a quick guide to the five main types of oils & how to use them WHAT ARE LIPID CARRIER OILS? These are the rich, fatty oils made up of lipids, oils like olive oil, avocado and grapeseed oil, coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter, argan oil, pomegranate seed oil, raspberry seed oil and rosehip seed oil, and oils from nuts like macadamia, sweet almonds and walnuts. These are just a handful of examples from a very long list of lipid oils from around the globe.
In this quick guide to lipid carrier oils, we will focus on the five main types of oils grouped by their fatty acid structure. The fatty acid structure of an oil tells us so much about how to use it, how it will hold up in formulas, and how it will feel and impact the skin.
This overview will help you to quickly identify which types of oils to reach for whether you're creating a foundation of a skincare formula, looking for an oil to infuse botanicals and herbs into, making a solid salve or a whipped balm or simply looking for a combination of oils to use in your daily skincare routine.
We begin with monounsaturated oils and polyunsaturated linoleic acid and Alpha-linolenic acid, then we peek at the saturated solid butters, and finally we take a look at the very-long chain fatty acid oils. OILS VS. FATTY ACIDS ➤ All lipid oils are made up of multiple types of fatty acids. There are dozens of different fatty acids that make up the oils. These fatty acids show up in different percentages in the oils. ➤ Therefore, an oil we label as a monounsaturated oil will be dominated by oleic monounsaturated fatty acid but also contain a number of other fatty acids in much smaller percentages. ➤ Oils can contain upwards of 40 different fatty acids but it is the dominant three or four that determine its basic qualities. The butters, solid at room temperature, are made up of predominantly saturated fatty acids, while olive oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids and raspberry seed oil is high in polyunsaturated fatty acids. But all the oils in the pictures above have overlapping fatty acids. The key to understanding the oil is in looking at the percentage of each type of fatty acid in the oil. MONOUNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS
➤ Oleic acid, monounsaturated fatty acid
found in high percentages in a number of oils including camellia, olive, plum, macadamia, hazelnut, apricot, almond, avocado, moringa and marula oils. ➤ Highlights: monounsaturated fatty acids maintain the suppleness, elasticity, and softness of the skin by helping to maintain moisture in the cells. ➤ Use in facial, body and massage oils for their skin feel and protective properties. ➤ Oleic acid makes up 30% of the skin’s own oils and so the fatty acid has high skin compatibility. ➤ Monounsaturated, these oils are fairly stable and can be used for infusing botanicals, general emollience for the skin and for skin nourishment. Oleic acid is one of the most common monounsaturated fatty acids. In the pie charts above, you can see the high percentage of this monounsaturated fatty acid in each type of oil. LINOLEIC ACID POLYUNSATURATED OILS
➤ Examples of oils high in Linoleic acid: grape
seed, passion fruit seed, cucumber seed, watermelon seed, sunflower seed, blackberry, hemp seed, and raspberry seed oil. ➤ Highlights: Highly nourishing, absorbent, light feel on the skin. ➤ Perfect for use in facial serums and other skin and body care formulas. You can use them alone, or in combination to create nourishing, light facial oil serums. ➤ Look for oils high in Linoleic acid to target specific skin issues, like blemishes, scaring, sun damage, dry or damaged skin. Specific benefits vary by oil, so start here to find the super nourishing oils to add to skin healing and restoring blends. ➤ Not good for: Infusing. These oils are delicate and more prone to rancidity when exposed to heat, light and air than other oils. All three of these oils are very high in the polyunsaturated oils fatty acid linoleic acid, but they all also have a fair amount of oleic acid which is monounsaturated. ALPHA-LINOLENIC ACID OILS
➤ Examples of polyunsaturated oils high in
alpha- linolenic acid: chia seed, camelina seed, flax seed, rose hip seed, blueberry, kiwi seed, cranberry, kukui nut, sacha inchi, fenugreek and hemp. ➤ The fatty acid Alpha-linolenic acid (LNA) is nearly always accompanied by linoleic acid (LA) in an oil. Both these fatty acids are polyunsaturated. ➤ Highlights: highly nourishing oils, that help in reducing and treating inflammation. ➤ Perfect for: adding to facial oil and body care blends to help with acne and blemishes, damaged skin and more. ➤ Not good for: infusing. Oils high in alpha- linolenic acid are polyunsaturated and prone to rancidity when exposed to heat, light and air. ➤ Note: Both LNA and LA are polyunsaturated essential fatty acids (EFA), those two nutrients so vital to health. Oils high in Alpha-linolenic acid often have a high percentage of linoleic acid as well. We find a lot of overlap in oils high in these two fatty acids. HIGHLY SATURATED OILS
➤ Examples of highly saturated oils are: shea
butter, mango butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, and cupuacu butter. ➤ Saturated oils are typically high in stearic and palmitic acids. ➤ Highlights: Oils high in saturated fatty acids are highly emollient, occlusive and protective, creating a barrier against weather and pollution. ➤ Natural plant protective compounds help protect skin cells from sun damage. ➤ Saturated oils can be used for infusing though need melting, and are the most stable of all the oils. ➤ Note: Saturated oils typically come from the tropical regions. They are solid at room temperature, not prone to rancidity. It’s always good practice to keep oils in cool dry These butters all have high percentages of saturated fatty acids. The saturated fatty acids are solid at room temperature but will melt and liquify with heat. VERY LONG-CHAIN FATTY ACID OILS
➤ This important group of lipid oils have
very-long chain fatty acids, twenty carbons and longer. ➤ Jojoba oil, meadowfoam seed, Abyssinian seed, and broccoli seed oils are common ones. ➤ Highlights: Unsaturated fatty acid and therefore liquid at room temperature, protective of the skin due to very-long fatty acid chains, absorb well into the skin, long shelf life. ➤ These very long chains act as trace fatty acids and are important supplied to the skin to maintain healthy skin balance. The nature of the very-long fatty acid chains helps to protect formulas against oxidation. ➤ Useful for infusing botanicals and for skin care and protection. We only have a handful of oils to work with that are high in these very long chain fatty acids, but they are so valuable for helping to stabilize other oils in a formula or combination, they are worth keeping in stock. I have been working with the lipid oils for over two decades. I began really studying the lipid oils when I was developing my skincare line, and then, in 2014 I published my first book on the oils Power of the Seed: Your Guide to Oils for Health & Beauty. MORE LIPID OIL RESOURCES
Join us in our free facebook
group Lipid Love: Home of the Real Oils. Click the link below to request to join. https:// www.facebook.com/groups/ lipidlove
And you can visit me over on my
website SusanMParker.com for more on the lipid oils, upcoming courses and programs and more.
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