An Oil for Scars

2 min to read
Andrea Butje
09/20/2021

If I'm making a butter or oil for scars or old wounds, one of my favorite carrier oils to use is tamanu.

Tamanu oil comes from Madagascar and the Polynesian Islands and has a very intense, nutty, curry-like aroma. In some areas of the Polynesian Islands, it's been used as a traditional medicine for healing skin conditions, old wounds, and scars. 

The production of tamanu oil is fascinating! The tamanu tree produces a beautiful fruit with a big nut inside it. The oil comes from the nuts . . . but it's not present in the nuts as the fruit ripens or even after it falls from the tree. The oil only forms after the nuts are allowed to dry in the sun for about eight weeks. During that time, the nuts turn brown and lose about a third of their weight. Then—when it seems like they're all dried up and done with their life cycle—they can be cold pressed, and the precious oil is extracted.

Sometimes I'll blend tamanu oil into a scar butter (along with shea, coconut oil, beeswax, and jojoba), and other times I'll stick with a simple oil for scars with just tamanu and essential oils. Here's one of those blends:

Tamanu & Frankincense Oil for Scars

  • 2 oz (60 ml) Tamanu oil (Calophyllum inophyllum)

  • 12 drops Frankincense essential oil (Boswellia carterii)

  • 12 drops Helichrysum essential oil (Helichrysum italicum)

  • 12 drops Lavender essential oil (Lavandula angustifolia)

Make your blend in a 2 oz (60 ml) glass bottle. You can use it three to five times a day and massage it into scars, stretch marks, old injuries, and anywhere you might need a little TLC. The aroma of this blend is very distinctive.

Tamanu & Frankincense Oil for Scars

This oil for scars is made at a 3% dilution. We talk more about diluting essential oils in Aromahead's free class, How to Blend Essential Oils. It's so reassuring to know you can choose the right oils and the right dilution to safely blend for different situations! If you haven't signed up for the free class yet, I invite you to join us—we have a lot of fun!

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