The beauty industry is characterized and influenced by trends and the society. With products and ingredients used in hair and skin care staples being recycled frequently. Some people like to go with the flow while some are happy to stick with their well known tried and true products. Relatively recent trends have seen folks make more and more of their own beauty products in the comfort of their own home using pure and natural ingredients. After all, instead of spending heavily on a high end product that contains tiny amounts of well known ingredients, why not just purchase the ingredients and make more of your own products, adding quantities that you would prefer, perhaps with the hopes of getting more potency out of your end products.
Dermatology is the branch of medicine that is associated with the skin. Over the years, useful trends have been well documented in journal articles, researched and published. The use of vegetable oils have been highly prevalent, as their benefits for nourishing and moisturizing the skin has become clearly evident. However, an important component of vegetable oil had not yet been studied until more recently in the 1970s when some of its uses began to capture the interest of professionals in the beauty industry. This component of vegetable oil is known as vegetable oil unsaponifiables. In this article, we focus solely on olive oil unsaponifiables.
Olive oil is extracted from the ripened fruit of the olive tree, also referred to by its botanical name Olea Europaea, Olive trees are known to grow up to 12-15 meters tall and are highly productive and prominent trees in the natural habitat. Olives are known to originate from the Mediterranean regions. They are widely used and cultivated in this region due to weather compatibility. Olive oil unsaponifiables are a portion of the extracted and processed oil obtained from olives. The manufacturing process of olive wax follows the same initial stages as just olive oil. When olives are harvested, they are thoroughly ground before they go through the cold pressed stage that is used to isolate the oil. Olive oil unsaponifiables are obtained in a few more steps. Next, they go through the hydrogenation process which involves changing a liquid into semi-solid or outright solid by applying pressure and a catalyst like Nickel.
The isolation and refining process of fatty acids results in unsaponifiable components. The unsaponifiable components when hydrogenated become olive emulsifying wax. It’s a highly versatile ingredient with several outstanding uses and applications. In addition to its uses in the formulation of several different cosmetic products, ranging from serums, to leave in conditioners, lipsticks and more. Olive oil unsaponifiables hereafter olivewax, is said to be a prolific source of squalene which is a compound that is diminished as we age and therefore needs to be restored. This makes olive wax an integral component of anti-aging serums, moisturizers and more. The emollient properties of olive wax make it a great moisturiser that can also be used for softening the skin because it absorbs easily into the skin.
Olive wax is also an emulsifying wax, though not of the likes of beeswax. Its highly lipophilic properties enables it to be able to provide stability for oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions as well as anhydrous systems. It has a high level of phytosterol and helps to fortify other ingredients present in an active formula. Its high levels of Vitamin A and E make it an absolute must in your hair and skin care regimen. It works very well for sensitive skin types because it’s so similar to human sebum with its naturally occuring fatty acids. Soothing sunburns and wounds is also one of the major strengths of our olive wax because it is able to restore and nourish dry and dehydrated skin that is suffering from diminished lipids. Our olive was has a slight order that is characteristic of olive oil. It is soluble in oil and has a melting point of 55°C / 131°F.
Suggested usage rates: 1 to 5%, up to 10%, depending on desired texture and viscosity.
- 2 – 5% in emulsions
- 1 – 5% in make-up products as an emollient structuring and oil-gel agent
- 1 – 5% in hair care products as a conditioning agent
- 1 – 4% in water-in-oil emulsions as a stabilizing agent
- 1 – 3% in oil-in-water emulsions as an emollient hydrating, moisturizing, stabilizing agent
- 1 – 3% in sunscreens for viscosity stabilization
FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF OLIVE WAX
- Improves the stability and mixture of water and oil bases
- Due to its light and weightless texture, it is easily spreadable and noncomedogenic.
- Provides excellent moisturizing benefits in hair care products. Works well as a hair conditioning agent.
- Imparts shine and silk feeling to the hair, making it more manageable and smooth.
- Prevents sub-cutaneous water loss thereby improving overall flexibility and plump feeling of the skin.
- Adds thickness without discoloring or changing the look and feel of product formulations.
- Absorbs well with great shine and no greasy residue.
- Protects the hair cuticles
- Can be used in vegan formulations
- Used in creams, lotions, serums, hair and skin care.
- Prevents rancidity of bases.
We hope we have been able to enlighten you on the characteristics and qualities of our olive emulsifying wax. Please let us know if you have any questions and if you have used or will use olive wax in your DIY creations.
