It’s summer, and we all know we should be wearing sunscreen every day. It’s easy to forget to slather on, I know, but you don’t want to end up looking like a leather saddle by the end of summer. This SPF coconut body oil uses the natural sunscreen protection in oil and extracts to combine moisturizer and sunscreen in one step. Add your favorite essential oils and you can skip the perfume, too!
Body oil is especially nice to use in the summer. Apply after you shower and it quickly absorbs into the skin without feeling heavy or cakey like lotion. To make a moisturizing body oil, start with a base of coconut or almond oil (SPF of between 5-8) and add in avocado oil (natural SPF of 15). This body oil gives you basic summer protection, nice when wearing tank tops and shorts, but shouldn’t be used in place of sunscreen.
To bump up your body oil SPF, add red raspberry seed oil or carrot seed oil. Both have naturally very high SPFs because the vitamin A, vitamin E and fatty acids they contain are at just the right balance to protect against UV rays. Red raspberry seed oil has a natural SPF of around 30 and carrot seed oil provides SPF 40 protection.
Natural SPF Coconut Body Oil
Vanilla and jasmine are classic summer scents, but you can pick your favorites. Lavender or a floral scent (like rose) would be also perfect!
Natural SPF Coconut Body Oil
Equipment
- 8 ounce glass jar
Materials
- 1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil spf 8 or almond (spf 5)
- 1/4 cup avocado oil spf 15
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essential oil
- 1/2 teaspoon jasmine essential oil
- 1 teaspoon carrot seed oil spf 40 or red raspberry seed oil (spf 30)
Instructions
- Melt coconut oil and avocado oil together over low heat. Let cool briefly.
- Add essential oils and carrot seed or red raspberry seed oil.
- Stir to combine and transfer to jar with lid.
Notes
Photos by Lindsey Rose Johnson
I’ve heard some essential oils can dangerous when applied to skin, is this true? Also can we add both tbe carrot seed and raspberry oil for double the spf protection or would that be a bad mix? Thanks!
Does the almond have to be unrefined too?
This is wonderful! How do you recommend storing this for longevity? Should it be refrigerated? How long will it last?
Should last for at least six months in a dark container with a cap/lid – the oils won’t go bad!
Hello! I love this, but I’m new to body oils…how would one apply this? Just pour onto hand and rub on?
Thanks!
Yes, you can apply just like lotion :)
Nice recipe!
But I just want to point out that citrus essential oils are photosentivite and can create dark pigmentation or rashes on skin when exposed to UV. So they shouldn’t be recommended to use in a sunscreen lotion (one should wait at least 6h before sun exposure when applying citrus EO).
Can you recommend a place online to find these harder-to-find oils? This sounds interesting but I’m not sure where to acquire some of the ingredients, at least from a place that is trustworthy.
I’m definitely going to try this recipe. @ Sara, I love Young Living for pharmaceutical grade essential oils!
Hi Sara – lots of good places to get essential oils but I’ve found Amazon to be one of the easiest – they have everything so I save on shipping.