12 Best Carrier Oils for Bath Bombs

If you’re thinking about crafting your own bath bomb, then you’re probably acquainted with carrier oils and what’s their specific purpose. In that regard, you know that it’s absolutely crucial for you to use a carrier oil when you’re making your own bath bomb. However, since this topic isn’t that well researched, you’re more than welcome to take a look at our list of carrier oils and use it as a guide.

In today’s article, we’ll be taking a look at all the different oils often used for bath bombs, breaking them all down to see which one fits you the best. But before we do that, we’ll carefully explain what carrier oils are used for and how to properly use them.

Let’s get started!

What are Carrier Oils and How are They Used?

Carrier oils aren’t only used with bath bombs, but also with face creams, soaps, body lotions, serums, etc. – basically anything that’s applied to the skin. The reason carrier oils are used is hidden in the fragrance oils and essential oils, the carrier oil is here to prevent any harm to your skin.

Applying essential oils without a carrier oil is most definitely going to cause burns or rash. It’s not in any way lethal or seriously dangerous, but it definitely is uncomfortable and we wouldn’t recommend it. That’s why most essential oils are mixed with carrier oils if they’re made for the on-skin application.

If you make your bath bomb without adding a carrier oil, it probably won’t take longer than ten minutes before your whole body starts itching and you need to shower and drain the tub. If that happens, it’s best to apply carrier oil to your skin to nullify the effects of essential oils.

Washing it down with water won’t work because the essential oil is still on your skin and needs diluting, and it’s common knowledge that water isn’t good at washing out the oil. It’s best to apply some simple vegetable oil to the area and then rinse it out with water.

So, don’t forget to use one of the oils we’ll be listing when you’re making your bath bomb!

1. Apricot Kernel Oil

This oil is a lightweight, quick-absorbing oil right in linoleic and oleic acids. It’s a great choice as a carrier oil for your bath bomb because it’s easily absorbed into the skin and it’s great as a massage oil! It has softening, moisturizing properties, and that makes it ideal for dry and sensitive skin, as well as irritated and mature skin.

This oil is luxurious and it’s very good for conditioning the skin, and it’s often found in soaps. It’s also often found in sea salt scrubs, sugar scrubs, lip gloss, lip balm, lotions, body butter, massage oils, and creams. You shouldn’t need to use more than 10% Apricot Kernel oil.

It’s slightly yellow in color, and it has no noticeable odor, so you don’t have to worry about it smelling. Its viscosity could best be described as light to medium, while it can stay on the shelf for 12 months after purchasing it.

It’s cold-pressed when extracted, which allows for higher quality Apricot Kernel to be extracted, and it’s much better when compared to extraction methods that use chemicals and/or heat.

2. Avocado Oil

A bit different from our previous entry, avocado oil is heavy, moisturizing oil, and it’s very rich in Vitamins A, B1, B5, D, E, minerals, and protein. Because of that, it’s often used as a massage oil, and it can even be found in soaps. It has skin-soothing properties, which makes it a very popular carrier oil amongst lip balms, lotions, sugar scrubs, dead sea salt scrubs, and body butters.

It’s also rich in monosaturated fatty acids (75% at the very least), which are great for skin that’s aging, or is otherwise rough or dry. It can penetrate deeply and the nutrients can enter the dermis, right under the epidermis. The recommended use is between 5% and 30%, depending on preference.

It’s a bit different in color from our previous entry, reminiscent of both green and yellow at the same time, and it has a scent that’s reminiscent of avocado (obviously) – sweet and fatty. The scent is not strong, though, so you don’t have to worry about intensity.

It’s also thicker than most carrier oils because it’s so rich with monosaturated fatty acids – it can be diluted with the use of other carrier oils if this is a problem for you.

This oil is also cold-pressed, and it can stay on the shelf for up to a year.

3. Babassu Oil

Here’s something different than the oils you’ve seen so far. Babassu oil is derived from South American babassu palm trees, and it’s quite common to coconut oil. It’s often used in place of coconut oil because they share many features, and it’s a good alternative to palm oils when crafting soap or bath and body products, which makes it ideal for bath bombs!

It’s solid when at room temperature, but it melts when it comes in contact with skin and it gets absorbed very quickly – that makes it good for lotions, body butters, balms, hair products, and a lot of other things.

If you’re using it, it’s recommended that you use 33% of your products.

It’s odorless, and it’s almost clear, but can sometimes take a light-yellow color. It’s very good if you’re buying it in large quantities, as it can be stored for two years!

4. Castor Oil

This liquid is thick and viscous, deriving from the castor bean plant. It’s rich in fatty acids, similar to avocado oil, and it acts as a humectant – it draws moisture to the skin. In that regard, it’s similar to glycerin. It’s also good for creating large, thick bubbles, and that’s why it’s often used to make soaps and shampoos.

Because of its humectant properties, it’s often used for superfatting a product.

You can use it in combination with other vegetable oils to create anything, even a bar of soap, but it’s also going to function well as a carrier oil for a bath bomb. It’s widely used in creams, body butters, body scrubs, massage oils, and lotions. Lip balms are just another aspect of castor oil, as it’s great for creating beautiful shine and pleasing glide to the lip balm.

It’s usually colorless, but it can achieve a light-green color, and it’s usually accompanied by a light, but very recognizable scent that’s characteristic only for castor oil. It’s thick in viscosity, and it’s most usually expeller pressed.

It can be shelved for 12 months.

5. Grapeseed Oil

Grapeseed oil is exactly what it sounds like – it’s made from the residue of grapes after they have been juiced. This means that it’s vegan and cruelty-free. It’s also very lightweight and it doesn’t have that sticky feeling that you might get when you’re using avocado oil.

It’s filled to the brim with Vitamins C, E, and omega-6, and fatty acid. This makes it a great tool for skin preservation, which can help fight aging and any damage from free radicals; that means pollution, sun, or wind. It’s very high in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, linoleic acid, and other essential fatty acids.

It’s known for being very good with pores – it doesn’t clog them, and it’s easily absorbed in the skin – it doesn’t leave a greasy feel, and it provides the skin with anti-inflammatory properties. This makes it very popular with soaps, massage oils, body creams, bath oils, bath bombs, lip serums, lip balms, anti-aging creams, sugar scrubs, and Dead Sea salt scrubs.

It’s usually clear in color, sometimes golden with a hardy green tone, with no odor. It’s very light in viscosity and it’s recommended that you use it within a year of purchasing.

6. Cherry Kernel Oil

This is a virgin, cold-pressed oil. It’s often used to make soap and a variety of bath and body products. It’s defined as very stable, emollient-rich, and it’s similar to sweet almond oil, which we’ll get to later.

It’s most often utilized by the cosmetic industry as a carrier oil for aromatherapy, bath oil, and lip balms. It’s a lightweight oil that’s rich in Vitamins A and E, as well as oleic – an essential fatty acid.

It’s liquid at room temperature, and it’s either a very pale shade of yellow or a golden shade of yellow. There’s usually no scent to it, and it can be stored up to two years after purchase, but it’s recommended that you keep it refrigerated.

7. Coconut Oil

Coconut oil is an absolute favorite for anyone who works with anything related to cosmetics. Even tattoo artists recommend it for application on a new tattoo to keep it moisturized and fresh. It’s a very common additive to soaps, toiletries, and lip balms. It’s great at making a bubbly and a lathery mix, and that’s why it’s very often used for making soap.

Lip balms and body butters are also using it often, with it being one of the most common raw materials used in making soap and toiletries – that should tell you enough of its popularity. It’s usually cultivated in South America and the Philippines.

It’s usually an off-white color, with a slight aroma of coconut. It’s solid at room temperature, but it becomes a medium-viscosity liquid once it’s heated up. It’s cold-pressed, similar to most oils on this list, and it can be stored up to 18 months after purchase. It’s best to store at a temperature under 76°F.

8. Jojoba Oil

This oil is really unique, in a way. It’s actually a luxurious product because it’s a liquid wax expressed from the jojoba seed. It’s renowned widely for its abilities of moisturization and absorption, and it contains Vitamin E and fatty acids.

It’s very resistant to oxidation and rancidity, and this allows for it to have a longer shelf life than most other oils. It’s widely known for the anti-inflammatory properties it possesses, as well as skin moisturization. This makes it a very popular ingredient with lotions, lip balms, sea salt scrubs, sugar scrubs, and cold process soaps.

It’s usually a golden tone of yellow, with a very pleasant odor. It can be stored up to two years after purchase.

9. Macadamia Nut Oil

It’s obvious where this oil comes from – it’s cold-pressed from the nuts of the macadamia tree. This oil has developed quite a positive reputation amongst skincare enthusiasts, as it’s widely known as one of the most regenerative oils out there. It’s very high in monounsaturated fatty acids, and it’s known as a very protective oil because of its high absorption rate.

The fatty acids found in macadamia nut oil aren’t high in monosaturated, and this makes them great for the promotion of softer, younger-looking skin, and they’re also very good for damaged skin as they replenish lost oils. This makes it a very popular ingredient with lotions, lip balms, sea salt scrubs, and sugar scrubs.

It’s usually clear in color, but there can be a hint of light-yellow, with a very sweet and fatty odor that’s usually reminiscent of macadamia nuts (obviously). It’s medium in viscosity, but it has to be used quickly – it’s recommended to store it no longer than 12 months.

10. Sweet Almond Oil

We’ve already mentioned this oil before, and it’s a luxurious, light, non-greasy, moisturizing oil. It’s known as an oil that’s easily absorbed into the skin, and it has a natural warming effect on sore muscles (which makes it great for a bath bomb if you intend to use it after a difficult workout).

It’s very common in lip balm recipes, lip gloss, massage oils, lotions, bath bombs, and soap recipes, as well as sugar scrubs and Dead Sea salt scrubs. Because of the rich concentration of oleic and linoleic essential fatty acids, it’s renowned for its exceptional penetrating and restructuring properties.

It’s a great carrier for salt, and that’s why it’s used in salt scrubs. It’s also often used with soaps, where it produces a stable lather, but it shouldn’t be used more than 10%, because it’s not a hard oil.

It’s usually yellow in color, but it can achieve a note of pale yellow, with a slight aroma of almond. It’s medium in viscosity, and it’s cold-pressed.

It’s recommended that you use it within 12 months of purchase.

11. Rice Bran Oil

This oil is extracted from rice husks, and it’s good for soaps, as it creates soaps that are similar in their consistency to olive oil soaps. It’s not greasy and it’s absorbed quickly, which makes it ideal for facial products. It also hosts a high concentration of tocopherol, commonly known as Vitamin E.

It’s also highly saturated with saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats.

It’s usually liquid at room temperature, and it’s yellow in color. It has a slightly earthy scent, and it can be shelved for up to two years.

12. Palm Oil

This is one of the most common oils in the world, so it’s no wonder that it made the list. Palm oil is most often produced from the fruit of the oil palm, which is predominantly found in Malaysia and Indonesia. It actually has the highest yield of oil of all the oil plants and it produces 5 times more yield than the soy plant.

There are two oils that are extracted from the plant at the same time – the fresh pulp is home to palm oil, and palm kernel oil is extracted from the fruit kernels. It’s an excellent choice for soaps, but it’s also very commonly found in bath bombs – it’s high in vitamin E and it is often used for other bath and body formulations like lotions, creams, and lip balms.

It’s known as a sacred food by the people living in South and Central America because of the phytonutrients such as carotenoids, sterols, and water-soluble antioxidants, and phenolic acids.

It’s usually solid at room temperature, and it’s white in color. It doesn’t bear a scent, and it can be shelved for two years, making it really long-lasting.

And that’s our list, folks! We carefully recommend that you mind your allergies when you’re choosing a carrier oil for your bath bomb – they’re going to get all over your body once you’re in the tub, and if you’re allergic to any ingredient, you’re definitely going to have a reaction.

Literature:

https://www.rusticescentuals.com/bath-body-supplies/bath-body-ingredients/carrier-oils.aspx

https://www.varicosmetics.co.uk/blogs/news/the-oils-that-go-into-our-bath-bombs