10 Best Anti-inflammatory Oils

Inflammation, sensitivity and allergic reactions have become a global issue during the last decade basically because of the over-exposure to certain ingredients (no matter whether synthetic or natural based).

Inflammation is a defensive body reaction to stimuli. The stimulants could be natural (think about hey fever) or synthetic (or "nasty chemicals" as some of you call them and break my chemist's heart ). Stimulants could come from outside (wall paint, air pollutants, laundry detergent) or from the inside (food, hormonal malfunctions) and could have diferent shades varying from redness and itching to scaly skin and wet wounds, from just a light swelling or rash to chronic eczema and dermatitis.

Some shades of inflammation are considered as disease and it's a physician's job to cure them (even if they can not do it and in worst case pump you with corticoids). You can however apply anti-inflammatory plant oils and herbal infusions in your products to help your customers (without making any medical claims) to keep their skin refatted and soft.

These are the most effective plant oils with anti-inflammatory properties. Their efficacy has been proved both by folklore & traditional applications as well as by the modern science.

By applying these plant oils, keep in mind that cosmetic products are no drugs and are not supposed to cure any illness. You're just offering your customers a complementary relief to improve her skin condition and strengthen barrier function of the skin.

I'm just focusing on fixed oils in this post and will dedicate another post to anti-inflammatory herbs which you can infuse in carrier oils such as jojoba, sweet almond oil, baobab oil or other suitable oils.

Let's just list these oils with their INCI names here once again:

1- Borage oil

INCI: Borago officinalis seed oil

2- Hemp seed oil

INCI: Cannabis sativa seed oil

3- Tamanu oil

INCI: Calophyllum inophyllum seed oil

4- Evening primrose oil

INCI: Oenothera biennins seed oil

5- Perilla seed oil

INCI: Perilla ocymoides seed oil

6- Jojoba oil (which is actually a liquid wax)

INCI: Simmondsia sinensis seed oil

7- Passionfruit seed oil

INCI: Passiflora edulis seed oil

8- Shea butter

INCI: Butyrospermum parkii butter

9- Camelina oil

INCI: Camelina sativa seed oil

10- Black seed oil

INCI: Nigella sativa seed oil

Hope you'll enjoy your experiments with these amazing oils.

Feel free to send me your comments and questions. I really enjoy your participation in our Facebook discussions.

If you're in my mailing list, you'll receive a link to the PDF file where I've compared all these oils according to their fatty acid profiles with the newsletter of this weekend. Don't miss that mail.

Be Happy and have fun

References and further readings:

PRICE, Len; PRICE, Shirley; SMITH, Ian. Carrier Oils for Aromatherapy & Massage. Riverhead Publishing, 1999.

KRIST, Sabine; BUCHBAUER, Gerhard; KLAUSBERGER, Carina. Lexikon der pflanzlichen Fette und Öle. Springer-Verlag, 2009.