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What is lavender?
Lavender is a small evergreen shrub with fragrant purple flowers. Lavandula or lavender oil is the oil distilled from the flower spikes of this plant. Lavender oil contains phytochemicals such as linalool and linalyl acetate.
What is it best for?
In addition to being a beautifully fragrant ingredient, lavender oil can actually promote skin healing. Lavender has been shown to increase collagen synthesis in the skin’s connective tissue. In simple words, this means that lavender oil can be used to treat minor cuts and wounds.
In addition, it can be used to soothe sunburn, insect bites, and the symptoms of eczema and psoriasis. Its anti-inflammatory properties may help reduce acne, and the essential oil can also reduce irritation and pain caused by skin conditions.
In general, lavender has a soothing property, making it an excellent ingredient for many skin conditions. To find out if lavender will help with your skin needs, take our Skin Quiz.
What is the drawback?
Lavender has relatively few drawbacks as a skin ingredient. As lavender oil is fragrant, it can irritate the skin. In addition, being an essential oil, it is a powerful ingredient, and needs to be diluted sufficiently before it is safe to use on the skin. It may also cause an allergic reaction in some individuals.
Pores are itsy-bitsy openings in the skin—and there are millions covering every millimeter of skin. There are two types of pores with different functions: sweat pores and oil pores. The sweat pore allows moisture, produced by sweat glands, to exude out to the surface of the skin, where it helps to cool the body in response to heat, exertion or fever. Sweat pores are so tiny, they are mostly invisible to the human eye.
The oil pore, on the other hand, is a bit larger. Oil pores are also known as hair follicles because these pores produce oil from the sebaceous glands, but they are also the openings from which hair emerges. The oils help to keep our skin and hair healthy. It is the oil pores that can get clogged with sweat, debris and other gunk, causing acne, blackheads and whiteheads. Sweat pores rarely get clogged, as they are so tiny.
Benzoyl peroxide is a topical agent for fighting bacteria and unclogging pores. It is one of the longest-used medications to keep pores clean and healthy. Jojoba oil and rosehip oil are also good for reducing inflammation, fighting bacteria, and keeping in moisture for healthier skin. Ingredients that help exfoliate dead skin cells and increase new skin cell production, such as Vitamin A/Retinol, glycolic acid, and salicylic acid, are good for keeping pores unclogged as well.
lavender may be effective for clogged pores, but there are many other factors that may affect whether this ingredient would work on your skin or if there are better ingredients that may work for you. Take this skin quiz to find the best ingredients for your skin and build your skincare routine.
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