Women routinely use oils as part of their skin care regimens and beauty treatments. This is not unusual seeing as oils are often highly moisturizing and capable of giving your skin the deeply desired supple, radiant glow. Unfortunately, some oils react adversely to certain skin types.
For instance, people with oily skins would probably benefit from avoiding some of these oils because of their ability to clog the pores, thus causing them acne and rashes. For instance, even the popular argan oil’s results have been more of a hit or miss lately.
Some folks swear by its effectiveness at keeping their skin moisturized, while others say it’s been responsible for their breakouts. However, there’s a new entrant into the market that’s been recently making the waves, and seems to be more stable and consistent in its results.
This oil is known as Squalane, and has been described as one of the best oils for your skin, “the fountain of youth”, “world’s best face oil”, and “best fine line remover”. In this guide to Squalane, we’ll be exploring the following:
- What it is
- The benefits of Squalane
- Reasons why you should add Squalane to your beauty regimen today
- Factors to take into consideration when you’re going shopping for Squalane
- The difference between Squalane and Squalene
- Squalane oil side effect –if any
- The various types of squalane oils in the market
- We’ll determine if Squalane is Comedogenic
What Is Squalane?
Squalane is an oil film that covers the surface of your skin. It’s often abundantly produced during childhood, with its production peaking during your 20’s and early 30’s. After that, the body starts producing lesser amounts of it, with the rate of production dropping significantly as you age.
In fact, at birth, the percentage of squalane found in the blood and on the skin is about 12 percent. However, by the time you cross the 30 year mark, it starts dropping. People in their 50s usually have less than 5 percent available at any given time.
Its sole purpose is to keep your skin hydrated and moisturized by trapping a film of moisture on the surface of your skin. As a result, your skin becomes less wrinkly and supple.
This is why as you age, you need alternative sources of Squalane to keep your skin looking younger and smooth. Some of these sources include olives, palm trees, rice bran, shark livers and more recently, sugarcane.
Squalane as a key beauty product ingredient only became more popular recently because more people could get their hands on it. In the past, the major alternative sources were very limited.
Sharks were being killed and entire aquatic ecosystems wiped out, while the process involved in extracting it from olives and other sources were very tedious, time consuming and produced inconsistent oil quality took.
As a result, it was very expensive and a luxury skin care product that only the wealthy could afford. These days however, with the breakthrough in technology, these previously limited sources have become less burdened courtesy of the additional sugarcane source.
Interestingly, Squalene has been readily available in nature for millions of years. In fact research by scientists have pointed to the availability of the compound since the birth of the earth, over 3 billion years ago.
It is estimated that the first people who became acquainted with the benefits of Squalane were Asian fishermen, who found that people who consumed shark liver and rubbed the oil on their skin had smooth, flawless skin, compared to those who didn’t.
Thankfully, there’s no need to keep hunting sharks just for the purpose of extracting the compound. With the multiple sources available now, manufacturers of beauty products can now source for the compound from the alternative sources.
It’s also important to note that there’s no difference in the quality Squalane derived from both plants and sharks. They both have the same composition.
Benefits Of Squalane Oil
There’s a rabid demand for this oil now that the secret is out, it’s more affordable and people are beginning to see its huge and rewarding effects. Why is Squalane oil considered an amazing beauty secret? The reasons are as follows:
Eliminates Dark Circles
Many women routinely battle the dark, unflattering circles around their eyes. Now, you’d think this is only a problem associated with women who are sleep deprived and stressed. But, the reality is that even well rested women have these unsightly circles.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t matter to people who look at you strangely because of them or comment that you look tired, even when you’re not. Even worse is the fact that they make you look older –a condition all women want to avoid for as long as possible- and can be annoying to look at.
This is why many women take to using concealers and makeup to cover them. Unfortunately, this short term remedy only works until you wipe off the makeup and you’re back to square one.
The good news is that Squalane is pretty effective at getting rid of these dark circles within 1-2 weeks of consistent application. All you need to do is apply the oil or the Squalane based cream to the area around your eyes, and it’ll quickly reverse those dark circles under your eyes.
Amazing Anti Aging Compound
Most people would do anything to enjoy that youthful, supple looking and smooth skin that only youth can provide. Unfortunately, aging is a natural part of life’s processes.
The good news however, is that since we now know that Squalane plays a very big role in giving us that youthful skin, we can slow down the aging process and delay premature aging by simply replenishing the supply on a daily basis.
Squalane oils and creams have been shown to help clear up fine lines, early onset wrinkles and crow’s feet, thus ensuring you look younger. Multiple studies have shown the effects of the oil in softening, hydrating, protecting the skin from ultraviolet radiations and effectively intercepting free radicals –it is rich in antioxidants.
The last two are particularly responsible for destroying skin cells and causing damage to your skin’s natural balance of collagen; an action that encourages age spots and cell death.
Excellent Moisturizer
The oils are so light and easily absorbed into the skin that they basically disappear once rubbed into the skin. If you are wondering about the stickiness or feeling of oil on the skin that accompanies the use of many moisturizers, you will not experience the same with the oil.
The 100 percent Squalane oil for instance, rapidly penetrates your skin, keeping it moisturized without clogging your pores. Most users report a feeling of smooth suppleness that comes with a highly moisturized skin, but report no feeling of clamminess.
This oil basically helps you eat your proverbial cake and still have it. Naturally, because of its ability to keep your skin moisturized and hydrated all day, you will most likely enjoy the radiant skin and glow that many people seek. Its ability to also improve the moisture balance on your skin, help heal your skin of cracks.
Could Clear Up Skin Conditions
This makes sense, really. Some moisturizing creams and oils tend to clog your pores. In fact, some people have reportedly experienced breakouts after using some of the more popular oils like coconut oil and shea butter.
Squalane oil doesn’t clog up pores, is rapidly absorbed by the skin and very little often goes very far as it spreads over the skin. This means you don’t have to rub it in copious amounts to start enjoying its many benefits.
Also important is its ability to prevent the production of excess sebum –oil produced by your skin- that often clog your pores, causing acne in the process. As a result, you get to enjoy a flawless, acne free skin.
So, if you are suffering from acne, and a few other skin conditions triggered by clogged pores, you might want to try this oil.
May Lower the Risk of Certain Types of Cancer
One of the major causes of skin cancer is prolonged exposure to ultraviolet radiations and certain carcinogens readily available in our body creams and lotions. However, if you can actively put a barrier between your skin and the rays or these compounds, you will drastically lower your odds of developing melanoma.
Studies have shown that when exposed to Squalane for a prolonged period, certain carcinogenic compounds become inactivated. So, it is possible that applying a film of Squalane rich oils and creams on your skin before anything else can keep you alive for a lot longer.
Also, interesting are the studies involving the ingestion of the oil and its role in lowering the risk of breast cancer in women and pancreatic cancer in men.
Masks Wrinkled Skin
Many women who use the oil are aged 50 and above. These women tend to experience dry skin that leads to the wrinkles synonymous with age.
The good news however, is that many of them report seeing their wrinkles become less visible after a few days of using the oil and experiencing drastic improvements in their skin texture and feel.
So, if you have been using some other antiaging creams and skin serums without any significant results, try any of the 100 percent Squalane oils or creams and skin serums with a high percentage of the oil in them.
Factors To Consider When Going Shopping For Squalane
There are a few types of Squalane oil in circulation now. All of them are great, and the same quality, but some of them are harming entire ecosystems and rendering certain organisms extinct.
A good example of this are the fishermen who hunt sharks for the sole purpose of extracting the oil from the shark’s liver. This has resulted in a rapidly dwindling shark population with a few becoming threatened.
As a result, we do recommend that you confirm the source of your Squalane oils before buying it. As a rule, stick to those extracted from sugarcane, rice bran, olive oil and other plant sources. Avoid the animal based oils as they aren’t any different from the plant based oils.
Squalane vs Squalene –What’s The Difference?
These two are often easily confused for each other. Fun fact: Microsoft word recognizes Squalene, but doesn’t recognize Squalane.
Anyway, the key difference between the two is one is a derivative of the other. Squalene is an unstable unsaturated oil that’s produced by our skin, and capable deteriorating and going bad once exposed to oxygen. This one tends to clog your skin’s pores and becomes pretty rancid quickly.
Squalane on the other hand, is a more stable, saturated oil that’s produced when squalene undergoes the hydrogenation process. This often has a longer shelf life, doesn’t clog your pores and is the healthier option of the two.
As of the time of writing this article, there are no known side effects of using Squalene Oils on your skin. But then, there’s scarce research into the side effects. So, we do recommend using it in moderate quantities, until more research is carried out and the side effects are authoritatively ruled out.
