Carrots contain the chemical compound carotene and one of the natural sources of Vitamin A.  Carotene which is responsible for giving carrots their bright orange color are oil soluble so the best way to extract this compound for use in skincare products is to macerate in oil.

Carrot oil is a good antioxidant  oil to use for bright, glowing skin.

Today, we will be making carrot oil using the heated process.

You can also use the non heated process, where the macerated carrot is left in a dark place at room temperature foe 4 to 6 weeks.

For the non heated method, my advise will be to use dried carrots rather than fresh ones.

 

Let’s Begin..

 

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So, I washed the fresh carrots and grated them.

 

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Then, I put the grated carrots in a mason jar and poured enough oil to cover the carrots. I used sunflower oil.  (Didn’t really use exact measurements,… anyway,..)

 

 

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I then proceeded to put the mason jar in a pot half filled with water and heated on medium heat.

A note of caution here…. I heated my macerated oil with the mason jar closed, and I think this might have introduced moisture due to condensation on the cover of the mason jar.

So next time I do this, I will be leaving the mason jar open while heating on low to medium heat.

I heated it for about 5hours, and then I used a cheese cloth to strain off the used carrots. (Sorry don’t have the pictures to show!)

Another note of Caution Here!   While straining , I was tempted to squeeze the  cheese cloth, with the used carrots in it, in order to get all or most of the oil ….

But I think that was a bad idea… and this is why…

Remember I used fresh carrots.. which had a lot of water content and mucilage, so when I squeezed, a little bit of that got squeezed out with the oil.

So, I will advice not to squeeze, but to allow the oil to filter naturally through the cloth by itself and then discard of the used carrots.

It might not be too bad if the carrots were dried first.

 

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So, here’s the finished oil. On the right, you have the macerated carrot oil, while you have the original sunflower oil I started off with, on the left.

So there …. our very own macerated carrot oil. I am going to use this up quickly though….. because I suspect a little water content in it.

Try this at home and share your experience below.

Thank you!

 

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