Level of Difficulty: Easy

Key Benefits of Calendula: skin healing agent; cellular repair and regeneration, anti-inflammation, hydration

Today we’ll learn how to make calendula oil. Calendula is a pretty little herb with orange flowers. Its compounds are gentle on skin, promoting cellular repair and anti-inflammation. You often see it as an ingredient in diaper rash creams, face/skin moisturizers, and organic first-aid treatments.

Its has an EWG score of 1 - the safest.  

Herbal oils are a great gateway into making your own plant medicines. They’re easy to do and have versatile applications; you can use them therapeutically or cosmetically - and provided you use the appropriate plant and oil, some can also be ingested. Once you get going, you can use them as super ingredients to create all sorts of plant powered products (ie. ointments, lip balms, body butters, soaps).

What you’ll need:

25 to 50g Dried Calendula Flowers 

75 to 125ml Carrier Oil: We will be using jojoba oil - but you could use olive oil or sunflower seed oil or grapeseed oil too 

Food processor 

2 glass jars with lids

New pair of panty hose

Scissors

Rubber band

So there are two schools when it comes to herbal preparations: the folk method - which uses rough measurements, and the scientific method - which uses formulas and calculations. Sometimes you end up using a combination of both. 

We’ll tell you how to do each way, and you can decide what you prefer to do. This preparation will happen in 3 Parts. 

Part 1

Folk Method 

1. Put your dried calendula flowers into the food processor and pulse until they are coarsely chopped up - but do not grind them finely.    

2. Fill your jar with the chopped calendula until it’s half full.

3. Pour your carrier oil into the jar until the flowers are completely covered.

4. Stir the mixture and let it settle. If after it settles the flowers are not completely submerged, top up with a little more oil until they are. You do not want any of your herb exposed. 

Scientific Method 

We will do 1:3 ratio (1g herb = 3ml oil)

Calculations:

To determine how much oil you need for 1:3, divide total oil amount you have by ratio 

To determine how much herb you need for 1:3 multiply total amount of herb you have by ratio

We will use 25g of herb and 75ml of oil for 1:3 concentration

1. Put your 25g of dried calendula flowers into the food processor and pulse until they are coarsely chopped up - but do not grind them finely.  

2. Add your chopped calendula to your jar.

3. Pour your 75ml of carrier oil into the jar ensuring the flowers are completely covered.

4. Stir the mixture and let it settle. If after it settles the flowers are not completely submerged, top up with a little more oil until they are. You do not want any of your herb exposed.

The scientific method sometimes fails us because herb volumes are not uniform. Some matter is woody, some fine, some fluffy, some grainy, and absorption rates vary. Sometimes you will need to top up with a lot more oil to cover the herb but that means you are diminishing the concentration of herbs - so you start adding more herbs, then you need more oil…in the end your perfect little scientific ratio is toast. If you look at some of the amounts on the labels in the image below, you can see examples of that. The folk method is not only quite reliable - it’s also the method that’s been used for millennia. 

Part 2 (From here on, you will do the same thing whether you started with folk or scientific method)

1. Label your jar and keep it in a warm place for the next 4-6 weeks. A sunny window is best, near a radiator works too - we’re looking for a little warmth. 

2. You will need to shake this jar with gusto once a day, everyday, during those weeks. But be careful and do this over a sink, sometimes oil escapes and leaks out the sides. 

Part 3

Once time has elapsed, you will use the pantyhose to strain the oil. You could possibly use cheesecloth or another fine fabric but we have found that pantyhose does a good job. Warning: this can get a little messy, have a cloth nearby to wipe your hands.

1. Cut one leg of the pantyhose just below the knee so you make a ‘sock’.

2. Place the pantyhose sock into the jar you are straining in, and fold the open ends over the mouth. Secure with rubber band. 

3. Carefully pour your oil/flowers into the pantyhose sock. 

4. Take off the rubber band, lift the sock up a little over the jar and start squeezing out all of the oil that still remains in there. 

5. If you like, you can strain the oil a second time to ensure all the plant matter sediment has been filtered out. 

6. And now you have your liquid gold! Bottle and label it. Whatever the expiry date of the oil you used is, is when it will expire. Store in a cool dry area.

How to Use:

You can add a few drops of this to your face/skin creams to support cellular rejuvenation, or use it on your damp body after a shower to soften and hydrate skin. You can also apply a few drops to small cuts, bruises and wounds to calm inflammation. It’s gentle enough for sensitive skin and can also be applied on eczema and psoriasis flare-ups to sooth irritation.

Notes:

It’s inevitable that you will lose some oil when you strain. Some will remain in the herbs, some will be absorbed by your pantyhose, some will get on your hands…it’s unfortunate but normal. Practicing herbalists will make or invest in mechanical presses to decrease losses because they are doing this on a regular basis. The oil you use can also impact this. Jojoba oil for example, is one where a lot of it remains in your herb, plants just love to suck it up and not let it go again. It’s also more expensive. But there are trade offs, jojoba is really light and similar to the sebum naturally produced by our skin so it can penetrate and hydrate without clogging pores or causing breakouts. Olive oil on the other hand, the plants will let it go more readily so you will not lose so much when straining, it’s less expensive and easier to find too - but - it’s heavier and will sit on your skin longer before being absorbed so you have a little greasy residue to deal with until it does. It’s still incredibly effective and the most common carrier oil that is used.

The information/content provided on this website is for informational or educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.