgin, which is solid at room temperature, and fractionated which is liquid at room temperature. Both are perfect for adding essential oils to. Use virgin coconut oil to make our recipe for a gorgeous whipped body butter or use fractionated coconut oil for a skin softening body massage.

Jojoba Oil

Jojoba oil is light and absorbs into the skin and hair very easily which makes it perfect for use in the summer when you want a non-greasy feel. Add essential oils to jojoba oil for a lightweight summer body oil, or to overnight deep conditioning hair masks and body wash recipes.

Avocado Oil

One of our favourite oils, avocado oil is packed full of vitamins and antioxidants. With added essential oils it’s wonderful in recipes for lip balms and body oils. Why not try our recipe for a moisturising hand treatment. 

Sweet Almond Oil

A great all rounder and found in many DIY skincare and haircare recipes. Sweet almond oil is very soothing and great for dry skin. Boosts hydration in dry hair, works wonderfully as a shaving oil for men and makes a lovely body or massage oil. Try our recipe for Cocoa Lotion Bars using essential oils and sweet almond oil.

The beauty of carrier oils is that they can also be blended together, so if you’re looking for the rich vitamins benefits of avocado oil along with the extra hydration of sweet almond oil, you can just blend the two together along with your essential oils. This way you can try different blends and find a bespoke solution that works best for your skin and hair. 

We hope that’s helped you understand carrier oils for essential oils a little better. Carrier oils will keep your skin safe by diluting the essential oils, while bringing wonderful benefits of their own to your recipes. Remember to keep your carrier oils and essential oils in a cool, dark place and to be mindful of each oil's shelf life.