15 March 2022 What are carrier oils? Are carrier oils edible? How do we use carrier oils in aromatherapy?
A Glimpse of Carrier Oils
Carrier oils / base oils are cold-pressed or slightly refined vegetable oils (usually grapeseed oil) for aromatherapy and of course for cooking also (except the vegetable wax - jojoba oil). They can be easily absorbed by our skin and would not leave a greasy and sticky layer after massage.
And since they do not go for the refine process or are just slightly refined, majority of the nutrients are reserved and could exert positive effects on our body.
In addition to the cold-pressed carrier oils, there is something called macerated oil. The term “macerated oils” implies that some herbaceous plants have been added to the carrier oil, which transforms the original carrier oil into a much therapeutic oil. For example, St. John’s Wort macerated oil in olive oil, Calendula macerated oil in sunflower seeds oil…etc. (Should not be ingested, as it consists of herbaceous components, in which we are not sure about the exact dosage of this kind of oil)
Knowing that most of the oils we use in aromatherapy are unrefined, the shelf life of these oils is typically shorter than the refined ones. Thus, after opened the bottle, make sure that you take the right amount and reduce the number of times for opening the bottle to prevent the oil from contacting oxygen for a long time and causing oxidation of unsaturated fatty acid, which would lead to rancidity.
So, how could we store the oils?
Like essential oils, we recommend people to store the oils away from direct sunlight and in cool, dark and dry places, such as oil storage boxes or refrigerator.
The Dilution Guide of Essential Oil
When we use essential oil, if not administered through inhalation, but on our skin, it is important to dilute the oil in carrier oils due to the following reasons:
Essential oil is too concentrated
To reduce the toxicity of essential oils, especially in pregnant / breastfeeding mother, child and elderly with poor liver and renal functions
To avoid irritation to skin
FYI, some essential oils can apply small amount neatly on our skin, for example, lavender, tea tree. I will talk about it in a separate article.
Mathematics to some people is quite a challenge. Many of us do not understand the rationale behind the dilution calculation. Let me explain it in a much easier way as follow:
Imagine the drop factor of a vertical dropper is 20 drops per mL.
A 10mL essential oil / carrier oil is therefore equivalent to 200 drops (10mL x 20 drops).
So, adding 1 drop of essential oil to 5mL of carrier oil equals to 1 drop of essential oil in 100 drops of carrier oil (5mL x 20 drops).
That means 1 drop / 100 drops = 1%
To make the calculation much quicker and easier, we can divide the amount of carrier oil to be used by 5.
For example, we need to calculate the total number of drops of essential oil using 35mL of carrier oil for massage at a concentration of 3%, we can calculate it as below:
35 / 5 * 3 = 21 drops of essential oil to be added in total
The amount of carrier oil to be used (mL) / 5 mL x % of concentration
= Total number of drops of essential oil to be added
For most of the time, we do not just simply add one kind of essential oil, but have a blend. To find out the average number of drops of each essential oil to be added, the formulae would be like this:
Total number of drops of essential oil / Number of essential oils
= Average number of drops of each essential oil to be added
Hope the formula make the dilution calculation much easier for you.