Avocado Oil 101

We all know about avocados health benefits in regards to diet. Right? Well if not, I won't be discussing that here. Just know that they provide an awesome level of healthy fat and are an excellent addition to the ketogenic lifestyle.

With that being said, how do they affect the largest organ of our body; our skin? I was curious so I decided to ask the smartest search engine I know…

Research can be done so quickly now! No more long trips to the library! Google has all the answers, well most of them, anyway.

Okay, so before I get off track - how does avocado and avocado oil affect our skin? Can I just go grab an avocado and smash it onto my skin and smear it around and reap the benefits? What's in an avocado that makes it so “good?” And how do you get oil from an avocado anyway?

Let’s start at the beginning. First let’s identity what avocados are and where they come from. Avocados are a fruit native to Mexico and Central and South America. According to The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, the first avocado trees were planted in Florida in 1833 and then in California in 1856. To this day, California accounts for the majority of the U.S. avocado production. All parts of the avocado can be used and have been used for purposes such as consumption, health and beauty, medicine, and even construction (like sticky tack for adobe).

Fun Avocado Fact:

When an avocado is fully mature, it won’t ripen until harvested. An avocado can stay on the tree for up to 18 months!

Ok, now let's focus on the oil. Avocado oil comes from a mechanical extraction process. Take cold processing, for instance, a process that takes perfectly ripe (not overripe or rotten ) avocados, removes the skin and seed, grounds the flesh to a paste, and then malaxates (to soften and incorporate by rubbing, kneading, or rolling, and simultaneously mixing with a thinner substance) it for 40 to 60 minutes at 113° to 122°. Cold pressed oil yields an oil with higher pigment levels, stronger flavor and scent, and consequently higher health benefits. Avocados contain vitamin E, A&D, polyphenols, carotenoids, and potassium. All excellent for our skin and health!

So what does avocado oil do for your skin, exactly? Well I'm glad you asked! Avocados provide deep moisturization, are known to prevent acne, reduce signs of aging, help cope with eczema and psoriasis, and improve nails and scalp. Studies have been done that show avocado oil can act as a natural sunblock therefore protecting your skin, and it's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents help skin stay smooth, strong and elastic. However it won't work well if you have oily skin but it won't leave a lot of grease behind either. And it can also speed up wound healing. Yes, please!

So, we now know that the benefits, if applied to our skin, are enormous but what will this oil do to a bar of soap, if converted to soap. Avocado oil can make a bar of soap more conditioning and add creaminess to the lather. It also has mild cleansing properties. But other than that it won’t do much more. It will not add any extra bubbles and no added hardness to the bar. This is why we only add avocado oil in blends containing coconut oil or palm oil. (See Coconut Oil 101 and Palm Oil 101 if you want to learn more about these oils).

If you've read this far, you can see why we just had to include avocado oil in our soaps. The health and beauty benefits are far too many! When you purchase any of our body bars or hand soaps you are purchasing the benefits of this oil because we left it in its natural (unconverted) state in all of our soaps - that's the only real way to reap the benefits.

Back to Basics, Back to Real.

That’s the ah-ha SOAPS way!

Sources:

Agricultural Marketing Resource Center. Avocados. 2023.

Wong, Marie. Requejo-Jackman, Cecilia. Woolf, Allan. What is unrefined, extra virgin cold-pressed avocado oil? AOCS. 2010.

Costagli, Giacomo. Betti, Matteo. Avocado oil extraction processes: method for cold-pressed high-quality edible oil production versus traditional production. Journal of Agricultural Engineering. 2015.

Scaccia, Annamarya. What Are the Benefits of Using Avocado Oil on My Skin? Healthline. 2017.