If you’ve heard rumours that grapeseed oil clears acne, they were completely correct. Not all natural oils clear acne – olive oil is an overrated one – but grapeseed oil is truly excellent.
Its main benefit is widely said to be vitamin E. Is this correct? Yes – grapeseed oil contain 144% of the RDI per 100 grams. The second big benefit is linoleic acid, a fatty acid, which comprises nearly 70% of grapeseed oil’s total fats.
Apply grapeseed oil and you will acquire many diverse benefits. Massively reduced acne, but also a glowing and healthy skin tone, less oily skin, and strong skin in blazing sunlight at the beach or by the pool.
But that said, if you don’t purchase the right product, none of these benefits will come to pass.
The best grapeseed oil of all time is probably lurking in a small Italian vineyard somewhere, but here are the 6 best easily available products.
One – Eden’s Garden
Eden’s Garden is a skincare brand that I recommend all over this website, and their grapeseed oil lives up to their reputation. It has the great qualities a grapeseed oil should have – expeller pressed, free from BPA in the bottle, and completely hexane-less.
The oil is hand poured, and made from quality grape seeds, which are dried and then carefully crushed. Eden’s Garden comes in a 4oz bottle, and has a 30 day money back guarantee.
The one and only ingredient is pure grapeseed oil, with no added vitamin E. The only slight downside of Eden’s Garden is lacking an official USDA organic seal, unlike Sky Organics. Despite this, grapeseed oil is so dense in vitamin E that it’s easily a net positive for acne even if the initial green grapes weren’t grown organically.
Another advantage is that the bottle is made from protective glass, rather than plastic. This is particularly important given that grapeseed oil is much more vulnerable to oxidation in sunlight compared to saturated fats like coconut oil. Eden’s Garden isn’t the absolute greatest grapeseed oil in terms of quality (although it’s close), but for balancing an expeller-pressed oil with being a reliable brand, it’s an excellent choice.
Amazon link: Eden’s Garden Grapeseed Carrier Oil.
Two – Sky Organics
A similarly excellent grapeseed oil, but with its own awe-inspiring gimmick: a dispenser!
As the image shows, the bottle lid features a built in, squeezable dispenser to easily extract grapeseed oil from the bottle and squeeze it into your palm. There’s no delicate operation of tipping the grapeseed oil into your hand and praying that it doesn’t make a mess.
If you’re an expert with oils, this bonus is irrelevant, but aside from that, the Sky Organics product is excellent. It’s confirmed to be cold pressed and expeller pressed. It’s free from all acne-causing contaminants – BPA free, hexane free, chemical free, and also cruelty free (assuming that grapes can’t feel pain).
Additionally, the oil is 100% pure and undiluted. Diluted oils are a big problem in natural skincare. Many are indeed grapeseed oil, olive oil, or tamanu oil, but secretly diluted with cheap cooking oils like soybean oil. These have completely different effects on acne and will significantly weaken the strength of the main oil. A rancid cooking oil smell is a sign of being diluted.
Sky Organics’ official directions for skincare are to simply apply the oil to your skin, and let it absorb. There’s no shadiness with the name, as this has an official USDA organic seal on the bottle. The grapes are grown with minimal pesticides and other agrochemicals. Seeing as we’re just applying grapeseed oil topically rather than eating it, organic is slightly less important, but still a nice bonus.
Amazon link: Sky Organics Organic Grapeseed Oil.
Three – Essences Bulgaria
Our third grapeseed oil brand is Essences Bulgaria, in a dark glass bottle containing 8.5oz. The immediate advantage of Essences Bulgaria is being cold pressed.
The problem is that this harshness warps and destroys the all-important vitamin E. Cold-pressing, meanwhile, uses no extra heat, nor dodgy chemicals, using extremely strong pressing machinery but in a more natural way. Essences Bulgaria is both cold pressed and unrefined, the ideal for acne.
Essences Bulgaria is made by a small family run company in Bulgaria, while the product is 100% pure, with no added ingredients or preservatives. The ingredients list solely reads: “100% Cold-pressed Grape seed oil”.
The only downside is that the oil isn’t certified organic – the original grapes may have been grown conventionally. However, the actual production processes are closely in line with organic products. It’s less important for grapeseed oil to be organic compared to a bowl of green grapes on your plate, as long as factory contamination is minimised.
Amazon link: Essences Bulgaria Grapeseed Oil.
Four – Salute Sante!
The ultimate acne-clearing oil is unrefined, so what’s going on? Instead, Salute Sante undergoes a brief natural filtering process using clay, steam and and citric acid. No excessive heat is used at any point.
Salute Sante is an old, trustworthy brand, which has been using the same Italian family grapeseed farm for 30 years. It specifically uses grape seeds left over from the wine-making process. Rather than a bottle, this comes in a BPA-free can, and a particularly large volume of 500ml. The only slight downside is a lack of official USDA organic certification. However, Salute Sante is boosted by their trustworthiness, with full transparency over their production methods. Their 30 year history is a plus, as this isn’t a smash and grab operation which vanishes from Amazon within a year.
Salute Sante is fairly similar to Eden’s Garden – another great grapeseed oil product for acne with no particular gimmick.
Amazon link: Cold Pressed Grapeseed Oil by Salute Sante.
Five – US Organic
There are no added ingredients in this grapeseed oil, not even natural vitamin E. Compared to the Greek recipe, this is the highest quality isolated grapeseed oil available, though far from the cheapest. The grapeseeds are sourced from various organic sources, including Turkey, Argentina, Chile, France and Italy, so there may be natural variation with this oil’s aroma. US organic recommends to “take 1-3 drops of oil between palms” before gentling massaging onto your face.
Uncommonly, this grapeseed oil is packaged in a glass bottle, to protect UV light spoilage. A plastic bottle is hardly a deal breaker, since many brands build in UV ray protectants, but glass is optimal. The best strategy is to keep the bottle in a dark place, away from sunlight, giving you double protection.
The only slight downside is a few reviewers who disliked the taste, with a couple calling it rancid, but this reaction mainly seems to be to grapeseed oil’s inherent taste. US Organic is a high quality grapeseed oil brand.
Amazon link: US Organic Grapeseed Oil.
Six – Ancient Greek Remedy
The product is made in the USA; in fact, it’s an old family blend from a family of Greeks in New York. Each oil is cold pressed and chemical free, the bottle comes with a spray, and there’s a refund policy with no need to return the bottle. What of the bonus ingredients though?
This article might have dismissed olive oil earlier, but the problem is its 70% oleic acid content. Olive oil does have the powers of vitamin E, protecting the skin from sunlight, and reducing inflammation with its oleocanthal; they’re just locked beyond a wall of side effects. The presence of grapeseed oil, which is very low in oleic acid, will dilute the olive oil sufficiently to make the benefits available without causing acne.
Meanwhile, sweet almond oil is below average for acne, with the only confirmed power being vitamin E. However, lavender oil can slash inflammatory neutrophils in the skin, and also has potential collagen-boosting and thus anti-ageing properties.
With this oil, you obviously can’t make a custom recipe using grapeseed oil as your carrier oil, because it’s already mixed in. If you’re looking for pure grapeseed oil, to confirm whether it clears your acne once and for all, you’re in the wrong place. Regardless, this is an extremely interesting product for acne.
Amazon link: Ancient Greek Remedy Natural Moisturiser.
The best circumstances for grapeseed oil
Grapeseed oil, its vitamin E and linoleic acid, can benefit just about any acne patient. But there are groups of people who will benefit particularly:
If you smoke – puff on a cigarette and you will ingest billions of free radicals. Whether its nitrosamines, heavy metals, or formaldehyde, cigarettes and their 600 chemical contaminants deplete antioxidants more strongly than perhaps any other lifestyle habit. That includes vitamin C and vitamin E. Smokers have chronically low vitamin E levels and that’s why their skin is dull, lifeless, and often acne-ridden. If you simply cannot quit smoking, grapeseed oil is the topical treatment for you.
If your city is polluted – a similar rule applies. If you are trapped within a polluted city and cannot escape, grapeseed oil will save the day against chemicals in the atmosphere which relentlessly deplete vitamin E in your skin cells. A vitamin E supplement will also help.
If your skin is oily – it sounds contradictory, but grapeseed oil can reduce oily skin and clogged pores. A common chain of acne is this. You skin produces too much sebum (oil). Your skin lacks the vitamin E supplies to protect that oil. Free radicals attack the squalene in your sebum, creating squalene peroxide, a substance which stimulates a further localised increase in sebum production, clogging your pores further. Grapeseed oil can interrupt this chain, making oily skin easier to deal with.
Benzoyl peroxide abuse – say that you were prescribed benzoyl peroxide, and loved it for a few months. It’s quite likely that you later noticed a dull, lifeless skin tone, and even looked years older than you did previously. That’s because BP kills acne bacteria by generating free radicals. The same free radicals will deplete your skin’s antioxidant supplies after months of initially successful usage. Grapeseed oil can restore your skin’s defences.
Recommended – the 7 greatest natural topical treatments for acne
Weak skin – far from guaranteed but high in potential. Skin which rashes up, inflames easily in the face of irritants, and generally seems unstable might be strongly lacking in linoeic acid, because linoleic acid is vital for your skin barrier function. Linoleic acid helps to make two structural compounds, ceramides and lamellar granules. Linoleic acid also defends against UV radiation. At nearly 70%, grapeseed oil’s linoleic acid content is among the highest.
Conclusion
There’s dozens of grapeseed oil products available. Some are refined, factory processed, and blasted with high heat and should be avoided automatically. If your supermarket actually stocks grapeseed oil, the chances of it being a cold pressed masterpiece are very slim.
There’s decent products other than these, but all six here are great options for acne. The Ancient Greek Remedy is an outlier, and an experimental weapon, whereas the other five will give you grapeseed oil’s vitamin E and linoleic acid in its purest form.
Watch out though! There are certain skincare oil dealers who sell what seems like the perfect grapeseed oil. Cold pressed, non-refined and even organic, yet at a magically low price compared to certified organic products. Don’t be fooled! Many customers have received low quality, foul smelling products which bear little resemblance to the fresh and healthy oils advertised.
Meanwhile, all six oils here are reputable. All will clear acne, but for the every day acne-clearing enthusiast, Sky Organics is the best grapeseed oil product around.
NEXT: read the 167 page eBook and get the ultimate diet for acne
Thanks for reading!