CARROT SEED OIL // Antioxidants gone wild

Spring is the time of year to up the antioxidants across the board. Making sure you are getting more antioxidant rich foods in your diet, as well as antioxidant rich ingredients in your skincare routine is important. With more sunshine comes more UV rays, and reasons to call for protection. Of course, spring isn’t the only time that you should be incorporating antioxidants into your routine, but it’s certainly a great time to start. You’ve probably all heard that vitamin C serum is a great way to minimize aging, even skin tone, and help protect from UV rays. It absolutely is! But there are also many other ingredients out there that have their own antioxidant properties that are also highly beneficial for your skin.

You’ve probably heard me say it before, but I think of skin care much like I do a nourishing dish or a healing juice. Literally infusing your body with the most high-quality and nutrient-rich ingredients should always be the goal. So much skincare out on the market is literally dead and full of ingredients that serve no purpose in nourishing the vitality of your skin. Isn't that what most of us want? Vitality? Young or old, wrinkles or no wrinkles- skin vitality can exist at any age, and for me personally that’s the goal.

The good news is that with sunshine and the proper protection, spring and summer are great times of year to bring out our skins natural vitality and the exfoliate away the dead of winter.

One of our favorite ingredients to compliment this time of year is Carrot Seed oil.

Every ingredient we use is a stand-out, but one that you will find in all our products is carrot seed oil. And while carrot seed oil is found in many formulations, it is relatively low on the radar as far as ingredients go. You certainly don’t hear people talking about carrot seed oil like you do about some other ingredients.

So, what is carrot seed oil?

There are no carrots involved in the making of carrot seed oil. The oil is extracted from the wild carrot seed, or the plant Queen Anne's lace. It has a deeply golden color, and the scent is slightly woodsy with a touch of sweet and spice. I personally think it smells quite earthy on the aromatic scale, and while not overly potent, it’s not exactly something you would want to wear on its own. But when combined with other ingredients, it brings a subtly musky note to the equation. It’s aromatherapeutic qualities have a grounding effect and may be calming to the nervous system. It also improves digestion and increases brain function.

I feel that carrot seed oil really stands out in topical application, and while the science behind its efficacy is still a work in progress, I have found it personally to be very agreeable with my skin. It’s deeply rich in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that soothe the skin. It can help even skin tone. It also has antibacterial, and anti-viral properties making it very useful in any kind of inflammatory skin condition – like those breakouts you might get in the spring!

Here are some of the benefits you may get from using carrot seed oil in your skincare routine:

1- BLOCK BACTERIA
Bacterial skin infections can range from very mild to severe. Most of us experience a bacterial related skin ailment or another from time to time (think the simple pimple). While most of these situations are very mild, it's nice to include ingredients in your skincare routine that help mitigate them.

2- FIGHT FUNGUS
Fungal skin ailments are no fun. While they aren't as common as the bacterial infections- no one wants them. From athletes’ foot to ringworm, reducing the possibilities of fungal infection is a plus. We've included carrot seed oil in all our formulas because we believe that the benefits and value it provides in reducing fungal growth is under rated. Carrot seed oil really shines in The Mist because you can spritz it on anything from gym bags, to running shoes, to yoga mats... the list goes on.

3- UV PROTECTION
Not to be confused with sunscreen, the UV protection that comes from carrot seed oil has no determined SPF value. A compound called umbelliferon, which is commonly used in sunscreens to absorb UVB light, is also found in carrot seed oil. But it’s not to be confused with an actual SPF value. Using carrot seed oil in addition to sunscreen seems like a good place to be.

4- EVEN SKIN TONE
Because of its antioxidant value and UVB protection, carrot seed oil may help reduce hyperpigmentation and even skin tone. It also may improve skin texture and help tighten sagging skin.

5- DETOXIFICATION
Carrot seed oil is great to help aid the body in its own natural detoxification process- as well as detox the skin from impurities. It may help reduce water retention, improve joint inflammation, and boost immunity.

Carrot seed oil has been used for centuries for its beneficial properties. Using it in remedies is certainly nothing new, and when used in balance I think it's a lovely ingredient. And as with all our essential oils, we highly dilute them in our formulas to provide benefit without irritation.