Exploring Carrot Seed Body Butter

doTERRA: With seasons greetings and a winter wonderland comes harsh, dry weather that can wreak havoc on your skin. Thankfully, there's a lot you can do to combat the problems that cold can bring with it. You can make sure you stay hydrated and wear clothing that covers your skin when you're outdoors, and you can add some extra hydration with a body butter, like our luxurious Carrot Seed Body Butter.

Nourish your skin like never before and prioritize your self-care with this smooth, soft, and intensely creamy body butter. With the powerful combination of olive, sweet almond, and jojoba oils and cocoa butter, plus the beautiful trio of Rosemary, Spearmint, and Carrot Seed oil, this body butter is ready to tackle whatever winter weather throws at you.

Welcome back to Essential Oil Solutions with doTERRA, the podcast where you'll hear exciting, useful, and simple everyday uses for essential oils from experts in the field. If you like what you hear today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. We always appreciate hearing from you.

We want to show you why the ingredients in this body butter are amazing and tell you a little bit about their history.

Olive Oil

The olive tree is among the oldest known cultivated trees in the world. There is even evidence of it being grown before the written language was invented.

In the Iliad, Homer refers to olive oil as “liquid gold.” And there were many legends and myths about olive tree in ancient Greece.

According to one of them, Zeus—father of the gods—had proclaimed a competition among his sons. Whoever offered Greece the most useful gift would have received Athens and the entire region of Attica.

Among the many discarded proposals, Poseidon—god of the sea—offered a splendid horse. However, Athena—goddess of wisdom—drew from the earth a new tree: the olive tree. Zeus decided that Athena deserved to win, and the olive tree grew on the Acropolis.

Olive oil was also considered a harbinger of divine light and intellectual power. Because of its use for lighting lamps, it was associated with light and considered capable of making the path visible and clear.

In this body butter olive oil brings many topical benefits plus extra moisturization.

Sweet Almond Oil

Known as the “king of nuts,” the almond comes from a tree normally known for its flowers and fruit. However, there is another precious resource that comes from the almond tree: sweet almond oil.

Now, the name almond is believed to be a grouping of extractions from both the French word almande and the Greek word amydala. The amygdala—the part of the brain that controls the ability to make decisions, develop memories, and process emotions—is also believed to have the same etymology.

Many cultures and religious beliefs revere the almond. Where it is mentioned in the Bible, it’s referred to as a symbol of vigilance and promise, because of its early flowering. It is also considered to be “among the best of fruits.” In Greece, the almond tree is a symbol for love and eternal hope, and almonds were also used for interpreting a dream. The belief is that if you see almonds in your dreams, it means upcoming travel and prosperity.

Almond oil is also valued in Ayurvedic and is used in ayurvedic treatments for many areas of the body.

Almond oil has been used for centuries as a key ingredient in skincare and helps bring even more moisturizing power to this body butter.

Jojoba Oil

You’ve probably heard about jojoba oil before, but do you have any idea what jojoba is? The Jojoba shrub is a wild, woody plant that is native to the hot, arid regions of southern Arizona, southern California, and northwestern Mexico. The name Jojoba originates from the word Hohowi, a name given to the seeds or nuts by the O'odham, a Native American tribe that discovered the versatility of jojoba seeds. The tribe created and used a paste made from these seeds for skin- and hair-care purposes. They also used the jojoba plant in their traditional practices.

Jojoba has a history of being used for skincare pretty much since it was discovered to be useful. And it continues to bring its moisturizing powers to the Carrot Seed Body Butter.

Cocoa Butter

Then we have another incredible moisturizer: cocoa butter. The first recordings of the cocoa tree come from before 1,000 BC. However, cocoa butter was not really used as a massage butter until 1828, when a scientist named Conrad Von Houten invented the cocoa press.

Ever wonder why something that is a key ingredient in chocolate is also used in skincare products or even spoken about in the same sentence as skincare? It’s because cocoa butter is high in fatty acids and hydrates the skin deeply, making it a wonderful addition to body moisturizers and lip balms. It contains oleic, palmitic, and stearic acids, all of which nourish the skin.

We can thank the Mayans and Aztecs for introducing cocoa butter for its uses outside of food, even as a form of currency. And we’re so glad they look outside of the box so that we were able to discover the amazing skin benefits that come from using cocoa butter.

Spearmint Essential Oil

Then we have a few oils that bring their scents as well as benefits to our Carrot Seed Body Butter. First, we have spearmint. Spearmint goes by multiple other names including lamb’s mint and our lady’s mint.

Mention of spearmint dates back to at least the first century AD, with references from naturalist Pliny as well as mentions in the Bible.

One thing that has continually drawn people to Spearmint is the smell. When grown in damp soil, the fragrance intensifies, and many farmhouses, for this reason, grew a clump beneath the outdoor water spigot. The leaves smell of lemon and mint, and there has advice to “. . . hang bunches of spearmint from open doors or archways. . . . Mint tied to screen doors sends cool odors throughout the house.”

John Gerard an English botanist mentioned spearmint in his 1597 book Herbal, where he says that "the smell rejoice the heart of man,” for which cause they used to strew it in chambers and places of recreation, pleasure and repose, where feasts and banquets are made."

We’re glad to have the fresh scent of Spearmint in this delicious body butter.

Rosemary Essential Oil

Next, we have Rosemary. The first mention of rosemary is found on cuneiform stone tablets as early as 5,000 BC. But after that not a whole lot is known, except that Egyptians used it in their burial rituals. There aren’t any further mentions of rosemary until the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Rosemary made its way to England at an unknown date; the Romans probably brought it when they invaded in the first century, but there aren’t any viable records about rosemary arriving in Britain until the eighth century. This was credited to Charlemagne, who promoted herbs in general, and ordered rosemary to be grown in monastic gardens and farms.

Rosemary was considered sacred to ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. And now, it brings a lovely deep, rich scent to our body butter.

Carrot Seed Oil

Finally, we have the star of the show: carrot seed. Carrot seed has a dry, sweet-woody, and earthy aroma.

Carrot Seed oil is derived from the dried seeds of the Daucus carota botanical, more commonly known as the Wild Carrot or “Queen Anne’s Lace,” as it is referred to in Europe. The nickname comes from the story that the dark blossom appeared when the good queen pricked her finger as she was embroidering, from which a drop of blood fell to the middle of the flower head.

The use of Carrot Seed oil originated in the time of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, French, and Indians, who used it in their traditional practices. It has also been found used in traditional Chinese, where it is used as part of a bath or massage oil.

Also used in the manufacturing of perfumes, it has been highly prized for its ability to add woody nuance to scents. When used in cosmetics, it’s a traditional and popular moisturizing agent. Carrot seed is a lovely finish to our luxurious body butter.

If you’re looking for an indulgent way to treat your skin this winter, the Carrot Seed Body Butter doesn’t feel greasy and is absorbed quickly to give skin the nourishment it craves. Perfect for all skin types, you can gift it to a friend or keep it for yourself. Either way, you’re going to want to get your hands on a jar, or two!

Thanks for joining us and congratulations on living a healthier lifestyle with essential oils. If you liked what you heard today, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen. Also, if you want to try any of the products you learned about, go to doterra.com or find a Wellness Advocate near you to place an order today.