Safflower Oil: The Ingredient Your Skin Will Thank You For This Winter (And Where To Find It)

It is usually not the main character of a formula, but at the same time it is present in millions of them. It is distinguished by its contribution to essential fatty acids and its ability to improve the flexibility of the skin. Let’s talk about safflower!

Safflower is a herbaceous flower, known worldwide for its coloring ability and for the oil extracted from the seeds, which in turn is edible. Well, this lipid component transcends the world of gastronomy and is present in numerous cosmetic formulations. While it usually doesn’t appear as the main ingredient, leaving stardom to more notable ones, such as snow lotus, retinol, or hyaluronic acid, it is present and almost hidden in many cosmetics. What explains their great presence? “Safflower seed oil protects the skin and increases its elasticity by forming a protective layer on its surface. It also prevents moisture from evaporating and drying out,” explains Valeria Navarro, technical director of the company Boutijour.

How to locate safflower oil?

If you look at a product’s ingredient list, it will generally be listed as Carthamus Tinctorius or Safflower. Depending on the order in which it appears, it is useful to know whether the product has a higher or lower concentration of this principle, as the order of the list is usually defined by amounts relative to the other principles of the formula.

Why is it beneficial?

The skin has a barrier called hydrolipids, which is essential to maintain its optimal state, so it is necessary to provide it with both moisturizing ingredients and lipids that ensure that it remains in an optimal state. In this sense, safflower oil is: “Consists of a supply of essential fatty acids, especially Omega-9. As part of a cosmetic product, it provides the skin with a strengthening of its barrier function without clogging and seals the skin in moisture and helping not to lose the principles we could offer before, such as panthenol or hyaluronic acid, just to name a few,” explains Raquel González, director of education at Perricone MD. By providing this protective work on the skin, it improves juiciness and texture, helps improve tissue flexibility and reduce the signs of aging.

Where to find?

Some of our favorite products that contain it? The first of these is Boutijour’s Snow Lotus Lifting Serum, which, in addition to safflower oil, is supplemented with snow lotus extract, which protects skin cells, camellia flower extract -rich in vitamin C-, centella asiatica and niacinamide, to soothe and improve the overall quality of the skin. .

For example, you will also find this ingredient in Medik8’s Lipid Balance Cleansing Oil facial cleansing oil, which also contains safflower oil and you will love to remove makeup and the most resistant impurities, without altering the skin barrier.