Avocados may be native to southern Mexico, but there is more to the fruit than what’s on your toast. Guacamole is a go-to snack for parties, but avocados also make a nutritious ingredient for skin and hair care.
The avocado is high in the essential fatty acids that hydrate a person’s hair and skin. They also contain other important vitamins and minerals that can take your skin care routine to the next level.
To use the fruit for hair and skin products, you can mash the whole avocado into a paste or you can extract the healthy and surprisingly delicious avocado oil. You can even use the oil for cooking for additional health benefits.
Everything You Need to Know about Avocado Oil
Avocados contain a multitude of antioxidants and healthy fatty acids. The oil from the avocado is extracted from the flesh of the powerful fruit. The extracted oil can be refined or organic. The difference is that organic oil is cold-pressed. That means heat wasn’t used to extract the oil, destroying its nutrients.
Cold-pressing the avocado to extract the dense oil while retaining the twenty-plus healthy ingredients, which include:
- Vitamins A, C, D, E and K
- Palmitic acid
- Linoleic acid
- Docosadienoic acid
- Beta carotene
- Lecithin
- Oleic Acid
Oleic acid is a healthy fat and the primary properties of the nourishing oil extract. The other vitamin and mineral components have antioxidant, moisturizing and anti-inflammatory benefits.
Other Benefits:
- Moisturizes
- Relieves discomfort from psoriasis and eczema
- Prevents acne
- Helps wounds heal
- Anti-aging
- Eases sunburnt skin
- Helps nail and scalp health
Avocado oil should be refrigerated between uses to prevent rancidity.
What Does Avocado Oil Do for Your Face?
We already know that eating avocado can help your body, skin and hair from the inside, as well as improving your overall health. But when applied topically (directly to the skin,) avocado is even more powerful.
As shallow as it sounds, your face is your first impression on the world. As much as we embrace body positivity and loving yourself, that rhetoric (which we wholeheartedly agree with!) doesn’t automatically remove all of your insecurities. Those insecurities can linger even after the pimples from adolescence have faded.
The benefits of using avocado and avocado oil on your face include:
Removes dark circles
The vitamins and fatty acids of avocado can help remove or lessen dark circles. The skin under eyes is delicate and a vitamin K deficiency can cause poor circulation, resulting in the unsightly dark circles. Avocados are a great way to boost your vitamin K intake for soft skin under your eyes.
Anti-aging
Avocados are rich in fatty acids, which help lubricate the skin, which promotes the skin’s elasticity and collagen production.
Collagen is, of course, a protein essential to the elasticity and structure of the skin. It’s the reason collagen injections to the face are so popular.
The thick consistency of avocado oil is great for a homemade anti-aging serum.
Moisturizes
The aforementioned consistency also makes avocado oil a great natural moisturizer. Dry skin on the face is caused by a slow production of sebum or clogged pores.
The pores on the face are actually hair follicles that release sebum (the body’s natural oil) to keep the skin from drying out. But too much sebum production leads to clogged pores and oily skin.
It may seem counterproductive to use an oil to fight oily skin, but it can be very good for your face. Using harsh scrubs and cleansers strip away the natural oil, resulting in even more sebum production to make up for the oils stripped away. However, using avocado oil prevents the removal of the skin’s natural oils.
Removes makeup
Once again, the thick texture of the avocado oil works to your advantage. A few drops of the oil onto a cotton pad can have your makeup removed quickly while hydrating your face in the process.
What Does Avocado Oil Do for Your Skin?
Avocados are packed with fatty acids, vitamins and minerals that revitalize and nourishes your skin without added chemicals. Collagen production is boosted, which makes the skin more elastic and youthful looking.
Here are a few ways avocado oil are beneficial to skin:
Increases collagen
Collagen is a protein that binds and strengthens our skin. Without collagen, our skin wouldn’t have any structure and our skin would sag and droop. (Collagen production decreases with age, which is why the skin of the face and arms of older people tend to sag.)
Wrinkles are also caused by a lack of skin elasticity due to a collagen deficiency or age. Avocado oil can help keep skin youthful and delay aging.
Soothes sunburn
One of the many ingredients of avocados is an anti-inflammatory compound. Anti-inflammatories can ease the discomfort of sunburn and heal skin damaged by the sun faster.
Avocado oil can be applied directly to the sunburned skin.
Relieves eczema and psoriasis
Eczema and psoriasis cause rough, dry skin. The avocado oil lubricates and seals moisture into the itchy patches.
Heals wounds
Avocado has been shown in rat trials to help wounds to heal faster. Wounds heal by creating new connective tissue, a job of the collagen. We already know the fatty acids and oleic acids in avocado oil help increase collagen production.
And, as mentioned above, avocado can soothe the inflammation of the wound as it heals.
Avocado Oil Benefits for Hair
If you have dry hair, avocado oil can be used as a conditioner to moisturize your scalp. Even if you have oily hair, avocado oil can be better for your hair than products that strip the hair and scalp of their natural oils.
Stripped the hair of its natural oils only causes it to create more oil to make up the difference. Using avocado oil, on the other hand, can ‘trick’ your hair follicles into reducing oil production.
Hair loss can be embarrassing and a hit to your self-esteem. By nourishing the hair follicles, the moisturizing properties of avocados can improve hair growth to help prevent or reverse hair loss.
Avocados are also full of vitamin B and vitamin E, both of which moisturizes the hair, making it softer and shinier. The main purposes of using avocado oil in your hair are replenishing a dry scalp and preventing hair loss.
DIY Avocado Face Masks
Avocados are ripe with antioxidants and vitamins that replenish the skin for a glowing effect. Natural ingredients don’t contain the harsh chemicals often found in over-the-counter products. Any of these masks can also be used on the hair and scalp.
If you want to make a homemade face mask with the healthy Mexican fruit, you can use the flesh of the avocado and the avocado oil together or, if you prefer, use them separately.
Simple Avocado/Avocado Oil Face Mask
To use the avocado by itself, simply cut it into cubes and mash it into a paste. Or you can add in a drop or two of avocado oil and make that into a paste. For both options, apply the paste to your face and let it dry into a mask. Wash the mixture off with cool water and continue your normal skincare routine.
Avocado Moisturizer for Your Face
Mixing a few drops of avocado oil with an equal amount of drops of hazelnut oil will create an easy face moisturizer to nourish your face. Massage the mixture onto your face and blot with a warm cloth before washing off the excess oil.
Avocado, Yogurt & Honey Face Mask
Honey is another great natural moisturizer, just as avocados are. As odd as putting yogurt on your face sounds, it has been shown to balance the skin’s natural pH balance. The pH balance keeps the skin from being oily.
Mash half of an avocado and mix with yogurt and honey to create a paste that you can apply to your face. Let the mask dry and rinse with water. Weekly applications of the mask are sufficient for a soft, supple complexion.
Avocado, Banana and Egg Yolk Mask
Bananas are surprisingly healthy when applied topically to the skin. They contain high amounts of vitamins that are great for moisturizing skin and promoting elasticity. The egg yolk has binding properties to hold the mask together, but they also have healthy anti-aging vitamins.
Mix the three ingredients together into a paste and rub the mixture onto your face until it dries. Once the mask is dry, rinse your face with warm water. The mask mixture might smell a bit, so you should consider showering directly afterward.
Avocado, Lemon and Egg Whites
Vitamin C helps fight acne-causing oily skin. Lemons are full of vitamins C. You can use egg yolks or egg whites to help make a mask consistency and add more moisturizing factors.
After mixing the ingredients (avocado, lemon juice and optional egg whites/yolks), carefully apply to your face. Lemons are natural astringents and getting it in your eyes will sting. As an astringent, it will also dry your skin out if you use too much lemon juice.
People with sensitive skin should avoid any face products or remedies that have lemon.
Avocado & Brown Sugar Face Scrub
Brown sugar has natural exfoliating properties to help remove dead skin and debris, leaving your face nourished and fresh.
Combine a few scoops of brown sugar with a mashed up avocado to create a scrub mixture. Massage the mixture onto face and neck before rinsing with water. This is a great natural scrub for sensitive skin.
Avocado, Sea Salt & Lemon Scrub
Like sugar, salt is also a natural exfoliator. The astringent properties of lemon help clear away excess oil. This scrub is sure to give you brighter, cleaner skin.
Mix a mashed avocado with a few drops of lemon juice. Add a few tablespoons of sea salt and whip the ingredients together in a bowl. Slowly massage the scrub onto your face and neck. Rinse with cool water.
References
https://www.garnierusa.com/tips-how-tos/avocado-oil-skin-and-hair-benefits
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/9-avocado-oil-benefits
https://beautymunsta.com/beauty-benefits-of-avocado-oil-for-skin-hair/