Clove Oil for Skin: The Risks Come First, Then the Evidence

For skin, clove oil is mostly a fragrance ingredient and a known irritant, not a skincare ingredient with a track record. We sell two clove oils, bud and leaf, and we would rather you read the risks before the benefits, because the risks are the part with sources behind them. This article lays out the documented skin hazards, the lab research that gets quoted online, and what a diluted use would look like in numbers if you decide to go ahead anyway.

Clove Essential Oil bottle

Clove Essential Oil

Our own Clove Essential Oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $10.99

Shop Now →

The hazard comes first, and it is the compound that makes clove smell like clove

Eugenol is the headline molecule in clove oil. Our own published GC-MS report for the bud oil lists 73.57% eugenol and 12.82% eugenyl acetate, so roughly 86% of the bottle is eugenol or its acetate ester. The Tisserand Institute's eugenol article says eugenol "can be a skin irritant or allergen if not used in proper dilutions" and, citing Tisserand and Young's Essential Oil Safety (2nd edition), lists a topical maximum of 0.5% for clove bud oil. The same page gives no figure for clove leaf oil, so we cannot tell you a sourced leaf number. Reasoning from the shared chemistry (leaf oil is also eugenol-led), the careful assumption is that leaf oil needs the same caution until a source says otherwise. That is an inference, not a published limit.

A 2012 review by Kamatou et al., Molecules, 2012 covers eugenol broadly and flags toxicity "with special reference to contact dermatitis." It also notes that eugenol has been shown to enhance skin permeation of various drugs. Read that second point carefully: a compound that helps other substances cross the skin is not obviously one you want to apply more of. A fragrance-industry safety assessment, Api et al., Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2016 (RIFM, an industry-funded body), calculated eugenol's margin of exposure assuming 22.6% absorption through skin. That is eugenol alone, not clove oil, and it is a modelling assumption, but it shows that regulators and the fragrance industry do not treat eugenol as skin-inert.

Our label says 0.5% to 2%, and the sourced figure is 0.5%

Our bud and leaf product pages both say to dilute to 0.5% to 2% in a carrier oil and to patch test. The Tisserand figure for bud oil is the bottom of that range. We are flagging the gap rather than smoothing it over: if you want the cautious reading, use 0.5% or less, and regard 2% as the ceiling of our label rather than a target. Here is the arithmetic, using an assumed 20 drops per ml (drop size varies by bottle, so measure with a pipette if you can):

We have not tested any blend at these strengths and have no outcomes to report. The numbers are ordinary arithmetic from the figures above. Our carrier oils are not for sale (we sell only the two clove oils), so any carrier comes from elsewhere. If you need the mechanics of measuring, see how to dilute clove oil.

What the "benefits" evidence actually is

The popular claims for clove oil on skin (antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant) come overwhelmingly from three kinds of work, none of which is a skincare trial:

A 2017 review by Orchard and van Vuuren of commercial essential oils for skin infections makes a related point: the organisms that matter in dermatology, including the acne bacterium, have been "sorely neglected" in the test-tube literature. So even the dish evidence has gaps for skin.

There is one small human trial in acne with a clove oil product, covered in our acne article. It tested a combination gel, not clove oil alone, and does not generalise to a bottle of undiluted oil.

The cosmetic versus drug line affects what we can say

The US FDA states that whether something is a cosmetic or a drug "is determined by a product's intended use," and that labeling, advertising and online claims can establish that intent. Its example is a fragrance marketed with aromatherapy claims, which can meet the definition of a drug. This is why our product pages describe the oils as aromatic and cosmetic, why this article reports studies instead of promising results, and why you will not find us saying clove oil does anything for a skin condition. Source: FDA, Is It a Cosmetic, a Drug, or Both?

Who should skip this, and where the better evidence is

If you use it anyway: the minimum

Patch test a diluted blend on a small patch of forearm skin and wait a full day before using more, as the instructions on our product pages say. Stop at redness, itching, or burning. Keep it off the face, mucous membranes and eyes. If a reaction appears and does not fade quickly, a pharmacist or physician is the right next call, not another oil. For fragrance uses where the oil never touches skin, such as diffusing, see clove oil at home; for the broader risk list see clove oil side effects.

Our position is simple: clove oil earns its place in a home for its smell, and on skin it should be handled as a strong ingredient at low dilution or left alone. For skin problems, the people to ask are dermatologists, not a bottle label.

Clove Essential Oil bottle

Clove Essential Oil

Clove Essential Oil from our own shop, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.

From $10.99

Shop Now →

Sources & Further Reading