Okay. Don’t let that legendary Moby Dick scenario dancing around in your head just yet. Let’s firstly get to know with this fascinating jojoba oil and the plant itself!
- INCI, distribution, environment, extraction
- Jojoba oil is actually…
- Properties & characteristics
- The skincare benefits
- Notes on safety
- Jojoba and sperm whales
International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient (INCI)
Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil
The plant’s distribution and environment
As written by Len and Shirley Price, jojoba is an evergreen woody, desert shrub native to the Sonoran Desert of California, Arizona and northwestern Mexico. However, the ever-increasing demand of the plant’s oil has given the rise of its commercial plantations all around the world, specifically in arid or semi-arid regions, since the plants grow naturally well in such dry conditions. On their website, the International Jojoba Export Council (IJEC) informs the public that in additional to Mexico and the USA, jojoba has now been commercially grown in Australia, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Egypt, Israel, South Africa and India as well.
Method of extraction
The wind carries the male plant’s pollen to the female plant, allowing the pollination to take place. The pollinated flowers harden into a capsule, containing seeds. As the seeds grow, the shell is becoming drier and drier, as well as darker; it then cracks open and dark-colored seeds – which look similar to coffee beans, hence also known as coffee berry – fall down to the ground to be harvested afterwards.
These seeds are then mechanically pressed. The properties of the resulting wax may vary, depending on the seeds conditions when crushed. The conditions of the seeds may vary with the environment they’re in, which means the properties will likely vary from batch to batch; though not very much. Just like any other natural products. Hence the standardization by the corresponding organizations or bodies.
In the world of cosmetics industry, in addition to natural and/or organic variants, other grades of jojoba oil have also been produced. However, it would always be a good idea to use organic, unrefined, cold-pressed jojoba oil for the skin, to retain and enjoy its therapeutic properties to the maximum, as well as to minimise the potential of skin sensitisation, which may be caused by any existing residues from the refining processes.
It’s also worth mentioning that jojoba seeds contain 50 – 55% of its weight wax (Sadek El Mogy, 2004).
The very thing we’ve been calling jojoba oil is actually…
A wax.
A golden liquid wax, more specifically, which solidifies at temperatures under 10 0C.
It is chemically classified as a wax, to put it in a context.
If you read this comprehensive guide on carrier oils, you’ll likely understand if I now say that jojoba “oil” is not composed of triacylglycerols (or triglycerides). It’s not a mixture of glycerol and fatty acids.
It is composed of wax esters of monounsaturated long chain fatty acids and long chain fatty alcohols instead. It mostly is a complex mixture of naturally occurring long chain linear esters, also mixed with tocopherols, free sterols, as well as other unsaponifiable materials (Price & Price, 2008).
This kind of molecular structure makes jojoba wax much more stable compared to many other vegetable or carrier oils. Due to the presence of natural antioxidants known as tocopherols, this wax does NOT become rancid that easily; with proper storage, it could take years before it starts deteriorating, i.e. going rancid.
The exceptional stability of jojoba wax is however mainly attributed to the structure itself. It’s hardly a subject to oxidation and rancidity due to the fact that it has only one alcohol group.
Jojoba wax’s distinctive molecular structure and properties also allow it to penetrate our skin’s stratum corneum so effectively. These contributing factors are namely straight chain molecule, branched esters, low viscosity, high level of unsaturation, short carbon chain length, low saponification value, the absence of lecithin (Sadek El Mogy, 2004).
You may want go back to the Comprehensive Guides on Carrier Oils and re-read the ‘Now how do carrier oils work our skin?’ section to refresh your knowledge on the factors that affect an oil’s skin penetration rate.
Properties & characteristics of jojoba wax
If you’ve checked out the carrier oils chart in the Comprehensive Guide in Carrier Oils, you’ll find some properties and characteristics of jojoba wax listed as such below.
Aroma: Mildly nutty-sweet
Color: Golden yellow
Skin penetration rate: Medium
Skincare qualities: Anti-inflammatory, sebum-like, relatively more stable, moisturizing
The skincare benefits – why has Jojoba wax been so irresistibly lovable?
1. Wound healing
Scratch wound experiments conducted in one study by Ranzato et al. showed that jojoba wax accelerates the wound closure of keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Significantly.
They also found that jojoba wax stimulates collagen I synthesis in fibroblasts, and proceeded to suggest the use of this unique oil (wax) in the treatment of wounds in clinical settings.
2. Anti-inflammatory
Inflammation can be a symptom, cause, and/or something that exacerbates skin infections, irritations and/or conditions, such as eczema, psoriasis and skin rashes, including nappy rash. It’s also directly or indirectly related to the skin barrier health and aging. Knowing this leads us to appreciating the importance of anti-inflammatory substances in the skin care world.
Len and Shirley Price wrote down in their book that jojoba wax contains an anti-inflammatory agent called myristic acid.
In their study, Nasr et al. investigated whether the encapsulation of the synthetic retinoid tazarotene in a nanocarrier based on jojoba oil would decrease its irritation potential and clinically improve its therapeutic outcome in the patients suffering from psoriasis. The results proved that jojoba oil microemulsion is advantageous in reducing the irritancy of tazarotene, enhancing the skin deposition achieving much better therapeutic outcome in the patients. Irritation was not encountered in the patients treated with jojoba oil microemulsion, whereas redness and inflammation were reported in the patients treated with the marketed gel, which wasn’t based on jojoba oil.
3. Prevents premature skin aging and reduces superficial wrinkles
Sadek El Mogy stated in his publication that jojoba oil (wax) helps to avoid two important causes of premature skin aging, i.e. dryness and lipid peroxidation. It is an excellent non-greasy and non-heavily-occlusive skin moisturizer, beautifully trapping the moisture in our skin. Its outstanding oxidative stability – due to its molecular structure and the naturally occurring antioxidants called tocopherols in the wax esters – prevents any incoming free radicals from attacking the healthy skin cells.
Price & Price wrote that jojoba wax has been claimed to be able to reduce superficial facial lines by 11% after 8 hours.
4. Improves skin elasticity and integrity
It has also been mentioned in the same article that Jojoba wax contains relatively high percentage of insaponifiable materials when compared to other vegetable oils, which contain only 2 – 3%.
The application of these insaponifiable materials helps increasing the elastin formation, a key structural protein to increasing the skin’s elasticity, suppleness, integrity (health) and smoothness, thus its glow.
5. Effectively penetrates into the skin
This quality of jojoba wax relates to its ability to enhance the absorption of topical drugs and any other active ingredients, making it a desirable carrier oil that will allow effective transportation of active ingredients into our skin.
In their book published in 1985, National Research Council showed and reported the jojoba oil in a ‘pool’ at the base of a hair and moving through the follicle wall into the corneal layer.
This is an evidence of the ability of jojoba oil in penetrating the layers of our skin. Better yet, it dissolves any excess sebum buildup that would clog hair follicles and create problems – whispering: Acne~
This special skin-permeating ability of jojoba wax could be due to the fact that it is composed of monounsaturated fatty acids and alcohols, has a relatively lower saponification value, low amount of lecithin and low viscosity (Price & Price, 2008).
6. The sebum-like structure says it all – from sensitive skin, acne, all the way to skin aging!
As written by Sandha and Swami, the chemical structure of jojoba wax has been known to be very close to that of our skin’s natural sebum. It blends well with the sebum to form a non-greasy film that holds moisture in while controlling the flow of natural sebum, thus supporting the natural balance of the skin.
This balance in sebum production, combined with the moisture-retaining quality of jojoba wax, does improve the signs of aging on dry, aging skin.
This sebum-balancing property of jojoba wax may also effectively restrain over-production of sebum, therefore benefiting oily skins that are prone to acne.
Due to its high compatibility with our natural sebum and thus with our skin, jojoba wax is hypoallergenic, and therefore suitable for the application on irritable, sensitive skin.
7. Shows antimicrobial activity against certain bacteria
Jojoba oil’s antimicrobial properties has been investigated by Pooja et al., and it has been proven that this special wax possesses various degrees of antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and a type of fungi called Candida albicans are not able to grow in jojoba oil (Sadek El Mogy) – a huge potential which really is a great news for both natural, organic cosmetic and skincare formulators and customers alike, especially when it comes to the product safety, stability and integrity. Nobody wants to catch one, let alone multiple pathogenic skin diseases, right?
Uh-uh. No, thank you!
8. Barrier-repairing and great compatibility with all skin types
This desirable quality stems, again, from the similarity between jojoba oil and human sebum. In addition to being hypoallergenic, this liquid wax is balancing to the acid mantle of the skin, thus is useful for dry, oily and combination skin (Price & Price, 2008), since it basically helps with the barrier-repairing aspect of our skin care routine by doing so.
Barrier-repairing and maintenance are two of the most important aspects in taking care of our skin, to which we should really pay more attention. Time and time again we need to cleanse our skin from all kinds of grimes and things that are not supposed to linger on our skin. However, when we attempt to do just that, we’d end up accidentally also stripping off our all-round skin-health-supporting acid mantle by the use of cleanser that contains skin-unfriendly ingredients. So. We can now see that the topical application of jojoba wax would help restoring and benefiting our skin barrier health by the balancing of our skin’s acid mantle.
9. Formulators’ great, great friend
Although it’s technically a wax, it is completely miscible with other oils and fats.
Non-greasy, pleasant skin feel.
Nice, pleasant spreadability over the skin.
Pleasant, subtle sweet aroma that can be considered almost neutral in formulations.
Great stability, including great resistance to rancidity.
Great availability of reliable sources and suppliers.
Jojoba oil is generally sustainable. It has been commercially grown since 1979. Today there is reliable supply of jojoba oil from millions of planted jojoba trees in irrigated orchards around the world. Additionally, these planted jojoba trees are believed to help prevent arid land from becoming desert (Price & Price, 2008).
These are amazing qualities of jojoba oil, all of which have made cosmetic and skincare formulators’ lives easier. Particularly those of green, clean, natural and/or organic skincare formulators. I personally placed this golden liquid wax amongst the very top skincare ingredients along my skin care and skincare formulation journey.
Notes on safety
In agreement with Scott & Scott, it would be a good idea for us to start being aware of jojoba oil’s potential of being a sensitizer, due to its increasing usage in many industries (hence increasing day-to-day exposure), from industrial lubricant to cosmetics (although the grades used are not the same). They’ve encountered contact dermatitis in individuals who used it on their scalps, either as shampoo or hair conditioner. Others who applied it to glabrous (hairless-area) skin also experienced the same problem, as either cream or pure oil. The Scott duo also hypothesized that the cases of sensitivity will undoubtedly increase with the use of this liquid wax as an industrial lubricant.
I hope I didn’t scare you with those words of caution. Please know that everything – even water – could potentially be dangerous when used or consumed in excessive amount.
Seek balance.
Aye aye now, Nantucket-mind-wanderer! Here is the story of how jojoba oil has saved (maybe) thousands of whales – and counting!
Once upon a time, sperm whale oil was the best-known lubricant for high friction machinery with repeated temperature extremes. Examples of these machineries include fan blades in aircraft jet engines. The vast use of sperm whale oil was due to its low viscosity and stability under high temperatures and pressures.
Later in the early 1970s, the United States added sperm whales on the list of endangered specie. As one of the consequences, their harvest was banned afterwards.
The whales and thus the harvest inevitable scarcity eventually reached that point. The level at which the world market price of whale oil lubricant hit $200 per quart!
Confronted by many failures, the quest in finding the sperm whale oil substitute finally ended. That, when a Californian scientist suggested the use of jojoba oil (wax) as a natural, environmentally friendly lubricant. Whose plant trees wildly grow like a weed throughout the desert. And can be cultivated to yield beans for up to 150 years!
Plentiful production of jojoba oil allowed its economical price within the market, that was $10 per quart, in the 90s. Now compare that value with the $200 whale oil per quart.
And then top this up with the fact that jojoba wax was found to exhibit some lubrication properties that mimick those of whale oil.
All these superiorities of jojoba oil cause a collapse in whale oil prices.
This consequently put an end to the era of harvesting the endangered sperm whale. Which, in turn, let the nature take its course in the population recovery of this majestic, beautiful species.
(McGuigan, Moyer, Harris, p. 29)
Have you had any experience with using jojoba oil in your skin care routine?
Or in the formulations?
Did you find it compatible with your skin or the other way around?
Do you have any stories around this fascinating plant and its oil?
And yes, this may also include the stories your Grandma shared with you!
Or do you have any questions on jojoba oil, skin care, and/or skincare formulations?
Please feel free to share and ask away in the comment section below!
Looking forward to sharing our knowledge with each other!
Love and best wishes,
Ella
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