Have you ever thought of making your own herbal oil rather than buying it? If you think about it, it is not that difficult and it can be a good way to obtain oils from herbs that are readily available in your garden.

I am currently trying an experiment to create sage oil from dried fresh sage leaves and almond oil in order to use it on my scalp to promote hair growth and healthier hair. It is also a known fact that sage oil can darken grey hair.

In order to do this I bought two small packs of fresh sage leaves which I then dried for a couple of days. In a small jar I cut up the leaves and ensured that the stems were cut off (they contain oxygen which would make the oil prone to spoil).

The next step is to leave the jar exposed in the sun for a fortnight or slightly more depending on the amount of sun of the location. Once this is done, the leaves should be filtered out of the mixture and poured into a clean jar (preferably a darker coloured one) and stored into a dark place. Disposable coffee filters do a good job of straining the oil and separating the residue.

You would be amazed to see and feel how rewarding it is to have your own oil!!

For those of you who do not have the patience to wait for a few weeks, there are alternate recipes which involve heating the carrier oil (in this case the almond oil) with the herbs but the risk is that the oil might cook and therefore lose its useful elements.

Feel free to experiment with this and use different oils such as: coconut and olive. There is a multitude of herbs that have different benefits and I strongly suggest that you research what they are good for.