Massage oil is luxurious, rich, and holds moisture in the skin. Unfortunately, it can also ruin your sheets. So which massage oil won’t stain your sheets?
The types of massage oils less prone to staining your sheets are jojoba oil, fractionated coconut oil, and sunflower oil. To avoid massage oil stains, it’s also important to choose bed sheets of lighter colors, made of natural fibers.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at which massage oils are less likely to stain sheets and what the other benefits of those options are so you can choose the best one for your needs.
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Finding The Best Massage Oil That Doesn’t Stain Sheets
Let’s go over the benefits of jojoba oil, fractionated coconut oil, and sunflower oil as options less likely to stain your sheets.
Jojoba Oil
Despite what the name suggests, jojoba oil isn’t actually an oil but a wax. It feels like oil though and is a popular option with massage therapists. When you ask a massage therapist which massage oil doesn’t stain sheets, this may be their first recommendation.
This massage oil doesn’t stain most kinds of sheets (microfiber is the exception), has a long shelf life, is a carrier oil, and has antibacterial properties.
The long shelf life means that if you only do massages once a month or so, you’ll find your oil hasn’t gone rancid.
Being a carrier oil means that jojoba oil mixes with other liquids. So, if you wanted to mix essential oils in with this, you could. If you wanted to mix this with another carrier oil to get the benefits of both kinds, you could. A lot of massage oils don’t mix well with each other, so carrier oils stand out in this regard.
The antibacterial properties of jojoba oil have been shown to be anti-inflammatory. In terms of skincare, when we’re talking about inflammation, we’re talking about acne. People with oily skin may have a hard time finding a massage oil that suits their needs. Jojoba oil is the top recommendation for people with oily skin.
Jojoba oil actually absorbs into the skin much faster than other massage oils. This is a good thing to be aware of. It means you’ll need to apply a fresh coat of oil to your skin more often, but it also means the oil is less likely to slide off of you onto your sheets. Another benefit is that you’re less likely to feel greasy or oily after your massage. The oil will have had time to absorb into your skin and you’ll come away feeling cleaner and lighter.
As a massage oil that doesn’t stain your sheets, while still adding a lot of great qualities to a massage, jojoba oil stands out.
Fractionated Coconut Oil
The word “fractionated” is very important here. Regular coconut oil is heavy and would definitely stain your sheets. A fractionated coconut oil is a great option as a massage oil though. The word means that this kind of oil has had the long-chain triglycerides removed, leaving the medium-chain ones. This makes a lighter and less greasy massage oil that won’t stain your sheets.
Also, this option washes out easily, has a long shelf life and a neutral scent, and is less expensive than other massage oil options like jojoba.
As a massage oil, fractionated coconut oil has a bit less glide than other options. If you’re looking for a choice you can use to really dig in for a deep tissue massage, this may be a better choice for that reason.
Sunflower Oil
Sunflower oil is a light and easy to use massage oil. It does have some obvious drawbacks, the biggest one being that it has a short shelf life. It goes rancid quickly. If you’re going to use sunflower oil, you’ll need to plan on taking a lot of time for some massages, which is probably great for your efforts to relax more. You’ll also want to plan on buying a smaller bottle. Write down the date you opened it so you’ll remember.
Getting past that drawback, there’s still a lot to like about sunflower oil for massages. Of course, since it’s on this list, sunflower oil is a massage oil that doesn’t stain sheets easily. It’s a light oil, not greasy, and is packed full of beneficial nutrients for healthy skin, like linoleic acid, palmitic, and stearic acid. The soaps and cleansers we regularly use tend to break down the skin barrier and remove linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid that leaves skin looking youthful. Applying more sunflower oil can be a good way to improve your skin’s health.
Massage Oils That Do Stain Sheets
There are a lot of massage oils out there and many of them will stain your sheets. Two of the most popular massage oils that may be great for your skin but rough on your sheets are almond oil and grapeseed oil.
Almond oil is beloved because it doesn’t absorb easily into the skin. This is great for a massage with long strokes since it glides. It also doesn’t tend to irritate the skin and is on the lower end in terms of price. It does build up though and is one of the worst options for staining your sheets.
Grapeseed oil is silky, luxurious, has a neutral scent, and a lot of benefits. Many people even choose to use grapeseed oil as a makeup remover or as a face mask at night. It’s not greasy and is great for hydration. I personally enjoy this oil and I even have an article on its many benefits. However, it isn’t a good option if you are trying to avoid staining sheets.
Despite their drawbacks in terms of staining sheets, almond oil and grapeseed oil do have great benefits as massage oils. If you’re going to use them anyway, you might consider getting a set of sheets you specifically use for massages so you don’t mind as much when they’re stained.
Choosing the Right Sheets When You Use Massage Oil
If you’re someone who uses massage oil often, you might want to think about the type of sheets you have. Some sheets are more likely to stain than others. Some are also more likely to have those stains show up in a more obvious way.
The first thing to consider is actually the color of your sheets. Massage oil is a lot more likely to show up on dark sheets. The stain isn’t as obvious on a cream-colored sheet as it is on a black sheet. A white sheet is also easier to bleach stains out of.
The next consideration is the material of your sheets. A lot of synthetic fabrics are more prone to staining from massage oil. This is particularly true of microfiber. This material was actually created to be more absorbent. It’s a great fabric to use for cleaning towels because the fabric was designed to easily brush over a surface and swipe up debris. These unique qualities do make it more receptive to quickly absorbing any oil spills. Even if you’re using massage oil that doesn’t stain sheets, like jojoba oil, your microfiber sheets will easily stain.
If you’re searching for the right sheets, you might want to look for ones that specifically say stain-resistant on them, since they’ve been designed to not allow liquids to absorb as quickly. Also, look at lighter colors.
Make The Most Of Your Time To Relax
If you’re spending your massage time worried about your sheets, you won’t truly get the most out of the experience. Find the solution that works the best for you so you don’t spend your time worrying about stains.
This may mean employing strategies, like using white sheets, getting stain resistant sheets, avoiding grapeseed and almond oil, and choosing a massage oil that doesn’t stain sheets. It can also be a good practice to put the massage oil on your hands before putting it elsewhere on the body since this controls the flow of the oil and can lead to fewer stains.
It may also mean that you simply prefer to have a space set up where you won’t mind if stains happen. This may mean having sheets specifically that you don’t mind getting stained.
Find a compromise that works best for you and prioritize getting the most out of the time you have for treating yourself well.
