7 Ways to Make Infused Oil for Skin, Salves, and Soap
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This comprehensive article covers seven ways to make homemade infused oil and the different herbs, oils, and fats you can use. Many infused oils are beneficial for the skin, while others are intense colors that are useful for naturally coloring soap. You’ll learn how to infuse, strain, and store infused oils, as well as the best carrier oils to use. Also included are recipes for using infused oil in skin care products.
Many herbs contain beneficial and healing components that we can use in skincare and salves. However, to use them, we need to extract them from the plant material first. There tends to be just a tiny amount of active constituents in leaves, flowers, roots, bark, and other plant parts. Drawing them into a substance we can use, such as vegetable oil, concentrates active constituents, and preserves them.
When making infused oil, we usually mix dried herbs in a liquid carrier oil, such as olive or sweet almond oil. Leaving them to infuse enables oil-soluble constituents in the plants to migrate into the oil. Infused oil can take an hour to a month to complete, depending on your method.
Then, at the end, we strain the plant material off, discard it, and store the finished infused oil in glass containers. It can contain healing properties, skincare benefits, or natural dye. Making infused oil is fairly straightforward, and you can use many different plants, oils, and methods.
Herbal Skincare Series
This piece on making infused oils is part of the Herbal Skincare Series. It’s a four-part series that takes you through using plants for skin care, growing them, and herbal skincare recipes. You’ll learn which herbs to use, how to extract their active constituents, and then use them to make salves, skin creams, lip balm, and much more.
- Plants, Flowers, and Herbs for Skin Care
- Growing a Beauty & Skin Care Garden
- How to Make Herbal Skincare
- 7 Ways to Make Herb-Infused Oil
The Best Herbs to Infuse in Oil for Skin
Massaged into the skin on their own, oils and fats can help condition and protect, and they often contain skin-beneficial nutrients and vitamins. However, we can infuse the oil with medicinal herbs to create an even more potent skincare ingredient. Herbal-infused oils have the benefit of conditioning the skin while introducing healing qualities.
Many but not all plants are suitable for making infused oils. Some are dangerous, some don’t have any useful properties to extract, and some, like rose petals, don’t contain oil-soluble components. That means that they won’t work for most methods. If in doubt or you’re not able to confidently identify a plant, don’t use it.
The easiest-to-use and most popular skin-beneficial herbs to make infused oil are calendula, chamomile, chickweed, comfrey, lavender, lemon balm, peppermint, plantain, and rosemary. There are many others to explore, along with information on their herbal actions in Plants, Flowers, and Herbs for Skin Care. I can also recommend the The Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine by Andrew Chevalier FNIMH. It’s my favorite herbal reference book, and it includes detailed information on the specific herbal actions and constituents of each plant.
Why Using Dried Herbs is Important
In almost all cases, you make infused oils using dried herbs, which will help ensure the oil has a good shelf life and is safe to use—especially on lips. Using fresh herbs can cause the oil to go rancid, botulism to grow, and the plant material to mold and rot.
The main reason is that fresh plant material contains small amounts of water. When used to make infused oils, a tiny amount of moisture can be left in the oil. Unfortunately, even small amounts can cause the oil to go rancid prematurely. Rancidity happens when oil oxidizes. It develops an unpleasant or oil-paint-like scent, and the goodness of the oil, including vitamins and minerals, will degrade.
Fresh plants can also introduce pathogens and bacteria to the oil. That can happen through bacteria already present on fresh leaves, such as botulism spores. It can also happen through the process of microbial rancidification. If fresh leaves mold or decompose in the oil, the microbes can spread into the oil and begin digesting it. Ultimately causing rancidification.
There are a few exceptions where using fresh plant material is crucial to making infused oils, and I’ll cover that further. However, in most cases, you should use dried herbs to make infused oils.
Making Infused Oils for Soapmaking
The main use for infused oil in skincare is in leave-on skin products like salve, lip balm, and skin creams. You can use it for lots of other recipes, though, too. That includes using infused oils to make handmade soap! Though their medicinal benefits probably won’t survive, we can use infused oils to naturally color soap. Madder root-infused oil creates pink soap, and calendula-infused oil creates yellow. I love the vibrant magenta color created with Himalayan rhubarb!
Olive oil is a popular oil we use in soapmaking, and it’s usually the carrier oil of choice. High oleic sunflower oil and rice bran oil are also excellent choices. Once the oil is infused, you can use it to make up some or all of a soap recipe. The more infused oil used in a recipe, the more intense the color of the soap will be. I have plenty of infused oil soap recipes here on Lovely Greens.
The Best Carrier Oils for Skincare and Salve
When choosing carrier oils for skincare, there’s a lot more choice. You choose the type of oil based on skin type, end purpose, and how much you’re willing to spend. Dry skin benefits from heavier/richer oils, while it’s best to use light-feeling oils for normal skin. You can also choose carrier oils based on how comedogenic (pore-clogging) they are, the fatty acids they contain, and how they can help with damaged or mature skin. My all-around favorite oil for skin care is sweet almond oil since it’s versatile, light-feeling, and relatively inexpensive. I use it for everything from salve to calendula skin cream.
The oil or fat you use to make infused oil should have a good shelf life (check the label), ideally sourced from a skincare vendor, and be relevant to the end recipe. That’s why many people make infused oil with extra virgin olive oil. It lasts a long time and is versatile. You can use it to make handmade soap, medicinal salves, and even skin creams. There are many liquid carrier oils to choose from, though. Here are a few:
| Carrier oils for normal skin | Carrier oils for dry skin |
|---|---|
| Apricot kernel | Avocado |
| Grapeseed | Fractionated coconut |
| Jojoba | Olive oil |
| Ricebran | Rapeseed (cold-pressed) |
| Sweet almond oil | Wheat germ |
Using Solid Carrier Oils
Making infused oils with oils solid at room temperature is also possible. That includes coconut oil, shea butter, and tallow. However, you must gently melt these oils to a liquid state so the herbal material can interact with the oil. That means using the double boiler method introduced below to make infused oil. At the end, you strain the oil from the herbs and then store it in a container that it can be easily scooped from. As it cools, it hardens, and you can use it as a ready-made salve or as a skincare ingredient.
Solid oils you can use to make infused oils include babassu, coconut oil, lanolin, lard, mango butter, shea butter, and tallow. Many are too heavy and pore-clogging to use directly on the face but are great for salves and body care. You could use them directly on the skin or make a simple coconut oil body butter.
The Ratio of Oil to Plant Material to Use
Some of my infused oil recipes are specific and often given in weight amounts. However, you don’t have to be that precise for personal use. The aim of making homemade infused oils is to use enough plant material to create a potent infusion. If you use too much, then the main thing that can go wrong is not getting very much oil at the end. Plant material takes up volume, but it also absorbs oil that is challenging to get out unless you have a press.
These are my general ratios to help you make infused oils. For dried herbal material that is light and fluffy, such as calendula flowers, fill the container you’re using halfway to full. For denser materials, such as madder roots or chamomile flowers, I use less. I usually fill to about a quarter to three-quarters, depending on the plant. You need to be able to shake the jar and get enough oil out at the end to use.
Powdered ingredients can also be used to make infused oil, but you use just a small amount at a time. They tend to settle to the bottom and create a thick sludge if you don’t shake and disperse them often. Their greater surface area means that you don’t need as much, either. For indigo, madder powder, and other powders, I’d opt for about 1/2 tsp to 1 TBSP per pint. The same would go for small, potent seeds such as annatto.
Double-Strength Infused Oils
If you want a truly potent infused oil, you make a double-strength infused oil. It doesn’t literally double the active constituents or dye potential, but it does strengthen the infusion! It’s a very easy concept—make a simple infused oil, strain it, and then prepare a new infusion using the infused oil. You need double the time to make an infused oil this way, but it can be well worth the effort.
Single or Compound Infusions
Most of the time, we make infused oil using just a single type of plant. For example, comfrey-infused oil or homemade lavender oil. The benefit of this is that you can specifically target the dye potential, scent, or oil-soluble active constituents in a single plant. However, you can also make compound infusions using multiple plants. That means you can create mixes of dried herbs to make infused oil that, for example, could have plantain, calendula, and comfrey leaf to use in a healing salve recipe.
Method 1: Traditional Method
The simplest and most common way to make infused oil is by macerating (soaking) herbs in oil at room temperature. This method is the easiest and most popular! Begin with excellent quality fully dried herbs and a carrier oil of your choice. Loosely fill a jar with whole dried plant material from a quarter of the way to all the way to the top, depending on the plant. Refer to the section above on ratios, though. The size of the jar is up to you and your needs. I tend to make herb-infused oil in jars that range from a pint to a quart, depending on how much infused oil I need.
Next, pour a single liquid carrier oil over the herbs. Fill it within a half-inch of the top of the jar, seal it with a lid, and place it at room temperature out of direct sunlight. Oxygen, like moisture, can cause oil to oxidize, so minimize the air in the jar.
Leave the jar for four weeks, giving it a gentle shake every few days or whenever you remember. When using dried herbs, it does not matter if the herbal material floats to the top of the oil. It will not rot or mold since there is no water in the jar.
Method 2: Solar Infused Herbal Oil
To help the infusion infuse quicker, prepare the jar of herbs and oil as described in the method above. Then, set the jar in a paper bag set in warm (70-80°F / 21-27°C), sunny windowsill. That daily warmth will help the oil gently extract the herbal properties from the plant material. The reason for the bag is that UV rays from sunlight damage oil and can cause premature oxidization and spoilage. The paper allows warmth in but blocks much of the light. Solar-infused oil can be ready after two to three weeks.
Method 3: Using Fresh Herbs to Make Infused Oil
You can use dried or fresh herbs to make herb-infused oil, but there is a catch. Dried herbs are much easier and safer since they do not introduce moisture into the oil. Fresh herbs contain small amounts of water, and water in oil leads to oxidization, pathogens, and an increased risk of the oil going rancid. Dry herbs also have no risk of contaminating your oil with botulism, while fresh herbs do. It’s a concern if you plan to use infused oil to make lip salve.
Despite this, you can use fresh herbs to make herb-infused oil. In some cases, such as in St John’s wort, mullein flowers, and chickweed, you should use fresh plant material. Otherwise, the herbal potency won’t be as strong. The trick with using fresh is to infuse the material as quickly as possible. Use either the solar infusion method or the crockpot method below. You should also take steps to ensure the herbs stay submerged below the surface of the oil. If you don’t do this, the plant material can mold, rot, and introduce pathogens into the oil.
With wet herbs, like chickweed, you should also allow the leaves to wilt for twelve hours before you begin the infusion, turning them over halfway through so that excess moisture evaporates off. If you’d like to use fresh herbs using the slow-infused herbal oil method, it’s best to use a fermenting weight to keep the plant material submerged under the oil. Don’t shake jars that have fermenting weights in them, though. It can break the glass. Just leave them to sit during their infusion time.
If you’re using fresh herbs to make infused oils, there’s an extra step to make it more stable. After you make and strain it, place the oil in a tall glass jar and let it settle overnight. The next day, carefully decant the oil from the container from the top, leaving the bottom half-inch to be discarded. Moisture introduced from the fresh herbs will eventually settle at the bottom. Removing the oil from the top helps separate the herb-infused oil from the water.
Method 4: Crockpot Method
Crockpots, also known as slow cookers, are brilliant kitchen gadgets for making stews, soups, or hot-process soap. You can even use their warm, indirect heat to make infused oil quickly! With this method, you can use liquid or solid carrier oils, and your infused oil can be finished in four to twelve hours.
This method and the following two are only suitable for oils that can withstand heat without being damaged. That includes avocado oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, coconut oil, jojoba oil, mango butter, and shea butter. Rice bran and sweet almond oil are on the cusp of being damaged using heated infusion methods. If you infuse them, do it for no more than four hours.
Begin by filling a jar with herbs and oil like the previous methods. Seal it with a lid and set it in a crockpot filled shallowly with warm water. The water should come up to about halfway to three-quarters of the way up the jar. Setting it on a pot holder or rag will protect the glass from the heat source at the bottom.
Turn the crockpot on and to the low setting, then leave the jar in the water for four to twelve hours. The longer you leave it, the stronger the infused oil will be. Don’t put the lid on the crockpot, but keep an eye on the water level and top it up as necessary. After the time is up, strain the oil/fat from the herbs while still warm. Solid oils will solidify again once they cool, so store them in a container from which they can be scooped.
Method 5: Bulk Crockpot Method
In the previous method, you use a crockpot to create a double-boiler. It indirectly heats the contents of a jar of oil and herbs. For larger batches of infused oil, you can fill the basin of the crockpot itself with herbs and oil. This method is described in the wonderful book Self-Sufficient Herbalism by Lucy Jones.
To use this method, fill the crockpot dish with dried herbs, then pour a heat-tolerant carrier oil over them. A list of them can be found in the previous method. Fill the dish so that the herbs are entirely covered. Next, turn the crockpot to the ‘warm’ setting for an hour, then turn it off. Repeat this the next day and for a third day before straining and decanting the oil in storage jars.
The “warm” setting on crockpots gets to about 165-175°F (74-79°C), which is below the temperature that oils begin to be damaged. If yours doesn’t have this setting, unfortunately, you won’t be able to use this method. The high and low settings on many crockpots are too hot to make infused oil using this method. Even at low, the contents in a crockpot can reach 190-210°F (88-99°C). When you heat oil to high temperatures like this, it can change its chemical makeup and cause the oil to oxidize and ruin the oil.
Method 6: Double Boiler Method
Method five describes creating a double-boiler using a crockpot. It’s the easiest way to do it since the water in the dish never boils over. If you don’t have a crockpot, you can use your stovetop to create the same effect. The main difference is that you must be on hand to constantly monitor the pans so that the water doesn’t boil over. You can’t leave it to infuse and busy yourself with something else.
To use this method, you need two stainless steel pans – one that can sit comfortably inside the other. Half-fill the smaller pan with herbs. Next, pour heat-tolerant carrier oil over them, submerging them completely. Use either liquid or solid oil to make herb-infused oil with this method. Either way, the herbs need to be fully submerged in the oil. That may mean waiting for solid oils to melt and then adding more.
Fill the larger saucepan a third full with water and heat it to a simmer. Then, reduce the heat and float the smaller pan containing the herbs and oil in the larger pan of water. Heat it for 1-2 hours, adding hot water to the lower pan as it evaporates off. During this time, keep the temperature of the water at 190-210°F (88-99°C) and no higher. If the water boils, then the water can overheat the oil. It can also sputter up and get into your oil. Water can spoil oil over time, so avoid this happening.
Method 7: Alcohol-Intermediary Method
Although oil is an excellent substance for extracting herbal components, it will only pull out the beneficial properties that are oil soluble. That means you can’t use it to extract some active constituents from plants, such as those found in rose petals. Alcohol is the best solvent to extract the full range of medicinal properties from plants. In the alcohol intermediary method, you use alcohol to make a small tincture from the plant material. You then blend and heat the tincture with oil.
The alcohol-intermediary method is relatively new to me, and I learned about it through Mountain Rose Herbs. Using this method, you finely pulse one ounce (28 g) of dried herbal material to a powder. Mix it with half an ounce (14 g) of high-proof vodka or brandy and allow it to macerate for a day. The next day, place the herb-alcohol mix in a blender with eight ounces (227 g) of liquid carrier oil. Then, turn on the blender and allow it to blend for five minutes. You can also heat the oil after using a double boiler for an even stronger infusion. Strain and store as described for all herb-infused oils below.
How to Strain Infused Oil
When you’ve finished infusing the oil, you strain it and decant the oil in glass jars or bottles. To strain, pour the oil and herbs through a sieve (fine mesh strainer) lined with cheesecloth or a large coffee filter and into a bowl underneath. I usually use a clear glass bowl since it helps me see if there’s any sediment at the bottom of the oil. However, the cloth/paper will catch most, if not all, of the herbal material, which you can compost after – including the paper filter if you’ve used one.
Though it takes effort to clean cheesecloth afterward, you can ball it up and squeeze it. This speeds up the straining step and helps extract the oil the herbs absorb. With filter paper, it’s best to leave the herbs to strain for at least a few hours, if not overnight. That allows enough time for the majority of the oil to drip through. If there’s sediment at the bottom of the oil in the bowl, you can strain it again or try to exclude it when you decant it.
How to Store Infused Oils
After you’ve strained the infused oil, use a funnel to pour it into a glass jar(s) of your choice. Dark glass bottles help protect oil from UV light and come in brown or blue. Otherwise, use clean and dry glass Mason jars or recycled glass jars. Oil does not store as well in plastic or metal. Label them with the contents and the date.
If the glass containers you use are clear, store them in a dark place, such as a cupboard. Oil in dark glass bottles can be stored on shelves in relatively bright places as long as it’s not a hot place. The shelf-life of herbal-infused oil is up to a year or by the best-by date of the oil you used. After that time, it can degrade, even if you keep it protected from light, heat, and water.
Infused Oil Recipes
Now that you’ve made infused oil, you can use it directly on the skin or to make skincare recipes. It’s wonderful for making lotions, creams, lip balm, massage oil, serums, eyelash oil, haircare, and salves. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Hello, I made a lovely plantain infused oil. It’s really dark green, BUT it makes green stains on clothes. Is there a way to fix the colors?
Hi Ann, I think that you may have a lot of plantain leaf in the oil? I’m not sure how you made it but if it involved chopping or pulsing the leaves then that’s probably the cause. If so, probably the best thing to do is to leave the oil to settle undisturbed for a week. This will give time for any chlorophyll-rich leaf matter to settle to the bottom. Then siphon the clear lighter green oil off and discard the leafy sludge at the bottom.
Hi Tanya, I have a levo C machine, can I use that to infuse my herbs? What time & temperature do you recommended?
BTW this is all great information thank you for sharing
Hi Sheli, I’m a bit old fashioned and don’t use infusion machines. Some people rave about them, though! When it comes to temperature, keep it well below 150°F (65°C) to stop the oils from being damaged.
How do you get the smell of alcohol out of the rose oil ?
Hi Betty, there is no smell, don’t worry. It’s such a small amount and it evaporates off eventually.
I’m confused about using rose petals to make a base oil with them.Ive been on a herbal course and I was never told that the oil would not pick anything up.I have made this with jojoba oil.Does this mean There is no goodness at all in the oil?
Unfortunately, some people are unaware of how plant compounds extract into some solvents but not others. Rose petals would not extract anything into jojoba oil if it were just the two ingredients in a jar. You basically just have jojoba oil. The only way that you can make true rose infused oil is to use the alcohol intermediary method.
Wow, lots of great info. I want to make an infused oil with avocado powder to make a salve . Do you have any recipes for something like this ?
Hi Jules, may I ask why you would want to make this? If you wish to get the benefits of rich avocado oil directly to the skin, it’s best use avocado oil in the salve recipe.
I attempted to make magnolia infused oil with fresh magnolia flowers (it was a Pinterest recipe) and two of the jars started fermenting after two days. I think it’s because I used wine corks to keep the flowers submerged in the oil. The only jar that did not ferment didn’t have wine corks. Is it still safe to use for skincare? Or do I have to dump it?
Hi Jessica, infused oils should be made with dried plant material, not fresh. I know a lot of other online “experts” say otherwise, but the moisture content in big fleshy magnolia petals can do several things. It can mold over, adding microbes to the oil that you don’t want on your skin. The water content can also cause the oil to spoil – to go rancid. It can also introduce botulism to the oil so you must never use oil infused with fresh herbs or flowers for lip products or in uncooked meals*. For yours to ferment, there must have been quite a lot of water loaded into the water, too! Personally, I’d use it in a soap recipe or throw it away. The issue now is that I don’t believe that magnolia petals are suitable for drying and infusing into a liquid menstruum, like oil. The fresh flowers are better suited for the enfleurage method of using solid oils, but you’ll need a lot of flowers to get any scent! * Infused oils made with fresh herbs for cooking must be refrigerated and used within a week or frozen. This is to stop botulism from growing.
Would these same methods work for a vanilla bean infusion?
Yes :)
Hello. I want to thank you on this wonderful article and also would like to ask you a question. I want to create a face oil be with this method of infusion but I’m worried because my carrier oils are , evening primrose oil, chia seed oil, hemp seed oil and robusta green coffee oil. I have heard that I cannot use the solar infusion method with these.
Hi Miriam, the oils you list are not carrier oils that you would use to infuse herbs into. They’re too fine and high quality as they are. Instead, use a simple carrier oil like apricot kernel, sweet almond, or grapeseed oil. Then when you make your face oil, you combine the infused oil with your evening primrose oil, etc.
Hi Tanya,
I heard about herb infuser machines (like Magical Butter Maker, Levo,etc..) is it a good method to infuse oil?
Thank you
I honestly don’t see a need for a gadget that infuses oils. We have enough in our homes and it’s not necessary :)
Hi Tania,
Yes, agree about gadgets. I don’t know exactly how they work. My friend is interested in this method because she needs to infuse an oil (and supposedly it’s quicker with those herbal infusers) for a recipe that she needs to make asap.
I’m wondering if it’s even a healthy way to get the nutrients from the herbs this way (she says it’s infused between 8-12 hours)?
Thank you.
Using a double boiler – either one improvised on the stove top or a slow cooker (crock pot) will do the same thing. This is covered in the crock-pot method in the article :)
Hello, thank you for all the great information! I left my chamomile infused in olive oil in my pantry for 8 weeks. Is that too long? I want to use it to make soap and body butter.
Not at all – as long as the oil is within the best-by date (check the original bottle) then it’s fine to use in skincare recipes.
Excellent article! Easy to understand and follow directions for someone such as myself who is a novice. I appreciate your time and help.
You’re welcome, Doti :)
Niceness
Hello! Thank you for all the information this was extremely helpful. I am wondering though do we have to strain the dry herbs? If we don’t what is the shelf life? I heard before 6 months?
The shelf-life of infused oil is dependent on the shelf-life of the original ingredients. If the oil you use expires next month then your infused oil expires then too. As for the botanical content, I give my infused oils a one-year shelf-life, max, but I know others who would argue that it has a longer shelf-life. It comes down to the oils used, the quality of the herbs, and how the infused oil is stored. As for straining the herbs it’s best to do to squeeze every last drop of oil from the dried herbs after the infusion time and to bottle the infused oil up for storage. The herbs will lose color or darken over time and if left in the oil they could lower the shelf-life.
Thanks! I was wondering could you use the alcohol method for someone with sensitive skin? Does alcohol evaporate?
Yes, I believe the ihe idea with the alcohol extraction is that it would disipate. Or be in such a small amount that it would do no harm.
Hello, I am crazy happy to have found your page. Thank you very much for the accurate and dedicated information. Can the oil infused with the intermediate method with alcohol be used in soaps?
Hi Amparo and welcome to Lovely Greens :) Personally, I wouldn’t use it. We infused oils with botanicals in soapmaking mainly for the beautiful colors they can give us. Tradition cold or hot maceration will give the best results!
I wondered if I could use a dehydrator or even my sous vide to speed up the infusion process. So is there an optimal temperature for the oil for infusing?
You can use a crockpot (slow cooker), pan on the hob, or sous vide to infuse oils quicker. The oil and herb(s) still need to be in a jar though, with a one inch headspace from the sealed top. They also need to be separated from the direct heat source inside any of the pots you’re using. The way you do that is line the bottom with a folded up fabric towel (a kitchen towel will do) and set the jars on it so that they are not touching. Fill the pot with water up to the neck of the jar, and heat it at 100F for about 10 hours. Strain the oil from the herbs and store/use in the same way that you would cold-infused oils.
That’s amazing list of 6 ways to made an oil box for skincare. Thanks for sharing and saved it in my wall to make it.
Love this blog post! Definitely inspiring me to create some lovely salves/balms. I’ve just started making CP soap, using your recipes, and was curious if you could use these infused oils in the recipes? For example, a lavender infused almond oil, could that be used in a recipe that calls for almond oil? ?
You could do, but if you’re looking to scent the soap it, unfortunately, won’t work. If you’re looking to color soap, it can work in some instances, such as in this infused-oil calendula soap.