Grapeseed Oil: Clears Acne Using Vitamin E And Linoleic Acid

Grapeseed oil is exactly what it sounds like – a topical oil extracted directly from the seeds of the common tabletop grape.

For thousands of years, wine manufacturers in the Mediterranean had a serious dilemma. Wine is made from crushing the grape fruit (scientific name Vitis vinifera) to squeeze out the juice, with the seeds being uninvolved. Therefore, until the last century, wineries had vast piles of grape seeds left over, useful only as poor quality animal feed.

But then the industrial revolution happened, and for the first time ever, grape seeds were useful – they could be used to make oil.

A grapeseed isn’t naturally greasy like an olive or coconut. The quantities of oil are miniscule and cannot be squeezed out by hand. But with high tech machinery developed in the 1800s, and the never-ending supplies from wineries all over the world, manufacturers cleverly identified one of the greatest cash cows of the last 150 years. Grapeseed oil not only become a popular cooking oil, but invaded the entire world of beauty and cosmetics products.

Grapeseed oil is beloved in massage parlours since it’s extremely light and well absorbed, leaving only a light satin film on the skin afterwards. Grapeseed oil is common in natural moisturisers, and as a lubricant in many commercial shaving creams.

Now the hype has spread to the acne market, and the glorious truth is that topical grapeseed oil is superb for your skin, easily defeating the overrated olive oil.

 

A substance which acne-prone skin is missing

Grapeseed oil’s main mechanism is supplying your skin with linoleic acid. That’s one of the many fatty acids found in nature, along with the likes of oleic acid, palmitic acid, linolenic acid and stearic acid. Linoleic acid is a polyunsaturated fat, more commonly known as omega 6 when found in the diet.

Read Annihilate Your Acne – learn to prevent acne and stop just treating it!

Most human beings living in the West eat far too much linoleic acid, due to the astronomical increase in vegetable oils in our diets over the last 100 years. Overdosing on linoleic acid can destroy your body and skin by cranking up the immune system, suppressing anti-inflammatory omega 3s (found in fish), and destabilising cell membranes.

For those reasons, I strongly recommend minimising linoleic acid (omega 6s) in an acne-friendly diet…

…but what’s interesting is that many people, including acne patients, are missing linoleic acid in the one place where it’s vital – the skin cells on our face.

The first studies appeared back in 1986, concluding that “acne patients have been shown to have low levels of linoleic acid in their skin surface lipids“. Principally, a lack of linoleic acid has been shown to make sebum harder and stickier, and thus more prone to clogging skin pores.

When linoleic acid isn’t available, your sebaceous glands default to oleic acid instead, which is a monounsaturated fat and thus has a far higher melting point. The resulting clogged pores allow p.acnes bacteria to go wild, and induce the skin cell inflammation which gives birth to all pimples.

 

The many roles of linoleic acid in acne

Softer sebum is the simplest reason why linoleic acid is so vital, but this fatty acid also has countless minor benefits.

ONE – natural anti-microbial powers which prevent p.acnes from multiplying and taking over.

TWO – linoleic acid is a vital ingredient of ceramides, structural proteins which maintain the integrity of skin cells and defend against irritation and inflammation. Acne patients were found here to have lower ceramide levels than average.

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THREE – similarly, linoleic acid helps to manufacture lamellar granules, another family of skin proteins, which 1) control skin barrier function, and 2) release enzymes that maintain the proper shedding of skin cells by digesting the adhesive barriers between them.

FOUR – linoleic acid is inflammatory in its own right, and protects skin cells from UV radiation damage due to sunlight.

The effect of linoleic acid on sebum production is particularly interesting. Studies suggest that linoleic acid activates receptors in the sebaceous glands called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs), which were were shown in this and this study to regulate the skin’s oil output tightly. PPARs are actually one of the receptors which Accutane acts on.

Staying on the oil theme, there’s also evidence that linoleic acid reduces 5-alpha reductase locally, the enzyme that converts testosterone into its more potent pore-clogging form, DHT.

That’s the holy grail of acne treatment. Why? Because inside the body,  DHT and testosterone are too important for health and energy to block, but on the skin’s surface, inhibiting the conversion can prevent oily skin and acne while preserving your sex drive and mood.

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Finally, linoleic acid may prevent pesky blackheads from forming. Most blackheads are born when the melanin found in every human’s skin oxidises, turns intensely black, and gets trapped in skin pores. Linoleic acid prevents melanin from getting too high, and cuts off the whole chain of events. This same process can even improve other forms of hyperpigmentation.

 

Why grapeseed oil could revolutionise your skin

Overall, linoleic acid is connected to numerous sneaky conditions behind the pathogenesis of pimples. Why does this matter? Because grapeseed oil has one of the highest percentages of any topical oil: 69.6% linoleic acid, 15.8% oleic acid, 7% palmitic acid, and 4% stearic acid.

Coconut oil contains merely 3% linoleic acid; its claim to fame is the antibacterial lauric acid. Olive oil comes in at 15%, while cocoa butter contains 3.2%. Sesame seed oil contains 41%, which is close but no cigar.

It’s hard to conclusively identify whether your face is deficient in linoleic acid, as it’s usually unconnected to your diet. But if it is, then grapeseed oil is an unbeatable remedy.

The most direct evidence came in this double blind study from 1998, which tested microcomedones, one of the tiniest forms of clogged pores. In patients with mild acne, linoleic acid caused a near 25% reduction in the size of their microcomedones over 1 month, while the placebo group experienced nothing.

 

Unbeatable for vitamin E (almost)

Grapeseed oil is pretty weak on the nutrition front, with very little vitamin A (the ultimate nutrient for oily skin), vitamin K2, or minerals like magnesium and zinc. But where few remedies can compare is with grapeseed oil’s vitamin E content, with approximately 144% of the daily allowance per 100 grams.

Vitamin E, of course, is among the top 5 nutrients for acne ever, because it strengthens your sebum against oxidation, preventing the mutant compound squalene peroxide from being born and mercilessly clogging your skin pores. Vitamin E is why nuts, green vegetables and eggs are such great foods for acne, but that’s only ingesting it.

By applying grapeseed oil directly, the vitamin E isn’t being wasted on pointless things like your heart, lungs, or keeping your brain functioning; it is transferred completely to your face where it defends against acne outbreaks with hyper concentrated efficiency.

Recently, we covered olive oil, which is also rich in vitamin E, but crippled due to containing 70% content of oleic acid, a notorious disruptor of human skin barrier function. Grapeseed oil has no such worries.

The two oils are actually mirror images of each other. Olive oil soothes inflammation as a food, but increases trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) when applied. Grapeseed oil spikes inflammation when swallowed, but calms pimples topically.

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Other vitamin E-rich oils have similar problems, including cocoa butter, with its 4 out of 5 comedogenicity score. Grapeseed oil scores just 2/5, indicating a “moderately low” chance of clogging your skin pores. Coconut oil doesn’t even contain any vitamin E.

Grapeseed oil is the best topical treatment for applying vitamin E directly to your acne.

 

The side effects are minimal

Then there’s its incredibly positive user reviews, which include the following tales:

• “Incredible inflammation reducer, reduced cyst by 70%”.
• “Makes my skin feel amazing”.
• “So far my skin is looking very good and my spots are healing”.
• “Not only is my acne slowly disappearing but also the scars”.
• “Within a few hours of the first application, my acne was less red and inflamed”.

Unless grapeseed oil corp. has agents everywhere who paid for every single one of those reviews, that’s another strong point in its favour.

It should be clear by now that grapeseed oil is a fantastic topical treatment for acne. In its natural form, the side effects are minimal, except a slight chance of clogged pores seeing as 2/5 is higher than zero.

But the product has to be that – in its natural form. Like any tiny seed where only the Incredible Hulk could squeeze the oil out by hand, the standard industrial process involves chemical solvents, catalysts, and the nightmare neurotoxin hexane.

Grapeseed oil has a very specific problem which shows up in studies – carcinogenic substances called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which form due to incomplete combustion of organic matter. Believe it or not, commercial grapeseed oils undergo a drying process where there’s direct contact with combustion gases, which are so harsh that PAHs are born.

Raw grape pomace is also compacted with bulldozers before the oil is extracted, and this too is believed to generate PAHs. Aside from causing cancer, most carcinogens are linked to free radical overload inside the body, so what’s the aspiring acne maniac’s solution? Buy a cold pressed bottle of course!

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Sometimes known as expeller-pressed, cold pressed grapeseed oil is also a recent invention. 100 years ago, your average vineyard farmer couldn’t dream of acquiring the miracle treatment lying in tantalising piles in front of him, but now, we have extremely powerful machinery to push the oils out.

This alternative factory process is performed at cooler temperatures and without any chemical solvents and additives. Rather than chemicals, our old friend the sun is employed (at 5 bucks an hour probably) to dry the seeds out on hardwood trays. This cold-pressing keeps the vitamin E intact as well.

 

An excellent grapeseed oil product

Additionally, it is absolutely vital that you buy grapeseed oil in a dark bottle, to minimise the penetration of oxidising UV rays, which can turn the oil rancid. 

Dark bottles are vital for many different topical treatments, including tea tree oil. However, it’s particularly important for grapeseed oil because it has such a high proportion of polyunsaturated fats (70%), which are far less stable than saturated fats (e.g. in coconut oil).

Fresh grapeseed oil is clear skin in a bottle, while a rancid bottle is a whole civilisation of free radicals. If you can only buy a clear bottle, then store it well away from light.

It’s also smart to smell your oil beforehand. Some companies get lazy, store the grapeseed oil in a dark warehouse for months, and sell you a bad quality bottle for a higher price. If it’s rancid, then you’ll know, as the odour will be unmistakable.

Always store your bottle in a cool place where the temperature never exceeds 70 degrees. The high proportion of polyunsaturated fats means that by its very nature, grapeseed oil won’t last for over 2 years like coconut oil and cocoa butter, but keeping it cool will prevent spoilage.

A natural brand which combines all of the points above is this Sky Organics Grapeseed Oil.

UPDATE: here’s a guide to the 6 best grapeseed oil products.

 

Verdict – and how to apply

Grapeseed oil is supreme for two boxes on an acne-clearing fanatic’s checklist: vitamin E and linoleic acid. Combined with its natural moisturising qualities, you have an almost unbeatable natural topical treatment (unlike the disappointing castor oil).

The final question is application, and your strategy is very simple – apply a thin layer to your whole face.

Unlike raw honey, grapeseed oil isn’t designed to kill off an individual pimple – its mission is to prevent acne in the first place. Inundate your whole face with a moderate amount of the oil, and supply every single skin cell with the fatty acids they’re starved of.

Show no mercy to your acne, leave no area untouched. If your skin is lacking linoleic acid (remember that it’s unconnected to diet), then you’ll enjoyed reduced inflammation, sebum production, and natural moisturisation. You’ll notice a thin oily film after application, but that’s perfectly normal. I would stick to grapeseed oil for at least 1 month before judging its effectiveness.

Just don’t make the one catastrophic mistake – never eat it! Grapeseed oil is a healthy sounding name, but it’s one of the worst foods for acne ever. P.acnes bacteria will be watching intently and praying that you put it in your body.

NEXT: read the 167 page eBook and get the ultimate diet for acne

 

 

Thanks for reading!