DIY Essential Oil Roller Blends: Percentages, Drops and Sage
A 10 mL roller bottle cannot hold sage oil at the level we recommend if you measure in drops. Our recommended ceiling for adult body use is about 0.17%, and 0.17% of 10 mL is 0.017 mL, about a third of one drop. So the honest options are to make a larger batch and fill the roller from it, to weigh the oil on a fine scale, or to leave sage out of the roller. This article works through the arithmetic for each, and states early that we have not made or tested any formula in it.
Drops in a 10 mL roller, worked out
The conversion is 20 drops per mL, so one drop is 0.05 mL. Droppers vary; this is orientation, and weighing is better. For the COA batch the measured relative density is 0.915, so one drop of that sage weighs about 0.046 g. Remember the roller bottle is a container, not a size of our oil.
| Percent of blend | Oil in 10 mL | Drops | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.17% | 0.017 mL | 0.34 | our ceiling for sage, adult body |
| 0.5% | 0.05 mL | 1 | bottom of the shop's 0.5% to 2% copy |
| 1% | 0.1 mL | 2 | inside the shop's copy |
| 2% | 0.2 mL | 4 | top of the shop's copy |
The shop's copy, 0.5% to 2%, is therefore 1 to 4 drops in a roller. The reason we recommend less for sage is thujone.
Why sage gets a lower ceiling than the shop copy
The IFRA thujone standard (Amendment 49, 2020) sets maximum thujone in the finished product because of neurotoxicity: 0.095% for body lotion (category 5A), 0.032% for face moisturiser (5B) and 0.0053% for baby products (5D). ISO 9909:1997 allows the alpha- and beta-thujones in Dalmatian sage oil to sum to 21 to 51.5%. Dividing gives our arithmetic: about 0.18 to 0.45% oil in a body product, 0.06 to 0.15% for the face, 0.010 to 0.025% for baby products. This is arithmetic from two public documents, not a statement about our oil, whose thujone content is unpublished; IFRA limits fragrance mixtures, not aromatherapy sold as such, and we could not verify which category a roller falls under.
The European Medicines Agency's assessment report (2016) goes further than any percentage: it reports sage oil as a moderate skin irritant that is "not recommended for use in aromatherapy," and EMA's separate public statement rates its benefit-risk balance as negative. Our process page says sage "is not an oil for casual, generous use." Put together, our recommendation is one drop in 30 mL (0.169%), adult body only, never on the face, and never on or around children. That conflicts with the top of the shop's 0.5% to 2% copy, and we think the lower figure is right for sage.
Formula 1: a sage roller made from a 30 mL batch
We have not made, smelled or tested this. It is a formulation worked out from the sources above, and the first thing to do is a small test batch and a patch test.
- 30 mL (one ounce) of carrier, such as jojoba (see the carrier comparison for why a roller that sits in a bag suits a stable carrier)
- 1 drop sage oil: 0.169%
- 2 drops lavender oil: 0.34%
Total oil load is 0.51% by volume. We picked that to stay below the 1 to 5% the North American Association for Holistic Aromatherapy says most aromatherapy blends use, and lavender is one of the shop's listed pairings for sage. No fetched source gives a cap for lavender, so this is conservative reasoning, not a limit. Lavender carries its own caution: in a 2016 patch-test study of patients with suspected contact dermatitis, positive reactions to oxidized lavender oil appeared in 2.8% of them, and the authors report that linalool and linalyl acetate oxidize in air. Use fresh lavender, cap tightly, and make small batches. Fill a 10 mL roller from the 30 mL and keep the rest sealed and dated, or make a sage-free roller instead.
Use on the forearm or upper arm, not on the face, neck or near the eyes, and not on broken skin. Do the patch test the American Academy of Dermatology describes (2021): a quarter-sized spot on the inner arm or elbow bend, twice daily for seven to ten days; wash it off and stop if there is redness, itching or swelling.
If you want to weigh instead
For one 10 mL roller at 0.17%, you need 0.017 mL of sage, which is about 0.016 g. A jeweller's scale that reads to 0.001 g can do it, but a scale reading 0.01 g cannot, and a drop that is 0.046 g would overshoot the roller by nearly three times. If you do not own the right scale, make the 30 mL batch.
Partner oils: what each one adds
| Oil | What the source says | Arithmetic per ounce |
|---|---|---|
| Lemon, cold pressed | IFRA Standard 092: 2.0% in most leave-on categories (phototoxicity) | 11 drops is 1.86%; 12 drops is 2.03%, over the cap |
| Bergamot, expressed | IFRA Standard 087: 0.40% in most leave-on categories (phototoxicity) | 2 drops is 0.34%; 3 drops is 0.51%, over the cap |
| Rosemary | Medsafe lists rosemary with sage among oils associated with seizures, naming camphor, thujone and cineole | not stacked with sage; the same constituents add up |
| Pine | Medsafe lists turpentine (Pinus species) on the same list; whether a given pine oil is that material is for your supplier to say | same reasoning |
| Cedarwood, frankincense | no hazard page fetched | ask your supplier; check the Latin name, since thuja contains thujone |
FDA warns that certain citrus oils can be harmful on skin exposed to the sun, which is why the two citrus rows carry caps. Dropping a citrus oil into a roller you will wear on a sunny forearm is the case those standards address. The rosemary and pine rows are reasoning from the Medsafe bulletin, which rates the seizure risk "very low" but probably under-reported and says nothing about inhalation or the amounts involved.
What we do not give a formula for
You will find rollers marketed for sleep, headaches, cramps or mood. We give none, and we make no claim that sage oil helps with any of them. FDA's aromatherapy page says intended use is judged from claims, and that claims to relieve colic, ease pain or relax muscles are drug claims, not cosmetic ones. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, epilepsy or other seizure disorders, a child in the household: skip sage, and ask a physician, midwife or paediatrician before you use any essential oil product. A buyer who needs a thujone figure for a reason like these should ask in writing before ordering; the published COA has none. More on dilution is in our dilution guide, on reading a patch test in the patch test article, on combining oils in the blending article, and a larger body formula is in the massage oil article.
We sell sage oil only. Carriers, roller bottles and other oils come from a supply shop; ask the bottle's seller whether the roller ball and cap are intended for essential oils.
Sage Essential Oil
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Shop Now →Sources & Further Reading
- IFRA, 2020. Standard: Thujone (Amendment 49). ifrafragrance.org/IFRA_STD_102
- IFRA, 2020. Standard: Bergamot oil expressed (Amendment 49). ifrafragrance.org/IFRA_STD_087
- IFRA, 2020. Standard: Lemon oil cold pressed (Amendment 49). ifrafragrance.org/IFRA_STD_092
- ISO 9909:1997. Oil of Dalmatian sage (Salvia officinalis L.), via iTeh preview. standards.iteh.ai/ISO-9909-1997
- EMA/HMPC, 2016. Assessment report on Salvia officinalis L., folium and aetheroleum (EMA/HMPC/150801/2015). ema.europa.eu/EMA/HMPC/150801/2015
- EMA/HMPC, 2016. Public statement on Salvia officinalis L., aetheroleum (EMA/HMPC/41843/2009 Corr.1). ema.europa.eu/EMA/HMPC/41843/2009
- Medsafe (NZ), 2011. Complementary Corner: essential oils associated with seizures. Prescriber Update 32(4). medsafe.govt.nz/ComplementaryCornerDecember2011
- Hagvall L, Bråred Christensson J, 2016. Patch testing with main sensitizers does not detect all cases of contact allergy to oxidized lavender oil. Acta Derm Venereol 96(5):679-683. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26671837
- NAHA. Safety (undated). naha.org/explore-aromatherapy/safety
- American Academy of Dermatology, 2021. How to test skin care products. aad.org/test-skin-care-products
- FDA. Aromatherapy (undated). fda.gov/cosmetics/aromatherapy