What about Oils in Skin Care Products?

The right selection of oils for a very successful is of great importance. Mineral oils are of course significantly cheaper, but do not create the same comfortable feeling and do not contain the precious ingredients as natural vegetable oils. The most obvious advantage of mineral oils, however, is that they cause an impermeable film (occlusion effect) on the skin which affects the natural lipid barrier of the skin, causing loss of water in the skin after stopping the use of the product. The result is that the skin becomes dry, scaly and uncomfortable. This effect may even occur after cheap mineral oils has been replaced by high-quality vegetable oils since the latter don’t cause an occlusion effect on the skin, but rather cause the natural lipid barrier to rebuild and regenerate, in the meantime the skin may remain dry and rough. These skin problems are not the result of the high-quality products with natural vegetable oils but the result of the adverse effect of mineral oils that were taken before!

Our recommendation: Inform the customers concerned of the effect of mineral oils that they have used before and keep going on with the natural oil treatment so that natural lipid barrier can regenerate.

B.t.w.: Beyond any doubt, this occlusion effect is rather undesirable with cosmetics but may be advantageous for dermatolocigal treatment of skin diseases. Medic creams therefore, often may contain mineral oils, and if this is the case it should be assessed accordingly.

Mineral oils can be identified by their INCI-declaration: Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Paraffinum-Liquidum, Cera Microcristallina, Microcrystalline Wax, Ozokerit, Ceresin. Special case: Eucerin, a mixture of natural oils and mineral oil.

Evening primrose oil contains gamma-linoleic acids as essential fatty acid. The building of gamma-linoleic acid is disturbed in the metabolism of many people. This can be a reason for the development of dermatological diseases like neurodermitis. In these cases and with very dry skin the treatment with evening primrose oil is very effective. Evening primrose oil is hardly found in cosmetic preparations because of its high cost and the difficulties to build up an effective protection against oxidation. The unsaturated fatty acids of the evening primrose oil easily become rancid. Special technological knowledge is required to protect the unsaturated fatty acids against oxidation effectively.

We prefer the following natural vegetable oils: evening primrose oil, jojoba oil, sheabutter and macadamia oil.