Oils for Ayurvedic Massage: Which to Use and How to Choose

The main oil of ayurvedic massage is sesame oil, tila taila in Sanskrit. The Charaka Samhita calls it the best of oils: it calms vata without increasing kapha. Coconut oil, mustard oil and ghee (clarified butter) are also used, and clinics mostly work with medicated oils cooked with herbs.

In ayurveda the oil is the active substance of the treatment, not a lubricant to help the hands glide. It is chosen not by its scent but for the person: by their constitution, their current state and the season. So one and the same oil for abhyanga, the ayurvedic oil massage, will not suit everyone. The treatment itself is described in the article on abhyanga, and the types of massage in Ayurvedic massage.

Vasant Lad’s school describes a simple rule: choose an oil with the opposite qualities. If you are cold and dry, you need a warm, heavy oil; if you run hot, a cooling one; if you feel heavy and sluggish, a light, warming oil, and not much of it. The classical texts give the same picture:

• Sesame. Warm, heavy, penetrating. The Charaka Samhita recommends it for dryness of the body and for vata conditions. The chapter on food adds that it is hot in action and can increase pitta, so it is used more carefully when there is a lot of heat.
• Coconut. Cool and heavy. Lad’s school names coconut and sunflower oil as suitable for pitta — heat, irritation, sensitive skin. With kapha it is not used much, because it is heavy.
• Mustard. The hottest of these oils. According to the Charaka Samhita it reduces kapha and vata but increases pitta. Lad’s school recommends light, warming oils such as mustard for kapha conditions — in small amounts.
• Ghee. The Charaka Samhita puts ghee first among the four fats and says it calms pitta and vata. In ayurveda ghee is more often taken internally, as prescribed by a doctor — for example during preparation for panchakarma — and is used externally in specific prescribed treatments. It is hardly ever used for an ordinary full-body massage.

The same logic of opposites applies to the season and the weather: cooling oils fit hot weather, warming ones fit cold and damp.

The amount of oil also depends on the person’s state. Lad’s school writes that for vata a lot of oil is used, for pitta a moderate amount, for kapha very little. What vata, pitta and kapha are is explained in the article on the doshas. Which of them are prominent in you, the online dosha test will show.

In ayurveda the head is oiled separately from the body. Applying oil to the scalp is one of the daily practices of the classical daily routine, on a par with abhyanga: the texts recommend it for the sense organs and the hair. Next to it in the same routine are oil in the ears and drops in the nose, but these are separate practices with their own restrictions — see the article on dinacharya.

The oil for the head is the same as for the body: sesame as the base, and in a clinic more often a medicated oil cooked with herbs. For shirodhara — the treatment in which warm oil is poured onto the forehead in a continuous stream — ksheerabala or oils with brahmi and jatamansi are often chosen, and the doctor makes the choice. A short head, neck and shoulder massage is given both before dhara and on its own.

The rules for handling the oil are the same as for the body, plus a few of their own:

• Warm, not hot. Check the temperature on the back of your hand, just as before a body massage.
• In the direction of hair growth. The same anuloma rule that guides the strokes in abhyanga.
• Remove first, wash later. After the treatment the oil is wiped off the head and hair with a cloth, and a pinch of rasnadi churna, a herbal powder, is rubbed into the crown: it is believed to stop the oil on the head from causing a runny nose and heaviness. The head is washed later, and only with warm water.
• When oil is not applied to the head. With a blocked nose and sinuses, a runny nose, a productive cough or heaviness in the head; with wounds, rashes or infection of the scalp and forehead; with a fever or acute infection. The full list of restrictions is in the article on shirodhara.

Plant oil oxidizes and goes rancid over time, and rancid oil is useless on the skin and can irritate it. A few simple rules extend its life:

• A dark glass bottle, tightly closed.
• A cool place out of the sun. Light and heat speed up spoilage.
• Clean hands and utensils. Don’t scoop oil out of a shared bottle with your hands.
• Check the smell. A rancid, sharp or unfamiliar smell means the oil should be thrown away.

Sesame oil costs three to ten times more than ordinary vegetable oils, so it gets adulterated: diluted with soy, palm, cottonseed and other cheap oils. Choose unrefined cold-pressed oil from raw seeds, from a clear manufacturer, with the ingredients and best-before date on the label. Dark oil from toasted sesame is for cooking and is not suitable for massage.

Buy medicated tailas only ready-made from a manufacturer that lists the ingredients. Massage oils are for external use: do not drink them. Any oil or ghee taken internally for therapeutic purposes is prescribed only by a doctor. This article does not replace a consultation.