If you’re looking for a quick win DIY project this week, this is it. It comes together in a flash, requires a bit of steeping time, and then you’re the proud owner of a bottle of healing, herb-spiked massage oil.
The oil base is a blend of gentle olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada) and healing tamanu oil with an added dose of extra Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada). These oils don’t absorb into the skin too quickly, so they’ll sit on the skin long enough for a nice massage, but won’t leave the masage-ee feeling like an oil slick.
I’ve chosen some great healing, soothing herbs for the herbal infusion. Calendula is a fantastic healing herb, while chamomile is a classic for calming and relaxation. Arnica is anti-inflammatory and stimulates circulation, and comfrey combats inflammation and encourages healing.
All in all, making this massage oil is a bit like making a slightly fussy cup of tea. It’s super simple, wonderfully quick, and yields great results. Give it a go!
Healing Herb Infused Massage Oil
35g olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
10g tamanu oil
2g Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)1 tsp calendula petals
1 tsp chamomile flowers
1 tsp arnica flowers
1 tsp comfrey flowersWeigh the olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada), tamanu oil, and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) out into a small glass measuring cup.
Spoon the herbs into an empty tea bag and tie it shut. Place the bag in the measuring cup of oils, taking care to tie back the string so you can retrieve the bag.
Place the glass measuring cup in a pan of simmering water and infuse for 40 minutes, ensuring the pan doesn’t boil dry.
Once the infusion is done, remove the tea bag, pressing it to squeeze out as much oil as possible.
Using a funnel, transfer the oil to a 50mL/1.5oz bottle.
To use, apply some oil to bare skin and massage in. Enjoy!
This is a great project for re-using sample sized liquor bottles—this one came with St. Germain in it!
Herbs are something near and dear to my heart. I grow them medicinally as well as forage for them.
I’ve made tons of infused oils and infused oil products.
I prefer using something other than olive oil. Even very fragrant herbs like lavender can’t stop the overpowering olive oil scent. So my advice here is to choose wisely on your choice of infused oil. You can go high end like jojoba, less so like Avocado, almond, grape seed, or sunflower. Research what other healing properties those oils process to add to your creation’s end product. The choices are endless!
To this, I’d just like to add that you should choose something that doesn’t absorb too quickly for a massage oil 🙂 I’d probably avoid grape seed for that reason.
Hello,
Funny I was just yesterday thinking about massage oil, and what to do with all my beautiful comfrey buds. Thank you for sharing this massage oil recipe. Have a great day.
Thanks, Nicole! Enjoy 🙂
Love Love Love the bottle you used where did you get that I would like to use them for my home made lotions
It’s a mini bottle of St. Germain—available at the liquor store 😉 I think you’ll find the mouth of the bottle is far too small for lotions, though.
AWESOME OPPOSUM! Can’t wait to try this–especially since I am a massage therapist. Thank you!
Hey, two other quick questions, please?:
1. Do you use the Hydrolized Silk Powder or Silk Amino Acids, from Saphire Blue in your Gentle Argon Silk Milk? You call it Silk Peptides, but I’m assuming you use Hydrolized..as it is more water soluable, yes?
2. In your Uber Anti-Acne soap recipe, do you use SeaBuckthorn berry oil, or essential oil? the regular oil is thick, like a base oil, while the EO is think and probably more potent. (and more expensive 🙂
Thank you for all you do!
X
Woo! Enjoy 🙂
I answered your questions where you originally asked them—no need to re-ask, they all go into a jumbo queue of questions 🙂
Love this recipe… but I might love your vintage bottle even more! Lovely 🙂
Better yet, it’s not vintage at all and you can get your own 🙂 It’s a sample sized liquor bottle—this one came with St. Germain in it!
This is coincidentally timed; I just came on today to double check quick oil infusions (rather than the amazingly awesome passive way) because I finally gathered up some calendula and chamomile flowers (my arnica infused oil is already good to go!) and my back is sore. haha, great minds think alike…and fools seldom differ.
Awesome! Just make sure your flowers are thoroughly dried out before you add them to the oils so the oil doesn’t spoil 🙂
If i want to make this into a balm, how much beeswax should i add to it?
Check out this article 🙂
Does anyone know the smoke point of non-ediible oils? like jojoba, sweet almond oil? looking to make some herb infusions but dont want to burn my oils
Thanks!
Google it—every oil has a different smoke point. That said, if you use a water bath, I’ve yet to find an oil with a smoke point below 100°C! Water baths are pretty fool proof 🙂
I should probably have this on hand.