The beauty industry is vast - with so many different brands and many more entering the market each year, it can be challenging to choose the best products for you. When it comes to skincare, topical skincare products generally fall into one of two categories - oil based and water-based. Oil Divine, as our name suggests - we love oils and actually formulated all products with botanical oils and extracts today; we explain why we use oils for not just our skin products but hair products as well.
Oil-Based products Vs Water-Based Products
Oil Based Products
In general, there are two types of oils - carrier and essential. Carrier oils, aka base oils or vegetable oils, are generally cold-pressed or macerated vegetable oils used to dilute essential oils and absolutes before they are applied to the skin. Essential oils are the essence of the plant it is extracted from, essentially containing the life force of the plant, which makes them extremely powerful.
With the increased popularity of and demand for natural and organic products, some brands differentiate themselves by advertising that they do not use essential oils - implying that they are bad for you and should not be acceptable in skincare and personal care products. This impression is absolutely false - pure, organic essential oils formulated and diluted by a professional can be especially beneficial for all skin types.
Pure, organic essential oils formulated professionally assist the skin in proper function and health. Essential oils contain many healing and skin-supporting benefits and are characterized by the most critical antioxidant properties. They must be used at specific concentrations, they must be pure, organic, and unadulterated, and they must not be past their shelf life. This is where many brands and products go wrong, and essential oils are incorrectly blamed. When EOs are used in too high of a concentration, or if an impure, oxidized, or fake essential oil is used, they can be sensitizing, dangerous, and damaging to your health. Essential oils that have been adulterated are not essential oils.
Essential Oil Safety
Essential oils are harmful to the skin when undiluted. Essential oils are essences of the plant it is derived from, making them extra concentrated as the distillation process requires much effort. For topical use of any essential oil, it must be diluted with carrier oils such as sweet almond, castor, jojoba, and grape seed, to name a few.
If you are applying tea tree oil directly onto the skin, depending on the sensitivity and condition of your skin you might reap some of the skin benefits you intended for, but it will likely dry your skin out. If you dilute it with a carrier oil suitable for your skin, you will not only have the tea tree be more potent as carrier oils help deliver the actives into the dermis but reap the benefit of the carrier oil as well.
Essential oils are potent; within their dynamic mixture, the highly beneficial molecules are also what can cause sensitivity and possible irritation.
For those people who have susceptible skin and/or skin issues, yes, EOs should be avoided at first to find out what is going on with the skin. Sensitive skin is not a type, it's a condition, which can ultimately be healed, but many ingredients should be avoided when the state is active to determine what is going on internally and on the surface of the skin. This is why, as with any new product, you should do a skin patch test first.
Quality and formulation are queens. Always. As we've discussed, essential oils being effective in skincare relates to purity/quality, shelf-life/stability/oxidation, and the EO's dilution in the formulation.
Water Based Products
Emulsifiers
Oils are already used in virtually all skin products, minus oil-free products. Not all oil products are of liquid consistency because of other additives - emulsifiers.
Just to name a few of the toxic ingredients commonly found in skin creams:
Phthalates, Parabéns, Polyethylene Glycol (PEG), Formaldehyde, Oxybenzone,
Be sure to check the EWG database before you purchase skin care products. Want to know more about decoding and the importance of decoding the ingredient list.
Preservatives
People with combination, acne-prone and oily skin sometimes stay away from oils because they are afraid that it will exacerbate the oiliness. This is a misconception as there are so many oils, many of which are not only suitable but beneficial for those skin types. To read more about oils for oily skin, check out our post on Oil Cleansing and Oils for Oily Skin.
Staying away from oil-based products or products that contain oil usually means opting for water-based products. Water-based products are synonymous with chemical preservatives as they require them to maintain their consistency and texture. When there is water, there must be preservatives.
Toxic chemicals can lead to serious health issues, especially when you are applying them all over your skin two times a day every day. Our holistic approach ensures that we only use botanical oils so you can make the switch, as the products you are using are likely aging you from the inside out.
Topical skincare products fall into two main categories: water-based skincare and oil-based skincare.
Water-based skincare products contain mostly just that...water. Oil-based skincare products have no water and are made of oils.