Icy Massage Oil

Weekly DIY

Icy Massage Oil

This week's DIY is a powerfully cooling massage oil that melts tension, soothes tired muscles and leaves you feeling refreshed.

5 - 10 minutes active time
Beginner
Concerns
Tight Shoulders • Sore Backs • Post-Workout Recovery
Benefits
Massage Lubrication • Quick Relief • Muscle Soothing
Format
Oil Serum
Shelf life
6 months

What You'll Need

Ghee
1 tablespoon
adds richness, nourishes the skin and provides a beautiful glide

Sweet Almond Oil
2 tablespoons
underestimated staple of skincare, lightweight and silky - perfect for massages

Menthol Crystals
1 teaspoon (crushed)
creates the icy cool sensation that refreshes and stimulates the skin

How to Make

  1. Combine the sweet almond oil with the ghee in a heatproof beaker.
  2. Melt the ingredients down and mix till it's one combined mixture. Ghee melts easily so it need not be too hot.
  3. Once removed from the heat, and not too warm, add the menthol crystals and mix well until fully dissolved.
  4. Bottle in a pump dispenser bottle.

How to Use

Guidance

Massage onto clean skin - will be more potent if applied after exercise or hot shower.

Apply once, massage in fully, then leave it alone for at least 10 minutes before deciding whether to add more.

Make It Yours

  • To Extend Shelf Life:
    Add half a teaspoon vitamin e oil
  • For A More Potent Massage:
    Add half a teaspoon camphor essential oil and half a teaspoon wintergreen essential oil
  • For A Balm Structure:
    Add a teaspoon of cetyl alcohol, melt down to liquid, and let set for 72 hours
  • For A Faster Onset Of Cool:
    Add 1 teaspoon ethanol

Pro Tips & Storage

  • Do not use if you are in any risk group, like on young children, and during the last three months of pregnancy unless guided by a healthcare professional. If using Wintergreen EO, may include a higher bleeding risk for people taking certain medications, as well as extra caution for older adults, people with a history of ulcers, kidney disease, or regular alcohol use.

  • Patch test before full use. If it causes too too intense of a sensation, add a teaspoon of sweet almond oil and ghee.

  • Store in a cool, dark place.

  • For a fuller cool feeling, add half a teaspoon of peppermint essential oil.

  • For a more gentle massage oil, use half a teaspoon of menthol crystals instead of a full one.

  • For a full guide on massage rubs, click here.
McDairy Homemade Ghee

McDairy Homemade Ghee

R 195.00
Essentially Natural Sweet Almond Oil - Refined

Essentially Natural Sweet Almond Oil - Refined

R 39.00
Essentially Natural Menthol Crystals

Essentially Natural Menthol Crystals

R 169.00

Aiden van Wyk

Aiden is an eccentric explorer of ideas, endlessly curious and always eager to share his discoveries. His mind is a maze of rabbit holes, each leading to new insights (and occasionally pure chaos). In all honesty - he's a little impulsive, he's easily distracted, delightfully scatterbrained, and unapologetically himself. But through every deep dive and misstep, his mission remains the same:

To make the world a teeny tiny little better, one lesson at a time :)