Trauma Oil isn’t a single aromatherapy product. Instead, it’s a blend that follows a traditional recipe.

You’ll find a wide variety of twists on this recipe, as many people like to make Trauma Oil at home.

At Aromatics, we combine three of our most soothing handmade oils to create a profoundly comforting herbal blend. We’ve found this recipe to be tried-and-true for relieving physical and emotional distress… and it’s made right in our own backyard.

What is Trauma Oil?

Trauma Oil is a must-have for any natural care collection! 

It’s a blend of three herbal infusions: arnica, St. John’s wort, and calendula. 

All three herbs are individually infused in organic, extra-virgin olive oil. Each is rich with its own therapeutic properties. When they’re combined, they create a powerhouse blend so potent it earns its name: Trauma Oil.

Trauma Oil is popular after minor mishaps and injuries—helping to protect areas that have been bumped and bruised, or feel tender and sore. You can also trust it for areas that need more regular support, like knees or wrists. 

Growing calendula for our homemade Trauma Oil

You’ve already learned how we grow, harvest, and distill arnica and St. John’s wort.

Now we’re excited to tell you about our relationship with organic calendula!

Our co-owners Karen and Larry Williams began growing organic calendula in Montana before they moved Aromatics to its current location. The beautiful orange-yellow flowers brought a burst of bright cheer to the landscape, and the deer loved sleeping beside it. 

Then Karen and Larry moved Aromatics (and their own home) just half a mile away, to our current location. Since they had such a great experience growing calendula at their previous home, they were excited to plant it again.

They planted rows of calendula in grow boxes, and everything went beautifully! For a while…

One day, Larry went out to the calendula gardens and his jaw dropped. 

Once deer decide something is edible, there’s no stopping them!

Larry put tops on the calendula boxes, which protected them from the deer…But not from the aphids!

Aromatics refuses to use any sprays or pesticides. Larry and his team are still working to be sure they can grow calendula on the scale that they’d like to.

Until then, our calendula harvests remain extra small. We hand-pick the healthiest flowers and let them dry (allowing the plant’s soothing components to mature, and letting the aphids leave), before loading them into glass jars, and covering them with hand-poured, organic, extra-virgin olive oil. 

Just like our arnica and St. John’s wort infusions, the jars of calendula in olive oil are allowed to infuse in the sun. We carefully stir each jar by hand. After several weeks, the calendula infused olive oil is ready!

It makes a beautiful skin-soothing agent all by itself—use it for itchiness, chapped skin, calming redness, and more—and calendula infused olive oil is also the third ingredient in our homemade Trauma Oil blend. 

Our arnica infused oil, St. John’s wort infused oil, and calendula infused oil are all powerful therapeutic products individually. Blended together, they support one another’s effects to create a synergy that transcends what each of them can do alone.

What is plant synergy?

Some plants share similar therapeutic effects, but create those effects in individual ways. 

Arnica, St. John’s wort, and calendula are three such herbs! 

For example, arnica is helpful for soothing tenderness, and St. John’s wort approaches the same benefit from a different angle, adding a layer of emotional support. 

We infuse the flower blossoms of each plant individually, and blend the resulting infusions to create “synergy,” where the three plants support one another’s effects for the ultimate botanical powerhouse blend! Now one product can give you the effects of three nurturing plants.

Benefits and uses of Trauma Oil

Comfort soreness with Trauma Oil after a minor mishap or flare up. Carry this infusion with you to calm unexpected tenderness, redness, or bruises. 

You can also ease fingers, knees, or wrists with Trauma Oil, bringing a sense of free movement to areas of ongoing discomfort. It’s also ideal for muscle massage, where it can help release knots of tension. Rubbed into the shoulders and neck, it can even help soothe the head. 

Use Trauma Oil all by itself, blend essential oils into it, or make your own salves and butters. It’s great for kids, too!

Trauma Oil recipes

• Woodsy Orange Trauma Oil
• Wintergreen Acute Relief Oil
• Chronic Joint Relief Oil