Not all Oils are the Same and What is so bad about Mineral Oil

As the title says, not all oils are equal and the oil you cook with or find in the bargain bin is not always the best oil to put on your face.

Your skin is thought to absorb some of what you put on it, so it is worth taking a little time to understand the different oils available.

There is a huge variety of oils available from supermarkets, health food shops, chemists and online ranging in quality from virgin cold pressed through to cheaper-than-chips cooking oil and the ubiquitous baby mineral oil (more about mineral oil in a minute!).

Foodies and nutritionists are keen to encourage us to use only virgin cold pressed seed and nut oils when cooking and preparing meals. These oils are produced without heat or solvents and have the best flavour and retain their goodness such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and essential fatty acids needed for optimum health.

It is the same when it comes to skin care where only the purest quality cold pressed plant oils should be used.

Have a quick look at the variety of amazing oils used in Maia’s skin care, including apricot, camellia, papaya, coconut, watermelon, passionflower, starflower and more!

What’s so Bad about Mineral Oil?

Mineral oil (known as Paraffinum Liquidum on ingredients labels) is a clear, light, highly refined inexpensive and readily available oil. It is used on its own (eg baby oil) or as an ingredient in commercial skincare and beauty products.

Mineral oil has a terrible reputation in natural and organic skincare circles mainly because it is derived from crude oil. I am not jumping on the ‘mineral oil is bad because it comes from crude oil’ bandwagon because that wouldn’t make sense, after all, crude oil is natural itself!

And to be honest, looking at the scientific evidence (something other natural skin care companies might like to do as well) I can’t see that all the negative claims made by natural skincare companies are true.

However (you knew that was coming, right?) there are two properties of mineral oil that are legitimate causes for concern and where plant oils have a significant advantage:

Mineral oil acts as a barrier, whereas pure plant oils from seeds and nuts can penetrate the skin to deliver nutrients and activate cell renewal
Mineral oil contains no nutritional benefits for the skin whereas pure plant oils are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, omega oils that help repair, revitalise and renew skin cells.

There is a vast range of natural fruit and vegetable oils available to natural skin care producers, each with their own properties and qualities.

At Maia Skin Care when formulating products and selecting individual ingredients, each oil is carefully chosen for its particular benefits and how it interacts with the other ingredients.

Through research, knowledge and experimentation every product is finely tuned with the highest grade cold pressed oils available so that your skin will look and feel the absolute best it can!

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