Today I’m sharing my easy fail-proof methods – one slow, one quick – for making your own botanically infused oils at home. Plus some ideas about what you can infuse and why you’d want to.
Not only are infused oils so good for you, but there are so many ways to use them too. See a long list of ideas below!
Wild rosehips in nearby forest 
Wildcrafted rosehip infused jojoba oil
Perhaps you have a garden full of lavender that you’d like to preserve? Rose petals you want to bottle up?
Do you live near a wild forest with spruce and pine, juniper and firs? Elderflowers, dandelions and nettles in the spring? Meadowsweet, violet and wild roses in the summer?
Making your own is economical, sustainable and SO beneficial.
Not only do I believe wholeheartedly in the power and intelligence of nature to heal and support us on every layer, but making your own infused oil gives you the opportunity to spend more time in nature, learning about it, learning from it. This very real, visceral experience is so important for overall health and well-being. We need nature.
Whatever your local surroundings are, I promise that there are healing plants everywhere. You might have to learn who they are again. I’m still learning about my own non-human neighbors as well.
And if I haven’t convinced you yet, let me also mention that this is incredibly easy.
Which plants can you use to make infused oils?
Pretty much any!
Wild ones we forage in our local forests – nettles, rosehips, yarrow, dandelions, spruce, pine, sea buckthorn, violets, elderflower, wild rose petals, plantain, juniper, meadowsweet
Some that grow in our garden – calendula, comfrey, lavender, elderflower, elderberries, rose petals, chamomile
Some we keep around for their medicinal properties – arnica, marshmallow root
NOTE – You want to harvest plants in the wildest possible places. And by wild, I mean away from traffic, industrial activity and agricultural activity. Go as deep as you can into the wild to find the cleanest, most potent plant materials.
Which oils can you use?
You can use any carrier oil. We always recommend oils that are low in polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) – read why here.
Our faves are coconut, jojoba, olive, tamanu, babassu, and macadamia. Check out Our Favorite Oils for Long-Term Skin Health to learn why we love these oils so dearly.
Otherwise, sunflower, sesame, sweet almond, etc. will all work. Avocado oil is good too.
It’s important to consider what purpose your infused oil will serve. Will you be applying it to your face? To your children? To treat a specific issue? Answering these questions can help guide you to the best carrier oils.
Drying after a garden harvest 
Calendula infused oil
Basic Infusion Methods
Slow Method – for best results and easiest overall
- Gather your plant material (see tips below) and prepare it as needed. I sometimes do a quick rinse with warm water and then proceed with separating flower buds (like with lavender) or pulling off stems (like with dandelion flowers) or whatever else is needed.
- Dry out plant material completely. Fresh plant material usually contains some amount of water, which can cause your infused oil to go rancid, so you want to dry out the plant material thoroughly first. To dry: hang them upside down for a while, or lay out on a clean kitchen towel. It can take a few days. You can also use a dehydrator, but I prefer the old, slow ways that use time instead of energy, and that won’t harm the plant’s constituents like industrial heat is known to do.
- If you’re using whole berries such as sea buckthorn or rosehips, you may want to crush them up after drying them. You can skip this step, but I don’t, because the seeds contain a treasure chest of properties that I want in my finished product. I grind up the dried berries, making it easier for all the seed’s properties to be infused into the oil. You don’t need to do this with herbs or flowers. I will sometimes chop up tough conifer needles.
- Put dried plant material in a clean glass jar with airtight lid. Pour in your chosen carrier oil (see below for tips) to cover it completely. Make sure the oil covers it by at least one centimeter so that all plant material is immersed. Close the lid, ensuring it’s airtight.
- Place in a cool, dark place for 4-6 weeks. Give the jar a good shake every day or two.
- Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer, letting oil drop into a new clean jar.
Quick Method – because sometimes we need something today
- Gather your plant material (see tips below) and prepare it as needed. I usually do a quick rinse with warm water and then proceed with separating flower buds (like with lavender) or pulling off stems (like with dandelion flowers) or whatever else is needed.
- Dry out plant material completely. Fresh plant material usually contains some amount of water, which can cause your infused oil to go rancid, so you want to dry out the plant material thoroughly first. To dry: hang them upside down or lay them on a clean kitchen towel. It can take a few days. You can also use a dehydrator but I prefer the old, slow ways that use time instead of energy, and that won’t harm the plant’s constituents like machines are known to do.
- If you’re using whole berries such as sea buckthorn or rosehips, you may want to crush them up after drying them. You can skip this step, but I don’t, because the seeds contain a plethora of properties that I want in my finished product. I grind up the dried berries, making it easier for all the seed’s properties to be infused into the oil. You don’t need to do this with herbs or flowers.
- Make a bain marie (double boiler). I love using my glass Pyrex measuring cups for this. Put the dried plant material in the clean glass jar and pour in your chosen carrier oil to completely cover. Set the jar in a pot of barely simmering water. Let this go for a couple of hours at least. The plant material will steep into the oil. Make sure there isn’t a lot of steam, or that the steam isn’t getting into the glass jar. Again, you don’t want to introduce any water into this process, as it will greatly increase the rate of spoilage.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the mixture, letting the infused oil drop into a new clean jar.
Store your infused oil in an airtight container away from direct sunlight and heat.
Now you can use your infused oil as is, or to make body creams, salves, face oils and more! Here are some of our favorite tips…
So how can you use infused oils?
We use elderflower infused oil in our favorite daily cleanser, which you can also make at home if you have the ingredients on hand.
We infuse olive oil with lavender, calendula, mallow root and chamomile – and then use this oil to make gentle, healing balms and salves for our babies.
Create some truly fantastic face oils by infused jojoba oil with wild rosehips or sea buckthorn. Even a calendula infused oil can be lovely for dry skin, while meadowsweet infused oil is a game-changer for problematic skin.
A friend of mine who struggles with inflamed, red skin swears by a face oil infused with nettles and yarrow. It’s helped calm her skin better than all the medical products she tried.
An oil infused with comfrey and arnica is great for treating bad bruises, or for rubbing into sore muscles. A yarrow infused oil can also be a wonderful wound healer, from burns and bruises to bleeding and bug bites.
We infuse a variety of spruce needles and shoots into jojoba oil, along with lavender, cardamom pods and star anise – this potent oil is so yummy that we often wash our face with it (seriously), but we also go a step further and mix it with other oils such as babbasu and macadamia, plus essential oils, to make a luxurious, multi-purpose grooming oil.
Dandelion infused oil can be made into a healing dandelion salve that keeps our hands healthy through thick and thin.
Beyond skincare, you can infuse culinary olive oil with dried nettles, or with wild garlic, or with conifer needles, etc. Or make an herbal butter yumm.
You can infuse olive oil with pine needles and use it as the base of a wood polish and surface cleaner. You can’t imagine how satisfying it is to clean when you’re spraying it with the arboral essence of your local surroundings.
I could go on for pages! Once you’ve gotten to know your local plants and you’ve picked out your favorite oils, the sky is the limit.
Hope we’ve given you enough information and/or inspiration to get started yourself!
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Thanks for stopping by <3
