Cool like cucumber

Cucumber seed oil is our "oil of the month" for Dec. 2018. This means, we have an attractive discount on this oil through the whole month of December.

Click here for our oil of the month in October 2018 and here for the oil of the month in November 2018.

The oil

INCI: CUCUMIS SATIVUS SEED OIL

CAS# 70955-25-8 / 89998-01-6

EC# - / 289-738-4

Saponification value: 185 mg KOH/g

Iodine value: 125

The oil is derived by cold pressing, hot pressing or solvent extraction from the seeds. In natural cosmetics we do not us solvent extracted oils and preferrably we use cold pressed and virgin oils.

If you neglect the clichee of putting cucumber slices over the eyes, the oil is actually quite an amazing (and underestimated) skin (and hair care) oil.

It has a faint nutty scent (not much like freshly sliced cucumbers) and a bright yellow colour.

Despite the association of cucumber with summer, the oil is actually quite suitable for winter skincare (Read this blog post that I wrote a long time ago about best winter carrier oils).

Have a look at the fatty acid profile of cucumber seed oil. It is one of the few liquid oils with a relatively low oleic acid content and with a considerable content of palmitic and stearic acid (both saturated fatty acids with excellent coverage and barrier protection properties). The main component however is the linoleic acid, an omega-6 unsaturated fatty acid with anti-inflammatory properties.

Apart from this rather rare fatty acid profile, unrefined cucumber seed oil contains about 650 ppm tocopherols and about 4500 ppm phytosterols. This high content of phytosterols makes it an excellent oil for pampering and repairing damaged and compromised hair & skin.

Application:

Cucumber seed oil has a high iodine value and although the tocopherol content of the unrefined oil is considerable, we still recommend applying this oil in cold process and during cool-down phase.

You can easily cover up to 100% of the oil phase with this amazing oil. Neither the colour nor the scent would be overpowering. For a synergetic effect however, it is better to blend it with other oils and lipophilic extracts.

Have a look at some of our formulation examples:

Regenerative facial serum

How to make a self-emulsifying cleansing balm

BeHappy and have fun