Infusing oil with herbs is a great way to add color, scent, and beneficial properties to natural skin care and soap recipes. As the basis of home skin care recipes starts with good quality oils, adding herbs allows you to enhance the oils and design customized and unique recipes for massage bars, bath melts, lotions, soaps and more. Using homegrown herbs harvested from your own organic garden is a fun way to personalize your products, but you can also purchase bulk herbs from reliable sources that will be just as effective. No matter how you do it, adding herbs to oils make your beauty products uniquely herbalicious!
It All Starts with the Oils
Infused oils can be substituted in most recipes for natural beauty: soap, body butter, lip balm, and scrubs. Some good choices for oils to infuse are:
- Coconut oil – nourishes and hydrates skin, good for sun-damaged skin
- Sweet almond oil – moisturizing and skin softening
- Grapeseed oil – easily absorbed into skin; light, non-greasy feeling
- Olive oil – greasier but very moisturizing, can clog pores so not for the face
- Jojoba oil – closest to the skins own sebum so it is a great carrier oil and cleanser
Adding Herbs for Healing
Herbal Oils vs Essential Oils
Three Ways to Make Herbal Oils for Natural Beauty Recipes
My journey and infusing oils started when making calendula and chamomile oil for really gentle bum balm for my son’s diaper rash and I’ll admit that it’s expanded to a bit of an obsession. It’s quite fun to try new recipes with different herbal infusions to see the benefits and the natural colors that are produced.
Simply soaking herbs in oil isn’t enough to infuse the oil; it needs to be heated. Luckily, there are a few ways of doing this so you are sure to find one that suits your needs. The following describes how to infuse oils using the stovetop, a slow cooker, or the sun!
The common thread to all methods is to pack as many dried herbs as you can fit into a container, and then pour over the oil so that the herbs are completely submerged. Choose herbs that are completely dry (moisture and oil don’t mix). When the infusing is finished, strain the herbs from the oil with a fine sieve once, then pour the oil through a coffee filter or cheesecloth-lined fine sieve. Store the oil with a tight-fitting lid in a cool, dark place. Generally, infused oil will last up to the best before date on the original package label. Olive oil should last for 2-3 years and coconut oil will last for many years, although spoiling could happen more quickly if contaminants were introduced in the infusing process.
Stovetop Oil Infusing
Use a double boiler to slowly heat the oil and herbs. Pack a handful of herbs in the top of a double boiler, and pour oil over. If you are using coconut oil, which is solid at room temperature, then melt the oil first before adding the herbs. Fill the bottom pot with an inch of water and set the double boiler on medium-low heat to warm up, then turn down to low for a few hours or until the oil becomes aromatic.
Slow Cooker Oil Infusing
The slow cooker method takes longer but it requires less attention than the other methods. Just set it and forget it!
If you have a small slow cooker, or you are doing a large amount of oil, you can add the herbs right into the ceramic bowl and set it on the lowest setting for 8-12 hours.
Note: When making her herbal oils in a crock pot the biggest thing to watch out for is condensation from the lid of the crock pot. If condensation drips into the oil, then it can introduce mold and bacteria. If you’re putting the oils and herbs directly into the crock pot then leave the lid off while you infuse the oils.
To do a number of different herbs in separate oils, you can put the oil/herb combination in mason jars and set those in the slow cooker. Put a lid on each of the jars and leave the lid off the slow cooker. Infuse for the same timing: 8-12 hours on low.
Sun-Infused Oil
Pack herbs into mason jars and pour oil over them. Screw on a lid and set in the sun for 8 hours. The summer sun can be very hot, so this method is best used in cooler months and with large jars. Overheating the oils can remove some of the beneficial properties and this method is one you will have to watch more closely. It doesn’t use any power beyond the sun so you can infuse oils right out in the garden as you harvest your herbs!
Susan says
October 28, 2018 at 2:01 pmI’m enjoying your emails and posts – please keep it up!
I want to make some lotion with my remaining calendula flowers. Do i need to dry the flowers before infusing into oil? Do i use the whole flower or just the petals?
Thanks
Susan says
October 28, 2018 at 2:02 pmPS – I mean dry as in dessicated, not just towel-dry!
Renee says
February 28, 2019 at 2:36 pmHi Stephanie,
Where do I buy good quality oils? and do you have a source for butters? I’m afraid to just buy off Amazon because some of the oils I’ve purchased don’t smell good. I don’t want to ruin a batch of body butter with nasty smelling oils.
Thank you
Stephanie Rose says
February 28, 2019 at 2:58 pmHi Renee, I know that Amazon and online retailers can be scary, but if you buy trusted brands you should be OK. Also be sure to return or report any spoiled or poor quality products. I always have great success with iHerb online and they ship to 150 countries. I choose organic and brands that I know like Frontier Co-Op and NOW foods. Use this link to get a discount on your order: https://www.iherb.com/?rcode=ARN4526
Debbie says
May 5, 2019 at 11:52 amCan apricot or fractionated coconut oils be used instead?
Stephanie Rose says
May 6, 2019 at 9:15 amHi Debbie, yes, you can infuse the oil of your choice.
Terri says
August 11, 2019 at 4:27 pmIf I use fresh lemon balm with olive oil or sweet almond oil, let heat in the sun for a few days, use within a week, for cold processed soap, will the oil go bad or does the saponification keep that from happening? Thank-you