Avocado Oil Is The Nourishing Ingredient Your Dry Summer Skin Is Calling Out For

Once a cooking staple, avocado oil has now moved into the beauty market. While you may experience some benefits from smushing actual avocado across your face, it's the fruit's oil that is likely to be the best for your skin. So what does avocado oil do exactly?

Thanks to its high vitamin, nutrient, and omega-3 fatty acid content, avocado oil is seen as a great moisturiser, notes Medical News Today. It is also listed as an anti-inflammatory, helping to reduce redness and calm conditions such as acne. Breakouts may also be banished due to the extra hydration that doesn't leave behind an oily feel. Avocado oil can even be a remedy for other easily irritated skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis. And, if applied to the scalp, the oil may help any flakiness or dryness.

As Elle reports, fatty acids have a secondary benefit: the ability to give skin a fresh, bouncy look. Environmental damage or premature ageing from free radicals may also be counteracted by the oil's antioxidant content. "Using it topically can allow the oils to soften and hydrate the skin from the outside, making it appear plumper and brighter," nutritionist Gabriela Peacock told the magazine. "And it's completely natural: no chemicals, additives, or perfumes."

There's only one real downside to avocado oil, as Healthline notes. If you have naturally oily skin, you may not reap the same benefits. In fact, you may find it causes problems, instead of solves them. Of course, there's still the option of trying it out. Just apply a little to a relatively unseen area and leave for 24 hours to check for signs of aggravation. If nothing appears, you're good to go.

A few application methods exist: either apply avocado oil directly to the skin or add it to a pre-existing lotion. Or you can buy a product that incorporates avocado oil into a broader formula.

If the latter sounds up your street, here are a few options to get you started.

Trying to guess which oil the beauty industry will adopt next is difficult, but one thing's clear: the fruit and vegetable trend is definitely here to stay.