What is stearic acid used for? According to the Skin Store website, it's a very common additive used in the manufacturing of more than 3,200 skin, soap and hair care products, such as soaps, shampoos and household cleaners. It has properties that make it a natural cleansing agent, capable of helping remove excess sebum (oil),…
Although saturated fats, such fatty acids like palmitic acid and stearic acid, often get a bad rap in terms of their health impact, there's good reason to include them in your diet in moderate amounts. After all, fat is an essential macronutrient and has many functions. For example, palmitic acid benefits include helping form cell…
Shea butter is a substance commonly used in cosmetic and natural skin care products. Full of all-natural vitamin A, 100 percent pure, unrefined, raw shea butter can improve numerous skin conditions such as blemishes and wrinkles, stretch mark prevention during pregnancy, muscle fatigue, dermatitis, and radiation treatments for certain medical problems. Why is shea butter good…
Whether you realize it or not, you’ve probably eaten cocoa butter many times in your life — plus smeared it onto your skin. It’s the fat source used to make chocolate, giving it its alluring, melt-in-your-mouth, silky feel. It can be found in basically all types of chocolate, including dark, milk or white. What else…
Castor oil has been used for centuries in traditional beauty treatments for hair because of its beneficial fatty acids and vitamin E content. Today, it’s used in over 700 cosmetic products and remains popular as a natural remedy for various hair issues, including castor oil for hair dryness, breakage and castor oil for hair growth.…
Are you familiar with the exotic African oil whose popularity skyrocketed in the past 15 years with nearly 20 million U.S. dollars spent on it for cosmetic product manufacturing? It’s marula oil ... and its demand in the beauty realm is for good reason. What are the benefits of marula oil? For starters, it’s known…
Did you know that shea butter for hair has been used for centuries, including by well-known beauties like Cleopatra and the Queen of Sheba? Shea butter comes from the nuts of the shea tree, or Butyrospermum parkii. The outer shell is removed and the nuts are crushed and roasted into a butter that's rich in…
Not only are nigella seeds used similarly to cumin, sesame and fennel seeds in cooking, but they're also the main ingredient found in black seed oil and kalonji, a natural remedy that has been used for centuries to help support the immune system. Nigella seeds and kalonji (the Hindi name for this plant) are full of antioxidants,…
With its bitter taste and garlic-like smell, neem oil has the ability to act like an all-natural pesticide that deters both insects and diseases. Loaded with nutrients, neem oil is also used in natural skin care products because it contains high levels of antioxidants, including carotenoids that help protect the skin from oxidative stress and free…
You may come across sunflower oil among the vast display of cooking oils in the grocery store. If you're wondering whether or not sunflower oil is good for you, you're not alone. The oil certainly has its benefits, as it contains linoleic and oleic acids. But like other vegetable oils, it's high in omega-6 fatty…
