My love affair with topical oils for skin and indeed, hair continues with the recent discovery of Tamanu oil. Once again the Remedica brand that brought this amazing oil to my attention. Used in Sensitive Visage and now also available as 100% oil, Tamanu has extraordinarily high levels of essential fatty acids which means it is a powerful skin anti-inflammatory and the potential for a strong healing effect on damaged skin.

The oil is derived from the nut of the Calophyllum inophyllum, a large evergreen tree native to East Africa, coastal India, the South Pacific and even Australia. The oil is green coloured with a “moss” type odour. The green colour is due to the high level of antioxidant phytochemicals in the oil. The nutritional profile of the oil shows up to 38% omega 6 essential fatty acids (EFAs), 0.5% omega 3 EFAs and phytochemicals with healing, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and even anti-viral activity.

As part of my research about Tamanu oil I did a search on You Tube and came up with some interesting videos. There is an amazing progressive healing pictorials using Tamanu oil on a severe scald – it did make me cringe to look at the open burn but the outcome was amazing. If you have the stomach for it, click here. Please note, seek medical advice before applying anything to an open burn as the exposed flesh is so susceptible to infection.

It is not only new burns that benefit from Tamanu oil. A 9 week study looking at the effect of Tamanu oil on significant old scars (over one year or more) showed a reduction in both scar length and width. Twice daily application for a 6 week period was enough to show obvious improvement. I find this quite exciting as old scars are generally really quite hard to minimize and so this effect is quite significant.
Other research has shown the following benefits:

  • a soothing effect on damaged skin including sunburn, skin redness, bites and inflammation
  • a regenerating effect on skin cells which promotes skin healing (wounds, burns, cracks, scars)
  • an anti-bacterial effect which may assist with skin bacterial overgrowth in acne
  • antioxidant which has a protective effect against DNA damage and free radical stress resulting from sun exposure
  • moisturising and nourishing effects on the skin which can assist with dry, damaged skin – this has a normalizing effect on the protective acid mantle
  • an increase in microcirculation which may assist with bruising

I know that we use Sensitive Visage to great effect on those with sensitive, dry and damaged skin but I would love to read comments from any reader that has used Tamanu oil for other skin issues.

Research reference: Dweck, A.C.: Calophyllum inophyllum – Tamanu oil the African, Asian, Polynesian and Pacific Panacea. International Journal of Cosmetic Science 24, 6, 1-8 (2002).

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