Essential oils are extracted from various parts of plants like leaves, barks, seeds and rinds. As a result essential oils are highly concentrated. They are widely used for many skin conditions.
Some essential oils are edible. They are added to food preparations for taste and nutrition purposes. Other uses include aromatherapy for relaxation and to reduce stress.
You have to be very careful in using these highly concentrated plant extracts. Direct use on skin can burn or damage your skin. You can dilute essential oils in vegetable oils which are called carrier oils. Other mediums of dilution are creams, gels and even water. It is always better to keep your doctor when you use these oils for any medicinal purposes.
Table of Contents
- Why Dilute Essential Oils?
- 3 Popular Ways to Dilute Essential Oils
- Dilution Ratio Chart and Calculators
- Essential Oils that Can be Used Neat
- Other Tips and Precautions
Why Dilute Essential Oils?
Topical Application of essential oil is generally for cosmetological purposes and in some cases to deal with specific skin disease or condition.
Essential oils are concentrated extracts from plants. These oils are volatile and have drying effects on skin. Neat application generally irritates skin and can even burn skin leaving scars.
Usually EOs are diluted to 1- 5% of its original concentration with a carrier oil.
Most essential oils will evaporate. According to some estimates only about 5% of essential oil is absorbed by the body as rest gets evaporated. This is gross underutilization of such expensive products.
On the other hand an essential oil diluted in carrier oil doesn't evaporate so quickly. It stays on your skin for longer and gets absorbed almost completely over a longer period giving you sustainable benefit of its various capabilities.
Another reason to dilute essential oils of course is that it is safe on your skin diluted rather than concentrated. All kinds of skin toxicities can be avoided. Occasional use of concentrated EOs may or may not cause skin problems but regular use of concentrated oil generally harms your skin with adverse reactions and permanent damage.
3 Popular Ways to Dilute Essential Oils
1. Dilute with Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is one of the most popular carrier oils for essential oils for topical applications on skin.
Depending on the use you can take the following quantities of coconut oil for dilution
- Mix 2 drops of chosen essential oil to a teaspoon of coconut oil to make 2%% dilution which safe for an adult
- Mix 1 drop of EO to 1 teaspoon of coconut oil to make 1% dilution which is generally safe on children of the age between 6-15 years
- Mix 1 drop of essential oil to 2 teaspoons of coconut oil to make 0.5% dilution which is generally safe on toddlers of the age between 2-5 years.
- Mix 1 drop of essential oil to 4 teaspoons of coconut oil to make 0.25% dilution which is generally safe on 3-24 months babies.
Other popular carrier oils are olive oil, jojoba oil are sweet almond oil.
2. Dilute with Water for Spray
Essential oil sprays are becoming very popular as facial toners, sunburn soothers, hair growth spray, air fresheners and sleep aids.
For best and stable essential oil sprays you will require an emulsifier such as rubbing alcohol, vegetable glycerin, pure aloe vera gel, witch hazel and many such other emulsifiers as these volatile oils do not mix with water.
- Mix 2-3 drops of essential oil to a teaspoon of aloe vera gel and mix well
- Add one cup of water and stir well. Add more water if required.
- Fill all to a blue Cobalt spray bottle
- Shake well before use
Sometimes the Aloe vera and other carrier oil based sprays clog the sprayers as oil is thick. So be careful to clean spray nozzles. Alcohol based sprays are more efficient that is why perfume industry uses them extensively.
3. Dilute for Diffusers
Lavender and cedarwood oil for sleep are popular diffusers, though other essential oils diffuser are used for many other applications such as car diffusers.
Essential oil diffusers are not recommended for babies, children and pregnant and nursing women.
Timer based diffusers alternately produce mist and no mist periods.
Here is how to dilute it.
Oil diffusers for home come in different sizes. You need to add water and essential oil before you set up timings and use a diffuser.
- Clean and fill the recommended quantity of water in the diffuser.
- Add 3-5 drops of essential oil in 100 ml diffuser
- Add 6-10 drops in a 200ml diffuser
- Add similar ratio if essential oil in other sizes of diffusers
Dilution Ratio Chart and Calculators
Most reputed brands are now adding essential oil dilution charts and/or calculators on their website for all their products based on age of person and their specific bottle size. Many other independent websites are also giving such information.
Normally these dilution data may also be given on the packaging of the essential oil.
What the manufacturer provides are general recommendations. You can always vary these dilution ratios to suit your requirements.
Essential Oils that Can be Used Neat
Essential oils are concentrated extracts and are generally used after dilution otherwise they cause skin irritation and even burn leaving scars.
Under the following special circumstances you can use certain essential oils neatly.
- On acne
- On a bug bite or bee sting
- To get immediate relief on burns
- For sores or warts
It is advisable to use neat essentials under the care of a licensed practitioner. Following essential oils are less likely to cause problems if used neat on one off basis or used for above applications.
1. Lavender
2. Tea tree
3. Sandalwood
4. Frankincense
5. Ginger
6. Cypress
7. Eucalyptus
8. Spearmint
9. Peppermint
10. Roman chamomile
11. Ylang ylang
12. Helichrysum
Other Tips and Precautions
Dilute Essential oil first and use before trying out neat. You can gradually increase concentration to get to neat levels if required. Do a patch test on your arm before applying it anywhere else on your skin.
Avoid it if you get an allergic reaction to it.
Bottom line is you need to dilute most essential oils before use. Only in a very few exceptional applications you can apply them directly on your skin..