Infusing Oils (no heating)

In this post I’ll explain to you step by step how to make your own oil infusion, oil infusion can be used for many cosmetics products, such as shampoo bars, conditioners, creams, lotions, shower gels, exfoliating products, etc.

There are so many ingredients you can infuse oils with, each ingredient will have different benefits and color which will transfer to the oil you’re infusing.

Here is an example list of herbs and botanicals you can infuse your oils with: dried lavender buds, dried pine needles, dried calendula flowers, dried camomile flowers, dried rose petals, dried hibiscus flowers, amla powder, madder root powder, alkanet root powder, indigo powder, paprika powder, turmeric powder, annatto seeds, dried nettle leaves, dried horsetail leaves, and rhubarb root powder.

For your oils you can choose any carrier oil you will want to use, such as: sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, sweet almond oil, olive oil, castor oil, avocado oil, fractionated coconut oil, hazelnut oil, macadamia oil, rice bran oil, etc.

If you are making the infusion for personal use, I recommend using small jars and making small amounts.

You can recycle jars by cleaning them thoroughly and then spay isopropyl alcohol (also known as rubbing alcohol) into the jars, and let them dry. Once clean and sanitized they are ready to be used.

Method:

For dried flowers:

1. In a clean sanitized jar, fill the jar with your dried flowers/petals almost to the top.

2. Onced the jar is almost full with the dried flowers/petals fill it with the carrier oil, leave some space on the top of the jar so you can shake it later on.

3. Now add a few drops of vitamin E to the full jar, depending on the amount of oil you are using, for a small jar 4-5 drops will be enough, for bigger jars 5-10 drops of vitamin E will be good. The vitamin E will postpone the rancidity of the oil.

4. Use the lid of the jar to insure it is closed, and place it in a cool place for 4-6 weeks. Shake the jar every 2-3 days.

For powders or seeds:

1. In a clean sanitized jar, pour the powders or seeds to the jar, you only need to fill 1/5 of the jar with the powder/seeds, there is no need to fill the jar to the top.

2. Fill the jar almost to the top with your chosen oil. Leave a space in the top of the jar so you can later mix the powder/seeds.

3. Add a few drops of vitamin E to the full jar, depending on the amount of oil you are using, for a small jar 4-5 drops will be enough, for bigger jars 5-10 drops of vitamin E will be good. The vitamin E will postpone the rancidity of the oil.

4. Use the lid of the jar to insure it is closed, and place it in a cool place for 4-6 weeks. Shake or mix with a clean spoon or a glass rod every 2-3 days.

To strain the infused oil with flowers:

• Use a small strainer to strain the oil from the dried flowers/petals, once strained you can use the infused oil or keep it closed in a jar for later.

• I recommend placing a sticker on the lid with the information of the infused oil (date, which oil and botanicals were in the jar). The leftover dried flowers can be used in soaps, you can mix them into the soap batter as an additive in your soap.

To strain the infused oil with powders/seeds:

• In order to strain powders or small seeds use a cheesecloth (or muslin), place the cloth inside the clean jar and pour the infused oil into the cloth, squeeze the cloth to get all the oil out.

Once the oil is infused you can use is in your cosmetics, some infused oils will change their colors (the ingredients will transfer their color to the oil), in these photos you can see an oil infused with annatto seeds, the infused oil has change it’s color to deep orange after 4 weeks:

Here is an example of an indigo infused oil. I use this oil to naturally color soaps and also hair shampoos or conditioners.

Another example is for a camomile infused oil, which I use to make creams and lotions.

I hope this tutorial was helpful and now you can make and use your own infused oils in your cosmetics. There is another method to infuse oils with heating. In the future I'll make a tutorial on infusing oils through heating.