Essential Oil Skin Care Guide

Make your skin glow with these essential oil skin care guidelines.

When I first started experimenting with bath and body recipes, I just mixed essential oils any old how, making up my own combinations to add to body scrubs , bath salts , and the like. But gradually I learned more about the properties of essential oils, and I how to use them to the best effect.

So, here's a summary of what I've found - I hope you find it useful too! Scroll down to read the complete guide or click on the links to read about a specific topic.

Essential Oil Skin Care Basics

Oil Combinations for Your Skin Type

7 Great Recipes to Suit Your Mood

Oils That Might Irritate Your Skin

Phototoxic Oils - Beware Sunburn!

Toxic Oils - Don't Poison Your Skin

Essential Oils and Pregnancy

Essential Oil Skin Care Basics

Essential oils can be marvellous for your skin, but they must be used properly. The first rule of essential oil skin care is...

Don't apply undiluted oils directly to skin . They are super-concentrated, and can cause allergies or chemical burns if used undiluted. Be especially careful if you have broken skin (e.g. cuts). Exposure to undiluted oil can cause life-time sensitivity. I read about a woman who spilled undiluted lavender essential oil on a cut, and years later she still gets dermatitis if she uses any lavender-containing products.

So, how much should you dilute your essential oils?

For massage oils and body scrubs , a safe dilution is 1 or 2%. That means 1 or 2 drops of essential oil per teaspoon of carrier oil. Equivalently, 25-50 drops of essential oil per cup of carrier oil. Good carrier oils include sweet almond oil and grapeseed oil.

To make a foaming cleanser , a good dilution is to use 20 drops essential oil, 5tsp carrier oil, and 3.5oz (100mL) liquid castile soap. Shake well before use.

Part of the fun with concocting essential oil skin care remedies is to experiment with different oil combinations, and see what you find pleasing. But before you do, make sure you read the sections on this page about toxic oils, irritating oils, and precautions for pregnant women. After that, go ahead and experiment!

To get you started here are some oil combinations suitable for different skin types...

Essential Oil Skin Care for Different Skin Types

Discover the perfect balance for your skin with our tailored essential oil recipes, designed to cater to various skin types. Whether you have normal, dry, oily, combination, sensitive, acne-prone, or aging skin, our carefully crafted blends provide a natural and aromatic way to enhance your skincare routine. Each recipe specifies the ideal combination of essential oils to be mixed with 100 mL (3.4 oz) of a carrier oil. You could use them, for instance, in making a body scrub .

Normal Skin - 5 drops lavender, 5 drops geranium, 3 drops frankincense

Dry Skin - 6 drops sandalwood, 4 drops patchouli, 2 drops rose

Oily Skin - 6 drops lemon, 4 drops clary sage, 2 drops cypress

Combination Skin - 5 drops ylang ylang, 4 drops bergamot, 3 drops neroli

Sensitive Skin - 6 drops chamomile, 3 drops rose, 3 drops lavender

Acne-Prone Skin - 7 drops tea tree, 5 drops lavender, 2 drops frankincense

Mature Skin - 5 drops rose, 4 drops frankincense, 3 drops myrrh

Essential Oil Skin Care: 7 Great Recipes to Suit Your Mood

Are you looking for a pick-me-up scent combo before a party, or are you just winding down to relax after a long day? Choose one of the following combinations to suit your mood. Each essential oil recipe is to be blended with 3.5oz (100mL) of carrier oil.

Relaxing - 8 drops lavender, 5 drops chamomile, 3 drops ylang ylang

Energizing - 6 drops peppermint, 6 drops orange, 2 drops rosemary

Uplifting - 7 drops bergamot, 5 drops grapefruit, 2 drops frankincense

Calming - 6 drops sandalwood, 5 drops lavender, 3 drops clary sage

Balancing - 7 drops geranium, 4 drops lavender, 3 drops cedarwood

Focusing - 7 drops lemon, 5 drops rosemary, 2 drops basil

Romantic - 5 drops jasmine, 4 drops rose, 3 drops sandalwood

Essential Oil Skin Care: Oils that Might Irritate Your Skin

A small proportion of people experience rashes or other skin irritations after using essential oils. If you have very sensitive skin, then either avoid the following oils or make sure you dilute them well:

allspice
aniseed
basil (sweet)
benzoin
black pepper
cajeput
cassia
cedarwood
cinnamon
clove
cornmint
eucalyptus
garlic
ginger
lemon
lemongrass
oregano
peppermint
pimento berry
pine
tagetes
thyme
turmeric
wintergreen

If in doubt, perform a patch test before using any essential oil for the first time. Mix one drop essential oil with 1tsp (5mL) carrier oil (e.g. grape seed oil or sunflower oil), and apply some to the soft skin on the inside of your forearm. Leave 24 hrs without washing off. If no irritation occurs after 24 hrs, it should be safe for you to use the essential oil in question.

Sun Sensitivity - Phototoxic Essential Oils

Certain essential oils, especially citrus oils, are "phototoxic". That means they make your skin more sensitive to the ultraviolet light. Strange, but true! So, avoid sun exposure for 12 hours after applying any of the following oils to your skin:

all citrus oils, to varying degrees
angelica
bergamot - highly phototoxic, unless it's labelled "bergaptene free"
bitter orange
cumin
dill
grapefruit - only mildly phototoxic
lemon
lemon verbena
orange
mandarin - only mildy phototoxic
sweet orange - only mildly phototoxic
tagetes
tangerine
yuzu

These oils contain a class a class of chemicals called furanocoumarins (what a mouthful!) Furanocoumarins aren't toxic in themselves, but they cause accelerated skin damage in ultraviolet light. In the past, they were used in tanning lotions!

Bergamot oil contains a specific type of furanocoumarin called bergaptene. These days you can also buy bergaptene-free sun-safe bergamot oil. Just check the label.

Toxic Oils - Don't put these on your skin!

Part of the fun with essential oils is experimenting and coming up with your own combinations and recipes. But some oils are just plain poisonous, and should be avoided. Don't put any of these in your essential oil skin care concoctions:

bitter almond
buchu
boldo leaf
calamus
camphor
horseradish
hyssop
jaborandi leaf
mugwort
mustard
nightshade
pennyroyal
rue
sassafras
savin
savory
southernwood
stinging nettle
tansy
thuja
wintergreen
wormseed
wormwood

Essential Oils and Pregnancy

There's a lot of controversy over which essential oils, if any, are safe for use by pregnant women. I'm not a medical professional, but here's a summary of what I've found...

Which oils are safe for pregnant women? According to the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy , the following oils when well diluted have "less potential for adverse effects" compared to other oils:

chamomile*
geranium
jasmine*
lavender
neroli
patchoulli
sandalwood
ylang ylang

* At higher concentrations, chamomile and jasmine can stimulate menstruation, so make sure you dilute them well if you're pregnant.

Which oils should pregnant women avoid? The short answer is, "anything not on the fairly-safe-to-use list above". Interested in the longer answer? Keep reading.

Aniseed and fennel essential oils are best avoided by pregnant women because they contain an oestrogenic (oestrogen-like) substance called anethole.

Also, some oils have an emmenagogue effect, meaning that they stimulate menstrual flow. The following oils fall into this category, and should be avoided by pregnant women: