It’s green, it’s great on toast, and it’s – wonderful for your skin? According to many homemade mask recipes, yes. And avocado oil for skin makes sense. After all, avocados are rich in moisturizing fats and oils.
But is avocado oil actually a great skincare ingredient? Here’s what we found out.
Avocado Oil for Skin: The Basics
Technically classified as fruits, avocados are often called superfruits thanks to their rich amount of:
- Disease-fighting antioxidants
- Protein
- B vitamins
- Vitamin K
- Vitamin C
- Vitamin E
- Potassium
- Magnesium
- Niacin
- Vitamin A
These not only give avocado immune-boosting and heart healthy properties, but also make the fruit particularly great for your skin. In fact, there are a multitude of avocado oil benefits for skin regardless of your type, tone or age of skin.
Is Avocado Oil Good for Your Skin?
That said, you’re not generally putting a whole avocado on your face when you’re using it in skincare products (although this is a great idea in our book!).
Instead, you’re usually applying avocado oil. When you do, it’s important that you always look for a product that uses organic, unrefined, and cold-pressed oil. Otherwise, all those great vitamins and minerals risk being destroyed during processing - womp womp).
If you get it right, this oil will have a ton of avocado skin benefits. Here’s what to expect when using avocado oil for your face.
What does avocado oil do for your skin, you may ask? Well, lots of great things. Rich in fatty acids and an excellent moisturizer, the reasons to use avocado oil for skin benefits are clear. This natural liquid can be massaged into the skin, used in a face mask, or added to lotions, creams, shower gels, bath oils, and other everyday care products with ease.
Avocado Hand Skin Care
Avocado skin benefits aren't exclusive to the face. In fact, there are products specifically designed for other areas of the body - like our Cherry Almond Butter Sugar High Hand Cream. It combines the moisturizing properties of avocado oil for skin with the antioxidants of vitamin c and rejuvenating hemp seed oil, among other nourishing ingredients. Use it regularly and expect softer, smoother hands in no time at all.
Other ways to Complement Your New Hand Cream
Choosing to regularly apply avocado oil on face areas is great, but the hands are just as deserving of the benefits that this natural ingredient has to offer. If you're looking for something to complement your hand cream, try EightSaints' Spicy Rum Punch Bar Soap. It's the perfect preface to a moisturizing treatment, containing special vegetable luffa, coconut oil, and shea butter that will work overtime to enrich your skin.
Avocado Body Care
The benefits of avocado oil on skin are best enjoyed when spread equally - so why not give your body the ultimate pampering with a multidisciplinary product? Our Coco Cocoa Creme Body Butter is just that, combining the power of avocado with coconut, shea butter and kukui nut oil deliver skin-loving hydration and healing effects from head to toe. Apply it consistently after showering for a silky, supple skin surface that will last all day.
Other Ways to Complement Your New Body Butter
While we're on the topic of showering, be sure to exfoliate while you're at it. This essential practice removes dead cells from your skin so that products applied afterwards can have their intended effects. EightSaints' Welcome To The Scrub exfoliating treatment is a necessity for anyone that wants to reap the full benefits of avocado oil for skin.
Avocado for Your Beautiful Eyes
Is avocado good for your face? Yes. But the eyes are well-suited to benefit from it in particular. With some of the body's most delicate tissue, eye areas are prone to wrinkles, puffiness, and redness.
We created All In Eye Cream as an easy-to-use solution to this age-old problem. It is formulated with intense moisturizing ingredients, such as avocado oil and cucumber hydrosol to cool and soothe the tender skin below the eyes.
Other Essential for Preparing Your Skin for Avocado Oil
We've been over enough avocado skin benefits by now to establish the fact that they're important. So why not make the most out of what you use? Products like our Coast Is Clear Face Toner are designed to prep the face before applying other treatments and creams. This is the best way to optimize your use of ingredients like avocado to squeeze as much goodness out as possible.
Avocado Oil Benefits for Skin
Hydrates Deeply
As we mentioned, avocado oil skincare is rich in oils and fatty acids. These properties give it great emollient and occlusive properties, which means that it can soften the skin and trap in moisture for lasting hydration.
What’s more, avocados are a great source of biotin, a B-vitamin known to help prevent dry skin when applied topically.
The benefits of avocado for skin start with hydration. On average, its oil contains 62% lipids, as well as beta carotene, protein, lecithin, fatty acids, and vitamins A, D, and E.
These are all important when it comes to UV ray protection and collagen metabolism. Studies also show that avocado oil can penetrate the skin's natural moisture barrier more effectively than other popular plant oils.
Put simply, avocado oil skin benefits, like hydration, are just easier to achieve. If you’re anything like us, you don’t just want to get the most out of your avocado oil—you also want to make sure it feels good on your skin. That’s why we recommend the Coco Cocoa Creme Body Butter.
Firms Up Skin
In the same vein, the fats in avocados – and its emollient properties – help to:
- Speed up skin repair
- Soothe skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and acne
- Even out skin tone
- Repair your skin’s natural barrier, improving chapped skin over time
This is improved even more by its high quantities of vitamin C and vitamin E, MVP antioxidants that are known to soothe skin, fight free radicals, and protect it against environmental damage or harmful UV rays.
Skin benefits from avocado oil in the sense that it increases collagen metabolism, a key factor in skin firmness. The antioxidants found in avocados, like carotenoids, vitamin E and vitamin C, help to protect against damage from free radicals. A particular carotenoid called lutein is particularly beneficial for maintaining water content and elasticity of skin.
To maximize the advantages of avocado oil on your skin, consider pairing it with our Soulmate Brightening Treatment.
Battles Acne
In many cases, breakouts are caused by a compromised skin barrier. Why? Well, think of your skin’s barrier like a shield protecting your skin against bacteria, microbes, and debris.
If that barrier gets stripped away by things like hot water, harsh products, or too-intense scrubbing, then the skin becomes raw, red, and utterly exposed. This leads to dryness, breakouts, flaking, and other no-no’s. By helping to repair the skin’s barrier, avocado skincare can actively combat all of these concerns.
Many of the avocado oil skin benefits we've discussed so far are thanks to lutein - a carotenoid known to fight inflammation. Avocados are full of Vitamin E, as well as the other antioxidants responsible for keeping issues like blackheads and enlarged pores at bay.
To get the most avocado benefits for skin possible, it's important to pick complementary products that protect and nourish. For example, Eight Saints' Pep Rally Face Serum contains jojoba and witch hazel, both of which hold anti-bacterial properties and can help rebalance oily skin.
At the same time, Down To Earth Gel Cleanser is an excellent way to deeply cleanse your skin on a regular basis. The kaolin clay and french clay will draw out toxins and impurities from the skin, leaving you with a refreshingly clean complexion that's ready for a generous application of avocado oil.
Accelerates Skin Repair
Finally, avocado is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids– like linoleic acid and oleic acid – that are known to speed up wound healing.
This is one of the best benefits of avocado oil for skin and hair there is. Who couldn't use a little bit of TLC? A study conducted in 2013 found that linoleic acid, oleic acid, and other monosaturated fatty acids in avocado can enhance repair processes, while Vitamin E, potassium, lecithin, and other nutrients are known for their moisturizing effects.
If you want to experience these avocado skin benefits first-hand, we recommend trying our Seeking C Face Serum. It's formulated with anti-inflammatory jojoba, antioxidant Vitamins E and C, as well as essential oils like geranium, lemongrass and patchouli. The avocado-contributed Vitamin C in our Chase The Sun SPF 30 Face Moisturizer works to boost antioxidant protection, neutralizing the effects of UVA and UVB rays while reversing the visible signs of sun damage.
Fights Aging
Using avocado oil in skincare is a smart move for many reasons. It helps keep skin hydrated due to its emollient and occlusive properties, which draw moisture into the skin and help lock it in. It also contains vitamins, minerals, collagen-boosting nutrients, and fatty acids that help skin repair itself and stay healthy. Furthermore, it is generally known to be safe against allergies and suitable for those with conditions like eczema and psoriasis.
The benefits of avocado oil for skin can be further boosted if combined with other natural oils such as jojoba, rosehip, and vitamin E. These can be found in products such as our High Society Face Oil, which combines avocado with antioxidants for a nourishing and protective effect.
Nourish Normal Skin Types
The great thing about avocado skincare is that it can work for anyone and any problem. Pollution is one such example - we all deal with it, and the high levels of antioxidants in avocado oil products help to absorb free radicals and protect skin from environmental harm.
Should You Worry About the Side Effects of Avocado Oil on Your Face?
Generally, no. Avocado oil is very safe and most people tolerate it well. If you're unsure, we'd recommend conducting a patch test beforehand.
Does Avocado Oil Clog Pores?
Is avocado oil comedogenic? That's a question everyone should want answered before buying a new skincare product. Avocado oil has a comedogenic rating of three out of five, meaning it can clog pores. If you choose to use avocado oil on your skin, be sure to wipe it off soon after application and always use a light, non-comedogenic moisturizer on top.
Parting Words on Avocado Skincare
Using avocado oil for skin care is a great way to nourish and protect your skin. As always though, it's important to verify that whatever products containing it you use are free of ingredients that may cause allergic reactions or other unwanted side effects, like licorice root extract, or other fruit extracts for skin. Patch testing before using any new product is a must.
All in all, avocado oil has many potential benefits for skin care and we encourage you to give it a try! If you're looking for an easy way to get started, why not become an Eight Saints VIP? Our program offers exclusive access to products, content, perks, and more!