Carrier oils are the oils that carry the essential oils into contact with your skin. In previous newsletters we have discussed essential oils; how they are not actually oils at all, how they are so powerful that they can be used a drop at a time, and how (with the exceptions of lavender and tea tree) they can not be used full strength on skin, but must be diluted. The carrier oil is what dilutes the essential oil - but, properly chosen, they can do much more than that.
Let's say you have a 2 oz. bottle of lavender essential oil, and you want to moisturize the dry skin on your legs and leave them with the lovely scent of lavender. You could go to your kitchen and grab your olive oil, pour a small amount into a coffee mug, and add a drop or two of lavender essential oil. The olive oil is the carrier oil. Now suppose you have a wound and you know that lavender is healing and anti-bacterial. How do you get the lavender essential oil to the wound? You
could use the olive oil again, but it's not your best choice. Honey is also naturally anti-bacterial, so if you had some natural honey to put the lavender into, the honey becomes the carrier. If your wound is a burn and you have an aloe plant, squeeze the aloe juice from the leaves and add the lavender essential oil. The aloe juice is the carrier. In these cases, the carriers are more than just an inert substance that dilutes the essential oils, they are an integral contributor to the end product.
At
Coyote Cove, I use many different carrier oils. I have shelves lined with 7 lb. bottles, and boxes filled with 35 lb. jugs. For each of the many recipes that I make, the carrier oil is very carefully chosen to complement the finished product. There is a
page on our website that has a brief description of many of the carrier oils that I use. There is also a short list of some of the essential oils I use following the carrier oils.
I would like to mention shea butter, which is not yet on the list. Shea is very popular right now. I have seen booths at some of the craft fairs we attend that sell nothing but shea butter. It comes from Africa, from the seeds of the karite tree (
Butyrosperum parkii). Shea is a soft solid at room temperature, and it is white and creamy. It is very mild and gentle, and extremely moisturizing. I use it in many of our products, including our soap. If you would like to buy a little pure shea butter from us, just email me at kathy@coyotecove.com and I will be happy to send you some to play with. My newest product with shea butter is the new
solid sugar scrub, which I personally love. I find the shea more moisturizing as well as easier to use than the jojoba in my regular scrubs, although that is a good product too and jojoba has a lot to recommend it.
And finally I'd like to mention mineral oil. Mineral oil is the carrier oil most likely to be found in commercial bath and beauty products. Even if the front of the packaging claims that the product is made of jojoba or shea or some other natural oil, a quick look at the ingredient list will usually reveal that mineral oil is very high on the list, while the good natural oil is toward the bottom, meaning there's only a tiny, token amount actually included. Mineral oil is inexpensive and it's an oil, and those are the only good things to be said about it. Mineral oil is a petroleum product, which is a non-renewable resource. Which would you rather put on your face: a sludge that comes from below the rocks in the ground, that exists in a finite quantity, or an oil that comes from trees, nuts, seeds, or vegetables? Yes, good oils cost more, but they are good for your skin.
Next month: The truth about lye: Everything you always wanted to know about soap and never thought to ask. No lie.
