I pride myself with being up to date with most skin care ingredients but every now and again I am caught out – thank goodness because every time I discover or rediscover a new and exciting skin care ingredient. In this case, believe it or not, it is jojoba oil. Now, it’s not that I hadn’t heard of jojoba oil before but I guess I hadn’t realised how versatile and beneficial it is for the skin.

An extract from the jojoba seed, the resultant oil is actually considered a wax ester rather than an oil. This is significant because unlike most oils (which have a myriad of different benefits), jojoba wax ester is the most similar to the sebum we naturally produce. This is significant for a number of reasons:

  • Jojoba mixes with skin sebum and follows its pathways down to skin cell and skin matrix levels destroying bacteria, dissolving dried skin sebum and creating a deeply moisturising barrier across the skin that allows the transfer of gases and nutrients but holds moisture in.
  • It supports the acid mantle of the skin and by doing so can trick the skin into thinking it is producing enough oil, thereby balancing out oil production.
  • It is non-comedogenic and so suitable for combination skin and dry acne as well as normal to dry skin types.
  • It spreads easily on the skin and absorbs well.

Like anything else, too much of a good thing can be a problem so ideally use no more than 10 drops on the skin…more may increase oil shine due to the skins inability to absorb any excess.

After a quick google search I found many excellent uses for jojoba oil:

  • Moisturiser – After dispensing any facial moisturizer onto your palm, try adding a few drops of jojoba oil to make it into a super moisturizer. Flakiness will subside and the moisturizer will have an improved feel on your skin.
  • Make-up remover – jojoba oil is not an eye irritant, nor allergenic so you can use it to remove eye makeup. It also easily removes foundation, blush, and lipstick.
  • Lip balm – Just put a few drops on your finger and apply to lips. Lots of lip balms tend to contain comedogenic (clogs pores) ingredients, so jojoba oil is a nice alternative.
  • Hair conditioner – You can mix a few drops of jojoba oil into your current conditioner or use it on its own. You can also add it to damp hair before drying or add it to dry hair to promote shine. Jojoba oil also moisturizes the scalp, helping prevent dandruff.
  • Shave prep – Put a few drops of jojoba beneath your shaving cream  for a more comfortable shave. This helps prevent razor burn and leaves your skin feeling nice and soft.

View Jojoba Oil Products

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