D.I.Y Essential Oil Moisturizer

by Stephanie Chambers

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Want To Try Making Something Special? making your own moisturizer can help you avoid the harsh chemicals (mineral oils, mineral oil based synthetic preservatives and toxic additives) that many moisturizers contain. You can add Essential Oils for their therapeutic benefits, so they can be absorbed through your skin, or simply because you enjoy their scent!

Making your own moisturizer is pretty easy and there are various ways to go about it. What you can do is bring some water to a boil in a large saucepan and then put a mixture of shea butter, cocoa butter, and coconut oil into a small saucepan. Immerse this in the boiling water and swirl it until everything has melted (which should only take a couple of minutes).

Then take it off the heat and wait for it to cool a little (so it looks white instead of clear, but don’t wait untill it becomes solid) before adding the Jojoba oil and Essential Oils and mixing them together. If you want, you can put it in the freezer to speed up the cooling process.

Once it is mixed, you can then transfer it into the jar you want to use. You can also use a funnel to pour it into a washed out for reuse moisturizer bottle with a pump if you have any. But, if you would prefer to have it in a glass jar, you can even use that instead of the saucepan and save yourself an extra step.

One thing that may be bit tricky is measuring the shea butter and cocoa butter. As they are hard clumps, they don’t sit nicely in the measuring cup, so it is hard to determine what is a quarter of a cup. An easier way is weighing it, with a quarter of a cup is equaling to 56.7 grams or 2 ounces.

Base Moisturizer Recipe

½ cup of coconut oil (113.4 grams or 4 ounces or 8 tablespoons)

¼ cup of shea butter (56.7 grams or 2 ounces or 4 tablespoons)

¼ cup of cocoa butter (56.7 grams or 2 ounces or 4 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons of Certified Organic Jojoba Oil (you can use either the clear one or the golden one)

For Dry Skin Use:

18 drops of Rose Geranium Essential Oil

18 drops of Palmarosa Essential Oil

4 drops of Jasmine Essential Oil (either Jasmine Grandiflorum Absolute or Jasmine Sambac Absolute)

This combination smells wonderful. You can use up to 120 drops (4.8 ml) of any Essential Oil you like or any combination of Essential Oils for a total of 8 oz of moisturizer.

On most Essential Oil pages, there is a tab called “Blends With” which tells you which Esential Oils that particular Essential Oil combines well with. But, make sure not to use any Essential Oil which have a tendency to be irritating, sensitizing, or toxic to the skin, even if it does blend well with the other oils. You can also learn a lot by reading this page about How To Blend Essential Oils. You might also get some combination ideas from our Blend This With This section.

You may have to experiment a bit with the ratios to find a moisturizer with the texture you prefer. Some people like their moisturizer more oily than others. You can also try different oils in place of Jojoba such as Avocado Oil, Apricot Kernel Oil, Organic Rosehip Seed Oil or Organic Sweet Almond Oil. You can also see a list of all the base / carrier oils and their various qualities here.

Enjoy making your own moisturizers!

Disclaimer: The statements made in this blog have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They are not intended to diagnose, cure or prevent any disease. If a condition persists, please contact your physician or healthcare provider. The information provided is not a substitute for a face-to-face consultation with a healthcare provider, and should not be construed as medical advice.

Original Published: 2015-06-18 / Last Modified: 2025-5-30