Further journeys into our local health food store

One of the things that’s so great about natural body care is the sheer volume of skin and health loving ingredients you can replace those nasty, chemical filled stews with… and many of them are waiting for you in your health food store! Today we’re going to the salad dressing aisle: EVOO is great but let’s see what else we’ve got here. Again, many of these are available from better supermarkets, drugstores, or places like GNC. Or for those of us lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's nearby, you can find most of these there, too.

Almond Oil: An emollient oil rich in vitamins and minerals, good for softening the skin and skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and other dry, itchy, inflamed skin conditions. Useful for burns and thread veins. A lubricating oil, which makes it work well as a massage oil or as a baby oil for the diaper area, but it goes rancid very quickly so you need to use antioxidants, like vitamin E or mix it with stable oils.

Coconut oil: This is probably the first thing I’d recommend adding to your natural body care regime after ACV and Dr. Bronner’s. Unless it was jojoba oil, but we’ll talk about that later. Besides, coconut oil is cheaper than jojoba… and it smells great!

Coconut oil is good for dry, itchy, sensitive skin. It light and doesn’t clog pores – it absorbs quickly into skin, making it good for oily skin types. It resists rancidity and lasts almost forever which makes it a great addition to oils like almond oil which have health benefits (and, in the case of almond oil, are super cheap) but oxidize (i.e. go rancid) quickly. I often use it straight as I come out of the shower and leave the bathroom smelling like a Girl Scout Samoa cookie.

Flax Seed Oil: Flax seed oil is commonly used by the health conscious because it’s a great source of omega-3 oils. Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid – human’s can’t produce this fatty acid ourselves so it’s essential that we get it from an external source. The fact that we absorb what we put on our skin works to our advantage in this case, but you should be sure to take something like flax seed supplement, or fish oil, or eat walnuts (another good oil for skin care), too.

Flax seed oil is nourishing, anti-aging and helps with skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and rosacea. It’s a very fragile oil and oxidizes rapidly – buy small amounts, keep it in the fridge and use anti-oxidants, otherwise you’ll be aging your skin by slathering free radicals all over it. Not what you want to do. I’d recommend using it in small amounts in a more stable oil, like coconut or jojoba. Besides, the stuff is to thick and smelly to put on your skin straight! But in small amounts it’s a good, nourishing addition.

Grapeseed Oil: Grapeseed oil is a light, astringent, penetrating oil that’s full of vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, linoleic acid and other essential fatty acids. It’s good for dry, damaged or aging skin but is light and non-greasy so it’s also good for problem skin that tends towards acne.

Hazelnut Oil: Another light, penetrating oil that’s slightly astringent (and hence good for oil/problem skin.) It’s high in essential fatty acids and soothing and healing for dry, irritated skin. It tones skin and encourages cell regeneration and circulation. It also protects against UV radiation.

Hemp Seed Oil: Hemp seed oil heals skin lesions, dry skin, inflammation and other skin damage. Use hemp seed in low concentration – like flax seed, this is a thick oil with a strong smell.

Jojoba Oil: Jojoba oil is a great, all around oil to use for almost all skin types. It’s a healing, nourishing oil that has antioxidant properties and is good for inflamed skin, psoriasis, eczema or any sort of dermatitis. It’s also good for oily, problem/acne skin since it helps control excess sebum.

Macadamia Nut Oil: A stable oil high in antioxidants. Good for all skin types but particularly good for dry/mature skin because of it’s high palmitoleic acid content – palmitoleic acid, like human sebum, protects the skin. Like squalane, palmitoleic acid is found in human sebum when you’re young but levels drops as you age. In France they use macadamia nut oil on sunburns. It penetrates and hydrates quickly, tones aged or dry skin, is softening and healing.

Pecan Oil: a light yet rich, nourishing oil. It’s a moisturizing oil for mature and/or dry skin.

Walnut Oil: Walnut oil is high in linoleic acid and helps to regenerate, tone and moisturize damaged or dry skin. It’s good for wrinkles and skin problems like eczema, and helps heal dry, damaged or sunburned skin. It should be used in 10 – 15% concentrations in anti-aging and skin toning lotions.

List of problems and oils:

Dry skin: almond, coconut, grapeseed, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, walnut

Oily skin: coconut, grapeseed, hazelnut, macadamia

Sensitive skin: coconut

Damaged/mature skin: flax seed, grapeseed, hazelnut, hemp, macadamia, pecan, walnut

Irritated skin/eczema/psoriasis: almond, coconut, flax seed, hazelnut, hemp, jojoba, walnut

Acne: grapeseed, hazelnut, jojoba

Sun protection: coconut (resists rancidity), grapeseed (antioxidant), hazelnut (especially good - they've done studies), jojoba (resists rancidity), macadamia (antioxidant)

Many of these items will be with the salad oils but some of them are scattered around the store in other places – for example hemp and flax seed is usually in the supplement section. And not all stores have all everything I’ve listed here but that’s ok, you’ll find plenty to keep you occupied.

To use: mix a blend of the oils of your choice and use in place of lotion. Pick oils that are appropriate for you own skin – oils like macadamia nut or hazelnut for oil/problem skin, walnut, EVOO or almond oil for dry, damaged skin. After showering rub it into wet skin and pat dry, and keep a bottle with you – when your hands get dry rub a few drops into your skin. This is very concentrated so you don’t need much.

But most especially… Try some good, all natural, cold-pressed coconut oil for a quick trip to the tropics. Ahhhhh…