In a world full of impurity, everyone is now shifting toward the aisles of natural substitutes, whether it’s eating organic food, using natural oils on hair to improve texture, or taking aromatherapy sessions for mental wellness. Or using these oils in skincare routines for youthful skin without chemical substitutes. And with the growing popularity of natural oils, carrier oil providers are doing their best to provide consumers with high-quality carrier oils as carrier oils or bases.
Anyone who has used natural essential oils knows that they are highly concentrated. So the base oil is required to dilute them and increase their characteristics to lessen the danger of side effects and allergies. However, it won’t be easy to select the best carrier oil for blending essential oils without a thorough understanding of carrier oils. As a result, we provide a detailed and comprehensive guide on what carrier oils are, their benefits, how to use them, information on their composition, and much more. So, let’s get this party started:
What exactly are Carrier Oils?
Carrier oils are vegetable oils naturally generated from the fatty component of plant-based sources such as seeds, kernels, or nuts. Each carrier oil has its own set of qualities and advantages. They may be used alone or in combination with other oils to nourish your skin and essential oils.
Carrier oils are vital in your DIY beauty regimen since they aid in the application of essential oils topically to your skin and these properties are verified in medical laboratory. Undiluted essential oils applied to the skin may produce severe irritation, sensitisation, redness, and other reactions.
Carrier oils get their name from transporting essential oils to the skin. Carrier oils may also refer to beauty, vegetable, or base oils. Most carrier oils do not have odour or are even mildly fragrant. They never hinder the therapeutic effects of essential oils.
You should avoid using tree nut oils if you are sensitive to tree nuts. Sweet almond oil, argan oil, and apricot kernel oil are the examples of tree nut oils you want to avoid.
Essential Oils vs Carrier Oils
Essential oils highly concentrate volatile plant extracts derived by distillation from a natural raw material of plant origin. Carrier oils, on the other hand, are extracted from the fatty sections of plants (seeds, nuts, and kernels) and do not evaporate or transfer scent as strongly as essential oils. Carrier oils, on the other hand, should not be applied directly to the skin.
Comedogenic Scores
Every kind of oil and butter has a comedogenic grade. As explained, a comedogenic (Koh-med-o-gen-ic) grade indicates the likelihood of a chemical clogging your pores.
There is a lot of science behind these grades, which considers the fatty acids and how they react with your skin.
As a result, certain oils (such as hemp or rosehip) are more suited to use as a washing oil for your face than others (coconut oil).
Carrier Oil Extraction
Carrier oils are natural oils derived from nuts, seeds, plants, and other components in such a way that the inherent consistency of the oils preserves, and hence they contain little or meagre chemical contents. Here, we will go through the four most popular oil extraction procedures used for carrier or base oil extraction.
1. Cold Extraction
Cold pressing is a method of extracting oil from nuts or seeds that does not entail using any chemicals. The expeller presses and squeezes nuts and seeds to extract oil. The extracted oil is subsequently filtered and ultimately packed hygienically for customer mindset or consumption.
The most extraordinary thing about the cold pressing extraction technique is that no residue or oil creates, making it a far cleaner procedure than others. Furthermore, the oil produced is significantly greater in concentration and has its natural scent and unique aroma.
2. Pressing of Expellers
Expeller pressing, like cold pressing, uses a hydraulic press to extract oil without chemicals and generates heat. To preserve nutrients, seeds and nuts must adequately treat due to temperatures above 120 degrees Celsius.
After extraction, the oil refine to remove impurities and improve colour and texture. In addition, the refined oil is placed into a weak base solution to ensure that the oil has a balanced shelf life. To get pure oil, all the fatty acids contained in the oil are centrifuged and then washed with water. Bleaching is also helpful in improving the colour of the oil. In addition, towards the conclusion of the procedure, the carrier oil is cooled and then filtered to eliminate any solid and crystalline components.
3. Maceration of Oil
When the oil must extract from any botanical product containing little oil, oil maceration is employed to remove the carrier oil. Macerated oils are often vegetable oils such as olive oil or sunflower oil, used as a foundation oil for essential oils. The extracted oils are recognised to have the same qualities as the plant component; hence, such oils commonly employ in therapeutic and aromatherapy sessions.
The botanicals are soaked in a base oil and heated to improve infusion. The material is then filtered to eliminate the plant debris, leaving just the qualities of the base oil and the parent botanicals.
4. Extraction of Solvents
Solvent extraction is an oil extraction method frequently used to extract oil from plants. It differs from other processes in that the oil produced is not pure since the solvent used for extraction leaves residues behind even after refining.
The parent plant is soaked in ethanol, methanol, or petroleum to break the plant’s cell membranes and extract the natural oil. The solvent is subsequently filtered away, and the oil that remains is the carrier oil.
Bottom Line
A carrier oil is the best lifestyle choice which is obtained from the fatty part of a plant, often the seeds, kernels, or nuts. Essential oils, absolutes, CO2s, and other powerful aromatics may produce significant irritation, sensitization, redness, burning, and different responses when applied to undiluted skin.
We hear the term “carrier oil” a lot around here, but not everyone understands it! Carrier oils are critical when utilising essential oils since essential oils should never be administered to the skin undiluted.
