why we make body oil without essential oils

People ask us about essential oils all the time. Some are surprised that an herbal brand would make a body oil without essential oils. Others found us because that is exactly what they were looking for. So here is why our oils have zero essential oils, what we do instead, and where the aroma in each bottle comes from.

what is an essential oil?

An essential oil is the aromatic part of a plant, separated out and concentrated. Most are made by distillation. Steam passes through a large amount of leaves or flowers and carries the aromatic compounds away with it. When the steam cools, the oil separates from the water and is collected. It takes a big pile of plants to fill one small bottle.

Essential oils have their place. They carry strong, beautiful aromas, they have a long history in perfume and in herbal traditions around the world, and many people use them with care and love them. A good essential oil from a trusted source is a wonderful thing. Many people enjoy them in a diffuser, in a homemade perfume, or blended by a trained practitioner. It is a different preparation from what we make, and it does a different job.

why we make body oil without essential oils

An essential oil is the plant concentrated many times over, and that concentration is what can sting or irritate, especially on skin you care for every day. Our oils are made to be used generously, all over the body, day after day. For that, we wanted something gentle enough for daily use, so we chose a slower way to bring the plant into the oil.

It also changes how you use the oil. Most essential oils need to be diluted before they touch your skin. Our oils are made at the strength they are meant to be used, so each one is ready to go, straight from the bottle.

That gentleness is what lets you use them the way people have long used herbal oils here: generously, over the whole body, after a bath, before bed, or during a slow massage.

People sometimes ask us whether steeping makes a weaker oil. It is made to do a different job. An essential oil is strong in a small amount and only hold aromatic compounds, and it is meant to be blended into something else before it touches your skin. Ours are meant to be used as they are, in a generous amount, all over and hold more compounds within the plant. You feel it through the whole experience: the aroma as you warm it between your hands, the way it glides as you massage, and how soft your skin feels afterward.

how herbal oils are made: the plant steeps in the oil, like tea

An infused oil is made the way you make tea. The plant sits in oil instead of hot water, slowly. Over that time the oil takes on the plant: its color, its aroma, and a broader range of what the plant holds than the aromatic part that distillation collects. We give it that time, and then we pour each batch by hand.

Steeping works with any plant, aromatic or not, and it works with a small harvest. Leaves, bark, seeds and flowers all have something to give when they sit slowly in oil. Distillation needs plants that are full of aromatic oil, and a great many of them. Steeping lets us build our oils around plants from here, like guava leaf, almácigo and cacao, and around the way people on this island have cared for their skin with plants for generations.

where the aroma comes from

Every aroma in our oils comes from the plant itself. Nanichi carries the warm aroma of cacao. Anani has the cool, fresh lift of spearmint and holy basil. Caya opens with bright lemongrass. Coyaba and Guada are warm and earthy, with rosemary and malagueta.

This natural aroma is softer than an essential oil and stays close to your skin. You notice it most when you warm the oil between your hands and breathe in, and it fades gently as the oil absorbs. It is the aroma of the plant, the same one you would notice if you crushed a leaf between your fingers.

a short label for sensitive skin

If you are pregnant, nursing, or choosing products for skin that reacts easily, you likely read every label closely. We want to make that easy. Our oils have zero essential oils and no added fragrance, and each label is short enough to read in a few seconds. Nanichi's lists two ingredients. Coyaba, our longest, lists four.

Take a photo of the label and bring it to your doctor, midwife or pharmacist. With a list this short, it is a quick conversation, and they can help you decide what is right for you. If you would like to try before choosing a full bottle, our Sample Bundle has four of our oils in a 1 oz size.

If you have been looking for an oil gentle enough to use every day, meet Nanichi, our cacao oil for dry skin. We also wrote about the two plants inside Caya. And if you are not sure where to start, take the quiz and we will help you choose.