HOW TO MAKE ESSENTIAL OIL AT HOME

Essential oils not only provide a variety of physical and mental benefits, but they are also a necessary ingredient in many DIY skincare recipes. Essential oil is an oily substance with a special aroma made from the flowers, leaves, roots, bark, stems, branches, fruits, seeds, and other parts of aromatic plants by distillation, pressing, extraction and adsorption. If you are an essential oil hobbyist, have you ever been curious about how they are made? The following are two methods for making essential oil at home.

Some of the common flowers used to make essential oils are rose, jasmine, violet, lavender, neroli, honeysuckle, etc.;

Common herbs used to make essential oils are rosemary, eucalyptus leaves, peppermint leaves, tea tree leaves, lemon leaves, etc.

INFUSION

Carrier oils are often used to dilute essential oils simply because they are very soluble in essential oils. Therefore, carrier oils can also be used to extract essential oils from plants. Of course, what is extracted in this way is not pure essential oil, but a diluted essential oil that can be applied directly to the skin. The infusion method is much more convenient and less expensive than the distillation method.

In order to make the final product smell good, it is better to choose a carrier oil that is less odorous, such as olive oil. In contrast, if extracted with sweet almond oil, it will leave a sweet scent in the final product.

What You Need:

Carrier oil
Plant Materials
A stainless steel pot
A filter
Clean, dry jars

STEPS:

A quicker method is to cook the dried plants in a pot of the carrier oil with warm setting for 6 hours or more, hen strain the oil through cotton gauze into a glass jar. If you wish to obtain a higher concentration of essential oils, you can add the oil with new plants back into the pot and continue to cook for 2–3 rounds.

A slower way

Clean and dry the materials. This is the most important part before you combine them with oil, it can bring prone to mold or bacteria growth.

Then you will need to choose carrier oil. We suggest olive oil, it’s more stable and not easy to oxidize. The oil should cover the flowers and plants, the approximate ratio of volume ratio Oil: Grass = 4 or 3:1. The flowers and herbs can be peeled into flakes, crushed, or ground into powder.

Simply mix the oil and the dried plants into a glass jar for two weeks or more.

When it is ready, strain the materials with a filter from the oil.

Store it in a cool dry place or in a refrigerator.

Steam Distillation

Steam distillation is the most common way to extract essential oil from plants. As the vapor mixture flows through a condenser and cools. It will come with aromatic liquid with essential oil. The essential oil floats on the top and is separated naturally from the liquid (hydrosol) and collected. You can also make purer essential oils at home if you have a copper distiller. Copper has always been used for the construction of stills since ancient times. It has excellent heat transfer properties, is helpful for both heating and cooling of vapors, reduces bacterial contamination, and improves the quality of essential oils.

What You Need:

A copper distiller
Plant materials
An essential oil separator
Dark bottles

STEPS

Get a distilling unit. You are going to need a proper distilling unit. You can put your plan materials in the upper column, separated from the water for easy and more efficient extraction.

Collect your materials. Fresh plant material is going to give you the best end result. Try to choose plats that have undamaged leaves. Avoid crushed or powdered plant material.

Add water and materials in the copper still. Fill the recommended amount of water for your distiller, normally about 35% capacity, with freshwater preferably distilled or filtered. Pack in your plant material based on your still type. Either in the water with one of our copper pot stills or in the upper rotating column on our split-top stills.

Boil your material. Most plants release their oils at boiling temperature (212 degrees Fahrenheit). After a little bit you should see your distillate move through your still into your condenser and cool. You may need to change water based on the plant you are distilling.

Separate essential oil. It will come with aromatic liquid with some oil naturally floating on the top. The separator is used to separate the essential oil and the liquid. (Which we call hydrosol).

NOTES:

Don’t overdo it.
Mix with a carrier oil before use.
Test on wrist before using for skin allergies.
Avoid direct sunlight in 12 hours after applied essential oil.
Avoid broken, inflamed, and irritated skin use.
Use under specialist advice for those who have high blood pressure, low immunity, and epilepsy.
Use under specialist advice and lower 50% concentration of essential oils for kids and pregnant women.
Store essential oil with a dark bottle in a stable place away from heat and light.