As a Certified Clinical Aromatherapist I've seen so much misinformation when it comes to using Carrot Seed Essential Oil. Here is the most common myth I've seen companies try to tell you...

Essential oils are amazing, aren't they? They truly have plenty of benefits.

You'll find so many things essential oils are supposed to be good for, but not all of them are true.

Like this statement: Carrot Seed essential oil has a high SPF and is good as a sunscreen.

NO! No, it isn't!

This is dangerous information, as it not only leaves the skin unprotected but adding extra sheen in the form of essential oils on the skin will attract the sun even more and cause more damage to the skin.

So WHY is this information circulating?

This myth started in 2009 when a magazine published a natural DIY sunscreen containing "carrot seed oil" that provided protection equivalent to a 40 SPF rating.

What a lot of people missed is the "and other ingredients" part of the recipe. These "other ingredients" likely contained zinc oxide, which does provide a true sun barrier when applied to the skin.

Also worth mentioning - one of my pet peeves: the misuse of "oil" as a term to refer to essential oil. The truth is, "carrot seed oil" could mean either carrot seed CARRIER oil or carrot seed ESSENTIAL oil.

Unfortunately, the terminology is not kept consistent, even by professional aromatherapist (one well-known aromatherapy expert often just says "oil" when he refers to an essential oil).

I personally prefer to always say "essential oil" when I mean the essential oil and just "oil" to refer to the carrier or an herbal extract/infusion that is not highly concentrated like the essential oil.

To wrap it up...

While carrier oils can provide some SPF, it's not significant enough to prevent a burn.

p.s. plus, it's stinky