Essential oil dose calculator for balms

Why by weight, and why a ceiling

Every dilution chart online takes a liquid carrier in milliliters and hands back drops. A balm is a solid you weigh, and a dropper gives anywhere from 20 to 40 drops a milliliter, so a count is only ever an approximation. This tool works in grams from your batch weight and shows the drops beside them, counted at 20 a milliliter, which lands a count at or under the gram figure. Under a gram of oil, use a scale that reads 0.01 g.

The numbers are ceilings, not targets: half a percent for a face or lip balm, one percent for a body or hand balm, and then each oil's own dermal maximum from Tisserand and Young (Essential Oil Safety, 2nd edition) where one exists. Ylang ylang, rose otto, bergamot FCF and sandalwood carry their own caps; peppermint, eucalyptus, rosemary and the citrus oils stay off faces; babies, pregnancy, nursing and reactive skin get none. A blend shares one ceiling.

Blend by notes

The blend mode splits the ceiling between two or three oils by note. Top notes (the citrus oils, peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree, rosemary) are what you smell first and lose first; middle notes (lavender, the chamomiles, clary sage, rose, ylang ylang) carry the blend; base notes (frankincense, cedarwood, sandalwood) linger. The classic shape is 30 top, 50 middle, 20 base; bright leans top, deep leans base. The shape never adds oil: the total stays at the ceiling for the batch, each oil keeps its own dermal maximum, and a body-only oil stays out of a face blend. Blend the drops in a small bottle first, smell it after an hour, then weigh the blend into the batch under 45 C (113 F).

What is not on the list

Blue tansy and helichrysum are the actives in Moonlight Calm and Recovery Balm, formulated at studied doses stated on those pages; they are not home-blend oils here. Cinnamon bark, clove and lemongrass carry ceilings under one percent and stay off a leave-on balm. Cold-pressed lemon and ordinary bergamot are phototoxic; the distilled and FCF grades are the ones the tool allows, on the body only. An oxidized bottle of tea tree, frankincense or orange sensitizes skin that the fresh oil would not; buy small and date the cap.

Questions we hear

How many drops of essential oil in a 2 oz tallow balm?

A dense 2 oz jar is 56 g. At the body ceiling of 1% that is 0.56 g, about 12 drops; at the face ceiling of 0.5% it is 0.28 g, about 6 drops. Most balms sit well under.

Can I put essential oil in a balm for my baby?

No. Under two, the ceiling is zero, and the same goes for pregnancy and nursing. Plain tallow with jojoba or meadowfoam and vitamin E is the recipe.

What about scent without essential oil?

Well-rendered suet is nearly scentless, soft and buttery. Vanilla and other CO2 extracts are a different material with their own rules and are not in this tool.

How do I blend essential oils for a balm?

Pick one oil from two or three note groups, give the middle note the biggest share, keep the whole blend at the ceiling for the batch, and weigh it or count drops at 20 a milliliter. The blend mode does the split and the grams.

Is more oil a stronger balm?

More oil is a higher dose with the same job. The ceiling is the point where the risk of a reaction outruns any reason to add more.