Almond oil

 Almond oil is probably one of your favorite skin care oils. This is an amazing oil suitable for every skin but specially for baby skin, dry, scaly and sensitive skin. It has considerable concentrations of alpha- and gamma-tocopherol. Its main constituent is Oleic acid (like in olive oil) which imparts the excellent skin feel, Palmitic acid imparts to good skin coverage without unpleasant greasiness. It is an excellent massage oil (because of its high viscosity it is often applied in combination) and an excellent carrier for aromatherapy (being colorless and having itself a very decent inherent scent) and an excellent oil to prepare infused herbs and flowers. Almond oil could be applied in soap making, as a stand-alone oil it creates rather soft soaps with a very silky texture but the foam is not quite appealing. It's better to combine it with lauric acid containing oils such as coconut oil for a voluminous foam.

The nut is an amazing nutritional resource rich in proteins and CHOs, the main minerals in the nut are potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus. Almond consumption reduces cholesterol levels in blood. If you don't consume almond nuts as a healthy snack, it's time to start doing this. 

Be aware that only sweet almonds are suitable for skin care and for nutritional consumption. Bitter almonds contain about 2-4% Amygdalin (a glycoside) which is then hydrolyzed to hydrocyanic acid in presence of beta glycosidase. Hydrocyanic acid is a potent gift and can cause death in a few minutes. 

Apart from the oil you can apply shell powder or nut powder as natural exfoliants in your soaps and masks. Take care of possible nut allergy.

Click here for more infos about chemistry of almond.

Thanks for your visit.

BeHappy and have fun