You already know that plant-based oils are restorative and hydrating for your skin, but you may not have realized that olive oil, specifically extra virgin olive oil, is also like a divine elixir for your skin.
The team at Furtuna Skin is a little olive obsessed. Our private farm in Sicily features 800+ acres of botanicals, including over 12,000 olive trees which range in age from 600-1,500 years old. Our farm also features a cultivar that is unique to our farm.
As olive experts, we’ll explain why we think the olive tree is such a rich source of skin-loving phytochemicals, nutrients, antioxidants, and vitamins. We’ll also tell you how to use the natural powers of extra virgin olive oil and olive leaf extract to help your skin thrive.
Which Olives Are Best for Skin?
Generally speaking, the best olives for your skin are those that are rich in polyphenols and void of damaging free acids.
While all olives offer some benefits to the body and skin, green olives specifically have a high concentration of antioxidants, vitamin E, and fatty acids that are all beneficial to your skin when applied topically. Green olives also contain polyphenols, a plant compound that can help soothe the skin and decrease irritation.
That said, the quality of the olive oil or olive leaf extract you use matters. Some methods of extraction use heat, which can remove the majority of the skin beneficial nutrients and vitamins from the final product, rendering it virtually useless.
At Furtuna Skin, we extract the oil from our hand-selected olives on our property with a method that does not expose the olives to heat, but instead preserves the olive oil in its most natural form. We also use our unique Soundbath® technology, a method of extraction that uses sound waves to gently extract plant botanicals from their stems and leaves so that the vital compounds in the plant remain intact once they are added to our products.
We harness the ancient wisdom of the Earth by harvesting our olives at specific times of day to retain their rich nutrient profiles — they are picked at dawn and pressed by dusk. We ensure that the olives are not stored for more than 12 hours before we process them. Our olives are fresh-pressed and grown in harmony with nature — our olive trees live among plants that all work together to grow and thrive. Our ancient olive trees are fed with natural spring waters and thrive in nutrient-rich volcanic soil — no pesticides or preservatives used.
Here at Furtuna Skin, our olives are rare, elusive, and exclusive — and they are the best for your skin.
Five Ways to Use Olives for Skincare
Curious how your favorite cooking oil translates to skincare? Here are five ways that olives can benefit your skin.
1. Antioxidant Protection
You know your skin needs antioxidants, but you might not be sure why. Antioxidants help protect your skin against free radicals. To understand how it works, we’ll go back to biology class.
Free radicals are molecules that are unbalanced; they have an uneven number of electrons. They are constantly in search of molecules with electrons they can steal. When they rob a molecule of an electron, it causes damage to the cell where the molecule lives. In your skin cells, this translates to damage like:
- Dark spots
- Uneven skin tone
- Fine lines and wrinkles
- Loss of skin elasticity
- Rough skin texture
Antioxidants protect your cells from free radical damage by freely offering up an electron so that your cells remain safe. Kind of like a little shield of protection for each of your skin’s cells.
It’s like Mother Nature knew we needed a little bit of extra protection, because olives are loaded with antioxidants. Polyphenols and vitamin E, both contained in olives and in the extracted oil, are excellent antioxidants, which makes extra virgin olive oil a more potent antioxidant than vitamin C, a known antioxidant powerhouse.
Using olives to protect your skin against free radicals is a natural way to fight the signs of oxidative stress (free radical damage).
Here at Furtuna Skin, we test each of our 12 olive cultivars for polyphenol content to make sure you’re using only the best extra virgin olive oil on your skin. Every year, a unique blend of hand-chosen olives makes it into our skincare products – and into your hands.
2. Anti-Inflammatory Properties
External stressors can leave skin inflamed, red, itchy, rashy, and uncomfortable. If you struggle with blemishes, finding a solution that doesn’t leave your skin dry and dehydrated can seem impossible.
Stressed skin gets relief from olive leaf extract and extra virgin olive oil. The high fatty acid and phenol content in olive extracts provide soothing properties to help smooth rough areas of troubled skin and calm skin that feels damaged.
3. Moisturization
All skin types deserve moisture, even if you feel your skin is oily. Excessive sebum production is often the result of skin that is excessively dry. When skin is dry, sebaceous glands work overtime to produce more oil. This can result in skin that is even more oily.
Products designed to treat oily skin can leave skin even drier, eliciting more oil production, furthering the cycle of oily skin. Extra virgin olive oil contains high squalene and sterols making it an effective moisturizer for all skin types, especially if your skin is oily, as it helps to balance the skin’s natural moisture levels.
For dry skin types and normal skin types, extra virgin olive oil provides long-lasting hydration to keep skin quenched for hours. Not only does extra virgin olive oil hydrate when paired with olive leaf water, but it also helps infuse a natural blend of nutrients into your skin.
4. Restoration
As we age, skin cell turnover begins to slow. In our 20s, cell turnover takes about a month. As we enter our 30s and 40s, the process slows and can take up to two months. The longer the process takes, the less youthful your skin will appear.
In addition, collagen production naturally declines with age, decreasing by approximately 1% per year.
Olives have restorative properties, and components such as Oleuropein, that help stimulate cell regeneration and promote collagen production, making them the perfect, natural solution for anti-aging products. Why work against nature when you can work with it by using a product based in rich, pure, extra virgin olive oil?
5. Skin Barrier Protection
Your skin barrier is home to a tiny microbiome of flora that keeps your skin healthy and ensures your skin can protect you as it should. When the skin’s microbiome is healthy, your skin radiates naturally.
The natural plant compounds and flavonoids in extra virgin olive oil and olive leaf extract help them bring balance to your skin barrier, keeping it safe and helping you and your skin flourish.
How Can I Include Olives in My Skincare Routine?
At Furtuna Skin, we make it easy for you to get all the skin benefits of olives. Each of our products begins with hand-selected, nutrient-rich extra virgin olive oil, and many of them also include olive leaf extract. We find that olive oil is the perfect base within which other plant botanicals can work synergistically to support your skin.
For Skin Soothing Benefits
If your skin is stressed, take it to therapy with our Replenishing Balm. This fast-absorbing, ultra-hydrating balm soothes skin, delivers antioxidant protection, and even helps repair uneven skin texture by softening rough patches and keeping skin smooth and supple.
For a Youthful-Looking Complexion
Fine lines and wrinkles becoming more visible? Fight back naturally with Biphase Moisturizing Oil, a multitasker, providing protection against free radicals to fight the early signs of skin aging and support regular collagen production to keep skin looking youthful and plump.
Olives: The Natural Skincare Solution
You love them in your kitchen; now you can love them for your skin, too. Furtuna Skin makes it easy for you to harness the natural power of olive extracts for your skin by creating products that contain the purest, highly concentrated ingredients that work to keep your skin healthy and radiant.
Sources:
What to Know About the Difference Between Cultivars and Varieties | The Spruce
Potential Health Benefits of Olive Oil and Plant Polyphenols | PMC
Comment