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When you want to use essential oils for a massage, you don’t want to use the essential oils “neat” (full strength). Many of them would irritate the skin if they were used full strength, and you’d spend a fortune on essential oils!

Instead, massage therapists who use essential oils use a carrier oil or a base oil and add a small amount of essential oil to the carrier oil. They can do that because one drop of an essential oil is very powerful, and can go a long way.

There are many carrier oils to choose from, and I’ll talk about the ones I’m most familiar with. Here are the most common carrier / base oils:

Grapeseed oil: Grapeseed oil is a favorite of many massage therapists. It is light green and odorless. Grapeseed oil does not leave your skin feeling greasy! And very few people are allergic to it.

Jojoba oil (pronounced hoe-HOE-bah): Jojoba oil isn’t really an oil. It’s a waxy substance from the beans of the plant simmondsia chinensis. But it looks and feels like oil. Jojoba is usually my carrier oil of choice, because it doesn’t leave any oily residue or sticky feeling at all on the skin. Also, the best thing about jojoba oil is that it doesn’t go rancid! Because it’s not an oil, it doesn’t go rancid like oils. So if you make up a mixture of essential oils and jojoba oil, it will stay good practically forever. Jojoba oil is also really good for your hair and scalp.

Olive oil: If you’re going to use olive oil, try to buy cold-pressed extra virgin oil. My favorite brand is by Spectrum and I get it in the supermarket. Olive oil is wonderful for your skin and its moisturizing abilities are beyond compare. However, it does leave your skin feeling a bit greasy, and it has a distinctive smell. So many people dilute olive oil with a lighter oil, such as grapeseed oil.

Sweet Almond Oil: Sweet almond oil is one of the most commonly used oils in massage and in other skin applications of aromatherapy. It is known for its ability to soften and smooth the skin. I usually use sweet almond oil undiluted.

Vitamin E Oil: You really can’t use vitamin E oil undiluted, because it is very, very thick and doesn’t spread out across the skin as smoothly and as rapidly as other, lighter oils. However, Vitamin E oil is great at keeping other oils from going rancid, and it’s a great anti-oxidant. So I usually add a few drops of Vitamin E oil to any massage oil mixture I’m going to store for a while, especially if the mixture isn’t made with jojoba oil.