Carrier Oils: What Are They and How Are

They Made?
Have you ever had the experience of talking about something—that to you is the most normal thing in the world,
like talking about ice cream—only to discover that your audience is looking at you blankly, and you realize that they
have no idea what you’re saying? I had a conversation recently with a couple of folks who expressed interest in
essential oils for massage. I was expounding on appropriate carrier oils to use for DIY massage oil recipes and
had gone on for a couple of minutes on this topic, when I saw them looking at each other with perplexed faces.
As I sputtered to a stop, one of them said, “What is a carrier oil?” Ah, right; I clearly needed to back up and start at
the beginning. With that in mind, let’s take a  moment to talk about carrier oils, starting with what the heck they
are and how they’re made.

WHAT IS A CARRIER OIL?

“Carrier oil” is a term often used in the context of aromatherapy, cosmetics, and body care recipes. In simplest
terms, “carrier” oils—also sometimes called “base” or “�xed” oils—are neutral oils (they have little to no scent) that
are used to dilute essential oils and “carry” them into the skin. In other words, they make pure essential oils safe
for use and facilitate their absorption. Carriers can also be lotions, aloe vera gel, witch hazel extract, etc. but oils
are integral to a wide variety of body care and aromatherapy recipes including perfumes, massage oils, salves,
creams, bath oils, and more.

Carrier oils are usually vegetable oils like coconut oil, babassu oil, avocado oil, sun�ower oil, olive oil, etc. made
from the nuts, seeds, fruit, or kernels of a plant. As with culinary oils (FYI, some of the �nest culinary oils also
make the best carrier oils), every carrier oil has a unique composition that makes it ideal for some applications
and inappropriate for others. For instance, I like extra virgin olive oil in salves, but would not personally use that oil
in a facial cream. 

On their own, carrier oils contain a variety of skin-nurturing vitamins and nutrients, and are excellent at absorbing
the additional bene�ts of infused herbs and essential oil blends. This makes them a perfect vehicle to bring
customized bene�ts to your skin. The constituents in the botanical source of a particular oil, as well as the
re�nement process (or lack thereof), impact its quality, color, viscosity, and speed of absorption. Understanding
how carrier oils are made—how they are extracted and how they are re�ned—will help you create recipes that best
match your goals for your skin and hair care, as well as for other therapeutic applications.

HOW OILS ARE EXTRACTED FROM PLANTS

Some oils can be “cold pressed” with minimal processing to produce a clean, healthful oil (olive oil is a great
example). Others need a little more help in the extracting process and in removing trace elements that can make
oils dark and off-�avored. The typical ways to extract oils from plants include cold pressing, expeller pressing, and
solvent extraction.

• Cold-Pressed Oils—Cold-pressed oils are mechanically, or naturally, extracted. Usually, the clean nut, seed,
fruit, or vegetable is ground into a paste and then simply pressed to separate the oil from the pulp.
Temperatures are rigorously controlled with this method to ensure they do not exceed 80-90°F. This helps
the oil maintain its natural state and bene�cial constituents. Although this is not a practical method of
extraction for all vegetable oils, it produces culinary and carrier oils that are regarded as some of the �nest in
the world. Cold pressing is the oldest extraction method and produces the most pure state of an oil with the
highest nutrition and array of natural botanical constituents.

• Expeller Pressed Oils—Botanicals that cannot be cold-pressed can be expeller-pressed. This natural process
is also a mechanical extraction, but brings a small amount of heat to the botanicals via friction. An expeller
press (also called a screw press) uses both continuous friction and pressure using hydraulic presses to
extract the oils, and the friction naturally creates some heat (approximately 120-200°F). Because this
process mostly doesn’t disturb the molecular state of the oil, it creates stable carrier oils that are extremely
suitable for body and hair care recipes and often makes a �ne food grade oil as well. Although this can be an
excellent way to produce a high quality oil, it requires a larger amount of botanical material than mainstream
solvent-extraction methods and isn’t as e�cient, which is why many conventional oil manufacturers instead
use chemicals and high heat.

• Solvent-Extracted Oils—In the solvent extraction process, the botanical material is ground into a paste and
then “purged” or washed with a volatile hydrocarbon solvent (often hexane) to release the fats. All traces of
the chemical solvent must then be removed and the resulting oil must go through re�ning, bleaching, and
deodorizing steps before it is packaged. There is work being done to �nd “green solvents” for oil extraction,
but currently this—using volatile hydrocarbon solvents like hexane—is the conventional oil extraction method,
and hexane has been shown to both exacerbate air pollution and affect the human neural system when
inhaled. The growing awareness about the potential issues of hexane use in oil extraction is driving the
search for other solutions; meanwhile, looking to cold-pressed and expeller-pressed carrier oils instead of
 solvent-extracted ones may be a wise move. Please know that Mountain Rose Herbs does not offer solvent-
extracted carrier oils and this information is provided so you can make the best decisions for yourself and
your family. 

REFINED VS. UNREFINED CARRIER OILS

Once extracted, carrier oils may be unre�ned, naturally re�ned, or conventionally re�ned.

Unre�ned Oils—Unre�ned oils are mechanically extracted and then put through a simple screen -�ltering process
to remove impurities. No additional re�ning takes place. This means they retain much more of their bene�cial
constituents, making them some of the �nest quality oils for both food and body care preparations. They retain a
rich, strong �avor and color that is true to their natural state, so they are often darker in color and richer in scent.
Because of this, unre�ned oils are not as stable as re�ned or partially re�ned oils and may not have a neutral
enough scent to make them ideal for some body care and aromatherapy recipes. 

Naturally Re�ned Oils—Some oils are known to go rancid quickly and require some processing to stabilize them
and remove heavy odors or deep colors in order for them to be effective carrier or culinary oils. But that doesn’t
mean they need to be chemically re�ned or put through high heat processes that destroy the natural constituents.
Naturally re�ned oils—also called mechanically re�ned or partially re�ned—may be put through one or two
mechanical methods, including (but not limited to) steam-distillation deodorization that removes volatile
compounds (aromas), a winterization process in which the oil is gently agitated at cool temperatures to remove
waxy solids and keep the oil in a liquid state, and a natural clay-�ltered bleaching process.

Conventionally Re�ned Oils—The use of chemical solvents and high-heat processes are the common re�nement
techniques for main-stream culinary and carrier oils. These processes deodorize and bleach the oils, which also
strips them of many bene�cial constituents. Fully processed oils are often exposed to all of the methods of
re�nement, including a high-heat process that reaches temperatures up to 450°F, a “winterization” process that
exposes them to temperatures as low as -30°F, chemical deodorization, and then a �nal bleaching, which is a
re�nement process employing natural clays and other mediums to alter or remove any lingering colors and odors.
This makes for an economical cosmetic grade oil that is used for body care products in that it is predictable and
isn’t bringing its own scents to your recipes. Conventionally re�ned oils are often cheaper and are certainly
effective, but they have been robbed of their natural bene�cial constituents and are not fantastic for the planet.

Mountain Rose Herbs does not sell chemically or high-heat re�ned oils, so when we list a carrier oil as "re�ned” on
our website, we are saying that that oil has been naturally (mechanically or physically) re�ned.

So, how do you know which oil to choose for your best recipes and herbal formulations? You have to look at your
end goal to answer that question. The more robust aroma and �avor of a cold-pressed, unre�ned oil may suit your
needs �ne, particularly for salves in which scent is less of an issue. However, customized formulations for
delicate skin or in which you want to let the aroma of an essential oil blend shine may require an oil that has been
naturally re�ned and deodorized.