Lavender Essential Oil for Scars & Stretch Marks
Lavender Essential Oil has some of the most interesting research among essential oils used in scar-oriented skin care.
A review of the scientific evidence identified human, animal, and laboratory studies investigating lavender essential oil and wound healing. Researchers reported findings involving wound closure, collagen expression, and proteins involved in tissue remodeling, although additional high-quality human studies are still needed.
A separate systematic review involving six clinical trials and 415 participants found favorable findings for lavender in healing episiotomy wounds, although the researchers cautioned that study limitations and heterogeneity need to be considered.
This research makes lavender an interesting essential oil for skin-care routines following normal healing, but it does not establish that lavender can erase existing scars or stretch marks.
Helichrysum Essential Oil for Scars & Stretch Marks
Helichrysum Essential Oil is widely used in botanical skin-care formulations and is particularly valued for mature, dry, and stressed-looking skin.
Helichrysum italicum contains a complex mixture of naturally occurring compounds that have demonstrated antioxidant and inflammatory-pathway activity in experimental research.
These properties have generated considerable interest in helichrysum for skin care. However, there is not enough clinical evidence to claim that helichrysum essential oil removes scars, stimulates collagen production in human skin, or fades stretch marks.
When appropriately diluted, it can be incorporated into a botanical body oil or massage preparation designed to moisturize and condition areas where scars or stretch marks are present.
Geranium Essential Oil for Scars & Stretch Marks
Geranium Essential Oil is frequently used in cosmetic and botanical skin-care formulations.
Geranium essential oil contains naturally occurring aromatic compounds including citronellol and geraniol. Geranium and its constituents have been investigated for antioxidant, antimicrobial, and inflammatory-pathway activity.
For scar and stretch-mark skin care, geranium is best viewed as a botanical ingredient that can complement a moisturizing body-care routine rather than as an ingredient proven to eliminate scars or stretch marks.
Rose Geranium Essential Oil for Scars & Stretch Marks
Rose Geranium Essential Oil has a rich floral aroma that makes it particularly popular in natural facial and body-care products.
Like other Pelargonium oils, rose geranium contains aromatic compounds including geraniol and citronellol and has been investigated for antioxidant and other biological properties.
Rose geranium can add both botanical components and aroma to massage oils intended for dry or stretched skin, but there is insufficient clinical evidence to claim that it lightens scars or removes stretch marks.
Carrot Seed Essential Oil for Skin Care
Carrot Seed Essential Oil is commonly incorporated into botanical products for mature and dry skin.
Carrot seed essential oil has demonstrated antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in experimental research. These properties make it interesting for cosmetic skin-care formulations, but they do not establish that carrot seed essential oil reduces established scars or stretch marks.
It is best incorporated into a properly diluted skin-care oil rather than applied undiluted.
Tea Tree Essential Oil and Scar-Prone Skin
Tea Tree Essential Oil is one of the most extensively researched essential oils for antimicrobial activity.
Tea tree oil has also been studied in the broader context of wound care. Reviews of essential oils and wound healing have included tea tree among the oils investigated, although clinical evidence remains limited.
Tea tree may be more relevant to blemish-prone skin than to stretch marks themselves. If acne or blemishes have left visible marks, see our guide to Essential Oils for Acne.
Tea tree oil should be appropriately diluted before topical application and should not be applied to an open wound.
What About Frankincense for Scars?
Frankincense Essential Oil is popular in natural skin care and has a warm, resinous aroma that blends particularly well with lavender and other botanical oils.
Frankincense is frequently described online as containing boswellic acid, but this requires an important distinction. Boswellic acids are nonvolatile compounds found in Boswellia resin and extracts and are not significant constituents of steam-distilled frankincense essential oil.
Therefore, research involving boswellic acids should not be used to claim that frankincense essential oil regenerates skin, stimulates collagen, or reduces scars.
Frankincense can still be enjoyed as an appropriately diluted component of botanical skin-care and massage preparations.
Carrier Oils for Scars and Stretch Marks
Essential oils should be diluted in an appropriate carrier oil before being applied to the skin.
Carrier oils are especially relevant to this particular skin-care routine because regular application provides emollient and moisturizing benefits while massage itself can make body-care rituals easier to maintain consistently.
Rather than concentrating exclusively on essential oils, consider choosing a carrier oil that feels good enough on your skin that you’ll actually use it regularly.
Jojoba Oil
Jojoba Oil is technically a liquid wax. It has a lightweight texture and is popular in both facial and body-care formulations.
Sweet Almond Oil
Sweet Almond Carrier Oil is a traditional massage oil with a richer texture that makes it particularly useful for larger areas such as the abdomen, thighs, hips, and breasts.
Fractionated Coconut Oil
Fractionated Coconut Oil provides a lightweight, easy-to-spread base for essential oils and works particularly well for body massage.
DIY Essential Oil Body Oil for Scars & Stretch Marks
For a simple botanical body-care oil, combine:
Gently massage a small amount into fully healed, intact skin.
This blend is intended as a moisturizing botanical body oil. It should not be applied to surgical incisions, open wounds, broken skin, or areas that have not completely healed.
Patch test before broader application.
Can Essential Oils Get Rid of Scars?
No topical essential oil has been established as a way to completely remove scars.
There is some encouraging research involving essential oils and wound healing, particularly lavender. However, wound healing and improving an established scar are not the same thing.
A 2023 systematic review specifically examining essential oils for scars and wound healing found only three eligible studies involving three different essential-oil-containing topical agents. The authors concluded that there was a paucity of studies and that additional research is needed.
Scar appearance also naturally changes during the remodeling process, sometimes for a year or longer after an injury.
Can Essential Oils Get Rid of Stretch Marks?
There isn’t good evidence that essential oils can eliminate stretch marks.
Stretch marks involve structural changes within the dermis rather than simply dry skin on the surface. A systematic review of topical stretch-mark treatments found relatively few studies and concluded that no topical formulation had been shown to be most effective for eliminating or improving stretch marks.
A newer systematic review similarly describes treatment and prevention of stretch marks as a continuing challenge in dermatology.
That doesn’t mean topical skin care has no value. Moisturizing oils can improve skin hydration, softness, suppleness, and overall appearance, even though that is different from removing the underlying stretch mark.
Can Oils Prevent Stretch Marks During Pregnancy?
Evidence that topical oils prevent pregnancy-related stretch marks is limited.
A Cochrane review involving six trials and 800 women found no high-quality evidence supporting the topical preparations studied for preventing stretch marks during pregnancy.
Because pregnancy also changes which essential oils and concentrations may be appropriate, consult your obstetric healthcare professional before using essential oils during pregnancy.
A simple moisturizer or carrier oil may be preferable to a complex essential-oil blend during this period.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best essential oils for scars?
Lavender has some of the more substantial research related to essential oils and wound healing. Helichrysum, geranium, rose geranium, frankincense, and carrot seed are also commonly incorporated into botanical skin-care products.
However, evidence that any essential oil removes an established scar remains limited.
What essential oil is best for stretch marks?
There isn’t enough clinical evidence to identify a “best” essential oil for stretch marks.
Lavender, helichrysum, geranium, rose geranium, frankincense, and carrot seed can be incorporated into moisturizing body-care routines, but they should not be expected to erase stretch marks.
Does lavender oil remove scars?
Research involving lavender and wound healing is encouraging. A review found evidence involving wound closure, collagen expression, and tissue-remodeling processes, but researchers also concluded that additional high-quality human clinical trials are needed.
That research does not establish that lavender essential oil removes existing scars.
Does frankincense reduce scars?
There isn’t sufficient clinical evidence that frankincense essential oil reduces established scars.
Claims about boswellic acids should also be interpreted carefully because boswellic acids occur in Boswellia resin and extracts rather than being significant constituents of steam-distilled frankincense essential oil.
How long does it take essential oils to fade scars?
There is no scientifically established timeframe because essential oils have not been proven to fade scars predictably.
Claims that a particular essential oil produces visible scar reduction in one week or one month aren’t adequately supported.
Can I put essential oils directly on a scar?
Essential oils should generally be diluted before topical application.
Only apply cosmetic essential-oil preparations to fully healed, intact skin. Do not put essential oils into an open wound or onto a surgical incision unless specifically directed by an appropriate healthcare professional.
When to Seek Professional Scar Treatment
Many scars gradually become softer and less noticeable with time. However, raised, painful, itchy, contracting, or rapidly changing scars may benefit from professional evaluation.
Evidence-based scar-management options can include silicone gels or sheets, corticosteroid treatment for certain raised scars, laser procedures, microneedling, and other dermatologist-directed treatments depending on the scar.
Stretch marks can also be treated cosmetically with several dermatologic procedures, although no treatment guarantees complete removal.
Related Essential Oil & Natural Skin Care Articles
Continue exploring natural skin care, essential oils, carrier oils, and DIY body-care routines with these related BioSource Naturals guides:
Essential Oils for Scars — take a deeper look at incorporating essential oils and botanical oils into a scar-focused skin-care routine.
Essential Oils for Acne — explore essential oils and skin-care approaches for blemish-prone skin and the visible marks blemishes can leave behind.
DIY Natural Body Care Recipes with Essential Oils | Complete Guide — discover homemade body oils, lotions, scrubs, and other botanical body-care recipes using essential oils and carrier oils.
Carrier Oils to Dilute Essential Oils — learn more about choosing Jojoba, Sweet Almond, Fractionated Coconut, and other carrier oils for appropriately diluted topical essential-oil preparations.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. BioSource Naturals products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent scars, stretch marks, wounds, or any disease or medical condition.
Research involving wound healing, individual essential oils, botanical extracts, isolated constituents, or experimental formulations does not establish that BioSource Naturals finished products produce the same effects.
References
- Wang JC, Fort CL, Matl CM, et al. Effects of essential oils on scars and wound healing: a systematic review. Facial Plastic Surgery. 2023;39(2):173-179. doi:10.1055/a-1938-0343.
- Samuelson R, Lobl M, Higgins S, Clarey D, Wysong A. The effects of lavender essential oil on wound healing: a review of the current evidence. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2020;26(8):680-690. doi:10.1089/acm.2019.0286.
- Shirazi M, et al. The effect of lavender on pain and healing of episiotomy: a systematic review. Complementary Therapies in Medicine. 2020;53:102510.
- Woollard AC, Tatham KC, Barker S. The influence of essential oils on the process of wound healing: a review of the current evidence. Journal of Wound Care. 2007;16(6):255-257. doi:10.12968/jowc.2007.16.6.27064.
- Ud-Din S, McGeorge D, Bayat A. Topical management of striae distensae (stretch marks): prevention and therapy of striae rubrae and albae. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. 2016;30(2):211-222.
- Brennan M, Young G, Devane D. Topical preparations for preventing stretch marks in pregnancy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2012;(11):CD000066. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000066.pub2.
- Algarra Sahuquillo J, Martín-Gorgojo A. Stretch marks: systematic review of its therapeutic approach. Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas. 2026;117(4):104553. doi:10.1016/j.ad.2025.104553.
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