What Are the Best Moisturizing Oils?
What Are the Best Moisturizing Oils?
Like all industries, skincare cycles through trends. Right now, one of the most popular skincare trends is moisturizing oils. Oils can be an incredibly nourishing and effective source of moisture for the skin.
Read on to learn more about moisturizing oils, including our seven favorite oils to use on the face.
Can Oil Be Moisturizing?
Oil is an essential ingredient when it comes to moisturizing in skincare. Before we go more in-depth, let's first understand how moisturizers work.
There are three types of moisturizing ingredients:
- Humectants: These ingredients help draw water into the skin from the atmosphere. They also pull water up from deeper layers of skin to hydrate the outer layers of skin. Humectants include hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and urea.
- Occlusives: These ingredients form a barrier over the skin to help lock hydration into the skin. Occlusives include shea butter, mineral oil, and cocoa butter.
- Emollients: These ingredients help smooth the feeling of rough, flaky, dry skin. Emollients include ceramide, cocoa butter, and lanolin.
Most facial oils contain at least one of these moisturizing properties—many include more than one.
For instance, our facial oil, The SUPER Intensive Face Oil, contains avocado oil to help soothe the feeling of itchy, dry skin and support a hydrated appearance. Meanwhile, hyaluronic acid helps the skin feel softer and more plump, while vegan squalane helps promote the appearance of soft, moisturized skin.
Many of these oils aren’t just moisturizing—they also are rich in skin-nourishing properties. They contain vitamins and fatty acids that help support a glowing and healthy appearance from the inside out.
Doesn’t Oil Clog Pores?
You might have heard to avoid oil-based products because they can clog your pores and contribute to blemishes. However, the truth is more nuanced.
Past studies showed that heavy, oil-based ingredients, like lanolin, were the most likely to clog the pores. Many were left believing that all oil would cause breakouts in the skin and clog the pores.
However, we now know that many botanical oils can actually soothe the skin, mimicking the structure of our natural skin oils. Your skin moisturizes itself with its own oil called sebum, which is naturally produced in the sebaceous glands in your skin.
If you have oily or acne-prone skin, it’s important to choose an oil that’s non-comedogenic, like The SUPER Intensive Face Oil. A product labeled as non-comedogenic means that its ingredients do not have the potential to clog pores in the skin.
These oils help your skin feel soft and supple, and they help your skin look glowing and hydrated. Those with dry skin types have low production of sebum, which causes flaking, irritation, and red skin. Similarly, those with oily skin types have an overproduction of sebum.
Lipids actually play a large role in our skin’s natural moisture mechanism.
7 Skin Oils for Moisturizing
If you’re looking to add plant oils to your skincare routine, it’s important to choose the right ones for your skin type. Here are some of the best oils for moisturizing in skincare.
1. Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a popular cooking oil, but it’s also commonly used in skincare. This oil contains vitamin E and medium-chain fatty acids (MCTs), which help nourish and support the skin. Plus, it has cleansing properties that can help keep your skin looking clear and moisturized.
However, we don't advise choosing a random container of coconut oil off the shelf for topical use. The coconut oil used for cooking is often refined, which means the processing removes some of its valuable nutrients. Instead, look for unrefined, cold-pressed coconut oil.
Keep in mind: Coconut oil is not always a good choice. It can clog pores, so if you have oily or acne-prone skin, it may be best to choose another facial oil.
2. Grapeseed Oil
Grapeseed oil is also high in vitamin E and an antioxidant called proanthocyanidin. This antioxidant can help support an even-looking skin tone and minimize the appearance of dark spots.
This oil is relatively lightweight and may be more gentle on those with sensitive skin. It also contains natural fatty acids, which can help support the skin’s moisture barrier.
3. Rosehip Oil
Rosehip seed oil is made from the seeds of rose hips, which are the fruit of rose bushes. This oil is rich in vitamin C and vitamin A, which are the vitamins from which retinol is derived. Like retinol, rosehip oil can encourage the appearance of firm, smooth, and glowing skin.
If you have oily skin, don’t worry—you will likely be able to use rosehip oil. This oil is very lightweight and is famed for its ability to effortlessly slip into the skin without clogging pores, so it’s an excellent option for all skin types.
4. Olive Oil
Olive oil is a common ingredient in many body soaps. Olive oil is naturally antimicrobial. Plus, it has both humectant and occlusive properties.
However, olive oil is comedogenic and is likely to clog your pores. If you have oily skin, you may want to choose a lightweight oil like jojoba oil or olive oil.
5. Jojoba Oil
Jojoba oil is used more in haircare products than skincare products, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t offer benefits for the skin. It can help the skin appear less oily, provides antioxidants, and moisturizes the skin.
Jojoba oil’s composition is also very similar to the skin’s natural sebum, making it less likely to clog pores. That’s why we use it as one of our main ingredients in The SUPER Intensive Face Oil.
6. Avocado Oil
Avocado oil is made from avocado seeds and is a great source of antioxidants and vitamin E. It can combat dryness to help the skin feel hydrated and supple, soothe irritated skin, and help the skin look and feel more firm.
This is another oil we feature in The SUPER Intensive Face Oil due to its ability to combat the appearance of free radical damage and encourage glowing skin.
7. Sweet Almond Oil
Almond oil is full of zinc, protein, and vitamin E. This oil is commonly used as a carrier oil for more concentrated oils, like essential oils.
Like rosehip oil, sweet almond oil contains vitamin A, which can help promote a smooth, firm, and radiant appearance. Because of this, sweet almond oil is the first ingredient in The SUPER Intensive Face Oil.
When Should You Apply Face Oil?
Skincare should be applied in the order of lightest to heaviest, so you’ll first want to apply a gentle cleanser like The MANTLE Skin Conditioning Wash. This cleanser uses ingredients like fruit AHAs and chamomile to deeply cleanse the skin without stripping away natural oils.
Next, you’ll apply a skin moisturizer like The SUPER Hydrator, formulated with ingredients like purified oat extract, hyaluronic acid, and shea butter to deliver up to 48 hours of hydration. Then, you’ll want to apply The SUPER Intensive Face Oil.
For your daytime routine, finish with a broad-spectrum sunscreen like The Multimodal Defender SPF 30. If you’d like, you can also apply body oil to ensure the rest of your skin is as soft as your face.
Key Takeaways
Mega-moisturizing and antioxidant-rich, the right face oil can dramatically elevate your skincare routine. Non-comedogenic oils like The SUPER Intensive Face Oil offer skin-nourishing benefits for all, even those with sensitive, acne-prone, or oily skin.
If you want to learn more about skincare, visit the U Beauty blog. With our science-driven approach to product formulation, our products are clinically shown to deliver and maintain visibly smooth, supple skin like you've never experienced.
Sources:
Moisturizers - StatPearls | NCBI Bookshelf
Sebaceous Glands: Function, Location & Secretion | Cleveland Clinic
