How and Why to Emulsify Essential Oils for Safety
This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission. Learn more in our disclosure.
Have you ever heard of emulsifying essential oils?
If you've been using essential oils for a while, you know that there is just a lot to learn, and an essential oil emulsifier is one thing that you should know for many essential oil usages.
So what is an essential oil emulsifier and why do you need to know?
The concept is important both for the performance of your essential oils recipes and also for essential oils safety, so today I am going to share with you how to emulsify essential oils and why you need to know about this.
It's easy to just get caught up in what brand carries the best essential oils, what kind of diffuser to buy, and then scour the internet or essential oils books to find all kinds of recipes for DIY recipes for essential oils like DIY Body Scrub, DIY Antibacterial Oil Blend, DIY Hair Spray, Essential Oil Breathing Blend, and more.
However, essential oils are powerful substances, and we need to treat them with respect.
One of the safety tips that many don't know about is that essential oils should be emulsified before being used on the body. Here's why.
What Is an Emulsifier?
An emulsifier is something that mixes two oil- and water-based components together.
Oil and water do not mix.
When you have a salad dressing made of oil and a water-based product (like apple cider vinegar, for example), the two components will stay separated, and so you must stir them together prior to using the dressing, or else you'll have a bunch of oil on your salad instead of the whole dressing. Bleh.
If you use a salad dressing that doesn't have an emulsifier in it, you have to shake or stir it before using it, or you end up with all of the oil and none (or very little) of the water-based portion.
After shaking or stirring a mixture of an oil- and water-based blend, a dispersion of the oil droplets in the water is formed. However, when the shaking or stirring is done, the two phases start to separate.
Here is where an emulsifier comes in. When you add an emulsifier to the system, the droplets of oil remain dispersed in the water base, and the result is a stable emulsion.
No more shaking or stirring necessary.
Well, the same concept applies to essential oils.
Essential oils and water do not mix.
So if you're using essential oil in a water-based product, you will not end up with a well-blended mixture. Instead, you end up with the essential oil floating around in the water base.
Does an Emulsifier Preserve Skincare?
It’s important to understand that an emulsifier does not preserve a product.
An emulsifier’s job is simply to help oil and water mix together. It does not prevent bacteria, mold, or yeast from growing.
This is a common point of confusion in DIY skincare. Ingredients like soap, alcohol, or aloe may help disperse essential oils, but they do not replace a true preservative system.
The Science Behind an Emulsion
An emulsifier consists of a hydrophilic (water-loving) head and a hydrophobic (water-hating/oil-loving) tail.
The hydrophilic head has an electric charge that will dissolve in water but not oil, whereas the hydrophobic end has a long carbon tail that dissolves in oil but not in water.
When you add essential oils to the emulsifier, the emulsifier's hydrophilic head moves towards the water-based portion of the blend, and the hydrophilic tail moves towards the oil-based portion.
The emulsifier positions itself between the oil and the water and, by reducing the surface tension, stabilizes the emulsion.
Why You Need to Emulsify Essential Oils
When I started using essential oils, like many people, I used them in more of a willy-nilly fashion. I would use them neat (undiluted) on my body, took them internally without much caution (I even used them to try to lose weight), and used them a lot.
Gradually my thinking about essential oils has changed. While these substances are capable of doing so much good, they can also do harm.
I've heard multiple horror stories about health issues arising from improper use of essential oils. And beyond what I have personal experience with, there are dangers like:
Sensitization
I'll be sharing more later about this, but if you use essential oils without diluting them, you are more likely to end up sensitized to them.
Essential oils are powerful, and applying them directly to your skin just isn't smart.
Skin Burns
If you don't blend your oils well, you can actually literally burn your skin since some oils are very caustic. I've had this happen to me, actually. Ouch!
Inaccurate Dispensing
If you don't emulsify the oils, you will end up using a bunch of the essential oils sometimes and possibly none at another time, so you likely won't get the results you want.
Irritation
I've used essential oil products that weren't emulsified and later ended up burning my eyes since the concentrated oil inadvertently ended up on my hands, which later touched my face, etc.
Mucosal Damage
Essential oils can damage your delicate mucosal tissue if not blended accurately.
What Kind of Essential Oil Emulsifier Should You Use?
There are many emulsifiers on the market for many purposes, like cleaning up toxic spills or ones that are used in other commercial products, but since we're talking about essential oils here (and since I want to eliminate toxins as much as possible), I'm only recommending non-toxic emulsifiers.
Here are some ideas of non-toxic emulsifiers to consider using as your emulsifier, depending on what you're making.
I should point out that the following are suggestions based on how aromatherapy has been done for years, but there is new information coming as to which of these are truly acceptable emulsifiers. When I get that information I hope to update this post. For now, the information that I have is that Castile and alcohol are better options than the others on this list. The following have traditionally been suggested, but their effectiveness as true emulsifiers varies.
- Castile soap
- aloe vera gel
- gelatin Since you're likely going to be using the emulsified product on your skin, I highly recommend a high quality grass-fed gelatin like this one or this one
- collagen hydrolysate
- diatomaceous earth
- honey
- fats
- alcohol (like vodka) (Vodka doesn't appear to work very well, but has been said to be a good emulsifier of essential oils. Higher proof alcohol works better than lower proof.)
Polysorbate 20 is considered to be a good emulsifier for water based products that will be applied to the skin.
There are other commercial emulsifiers that could also be acceptable alternatives. Their toxicity varies so that is up to you to decide.
How to Emulsify Essential Oils
- Add the emulsifier to the essential oils before adding them to the other water-based ingredients.
- Shake or stir the combination.
- Technically you should wait several hours to see if there is any separation. If there isn't, then you can add the emulsification to the water-based ingredients.
- Typically, a ratio of 1:1 is appropriate for emulsification of essential oils: however, some oils will need more of an emulsifier, and others will need less.
When Do You Need an Essential Oil Emulsifier?
Typically you need an essential oil emulsifier when making something that will go on the body, like an aromatherapy spra, body lotion, cream, or some other water-based products such as house cleaners. Some examples on my site are this DIY Hair Growth Blend (the water-based method), or this DIY Hair Spray or Homemade Body Spray.
Another Important Safety Step for Recipes That Contain Water
Anytime a product contains water (or water-based ingredients like aloe vera, hydrosols, or herbal infusions), there is a real risk of microbial growth.
Even if a product looks fine, bacteria and mold can grow without being visible to the naked eye.
Emulsifying the oils helps with proper mixing—but it does not make the product microbiologically safe.
Common DIY Skincare Mistakes
- Vitamin E is an antioxidant—not a preservative
- Essential oils do not reliably preserve products
- Refrigeration may slow growth but it doesn’t prevent it
- “Use this product” quickly instructions doesn't eliminate the problem
When You Don't Need an Essential Oil Emulsifier
Here are situations when you can skip the emulsifier and just add the oils directly to the other ingredients.
- Blending an essential oil with a carrier oil
- Combining an essential oil with a non-water-based lotion (exception noted above)
- Blending an essential oil with any other fat, as in this Homemade Body Cream
Want to Learn More About Making Your Own (Safe) Skincare?
If you'd like to make safe skincare, you might want to consider this course from the very popular Herbal Academy of New England. It's reasonable and their material is exceptionally well done.
The Best Essential Oil Safety Book
Whatever essential oils company you choose, you need to know how to use them safely. This book by Robert Tisserand, is THE book you want to have about essential oils safety.
Hands down.
Essential Oil Safety by Robert Tisserand
This is widely considered to be THE book on essential oil safety, written by Robert Tisserand who is regarded as one of the most highly respected essential oil experts in the world.
While it's mostly (of course) about safety, the book also covers essential oil composition, adulteration, usage, and more. Lots of solid information that any essential oil enthusiast will enjoy.
Conclusion
When dealing with essential oils, remember that you're working with powerful substances, so safety is important.
Essential Oil Emulsification is a must for making DIY Essential Oil products without endangering your health or the health of others.
Have you ever used an emulsifier with essential Oils?
Hello! I was wondering how you measure a ratio of 1:1 when the EO are in drops and (I’m going to use collagen peptides) the collagen is a powder? I assume I would dissolve the powder first and then add to the EO, I just can’t figure out how much of it to use. I have a couple different sprays that I make….one for hair and one as a bug repellent. Thank you!!
Hi there! Good question. I have mini measuring spoons featured in this post that should work. I haven’t checked their accuracy but that should be a good starting point for you. https://wholenewmom.com/stevia-what-it-is-and-how-to-use-it/. I need to work on a bug repellant spray since I’m learning more about good oils for that – stay tuned! If you’d like to subscribe there’s an option here – https://wholenewmom.com/about-me. Take care and happy DIYing!
Oh did you see my DIY hairspray? Or do you have another formula that you like?
My comment about mixing oil with liquid stevia should be “dropperful,” not dropful. (Auto-correct is dangerous sometimes.)
Got it – please let me know about the specifics of his recommendation. Thanks!
While this is an older post, I *might* have helpful information. Dr. Eric Zielinski, who teaches widely on safe use of essential oils, mixes 1-2 drops of a safe [citrus, peppermint, spearmint (no wintergreen internally, ever), etc] into a dropful of liquid stevia to emulsify the oils before adding 16-32 oz. of sparkling water (1 drop of EO to 16 oz).
Hi there. Is he recommending a certain brand?
Hi again. Even if you have a link that would be helpful. I’m thinking this is going to be highly dependent on the ingredients so I really want to look into this – thanks!!
Hi again – I found his recommendation–at least in one place. I personally hate saying this but I think it’s a very dangerous and even misleading recommendation. I don’t fault you for it at all, just so you know. Here’s my thinking.
First of all, liquid stevias very a LOT in their ingredients. Some have glycerine in them and some are just water and stevia and maybe flavors. You can DIY this version very easily–actually you can DIY either. Here’s one way to make DIY liquid stevia.
Glycerine is sort of an emulsifier but it’s not a very good one. Most aromatherapists I think would say that it’s not an acceptable emulsifier.
The only liquid stevia that could possibly be used as an emulsifier is one with a glycerine base, but in the place where I found his explanation, there was no mention of that.
So–in the first place, it’s a poor emulsifier, which means it’s not really safe, and secondly, since there’s no explanation about the glycerine being the important factor, one would easily think that ANY liquid stevia is an emulsifier, and use one that is only water based and have no emulsifier at all.
Was this information somewhere else rather than just on the Thrive Market site? That’s where I found it. Perhaps he explains this somewhere else, but from doing an internet search it doesn’t seem to be the case.
In any case, this doesn’t really sound safe to me at all –I’m puzzled and concerned about it. As a somewhat related side note, I don’t understand how the EMF pendant that he recommends works at all. There’s no explanation anywhere on the internet that I could find so that’s a puzzle to me as well.
We all can make mistakes, but I hope he will clear this one up quickly. Hope that helps. I’d love to hear what you think.
Most of the comments about emulsifiers are for use with crafts, lotions, and aromatherapy. I’m interested in finding an emulsifier that can be safely ingested when mixing ingestible therapeutic grade essential oils in water to drink.
I would search my site for the Adrenal Cocktail – there is some information in that post about oils and drinking. I’m not an expert on this but that is some information that I found. I am not sure that there are any other good solutions. Let me know what you think!
Do you know if soap nuts can be used as an essential oil emulsifier? I am in India & am trying to create some water based sprays to help a dog with demodex mange.
Hi Shirlee – I’ve heard you can use soap nuts extract for that, yes. Hope it works well! I did read that tea tree tends to work well so you might want to look into this spray possibly. https://wholenewmom.com/diy-lice-prevention-spray/
I’m just coming across your website and I’m just as nit picky about finding the right company. I’m currently with one of the top companies out there because after going through their GC/MS reports I felt most comfortable with them. I haven’t seen unknown constituents in their oils. I like revive but their reports have a lot of unidentified constituents which they say are unknown to science. That just doesn’t seem right to me. Granted, when you tally up the unidentified constituents, it’s usually less than 1-2% but that still makes me uncomfortable. They say “100% pure” on every bottle, but not sure how they can claim that with unidentified constituents in their oils. And because I’m ingesting these EOs I need to be sure that they’re really 100% pure. The other important factor is potency of key constituents, because if they don’t have a therapeutic effect, what’s the point?…other than aromatic use, which is the last on my list of reasons why I use EOs.
So you were talking about emulsifiers and I am still baffled about what to use. I’ve heard vegetable glycerin, however it doesn’t seem to work well, or maybe I’m not using it properly. I don’t want to use anything with alcohol in it, so I’m thinking honey, but does honey really work? And won’t that make a spray sticky? I’m so lost with this whole emulsification thing and have looked at solubilzers, but I’m not comfortable with many of them. I’m trying to figure out what to use for mouthwash too, because currently the blend of EOs that I made for oral care is in an amber glass jar with baking soda and distilled water, and I have to shake the heck out of it before use, which I really don’t mind, but I’d rather have piece of mind knowing that they’re mixing well. I need so much help on this subject. Anything you could tell me would be greatly appreciated. I’m going to take some time and read the full series on the companies and why you chose RMO. Historically I’ve used Revive and doTERRA, but now I’m reconsidering. Thanks in advance!
Hi there – sorry for the late response. Emulsifiers are tricky. I haven’t studied them as much as I’ve wanted to, but many don’t work to be effective enough. Baking soda should help some. Yes, glycerin should help – sorry it didn’t work for you. I’ve seen honey used but that doesn’t make sense to me at all.
I think shaking is likely the best way to proceed in this case.
Shaking sounds good in theory but that’s really inconvenient when you are sipping a glass of water with Lemon essential oil. Stirring before each sip is not a realistic solution either.
I understand the problem. I personally don’t think that adding essential oils to water is a good idea and in fact that it’s dangerous. I know there are other opinions out there but I disagree. You really have to have other things in the water to emulsify the oils. Sorry about that – I know it’s disappointing information to many but it’s the truth. Are you drinking them for health benefits?
Hi,
I am trying to make my own natural dog spray and want to mix water with essential oils.
I read on your article that you do not need an emulsifier when blending an essential oil with a carrier oil. Does that mean if I add lavender eo per say, to jojoba oil then add to water it will not need an emulsifier?
Sorry if thats a dumb question hehe.
If i do need an emulsifier even then, do you have any suggestions on what to use?
Hi there. Not dumb at all. Your oil will mix with the jojoba without an emulsifier, but the jojoba blend will not mix with water if you need it to. Do you need that to happen?
This is not really addressing your question, but it might be helpful to you and others in another situation:
The emulsifier needs to be mixed with your essential oils BEFORE you add them to your water based spray or product,
And they need to be well blended. Mix the emulsifier with the essential oils first, then let them sit for a few hours to ideally 24 hours to see if any separation occurs. This is crucial. If no separation occurs, then you should be able to add this blend to your water base.
Typically you use emulsifiers in the ratio of one part emulsifier to one part essential oils. Some essential oils may not need as much emulsifier, while others will need more or less.
You can try adding the emulsifier to the essential oils and check every few minutes to hours to see if they stay combined. If not, you might want to keep adding emulsifier.
However, again, you might need to check this for 24 hours even. It can be complicated so seeing what has worked for others first can help.
If they won’t stay blended at al, then it’s possible that that particular emulsifier and oil aren’t compatible. So again, doing research first is helpful.
Yes I would want the carrier oil (with essential oils) to emulsify with the water. I’ve read in some forums that aloe Vera gel, or fractionated coconut oil can work as an emulsifier but that didn’t work for me
Which do you have more of – the oil or the water?
I did a lot of research on essential oils safe for cats and dogs to repel fleas and tick and mosquitoes. It also works on people including children. CEDARWOOD ESSENTIAL OIL is the only one safe for everyone. I get 4 oz glass amber bottles from Amazon. Add 12 mls of vegetable glycerin oil for emulsifier 12 drops of cedar wood eo fill up the rest of the bottle with spring water. Shake before every use. I have given many bottles to my neighbors for themselves and pets. They say it works very well. Use it on myself and pets. Keep it in cool dry place. Pat on face. Don’t spray in eyes or genitals.
Hi Helen. Cedarwood is a great oil and actually catnip is supposed to be amazing for mosquitoes but just do know that spraying that on human skin probably isn’t a great idea due to the info in the post and might lead to sensitization possibility but glad to hear it is working so well! Thanks for the tips!
Is there a safe emulsifier for drinking water with essential oils like lemon? I intended to use food grade glycerin in drinking water. I had been mixing spearmint essential oil with glycerin and no water for use as a moisturizing aid for dry mouth caused by my medication. Putting a drop or two under my tongue works great but now I have read a lot about it causing headaches and GI issues if ingested long term and also about glycerin creating a film over the teeth that allows tooth decay. My dentist prescribes a special toothpaste containing a larger amount of fluoride than other toothpastes because tooth decay is often a result of dry mouth. He did not object to my using glycerin with spearmint essential oil overnight but I won’t do that anymore because if I spit it out it doesn’t work very well. I had been using it 2-3 times a night and spreading those two drops around my mouth each time without spitting any out. I’m sure I was making the toothpaste less effective. Coincidently the medicine that makes my mouth so dry is for gut issues so I could have been working against the medicine by using so much glycerine.
So I’m hoping there’s something else safe to ingest. I wanted to share this whole story as a caution to others who may have the same not so bright idea as I had.
Hi there!
I personally disagree with the glycerin tooth issue – it doesn’t make sense since glycerin is water soluble. Are you saying the glycerin does that to the GI tract?
What are your gut issues? I wonder if there’s another option.
Adrienne
I have IBS.
When I researched glycerin there were cautions about gut issues, tooth decay and others in this article:
https:// wellnesse dot com … blogs/health/avoid-glycerin-in-toothpaste
I don’t want to add to issues I already have.
Glycerin contains no sugar so I don’t know how it would cause tooth decay. The article in the above URL seems to use glycerin and glycerol interchangeably but they are not the same but glycerin is made from glycerol. I’m wondering if the article is reliable or just trying to sell a particular brand of toothpaste that contains no glycerin.
Glycerin emulsified the doTERRA Spearment EO nicely and I intended to use it in drinking water with different EOs also. However I am looking for another option.
Hi again – I know you submitted almost the same comment but there are some other bits on info in here so I’ll address that as well.
1) about IBS, feel free to reach out – there are things I was just looking at that can be good supports.
2) What other option are you wanting? For toothpaste? Sorry I didn’t know what you meant.
Hi again – I just was running a check for broken links on my site and found that that article about glycerin is gone from the Wellness site. I did a lot of research about this topic and wrote this. Hopefully that helps with your research.
I’m hoping there is another option. I have IBS and don’t want to add to that issue or the issue of tooth decay I am trying to avoid.
When I mixed glycerin with doTERRA Spearmint EO it emulsified with the oil nicely.
Here is the article that contains the cautions about glycerin causing gut issues and tooth decay as well as other issues: (article on Wellnesse blog link was removed by Whole New Mom due to it not working any longer)
https:// wellnesse .com /blogs / health/avoid-glycerin-in-toothpaste#:~:text=Because%20glycerin%20leaves%20behind%20a,and%20other%20oral%20health%20issues.
The article uses the words glycerin and glycerol interchangeably and they are not the same although glycerin is made from glycerol. Also Glycerin contains no sugar or carbohydrates so I don’t know how it causes tooth decay. So I’m not really sure whether the source is actually reliable or just trying to sell a particular brand of toothpaste.
Hi there.
What are you using it for? That is something important to know.
Either way, this topic is VERY interesting to me. I did a bit of research and am not clear on the difference b/t the 2 and also some sources are saying that glycerin is a sugar alcohol, but don’t they all have “ol” at the end of them??
As for the tooth decay issue, I know about that cleaim. That was popularized by a natural dentist years ago and stuck. But it’s water soluble and not sticky like he says so I think it’s inaccurate information.
Maybe I should write about this! In fact, I think I will – thanks for asking this!
As for the gut issues, it apparently can upset some people – so can sugar alcohols and many other things. Depends on what your body does with it, and how much you eat.
Hi again, Rosemary – I just am responding again since I think I published both of your comments since you had some different information in both. I wrote this post about glycerin that I spent a lot of time on (was meaning to do this research for a long time!). Hopefully it’s helpful to you!
Hi, I’m trying to make a non toxic household cleaner in a 1 litre spray bottle. Standard mix of 25% vinegar, 75% water and 8 drops of essential oils to lessen the vinegar smell. I think I need to add an emulsifier to get the EO to incorporate better. What emulsifier should I use and how much? TIA
Have you tried shaking before using?
Yes, it mixes for a little bit and then separates. I can see the essential oils floating on top.
How about trying this as an emulsifier: https://amzn.to/3EFBsVh (affiliate link)
Hi
Thank you for the writings.
I want to make a microencapsulated aroma/fragrance paste (mother aroma paste), which later will be mixed (likely to be 20% / 30%) with screen print ready pigment paste and print on fabrics (cotton / synthetic).
Any suggestions how should I make mother aroma paste. Thank you.
You are so welcome! I do not know–sorry that is nothing that I have experience with. Wish you the best in your work.
Hi I am interested in making a bath oil blend for my kids bath. They all have eczema and sensitive skin so bubble bath isn’t really an option. I bought one recently and it turned white in the water rather than sitting on top. So you know how is this achieved?? I would love to make my own blend so it’s more affordable and I know what’s in it.
I once ran myself a lovely bath when not feeling well and put olbas oil in which floated on the surface of the water. I ended up with a burning sensation on my skin for hours after and it certainly wasn’t the desired effect so I don’t want to jump in and make their skin worse!! Thanks I’m advance ?
Hi there. I’m sorry – are you asking me how you would get a bath oil that sits on top of the water?
I’m looking for an ingestible and safe emulsifier I can use to mix essential oils with water.
I’ll use this with Spearmint as a substitute for over the counter sprays and drops like Biotene that don’t work very well for me. As I said, the glycerin/spearmint EO worked wonderfully.
I only mentioned toothpaste because all the info I found about adverse effects of glycerin were focused on its use in toothpaste. I already have a wonderful toothpaste from doTERRA so I don’t want to make that.
I also would like to combine a drop or two of essential oils in a glass of water so the oils disperse evenly throughout the water Without an emulsifier the oils return to the surface so I have to stir before each sip.
I’m working through the gut issues now successfully using the Low FODMAP Diet and have discontinued using the medicine the GI doctor prescribed. However I’ve learned that the prescription from my weight loss doctor that curbs my appetite continues to cause my dry mouth. I’ll be taking that for several more months so I really need a safe and ingestible emulsifier.
Sorry about the rambling.
No worries about rambling ever! Sorry for the delay – we have a LOT going on here. Tell me what you need mainly – something to make your mouth not dry? Is there a reason you need essential oils in yur water for this?
Thanks!