Lately I've been really loving using natural oils as moisturizers and have been using olive oil primarily. I got a bunch of lavender and mint from a friend's garden and thought it was probably possible to infuse olive oil with herbs and such, so I looked it up and you can! I used lavender and mint leaves, but you can use other herbs too. I bet rosemary would be nice! Anyway, here's how I infused my olive oil with lavender and mint:
What you'll need:
Mason jar & lid (or some kind of sealing jar)
Olive oil
lavender/mint/whatever herbs you'd like to infuse
A mesh filter
A container you want to keep the oil in when you're done.
If your lavender is fresh and still on the branches, remove the little flowers and let them air dry for an hour or two. Pour the lavender in the jar. Take your mint leaves and bruise them up a bit so they start releasing their fragrance. You'll want the jar to be mostly filled with your herbs and then pour the olive oil over the herbs. My jar was a bit too big so I had quite a bit of space in the jar without herbs, but I've heard that you want there to be as little empty space in the jar as possible, as this reduces the chances of oxidization and increases the shelf life of the oil.
Cover the jar with the lid and put it in a dark cool place to let it infuse. Keep it out of sunlight, as exposure to sunlight increases the chances of your oil spoiling. You'll want to leave it there for about a week to allow the herbs to infuse into the oil.
After you've let the oil infuse for a week, strain the oil through a sieve to filter out all the leaves. Press down on the leaves to get all the oil out of the leftover leaves. Now you can transfer your oil to a new container! If the scent isn't as strong as you'd like, you can always give it a second round of infusing.
I like using olive oil on my skin after a shower, and sometimes I run a tiny bit through my hair (and for the dudes, you can use it on your beard! Dan really likes using it in his beard, haha!). You can also put it in your hair to condition it, here's a great link on how to condition your hair with olive oil.
Do you guys use olive oil as a beauty product? Have any special tips or tricks you've learned? Share it in the comments!
