We all love avocado (well, almost all of us). Avocado is a great add on to your salad, chicken or burger – it’s technically a fruit but it goes damn well with meat or vegetables. Get ready to love a lot more about Avocado – namely, its oil! That’s right, avocado produces oil which has a lot of great benefits for a variety of cosmetic and cooking needs. Let’s kick things off with hair here in our Health Benefits of Avocado Oil feature!
Avocado Oil for Hair
The first set of benefits that avocado oil can provide you with that we’re going to discuss are the many wonders it can do for your hair. Avocado oil does an especially great job of moisturizing dry, damaged, or brittle hair. Its lightweight formula makes it easy for it to be absorbed into the hair and scalp. More so, avocado oil also contains an array of nutrients which include amino acids, iron, copper, magnesium, protein, folic acid, and vitamins A, B, D and E. All of these great nutrients can do a lot to help you properly nourish your hair and help it grow.
Avocado Oil Can Do Wonders For Your Hair
Additionally, avocado oil acts as an all-natural SPF. It does a great job at deep conditioning your hair, strengthening your hair, and giving it a little bit of additional shine. The vitamins, high fat content, and amino acids that avocado oil contains also do a great job at promoting healthy cell growth and in restoring your overall scalp health whether it be dry or itchy. Avocado oil also does wonders at helping prevent hair loss. Since hair loss tends to be caused by a vitamin deficiency, the array of vitamins contained within avocado oil do a great job of helping give your hair the vitamins it needs to stay in your head.
Some other more specific ways in which avocado oil can treat your hair is by acting as a great moisturizer, dandruff treatment, or conditioner. When paired with a moisturizer, avocado oil aids your scalp and hair in retaining its moisture content and in preventing it from breaking. For best results, it is recommended to mix a teaspoon of avocado oil with beaten eggs. Following this procedure all you need to do is add a teaspoon of olive or rosemary oil to the mixture and apply the moisturizer over your hair, starting with the scalp extending to where the hair ends.
In terms of treating your hair for dandruff avocado oil may be one of the most effective ways to do so! Not only can avocado oil treat dandruff, it is also capable of treating a variety of blemishes found on your scalp associated with eczema and psoriasis. It is also important to remember to massage the avocado oil into your scalp in order to increase its rate of absorption. What about avocado oil as a conditioner? As a conditioning agent, avocado oil has the ability to improve the condition of your hair and give it more elasticity and softness. Additionally, avocado oils’ high fat content causes your hairs texture to be less likely to break. It is important however, to remember to apply the avocado oil conditioner and let it sit for 10 minutes prior to washing your hair with warm water.
Avocado Oil for Skin
Avocado Oil For Skin
Avocado oil offers many wonderful benefits for your skin, too. This is especially true when avocado oil is made cold pressed. The way to apply avocado oil to provide maximum benefits for your skin is typically through applying it directly on your skin. However, eating a lot of avocado oil rich foods has also shown to help. Avocado oil has been known to do a great job of smoothing your skins stature, allowing it to maintain a silky skin tone. The high levels of vitamin E contained within avocado oil allow it to prevent the skin from becoming inflamed or itchy, thereby helping the skin maintain its softness and overall health. Avocado oil also consists of antioxidants found which are able to soothe even sunburned skin. Research has shown that avocado oil also does a great job of combatting skin related diseases such as eczema.
Besides for smoothening the skin, avocado oil also works as a fantastic moisturizer. Avocado oil moisturizers are more natural than the typical moisturizers that you find in any store which are typically filled with an array of chemical compounds. Using avocado oil moisturizers, as well as other all natural moisturizers, tends to have much better results while displaying a minimal amount of side effects. Avocado oil also does a great job of penetrating deep into your skin to give you results at a faster pace than other moisturizers, keeping your skin looking hydrated and soft. Avocado oil works well with all types of skin but especially well with dry skin.
Avocado Oil vs. Olive Oil
Avocado Oil Poured
You might be thinking to yourself that there are a lot of great natural oils out there that can help hair and skin – what makes avocado oil special? In regards to olive oil, avocado oil is similar and different in a number of ways. In terms of their similarities, both avocado and olive oil are two of the few cooking oils that are extracted directly from the fruit they come from as opposed to a fruits seeds which is the case in oils like grapeseed oil. In the realm of cooking, avocado oil tends to be viewed as the better option for healthier cooking. Avocado oil has a highly beneficial fatty acid profile, a superb concentration of antioxidants, and a high smoke point which makes it great for frying.
In regards to smoke point, refined avocado oil tends to have a higher smoke point that can range anywhere from 480-510 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes it great for stir-frys and other food that are cooked at a higher temperature. Olive oil’s smoke point on the other hand varies depending on the amount of olive oil you process. Lower quality olive oil tends to have a higher smoke point of around 430 degrees Fahrenheit, which tends to be great for medium-heat frying. Even virgin olive oil, which tends to be the healthiest and most recommended olive oil to buy, tends to have a smoke point of only 220 degrees Fahrenheit. So if you have to choose between having to cook with olive oil and avocado oil, avocado oil would hands down be the winner!
Avocado Oil vs. Coconut Oil
Jarred Avocado Oil
Okay, so we’ve talked about how avocado oil compares to olive oil, but what about coconut oil? While coconut oil may be slightly antibacterial and have a great taste, when used for cooking it still has its disadvantages when compared to avocado oil. First of all, in general, when compared to coconut oil, avocado oil tends to be a healthier oil to use to cook with. It is also an overall healthier oil, and more user friendly than coconut oil. Coconut oil tends to be higher in saturated fats than avocado oil. Further, avocado oil also has a lot more overall health benefits when compared to avocado oil.
Avocado Oil for Oil Pulling
Avocado oil is a great oil for oil pulling. Before we explain why this is the case, you might be wondering what oil pulling even is in the first place. Oil pulling is a natural way of cleansing the mouth of toxins and harmful bacteria. It is done by taking a tablespoon of oil into the mouth, swishing it around for roughly ten minutes, and spitting out the oil. Oil pulling can help in the following ways:
Preventing bronchitis.
Healing ailing teeth.
Fighting gastro-enteritis.
Preventing meningitis.
Promoting a good, healthy hormonal balance for women, thereby reducing hormonal disorders.
Treating eczema.
The main reason why avocado oil is a great oil to use for oil pulling is because it contains an array of healthy fats! This makes it highly effective at eliminating bacteria.
Avocado Oil for Face and Acne
Avocado Oil Can Eliminate Acne
Avocado oil is a highly recommended way to treat both blackheads and acne. It has even been said to do a good job of making any wrinkles or age spots a thing of the past. Avocado oil can also do a good job of getting rid of any fine lines found on your face, too! Not only does avocado oil do a great job at treating your face in the variety of ways described here, but also in its ability to do so without making your face greasy.
One recommended method of using avocado oil to treat acne is by using it as a topical treatment. This is accomplished by applying avocado oil directly to the face. This method is known as an oil cleaning method. This method tends to help clear out any blocked pores you may have as well as reduce causes of sebaceous gland inflammation and improve your overall skin health. Another method that utilizes avocado oil to treat acne is adding avocado oil to your regular diet. Replacing your regular oils with avocado oil lowers the polyunsaturated fat you would be exposed to when consuming more common types of oils. Additionally, avocado oil contains a high concentration of monounsaturated fats which do a great job at treating acne when ingested.
Avocado oil makes a great face moisturizer, too. All you need to do is apply the avocado oil moisturizer the same way you would apply any other facial moisturizer. We recommend using a cotton wool pad or extremely clean fingers. Prior to moisturizing, it is important to make sure your face is washed well and, ideally, still damp. Avocado oil moisturizer tends to absorb a little bit slower than some other moisturizers, but don’t let that scare you. You still usually won’t be able to tell if there was any moisturizer on your face after use in as little as 10-15 minutes! Another great benefit of using an avocado oil face moisturizer is that it can be used as a day or nighttime moisturizer. However, since avocado oil tends to be fairly rich, it makes the most sense to apply it at night before going to sleep.
Avocado Oil for Cooking
Avocado Oil For Cooking
As we touched on before, avocado oil is an especially great oil to use for frying food at higher temperatures. Avocado oil does a great job at cooking foods needing to be fried at higher temperatures. Even extra virgin avocado oil does a great job at making stir fry or other fried food when fried anywhere up to 375-400 degrees Fahrenheit. However, it is recommended to not go below this temperature range.
Avocado oil just tends to be a great oil to cook with in general. When cooking with avocado oil, you are less likely to create dangerous compounds. Even when fried, avocado oil benefits our health with its phytosterols, array of antioxidants, and overall superior fatty acid profile. Just when you thought avocado oil couldn’t get any better, it also offers a great taste to boot!
If you do a lot of cooking with high heat, you may want to try avocado oil instead of olive oil #TILpic.twitter.com/o4hmQl7OXO
There are a number of ways to make avocado oil. Here’s our number-one recommended method:
Get your avocado ready by cutting it into 2 equal-sized pieces.
Push the knife until the avocado’s pit. From here, roll the fruit until it is completely cut into 2 pieces around its seed.
Remove the avocado’s seed from its flesh by slicing the fruit further after cutting it in half. Do this by slamming the back of your knife into the seed. Be careful to slightly twist the knife to loosen the seed from its flesh in order to give you an easier time with popping the seed out of it.
Scoop the flesh of the avocado from its skin and extract the avocado’s oil from it.
To get enough avocado oil, make sure you prepare 8-10 avocado’s and repeat the previous steps for each of them.
Use an orange press in the same way you would use it to squeeze oranges. Do this by pulling down the orange press’s lever until its mallet comes in contact with the avocado’s skin and pull it hard until it touches it. Do this for all of your avocados until the orange press can’t produce any more juice,
Use a mesh strainer to sieve any avocado oil that may be left in its skin. Make sure that while you do this, a small bowl is left under the strainer.
Overnight, leave the oil in a large strainer or better yet leave the extracted oil in a bottle for future use and enjoy your homemade creation.
Conclusion
Avocado oil has tremendous benefits for both your cosmetic and dietary health. Additionally, its ability to achieve a high smoke point and great taste make it great for cooking – and it even isn’t even that difficult to make! Overall, avocado oil is one of the best choices of natural oils out there. Better stock up!
