Sweet Almond oil

The sweet almond oil is obtained from the dried kernel of the plant. This oil has been traditionally used by massage therapists to lubricate the skin during a massage session.

The kernel of the sweet almond oil contains a fixed oil and emulsion. It is this type ofalmond oil that is fairly popular in alternative medicine, particularly as a carrier oil in aromatherapy, and for its action as emollient that softens the skin.

Sweet Almond oil benefits and uses

Sweet  almond oil is an excellent emollient that soothes and softens the skin. This oil contains high levels of unsaturated triglycerides that moisturize. It absorbs easily without greasy after-feel.

Sweet almond oil is an excellent oil for treating dry, dehydrated skins; it can be applied after the shower and mixed with rosehip oil for improving its effect.

Directions:
Lightly massage Sweet Almond Oil into skin after cleaning. Almond oil can also be used in a base for premium massage oils or aromatherapy products.

Refined and Cold-Pressed Almond oil:

Sweet almond oil is mainly obtained by cold-pressing its seeds, but in cosmetics it is the refined one that is used.

Refined sweet almond oil hasn’t the strong smell of the cold-pressed oil that’s why this kind of oil is used largely incosmetics. In the refining process the almond oil lose some of its natural properties.

Cold-pressed sweet almond oil keeps all the natural properties and has a almond-smell. It is not used in the cosmetic industry because of this smell.

The Almond

Almond oil is obtained from the almond (Prunus dulcis). The almond is native to Central Asia where they have been cultivated for thousands of years. However Spain is nowadays one of the most important almond oil producers because of the quality (suitable for the grow of the almond) of its lands. 

It is a small tree, growing between 4 and 10 metres in height, with a trunk of up to 30 centimetres in diameter. The young shoots are green at first, becoming purplish where exposed to sunlight, then grey in their second year.

Almonds are a good source of vitamins and minerals, each 100gr. of almonds supplies 570 Kcal, that’s why they are an important source of energy, especially in winter and in cold weathers. Almonds have:

• vitamins: (mainly B): thiamine, riboflavin and niacin.
• Minerals: Zinc, Iron, Calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium
• Proteins and fatty acids.

Sweet and bitter almonds

There are two forms of the plant, one (often with white flowers) producing sweet almonds, and the other (often with pink flowers) producing bitter almonds. The kernel of the sweet almond oil contains a fixed oil and emulsion. It is this type of almond oil that is fairly popular in alternative medicine, particularly as a carrier oil in aromatherapy, and for its action as emollient that softens the skin.

The bitter almond is rather broader and shorter than the sweet almond, and containsabout 50% of the fixed oil which also occurs in sweet almonds. Extract of bitter almond was once used medicinally, but even in small doses effects are severe and in larger doses can be deadly; the cyanide must be removed before consumption.