essential oils: what is a carrier oil?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and mention of a product which was given in exchange for my opinions which are my own.

We know essential oils are awesome. We know they offer all sorts of cool benefits.

What is not known by everybody knows is how to use them.

I'll be the first to admit that I knew about essential oils long before I ever heard the term "carrier oil."

Say what now?

Nothing fancy here. Really. Essential oils are potent and generally shouldn't be just slapped onto your skin. They need to be diluted in something that will safely carry the oils into your skin.

Example: one of my favorite allergy remedies is a mix of lavender, lemon, and peppermint oils. I apply this by taking a glob of coconut oil, dropping the oils into the coconut oil, and rubbing it all together to mix before rubbing the mixture as a whole into my feet. In this case, the coconut oil serves as the carrier oil for the 3 essential oils.

Coconut oil is my personal favorite as it has so many benefits, but other common carrier oils include grapeseed, sunflower, apricot, or even olive oil (though olive isn't preferred by many). Up until recently, I used regular solid coconut oil. keep one jar in the kitchen for culinary use and one upstairs for health and beauty purposes.

Then I found out about the goodness that is fractionated coconut oil (i.e., this stuff is already in a liquid state and it stays that way). It has all the same benefits of coconut oil because, well, it is coconut oil...you just save some time on the whole melting process. It's perfect as a carrier oil because it's so quick to blend whatever you need without waiting to soften/melt. It's perfect for topical essential oils—I especially love using it as a massage oil. Ahh!

Pure Body Naturals kindly sent me their 16 Oz Fractionated Coconut Oil which has been working out great for me! Aside from the little bit of time saved, it's easier to gauge the amount of oil used since it's already in a liquid state...and we all know I'm all about wasting less! I feel like you can't lose with either form of coconut oil, but I definitely love the convenience that comes with the fractionated form!

EO users, what's your favorite dilution method?