Two Body Care Products You Are Not Using

Using Hemp And Jojoba In Bodycare Preparations

Nov 16, 2008

Both hemp and jojoba oils have long histories in skin care. Yet, they are not used nearly enough in current preparations.

In the world of body care manufacturing there are new products coming out every week, each promising a better you. However, there are a number of items that have been around and have amazing benefits, but are not used often enough. Below are two products body care manufacturers and consumers are not using in formulations, but should.

Hemp oil as a long and storied history. Cultivated around the world, hemp was used as rope material and as cloth. Many of our founding fathers were advocates of using hemp as a building material and as a food product. More recently, hemp was confused with its cousin, marijuana and growing it has been banned in the United States. However, hemp is not the same as marijuana. There is none of marijuana's active ingredient (THC) in hemp.

As a cosmeceutical, hemp butter/oil has numerous benefits. Each hemp seed contains 30% oil and is high in omega-3 (linoleic) and omega-6 (linolenic) fatty acids. Due to the high levels of these oils, hemp/oil have anti-aging properties and can help to provide a defense from free radicals. As skin ages and is exposed to the elements, it tends to dry, crack and wrinkle and hemp oil can repair some of the damage. Hemp oil also has one of the driest feel on the skin and absorbs quickly into the skin, having the ability to be lubricating without being greasy. Finally, hemp butter has similar properties to shea butter and works will in shea butter blends.

0-10% in lotions and creams, 0-5% in soaps, and up to 100% in body and lip balms.

Jojoba (pronounced ho-HO-ba) is actually a liquid wax harvested from the jojoba plant, a shrub grown in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. Native Americans have used it for years as an appetite suppressant, cooking oil and body moisturizer. It became more widespread after the United States banned the use of importing sperm whale oil in 1971 and it was discovered jojoba oil had many of the same qualities.

Jojoba oil closely resembles the natural oils the body produces and this is what makes it so powerful as a cosmeceutical ingredient. It has the ability to add moisture to dry skin and remove oil from oily skin by binding to excess oil. A common use for jojoba oil is as a facial cleanser. Apply the oil to your face, place a warm washcloth over your face, wait 10 minutes, then wipe the oil off with the washcloth, removing dirt and excess oil. Jojoba also has a much longer shelf life and is more than other oils such as sweet almond and sunflower oil.

0-10% in lotions and creams, 0-10% in soaps, and up to 10% in body and lip balms.

The copyright of the article Two Body Care Products You Are Not Using in Natural Medicine is owned by Caren Young. Permission to republish Two Body Care Products You Are Not Using in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.