Most of us will know that fat is probably the best you can put on a dehydrated, damaged or sore skin. So why don’t we massively resort to butters from the fridge and cooking oil from the kitchen shelf when we need a quick and effective fix? At least that would save a lot of money and shopping stress!

You’ll say: fat feels greasy. We don’t want to ‘feel fat’. We don’t want walk around flaunting an oily glimmer. We want our skin moisturized and able to breath, not feel clogged. The good news is that the majority of plant-derived oils, butters and waxes can just do that: hydrate and protect our skin without causing issues with pore clogging and leaving a tacky feeling.

As a matter of fact, most oils and butters quickly get absorbed, which is great because they can then restore the skin barrier at a deeper level. What is more, oils feature a great variety of fatty acids that have certain specific health benefits. There are soothing and healing effects to benefit from, as well as for instance UV protection and UV damage repair.

Let’s have a closer look at the main three classes of plant fats: oils, butters and waxes.

First,  there is the enormous collection of herbal seed oils, such as from rose hip seeds, argan kernels, pomegranate and camellia seeds: all oils that penetrate quickly, don’t clog and treat the skin deep within. Herbal seed oils form the class of fats with the largest variety of skin benefits, with very special healing powers to be unlocked if you know how to find and apply them!

Then there are tropical nut butters, such as mango butter, kokum butter and cupuaçu butter, which are basically oils with a higher melting point that are semisolid at room temperature. In the warm tropics they are typically liquid, that’s likely the reason why they are found there. They are of high sensory quality and provide intense hydration, making them excellent for very dry or rough skin.

Finally the waxes, such as jasmin wax and rose wax from flowers but also beeswax from beehives. These are structurally different from oils and butters and are completely solid at room temperature. Waxes form a protective barrier on the skin, which helps to lock in moisture and shield the skin from environmental irritants. In skincare products they help improve the texture and stability.

These three classes of great natural ingredients form the basis of all my skincare products. But you don’t need to buy my products to enjoy them. You can source and try them in pure form! In later blogs I will focus on individual oils and waxes and the benefits that they can bring to our skin.

Take care of yourself and your skin!

Dr Josbert