Things You Need to Know about Carrier Oils for Your Next Homemade Natural Skincare

We’ve of course been very well aware of the use of plant-based carrier oils in skin care preparations, especially nowadays in the age of natural and organic cosmetic and skin care.

What most of us haven’t learned thoroughly about, though, is how to properly use this wide selection of plant oils being offered in the current market. And that’s exactly what we’re gonna talk about here in this comprehensive article (looks like it’s time to put your PJs on, prepare yourself a mug of hot chai latte and snuggle up for reading time! Well, maybe not exactly, but point is, don’t forget to relax while reading this kind of knowledge-packed article).

*Vast amount of knowledge shared in this post came from the 4^th Edition of Carrier Oils for Aromatherapy and Massage written by Len Price and Shirley Price, although there are other resources, whose hyperlinks would be provided – and not to mention, the knowledge and skills I’ve gained throughout years of education, experimentation and observation.

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What we’re going to talk about here:

• What carrier oils actually are
• Fatty acids
• Carrier oils vs essential oils
• Essential fatty acids (EFAs)
• How carrier oils work on our skin
• Production of carrier oils
• Cold pressed oils
• Refined oils
• Macerated oils
• Rancidity & proper storage
• Key factors in choosing the right carrier oils for you
• Chart of 21 unrefined carrier oils (botanical name, skincare qualities, skin penetration rate, aroma, color)

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For those who are curious about what carrier oils actually are…

The reaction between a special type of alcohol named glycerol and fatty acids produces water and this molecule called triacylglycerol, which is commonly known as triglyceride.

These triglycerides are indeed the very molecules we’ve always known as fats, oils, vegetable oils, plant oils, fixed oils, base oils or carrier oils in our everyday life.

Just before we continue, let’s use the term triglyceride for the sake of our familiarity with the term over triacylglycerol – it’s easier to pronounce as well…

Okay. So.

Since a molecule of triglyceride is composed of one molecule of glycerol and three molecules of fatty acids, it makes sense that higher percentage of this fat molecule is composed of fatty acids.

And it shouldn’t be too surprising that the naturally occurring triglycerides are all complex, meaning all three fatty acids attached to glycerol are different to each other.

In fact, with glycerol being the common component in most vegetable oils, the properties of fatty acids are all that contribute to the differences existing between these carrier oils.

Further into fatty acids…

There are three groups of fatty acids, namely saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

The carbon atoms in saturated fatty acids linked only by single bonds, whereas there are one and two or more double bonds in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, respectively.

And the oils as we know them, each molecule is made up of glycerol and the mixture of these three groups of fatty acids, although the oil’s classification is always determined by whichever fatty acid group that dominates.

The length of carbon chain varies with the type of fatty acid itself, but it usually ranges from C₁₂ to C₂₄ when we talk about the fatty acids found in carrier oils. This means that there are 12 – 24 carbon atoms in the fatty acids commonly found in carrier oils.

Now since there are three fatty acids reacting with glycerol, we can see that every fat molecule triglyceride is a bulky one. That is, triglycerides are rather large, heavy molecules, that it’s not easy for them to penetrate our skin – unlike essential oils that are built from relatively smaller molecules.

The larger molecular size has also been the reason for much milder aromas of carrier oils, compared to those pungent aromas of essential oils.

Carrier oils vs essential oils

First of all, know that carrier oils are “fixed” plant oils while essential oils are “volatile” plant oils.

Here are some differences between the two:

Property	Carrier Oil	Essential Oil
Extraction	Expression, solvent	Steam distillation, expression, solvent
Volatility	Low	High
Solubility in ethanol	No	Yes
Aroma	Weak	Strong
Viscosity	High	Low

Essential oils dissolve completely in base oils; they are then transported by the base oils to penetrate the first layers of skin, hence the given term ‘carrier oils’.

Carrier oils, which form the bulk of skincare preparations, are emollients to different degrees, while essential oils are more like the super potent ‘actives’, which should be used in tiny amounts to be then delivered into the layers of skin with the help of carrier oils.

Fun fact! – Did you know that we’ve grown so accustomed to consuming fats and oils, so much so that they’ve been part of our life since we were babies only capable of drinking easy-to-digest mother’s milk, which is rich in unsaturated fats oleic fatty acid and also vitamin E.

What about essential fatty acids?

Some fatty acids are necessary to promote good health, but unfortunately our bodies do not produce these essential fatty acids (EFAs) by itself. Linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) are the two essential fatty acids.

Fortunately, many carrier oils used in natural and organic skincare products are based on selection of these essential fatty acids, being present in their glycerol-combined forms, i.e. triglycerides (triacylglycerols).

Prottey et al, together with Hartop, found that high rate of moisture loss resulting in dry skin condition is one effect of EFA deficiency, and it can be corrected by topical application of oils rich in EFAs.

Furthermore, Coupland and Brod et al separately stated that topical applications of skincare products containing EFAs also improve the dry skin condition caused by fatty acid metabolism impairment in psoriasis and atopic eczema patients.

Note that, as said above, the fatty acids occurring in these EFA-rich oils are present in their triglycerides (triacylglycerol) form, and so the metabolism done by bacteria is of huge importance skin-wise, just as triglycerides that form the major part of sebum are hydrolyzed by bacteria to fatty acids.

It might also be useful for us to know that many fatty acids have now been given Omega classifications, such as Omega-3 and Omega-6. Such classification was intended to provide a way of determining the position of one of the double bonds present in an unsaturated fatty acid.

Instances of the use of Omega classification can be seen as linoleic acid and gamma-linolenic acid are grouped into omega 6 fatty acids, whereas alpha-linolenic acid has been categorized as an omega 3 fatty acid.

Now how do carrier oils work on our skin?

Acting as environmental barrier, skin has been known to be semi permeable barrier to many materials.

In general, there are 3 layers of skin:

1. Epidermis (the top, outermost layer of skin)
2. Dermis (the area between epidermis and hypodermis)
3. Hypodermis (subcutaneous tissue, the layer beneath dermis)

The outer layer of epidermis is where we apply our skincare products onto, and for that reason, understanding the very general idea about its structure would tremendously help us in understanding skin penetration of carrier oils and other skincare preparations.

So.

The outer layers of epidermis are what we’ve called stratum corneum.

Keratinocytes form the major part of these layers. As a brief illustration, “dead”, dried keratinocytes called corneocytes or squames are what we can see – it’s what we’ve, all this time, been referring as “skin”. Squames (what have been known to us as “dead skin” or “dead skin cells”) are being shed and all the while, fresh, plump keratinocytes are newly produced at the bottom of epidermis.

In his journal article published in 2009, Apostolos Pappas stated that these cells called keratinocytes are surrounded by lipophilic (lipid-loving) extra cellular medium, which is also known as epidermal lipids; a mixture of ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids, thus limiting permeability of our skin by water and electrolyte movement.

He also stated that sebaceous lipids are primarily non polar lipids as triglycerides, wax esters and squalene. If you remember from what had been written above, you might be able to guess that these triglycerides would likely be modified – more specifically, hydrolyzed – by (skin) bacteria, “back to” free fatty acids and glycerol.

Now.

Knowing that lipids play such huge roles in the structuring and functioning of our skin, the revelation must come naturally to us that our skin would have high compatibility and even great affinity with certain types of lipids.

As you might have noticed, fatty acids have been mentioned several times here.

In their literature review, Osborne and Henke included some unsaturated fatty acids in the list of more than 275 chemical compounds cited as skin penetration enhancers.

It was found that the greater the degree of unsaturation of an oil, the better the penetration rate is. It had also been concluded by Valette and Sobrin that the percutaneous absorption of oils enhances with increased amounts of short chain and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Tanojo et al‘s findings published in 1997 confirm that a monounsaturated fatty acid called oleic acid acts as a skin penetration enhancer through a certain mechanism.

However, in his next study Tanojo and colleagues stated that three polyunsaturated fatty acids named linoleic acid, alpha-linolenic acid and arachidonic acid had also been reported to enhance the permeation of various compounds across the skin. The mechanisms of skin penetration enhancement differ, though.

Containing relatively high amount of unsaturated fatty acid units, plant-based carrier oils have that element of weakness in their molecular bonding, due to the double bonds, which are not as strong as single bonds.
This has probably been one reason for these carrier oils’ high degree of skin permeation; imagine there are 2 lines of people holding hands together, say line A and line B. Assume line A wants to alternate line B’s configuration. There have to be some sort of chain-breaking happening in line A in the first place – maybe with some help of something. Otherwise, the already balanced lines A and B would just stay where and how they are. So. Weak bond (hand-holding) within line A creates separation and thus free portion of line A, obstructing line B. Reaction will then take place to reach equilibrium, consequently creating new product(s).
Now let’s say line A represents the triglyceride (the carrier oil) being applied on your skin, whereas line B the epidermal lipid or maybe the sebaceous lipid; the chain breaker represents the friendly bacteria from the skin flora, and lastly the product would be fatty acids and glycerol.

Wowee, that’s a long one!!

Okay, you can sip your maybe-not-that-hot-anymore chai latte here before continuing.

Next thing to consider is the oil’s viscosity. In general, the higher the viscosity is, the more difficult it is for the oil to penetrate the first layers of our skin. Almond oil and olive oil are relatively more viscous than some other oils, and they penetrate the skin only at medium rate and slow rate, respectively. On the contrary, grapeseed oil permeates the skin more quickly due to its lower viscosity, compared to those of almond oil and olive oil. As I said earlier, this is only a general rule; there have been some exceptions to it.

It might also be useful for us to know that viscosity lowers with an increase in temperature. That’s why there have been some tips suggesting to warm your hands before applying face or facial oil to your skin. Some massage therapists also slightly warm the massage oil just before beginning the therapy. All of these modifications have been made to aid the oil’s penetration to the skin.

*Be careful though – only gently heat the oil to anywhere that’s still under 40⁰ C, especially when essential oils and other volatile or heat-sensitive extracts were included in the product.

From our rather small skin pores to the dense structure of our skin, it should make sense that it would be harder for an oil to pass through the skin barrier when the molecular size is large.

*Note that since essential oils are completely soluble in carrier oils, the rate of absorption of essential oils into the skin would also largely be determined by the chosen carrier oils and their rates of skin penetration.

In their book, Len and Shirley Price also added that the stratum corneum in normal skin is rich in saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, thus deficiency in these fatty acids results in skin dryness due to trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL). Fortunately, there is evidence that oils rich in bonded essential fatty acids bring benefits to dry skin.

Another issue is the lack of enzymes that convert linoleic acid (LA) to gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), resulting in low level of GLA in the epidermis.

In one study conducted by Tollesson and Frithz, 37 patients with clinically diagnosed infantile seborrhoeic dermatitis (ISD) were treated with daily topical application of borage oil containing 24% GLA. The symptoms disappeared within 3 – 4 weeks. The transepidermal water loss (TEWL) decreased; there is no significant differences in TEWL and water content in stratum corneum of controls and patients after the treatment. The results suggest the importance of GLA in maintaining normal TEWL, thus promoting the recovery in patients suffering from ISD.

Production of (plant-based) carrier oils

There are ways of obtaining oils from various plants, but the best way to do that is through oil extraction directly from the seeds, nuts or kernels.

The oil content varies with different seeds. Be it 30%, 20% or 50%, the ability of plant to yield oil hugely determines the cost of the oil. Less-oil-yielding plants produce more expensive oils.

Another challenge faced in natural and organic skincare world is the sensitivity of these high quality, genuine natural plant oils to environmental variables during planting, growing and harvesting, as well as handling during storage, transporting, and of course during the skincare formulation itself. In an ideal world, correct handling even extends to how the consumer stores a product, e.g. whether or not the consumer follows the manufacturer’s product storage instructions, which have normally been written on the label.

Cold pressed oils

If you’ve ever heard of cold pressed oils; skincare-wise, they are still the best in terms of the remaining therapeutic compounds. Still, if you can find the ones that are cold pressed plus certified organic, they are the best of the best in natural and organic skincare realm.

Cold pressing processes are done under minimum heat, yielding oils with undestroyed and/or unchanged natural characteristics. No excessive heat is allowed during the extraction process. Though some countries have set the legal temperature limit below which the process is considered cold pressing, the other countries haven’t.

In the cold pressing process, hydraulic press is used to squeeze the soft oily seeds, kernels or nuts, and sometimes other plant materials.

Expeller is used to crush harder seeds and plant materials. The “crushing” process might be repeated until the last oil drops could be obtained. Extracting the plant’s oil by using expeller this way can possibly generate some heat.

The crushed plant materials are then removed by a series of filtration.

Often the oil would then be transferred to a high speed centrifuge to separate it from the remaining traces of water.

The product is usually a clear oil, though there are some exceptions; some plant oils go cloudy at lower temperatures.

The remaining reasonably-oily plant materials could be used as animal feed – if not sent to another factory for further “refining” process.

Now introducing refined oils…

To the large scale (usually more on the-rather-“conventional”-side) cosmetics and skincare companies, inconsistencies in their raw materials could be disastrous. Imagine buying 10 tons of sunflower oil from a supplier to discover a bit later there are some differences in half of the batch, compared to the set standards. Or it turns out that half of the batch is expiring sooner due to reactions with the container, or there might be undesirable products formed in some percentage of the raw materials. Also, especially for color cosmetics, they have their own strict color palette standards. So, slight inconsistency in raw material’s color might affect the end product. Take into consideration the modifications in logistics and any other operational activities that would need to be involved to compensate for the issues.

Similar to most of vegetable oils on the supermarket shelves; strict ranges of nutritional values, taste, odour, and so on.

One reason for the massive use of refined oils by large scale companies can be attributed to the usefulness of refining process in obtaining larger amount of oils, compared to how much oil obtained from cold processing.

However, there are downsides to such high-yielding process. Oil refining might involve elevated temperatures and the use of chemicals in the process, resulting in altered and lost natural properties of oils.

Sometimes the refining process include bleaching to remove oil’s natural color, to further increase the visual appeal of end product, as well as to avoid visual inconsistency caused by slight color variation in different batches of unrefined oils. “Natural” pigments might then be added so that the oil would conform to certain color standards.

Refined oils might also be subjected to 200 ⁰C steam, allowing strong-tasting and -smelling compounds to be removed from the end product. Note that most unrefined oils have their own characteristic aroma and taste, with various degrees of pungency.

Natural waxes inside the oils might be intentionally removed to avoid cloudiness at low temperatures.

Synthetic antioxidant might be added to prolong the oil’s shelf life, Specialist supplier might use the natural variant of antioxidant, e.g. a-tocopherol.

Addition of vitamins and minerals might also be done to compensate the destruction of the naturally occurring ones during refining process.

Free fatty might also be removed to improve the taste and to avoid the corrosive properties of them.

Despite the processes, sometimes these refined oils can still be called “pure” and even “natural”, for there’s still zero rules governing the term ‘natural’. So far, ‘organic’ seems to be that one term that is being regulated – to certain extent, depending on where you are in the world and which corresponding certification organization we’re talking about.

There might be other processes not mentioned here, and there is another process called hydrogenation (margarines, anyone?). And I would suggest you to find out more about trans fatty acids.

There have been so many enlightening details I (intentionally) didn’t include here – otherwise I would have just been copying the entire book! Because nearly everything in this book is worth sharing. Plus, I’ve sure included things I’ve learned through years on this topic, on this post, as well. Nevertheless, you’ll be more than welcome to get this book written by Len Price and Shirley Price, the 4^th edition of ‘Carrier Oils for Aromatherapy and Massage’, if you want to further educate yourself on this particular topic.

Time to talk about the legendary macerated oils!

Oil maceration is a way to incorporate extra therapeutic benefits of certain plant materials in a base (carrier) oil.

It should make sense that high quality unrefined (most likely cold pressed) oils are highly preferable for this purpose. Sunflower and sweet almond oils are usually used as the bases of macerated oils for their soft, rather neutral colors and their soft, mild aroma, compared to other oils, which possess deeper colors and more pungent aroma, e.g. olive oil and flaxseed oil.

In maceration process, lipophilic substances of certain plant materials are extracted by soaking chopped, dried plant materials in the chosen base oil.

Plant parts that can be used in maceration are, for instance, flower petals, leaves, and so on.

In the skincare world, you can usually find calendula and also St. John’ wort macerated oils.

You can also try making rose petals, lavender, rosemary, as well as other herbs macerated oils.

The extracted plant elements include oil-soluble, less volatile, larger molecules (compared to those smaller, more volatile molecules extracted by steam distillation of essential oils), including the color and aroma compounds of the plants.

I usually use only up to about 10% macerated oil in a formulation, since it’s already packed with those beneficial oil-soluble compounds, although not as potent as essential oils.

Chopping the plant materials helps breaking plant cell walls, thus allowing easier and quicker release of those desirable lipophilic compounds of the plant. And fine chopping increases the surface area of the extracted materials being exposed to the solvent (in this case, the chosen base oil), allowing higher amount of plant’s lipophilic substances to be extracted.

Before soaking them in the chosen carrier oil, the plant materials have to be firstly dried. Any moisture gives chances to microorganisms, mold and fungi growth. Believe me, my first attempt to making peppermint macerated oil ended up with small jars of floating fungi!

Always remember to add natural antioxidant such as natural vitamin E (a-tocopherol), to prevent oxidation of the oil, thus avoiding premature oil rancidity.

Now, there are 2 ways of making a macerated oil:

1. 2-weeks maceration process: Place chopped, dried plant materials in a jar nearly full of your chosen carrier oil and then close the lid. Let the jar sit under the sunlight for 2 weeks, agitating the jar twice daily. Bring the jar inside the house to keep its warmth. Replace the plant materials after 2 weeks, but keep the base oil unchanged, to increase the concentration of the beneficial oil-soluble compounds. Repeat the process for even higher concentration. At the end, filter the solids from the liquid. You might want to pour the product into a darker-colored glass jar to protect it from light.
2. 1-hour maceration process: Place chopped, dried plant materials in a heat-proof jar nearly full of your chosen carrier oil and then close the lid. Set the jar in bain-marie for 1 hour. Be very careful not to overheat the water, thus the oil. Replace the plant materials but keep the base oil unchanged, for higher concentration of the macerated oil. Finally, filter the solids from the liquid. Perhaps you’d want to pour the product into a darker-colored glass jar to protect it from light.

There you have your goodness-packed homemade macerated oil in a jar!

Rancidity – how to store your oils properly

Have you ever done a simple sniff test on certain carrier oils that have been sitting in your cupboard or on your shelves for quite some time, and found yourself making a speedy retreat with disgust?

Especially true for unrefined, cold pressed carrier oils, an oil goes rancid when its taste and aroma undergoes noticeable change. And usually not for the better.

Oil – or must we say triacylglycerol or triglyceride, to put it in context and make it easier for us to see? – and its fatty acid compounds tend to react with oxygen, moisture and light, whenever each, two, or all of these three variables exist. At elevated temperatures or not, although higher temperatures do accelerate the reactions.

That’s why every carrier oil should be kept in a dark container with minimum head space, away from direct sunlight, in a room or space with non-elevated, relatively low temperature. Ideally.

Bulk quantities, as in the storage owned by a large-scale company, if they’re doing it properly, should be kept in stainless steel containers, which provides inert surface for anything stored in them, thus avoiding any possible undesired reactions between oil, containers, as well as any air in the head space.

And to minimize the oxygen content in the container, they would supply an inert gas into it. I would think of the use of nitrogen purge system for this purpose. Purging nitrogen into the head space inside the container would replace any existing oxygen with nitrogen, which is, by the way, actually abundant in the air. Nitrogen purge has been done frequently in chemistry laboratory whenever a system needs an absence of oxygen. In the case of oils, this would be done to avoid oxidation of oils.

No need to worry just yet!

We’re not a manufacturer, we’re not going to require as much raw materials. If you’ve ever heard of airless pump bottles, they’re wonderful choice for storing your oils, since the head space is being constantly minimized every time a significant amount of oil is discarded from a bottle. But even though you couldn’t find one, a dark glass bottle would mostly do the job of storing carrier oils for your homemade skincare products.

In addition, there is another way to prolong the shelf life of an oil, namely addition of antioxidants. In the natural and organic skincare world, the most frequently used natural antioxidant is mixed tocopherols, which is normally known as vitamin E. Whenever possible, try to find the one that is made up of natural mixed tocopherols isolated from vegetable oils. And since, to date, these compounds are usually derived from soybean oil, try to find this natural vitamin E, which is derived from non-GMO soybean variant. Or even natural vitamin A that is derived from non-GMO sunflower seeds.

*Always follow the directions for use of skincare ingredients; read the label, ask the supplier, find out from their website. Natural vitamin E is supposed to be used in SMALL quantities.

Key factors to consider before choosing carrier oils to use in your own homemade skincare products:

• Skin penetration rate

Divided into 3 categories, oils can permeate our skin at fast, medium, or slow rate. The rate of skin penetration depends on, for example, the oil’s dominant structure (saturated, monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated), the molecular size and weight of the oil, its viscosity, and the EFAs content of the oil. Higher temperature helps improving the skin penetration rate.If you haven’t, you may want to read the details in section ‘Now how do carrier oils work on our skin?’ above.

In general, you may increase the percentage of ‘slow oils’ if you need extra moisturizing effect; maybe you’ve got super-dry and cracked, but NOT acne-prone skin, or perhaps you’ve got skin that is relatively more mature.

On the other hand, you may need to increase the percentage of oils that transport more quickly into your skin, if you’ve got acne-prone skin – make it light. Also importantly, do an extra research into the oil’s comedogenic rating.

Find the oils that have great affinity to your skin type.

Be extra attentive to your skin needs.

What I normally do is mixing the oils with different skin penetration rates and adjust their percentages based on the desired viscosity (do I want it to be rather light or thick?), the skin type in general (but also at the moment) and what the skin needs at the moment. It’s like having different oils that penetrate the skin at different rates, in addition to having one modified average skin penetration for the overall product.

• Skin care benefits

When it comes to natural and organic skincare, one of the very first things to do before purchasing and making a product is without a doubt researching the ingredients – what they do to our skin, more particularly.

If your skin is dry, you might need something that moisturizes and helps with its hydration.

When you see your skin is aging noticeably, you’d need extra nourishment and things that moisturizes your skin and helps retain moisture and hydration in your skin.

If you’ve got a rather sensitive and easily irritated skin, you’d most likely need skincare ingredients that are anti-inflammatory and soothing.

• Aroma

Things that differentiate unrefined carrier oils from the refined ones are their characteristic aromas. Refined oils are often deodorized, whereas the unrefined ones retain their natural aromas.

In skincare formulation, working with carrier oils with their natural aromas could become one tricky business, since some of them came with noticeable characteristic aromas, e.g. olive oil, coconut oil, tamanu oil, etc. This is one reason for the massive use of sunflower oil and sweet almond oil in natural and organic skincare formulation: their considerably more neutral (milder) aromas compared to most other carrier oils currently available on the market.

Modify the percentages of the corresponding ingredients to find the balance between all these variables, to make one beautiful homemade skincare product.

Add aromatic ingredients such as essential oils. *There are safety concerns in handling these potent aromaceuticals – more about this in another post, in which we’ll talk exclusively about essential oils!

• Color

Unrefined oils tend to vary in color. Even different batches of oil derived from one species can vary, as slightly as it does at any given circumstances – which is understandable, especially when all different variables affecting the plant’s harvesting process, the storage, and so on, are taken into consideration. This is one of the reasons most of “conventional” large-scale cosmetics companies proceed to use refined oils, which have been bleached to decolorize them – to avoid introducing too many variables in the manufacturing process.

I personally embrace the diversity in the color of unrefined oils. The color difference between different plant oils can be beautifully striking, e.g. emerald-green-colored avocado oil, yellow-colored flaxseed oil, red-colored St. John’s Wort macerated oil. Imagine getting creative with both product’s theme and the ingredients’ natural colors!

• Stability – shelf life

Molecular structure of an oil (and that of the fatty acids present in it) affects chemical stability, and therefore the shelf life of that particular oil.

Some oils, for instance, avocado oil and jojoba oil have relatively long shelf life when compared to that of many others.

Of course, you could add natural antioxidant(s) to your carrier oils to extend their shelf lives, and eventually the shelf life of your final product, by doing so. Refer to section ‘Rancidity – how to store your oils properly’ above for further details on proper oil storage.

You might want to consider the shelf life of your chosen oil, since some oils can be much more expensive than the others. Besides, you won’t want to waste these beautiful oils, right?

• Your own value

Another thing you may want to do would be to find an answer to each of these questions:

Was this oil derived from the plants that were grown with using sustainable practice?

If not, are you okay with it?

Do you strictly search for oils that have been certified organic?

Any preferable organic certification bodies?

Did the supplier add synthetic antioxidant(s) to this oil?

If yes, would you be okay with this?

Is the plant from which this oil was derived originated from the nearby area?

Where is the supplier located?

If it’s based in a faraway location, would you be happy with the way it would be transported to your address?

Are you trying to purchase from local businesses more?

And so on.

Determine the values you’d impose on your own skin care and the skincare ingredients you’d use for it, what works best for you, and find yourself suppliers that you can trust.

Included below is a chart showing some properties and characteristics of 21 unrefined carrier oils:

Oil	Botanical Name	Skincare Qualities	Skin Penetration Rate	Aroma	Color
Apricot kernel oil	Prunus armeniaca	Nourishing, softening, improves sensitive, dry, aging skins	Fast – medium	observable, Marzipan-like	Pale yellow
Argan oil	Argania spinosa	Antioxidant, anti-aging; regenerative and firming	Fast – medium	Mildly nutty	Olive-oilish, with red and relatively dark hue
Avocado oil	Persea gratissima	Moisturizing, softening, anti-aging	Medium, rich-oil-skin feel	Pleasant smell of the ripe fruit	Deep, emerald-green
Borage oil	Borago officinalis	Anti-aging: Regenerative, wrinkle-smoothing	Medium	Almost none	Golden yellow
Calendula macerated oil	Calendula officinalis	Soothing, anti-inflammatory, eczema, sensitive, dry skin	Depends on the base oil	Extract: Herbaceous, somewhat honey-like scent	The macerated oil takes the orange color of the flowers
Camellia seed oil	Camellia sinensis	Nourishing, antioxidant	Fast	Very subtle, rather pleasant aroma	Pale yellow
Castor oil	Ricinus communis	Glossy, viscous	Slow	Mild earthy and slightly nutty aroma	Brownish – slightly greenish yellow
Coconut oil	Cocos nucifera	Smoothing, softening, soothing	Slow	Sweet and characteristic coconut aroma	White solid or almost colorless liquid; temperature-dependent
Evening primrose oil	Oenothera biennis	Anti-aging, improves dry scaly skin, high in EFAs content	Fast	Sweet, somewhat greenish aroma	Pale yellow
Flaxseed oil	Linum usitatissimum	Soothing, antioxidant	Fast	Slightly hay-sweet, but with subtle bitter aroma	Bright yellow
Hemp seed oil	Cannabis sativa	Anti-inflammatory, soothing, smoothing	Fast	Subtle sweet, green, nutty aroma	Greenish-yellow – actual green
Jojoba oil; a liquid wax	Simmondsia sinensis/ Simmondsia chinensis	Anti-inflammatory, sebum-like, relatively more stable, moisturizing	Medium	Mildly nutty-sweet	Golden yellow
Kukui nut oil	Aleurites moluccana	Non-comedogenic, good for dry, wrinkled skin	Fast – medium	Nutty	Slightly pale yellow
Macadamia oil	Macadamia ternifolia	Anti-aging, nourishing, good resistance to rancidity	Fast – medium	Very subtly sweet and nutty	Slightly pale yellow – goldish yellow
Olive oil	Olea europaea	Softening, soothing, beneficial for dry and wrinkled skins	Medium – slow	Highly observable characteristic, fruity aroma	Deep, greenish
Rice bran oil	Oryza sativa	Antioxidant, high in EFAs	Fast	Very subtle, agreeable	Slightly pale yellow
Rosehip oil	Rosa canina	Anti-aging, regenerative; reduces scar tissue	Fast	Subtle earthy bitter aroma	Reddish or orangey golden yellow
St. John’s wort macerated oil	Hypericum perforatum	Soothing, anti-inflammatory, itch-relieving, firming	Depends on the base oil	Extract: Earthy, herbaceous	Deep red
Sunflower oil	Helianthus annuus	Softening, moisturizing, nourishing	Medium	Very subtle, nearly odorless	Yellow
Sweet almond oil	Prunus amygdalus dulcis	Nourishing, soothing, anti-inflammatory, softening	Medium	Subtle, sweet	Slightly pale yellow
Tamanu oil	Calophyllum inophyllum	Anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, good for scarring, dry skin and acne condition	Fast	Very rich, deep, earthy, herbaceous, rather bitter	Deep, dark green

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If you’ve read this far, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Seriously. Some of the sections above are a bit heavy on chemistry, but you read it nevertheless.

You made it! You probably are one in a million. Hm…

Anyways, have you found one or more carrier oils that you’re interested in working with?

Experiment on your chosen carrier oils and don’t forget to write down your findings in the comment section below. Perhaps you’ve had some or a lot of experiences with carrier oils; please do share your insights there, too – so we can learn from each other!

And of course, you are very welcome to ask around in the comment section below!

Love and best wishes,

Ella