Turmeric Oil and Coconut Oil: A Two-Minute Blend

Coconut oil and turmeric oil make an easy pair to like. One is soft, mild and spreadable; the other is warm, earthy and gingery with a woody-spicy edge. A few drops of the second stirred into the first gives you a scented body oil in about two minutes, and the arithmetic below takes the guesswork out of how many.

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Why this combination works

Essential oils are concentrated, which is why the standard advice for putting one on skin is to dilute it in a carrier oil. Poison Control puts it plainly: diluting in a carrier oil is the best way to avoid a bad reaction from direct skin contact. Turmeric essential oil mixes readily with fixed oils like coconut, so the blend stays evenly mixed rather than beading up or separating.

Coconut oil is a sensible carrier for a second reason, which is how it behaves in the jar. It is firm in a cool room and liquid in a warm one, so you melt it gently before blending, then it sets again as it cools. A review of carrier oils lists coconut oil as roughly half lauric acid, and the fractionated and refined versions sold under the same name are different products. Pick one type, write it on the jar, and use that same type each time so your results stay consistent.

The blend, with the numbers done

We sell our turmeric oil neat, so the dilution is yours to make. Our guidance is 0.5% to 2% in a carrier oil with a patch test first. For a first batch we would start at the bottom of that range, because turmeric oil can be sensitising for some people and a light hand serves better than a generous one. These amounts are arithmetic, assuming about 20 drops to a millilitre (droppers vary, so weigh or measure if you can):

In a small, clean, bright analytical laboratory with smooth white walls

Melted coconut oil	0.5% turmeric oil	1% turmeric oil	2% turmeric oil
30 ml (about 1 oz)	0.15 ml, about 3 drops	0.3 ml, about 6 drops	0.6 ml, about 12 drops
100 ml	0.5 ml, about 10 drops	1 ml, about 20 drops	2 ml, about 40 drops

To make it, melt the coconut oil just until it is liquid, take it off the heat, and stir in the turmeric oil for a full minute. Pour it into a clean, dry glass jar or bottle and label it with the date and the percentage. Stirring matters more than it sounds: as the oil sets, drops of essential oil can sit in pockets and leave you with a patch that is stronger than you planned.

What you will notice

Open the finished jar and the scent is softer than the bottle, because the coconut oil spreads the aroma out. You will still catch the warm, gingery edge, just at a quieter volume. If it smells faint to you, resist adding drops straight away. Give the jar a day to settle and smell it again before you decide it needs more.

Patch test, storage and staining

Before you use the blend widely, apply a small amount of the diluted oil to a small area of skin and wait to see how it responds. Keep it away from your eyes, away from broken skin, and well out of reach of children and pets.

A woman in her thirties in a long-sleeved robe relaxing in a softly lit bathroom in the evening, a towel over her shoulders

Because this is oil in oil with no water in it, you do not need a preservative, but fixed oils do go stale eventually. Make a small batch, keep the jar somewhere cool and dark, and keep water out of it. Do not stir in aloe, hydrosols or anything else water-based; that is a different kind of recipe and needs a preservative. A towel under you during a massage is also a good idea, since any body oil can mark fabric.

Who should sit this one out

If you have a coconut allergy, ask an allergist before putting coconut oil on your skin. If you are pregnant, nursing or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using essential oils, as our disclaimer says. For hair and scalp, the same caution applies with extra care, since scalp skin is thin and a reaction can be hard to spot under hair; if your scalp is itchy or flaking, a dermatologist is the right person to ask. Our posts on diluting turmeric oil and on whether turmeric oil stains cover the practical details, and pet owners will want to read our post on dogs, because a pet is a question for a veterinarian.

A small recommendation on batch size

Make less than you think you need. A single ounce of blended oil lasts a surprisingly long time for most people, and a small jar is a pleasure to finish. Keep a label on it with the date, the percentage and the type of coconut oil, so the next batch can match it or deliberately differ.

A small glass dish of diluted oil, a few small round plasters and a small amber glass bottle of turmeric essential oil

If you want something firmer

A pourable body oil is the simplest version. If you would rather have something that holds its shape in the jar, the water-free recipe in our body butter formulation uses the same arithmetic, and the roller blend arithmetic covers small ten millilitre bottles. For a pre-mixed paste of turmeric powder in coconut oil, see our look at what the dental trials measured, since the powder is a different material from our oil.

That is really all there is to it: a carrier you like, a few drops, a patch test, and a jar you finish before it gets old.