Grapefruit Oil For Skin: Benefits, How To Use It, and More
Grapefruit Oil For Skin: Benefits, How To Use It, and More
Vitamin C’s skin benefits are praised for good reason. Citrus essential oils are an alternative to vitamin C serums with many of the same skin benefits. Grapefruit essential oil is known for its healing properties and as a natural remedy for healthy, clear skin. The oil is extracted from a grapefruit peel through a process called cold-pressing. Grapefruit essential oil has a sweet citrus scent, which makes it a popular note in perfumes and aromatherapy. It has restorative benefits for the mind and body to help promote muscle relaxation, weight loss, cramp relief, blood press regulation, better mood, and glowing, youthful skin. Grapefruit essential oil is rich in antioxidants to support immunity and improve skin tone or texture concerns. It also contains antiseptic properties to keep skin clean and balanced.
Read on to learn more about the benefits of grapefruit essential oil for skin, how to use it on your face and body, what carrier oils to mix it with, and more.
Benefits of Grapefruit Essential Oil
Anti-Aging Effects
Free radicals from the sun, outside pollution, chemicals, and an unhealthy diet can produce oxidative stress in the body. Oxidative stress can accelerate the skin aging process, leading to more wrinkles, hyperpigmentation, dry skin, and thinner skin texture. The vitamin C found in grapefruit essential oil helps neutralize, reverse, and protect against future free radical damage.
Vitamin C helps stimulate collagen and elastin production. These proteins keep the skin cells hydrated, strong, resilient and are the building blocks for a flexible, supple, and smooth skin texture. Collagen also promotes the exfoliation of dehydrating dead skin cells to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and improve skin tone concerns like hyperpigmentation. One 2017 study found that using topical vitamin C daily reduced the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines after 12 weeks.
Infection Protection
Grapefruit essential oil contains d-limonene, a compound that provides skin-soothing, antibacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-fungal benefits. These healing properties can help treat dry, itchy skin associated with weather changes, inflammatory conditions like eczema, and after-care during the tattoo, permanent makeup, or cosmetic treatment healing process.
Zensa Healing Cream includes grapefruit essential oil as one of its two medicinal ingredients (2%) alongside calendula oil (4%) to reduce irritation, speed up wound healing, nourish the skin barrier and protect against infection.** These powerful plant oils are combined with non-medicinal ingredients, including shea butter, cucumber extract, sunflower seed oil, aloe vera, and hyaluronic acid, to soothe, hydrate, and brighten the skin. These properties also help preserve ink pigment colour for optimal results (if using the product during the tattoo after-care process). Apply Zensa Healing Cream twice a day as needed.
Promotes Wound Healing
Grapefruit essential oil has wound-healing benefits to aid tattoo healing, permanent makeup after-care, wounds from eczema, and similar inflammatory conditions, cuts, or bites. Its high antioxidant levels reduce the inflammatory response and synthesize collagen. The increased collagen production encourages new tissue growth to accelerate the wound-healing process. As the skin barrier repairs, the irritant-fighting properties help keep bacteria, dirt, and other microbes from infecting the vulnerable area. While there’s more research to be done on this specific topic, a 2013 study found that d-limonene (a key compound in grapefruit essential oil) helped reduce wound size and sped up healing in diabetic mice.
Zensa Healing Cream combines the medicinal benefits of d-limonene in grapefruit essential oil with calendula oil, which has been clinically-proven to significantly improve and accelerate wound healing for postpartum women who have c-sections. Their healing properties help accelerate your recovery time, minimize scarring, redness, and support skin barrier health.
Clears Acne & Prevents Breakouts
Research has found that citrus essential oils improve breakouts due to their anti-inflammatory response and anti-bacterial benefits. Grapefruit essential oil’s antioxidant and bacteria-fighting properties heal existing acne and protect against future breakouts. Rich in vitamin C antioxidants, grapefruit oil calms inflammation, promotes collagen production, and increases cellular turnover to unclog pores. Simultaneously, its anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties break down any bacteria or other microbes stuck in your pores to support the acne clearing process. Grapefruit oil is an astringent (cleanses the skin, helps control oil production, and tightens pores) and, combined with its anti-inflammatory properties, keeps the skin calm and balanced.
Fights Inflammation
The high levels of vitamin C in grapefruit essential oil calm the inflammation from various skin issues, like acne, rashes, and allergic reactions to chronic conditions including eczema (atopic dermatitis), rosacea, and psoriasis. A 2018 study found that higher vitamin C intake was associated with improved eczema symptoms. While there’s more research to be done on this topic, bergamot essential oil (a similar citrus oil) is also often recommended to help with eczema and similar conditions – showing the correlation between vitamin C-rich oils and less skin inflammation.
If you have sensitive skin or an inflammatory condition, be cautious when using any vitamin C-rich skincare product. Use products with lower vitamin C concentrations or mix in a very small amount of grapefruit oil into a lotion. Vitamin C products can cause uncomfortable side effects such as irritation, redness, or dryness if they’re too strong for your skin. Speak with your dermatologist to determine which products are best for your skin type.
Reduce Cellulite
This citrus oil calms your body, mind, and boosts circulation – thanks to its high antioxidant content. Grapefruit oil is the top-recommended essential oil to reduce cellulite and water retention. For centuries, grapefruit oil has been used to curb sugar cravings and help individuals shed extra pounds. In a 2010 study, researchers made sense of this method and found that grapefruit oil inhibits adipogenesis (formation of fat and fat cells). Use the essential oil after getting out of the shower. Take a small amount of grapefruit oil on your palm and rub it in-between your hands to warm up the oil. Apply it to the targeted area using small circular motions to rub it into the skin.
How To Use Grapefruit Essential Oil
You can either look for skincare products containing grapefruit oil or purchase grapefruit essential oil, in its pure form, to incorporate it into your existing routine. Grapefruit essential oil can be mixed into your moisturizer for anti-inflammatory benefits or be used directly on your skin as a spot treatment for acne. If you’re using more than a drop or two, always mix grapefruit oil with a carrier oil, so the essential oil won’t irritate your skin. Use a carrier oil like jojoba, coconut, or rosehip oil to keep your skin calm and enhance your results.
Grapefruit Essential Oil & Photosensitivity
You need to be mindful of how much grapefruit essential oil you use if you plan on being out in the sun. Certain essential oils cause skin irritation if exposed to the sun (called photosensitivity or phototoxicity). Many citrus essential oils are phototoxic. However, grapefruit essential oil is the least phototoxic by volume compared to other phototoxic oils. It takes 24 drops of grapefruit oil per ounce of carrier oil to be considered phototoxic (this would be a very high concentration). If using a lot of grapefruit essential oil, avoid sunlight for around 24 hours after application. For extra caution, apply the oil at night and use sunscreen the following morning.
**Percentages indicate the dosage per unit