We get it. You’re sooo excited to get started with your essential oils. You get your kit, you throw your oils in the diffuser, and then you never do anything more with them because everything else sounds too intimidating. New terms like ‘carrier oil’ and ‘dilution ratio’ overwhelm your vocabulary and you just don’t know where to start. Sound about right?? Well how about we clear up a few of those uncertainties once and for all since we want to make sure you’re able to enjoy every single benefit your oils have to offer! Let’s learn a bit more about carrier oils, shall we?

First and foremost, carrier oils are just vegetable oils we use with our essential oils. One of the common concerns we hear about carrier oils is that people seem to think when you dilute an essential oil with a carrier oil, you’re ‘watering it down’ or making it less potent. That couldn’t be farther from the truth! A carrier oil’s purpose is to simply ‘carry’ the essential oils throughout your body at a lower rate of speed than if you were applying an oil neat (this means without a carrier oil). Doing this allows the oils to stay with you longer giving you more time until you would apply essential oils again. It also helps to protect your skin against reactions or irritations that might occur when using oils we like to call ‘hot.’ These oils aren’t really hot, but are either very strong or ‘spicy’ which carrier oils help our skin to absorb.

Now that you have a better understanding of why we use carrier oils, the next question typically is, “Well what carrier oil should I be using?” This is a great question because there are so many options to choose from! A general rule of thumb is that you can choose and use whichever vegetable carrier oil you like best. There are definitely some that work better for certain uses, so here a few of our favorites including why we love them so much!

V-6 Vegetable Oil Complex

We love love love using Young Living’s V-6 Vegetable Complex for, well, pretty much everything! This complex carrier oil includes coconut oil, sesame oil, grape seed oil, sweet almond oil, wheat germ oil, sunflower oil, and olive fruit oil in order to give you the best possible benefits of all of these awesome vegetable oils. This is a great one to use in a roller bottle blend since it doesn’t go bad nearly as quickly as some of the other vegetable oils. It also comes with a pump top for ease of use with either everyday oil application or with massage!

Coconut Oil

You may be familiar with using coconut oil in the kitchen, but did you know you can also use it with your essential oils? It is great when making salves and creams, but we also like using the fractionated version in roller bottles. It’s a great option to help promote healthy, moisturized skin! 

Jojoba Oil

When using essential oils on your skin, especially your face, jojoba oil is a great option to try. It has very similar properties to the natural chemistry of our skin which helps reduce the chances of developing acne or clogged pores. Jojoba oil also has a variety of healing properties including being antibacterial, hypoallergenic, and a natural antioxidant!

Grape Seed Oil

This is a just great, all-around carrier oil that can be found in basically any grocery store. We like it because it’s not as ‘greasy’ as olive or coconut oil, so it’s awesome in rollers or to dilute oils for your little ones. As always, we recommend looking for cold-pressed, organic grape seed oil since it will be the healthiest for you!

There are many other carrier oils which we encourage you to research and try for yourself, but these four tend to be our staples. When making a roller for easy oil application, simply add your desired amounts of essential oils, fill the rest with your carrier oil of choice, apply the roller fitment, and roll on the desired area. It’s so simple! 

As you can see, applying essential oils topically and using carrier oils doesn’t need to be overwhelming. So grab your favorites and get ‘carried’ away, friends!