Here in the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado, we love our oils, almost every kind of oil applied everywhere on our bodies. We like them in our hair, especially kukui, almond, rosehip seed, and primrose oil. We like them on our faces, alone or blended; we like them around our eyes, mouths, and necks. We use them as makeup removers, cleansers, and in our baths. We like them scented, unscented, and with herbs. My Seven Exotic Oils, which includes the seven listed below, is my personal favorite blend of oils. You can use these oils alone or together in any way that suits you. Don’t let my limited suggestions stop you from trying them every way.

Kukui Oil

Aleurites moluccana

The kukui nut trees flourish on Hawaii’s hills and gulches and are commonly found around the Islands. In 1959, the kukui nut tree became the official state tree of Hawaii.

The kukui tree produces a cluster of small white flowers as well as kukui fruit. The fruit has a hard green covering about one-fourth inch thick when it is immature. As it matures, it turns a dark grayish-black and softens. Within the fruit is a large nut with a hard shell and an inner core or kernel. The shell is dark brown to black and looks like a small chestnut. The inner core is white and characteristically oily. A mature tree can produce 75 to 100 pounds of fruit a year.

In native Hawaiian medicine, kukui had many uses. The nuts were lightly baked so

that the hard shells cracked open. To obtain the oil, the shells were removed and the kernels lightly roasted; a clear oil could be pressed out. For hundreds of years, the Hawaiians have found this to be an excellent, penetrating oil for their skin care needs.

Kukui nut oil has been tested and rates among the best of the polyunsaturated oils. It is high in linoleic and linolenic acids, which are essential fatty acids beneficial for healthy skin. Kukui oil helps smooth, soften, and relax irritated skin. It has a reputation for being excellent for the treatment of superficial burns and chapped skin.

Many people who don’t like the more traditional heavier oils do enjoy kukui oil because it is so light and highly absorbent. It is wonderful to use after sun exposure as an all-over body oil, and it is highly desired for hot-oil hair treatments.

Kukui nut oil is minimally refined and highly unsaturated, has a wonderful emolliency, and is non-greasy.

Almond Oil

Prunus dulcis

The almond is a medium-sized tree of the rose family. The bushy, round-crowned almond tree normally reaches heights of 20 to 30 feet. There are numerous biblical references to the almond. In Genesis 43:11, the patriarch Israel commanded his sons to carry into Egypt gifts from Palestine, which included almonds.

Almonds were mentioned in Greek mythology and the Muhammedans associated almond flowers with hope, since the beautifully scented blossoms appear on bare branches.

In Elizabethan England, “An almond for a parrot” was a popular proverb in which the almond was considered to be a mouthwatering temptation: thus, in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, Act V, Scene 2, Thersites says, “The parrot will not do more for an almond.”

Symbolism

Almonds have symbolized good luck for many centuries in southern Europe. Traditionally, candied almond nuts are given away at weddings in Greece as tokens of long life and happiness. When two good friends of mine were married a few years ago in a Greek Orthodox church, they had candy-coated almonds at their reception for this purpose.

John Gerard (1597) observed that “fove or sic [almonds] being taken fasting do keepe a man from being drunke.” My mom is among those who eat “five almonds a day to keep cancer away.”

In the seventeenth century, Ninon de Lenclos, a French woman of fashion, recommended an almond-based cold cream, which was said to have preserved her beauty and kept her face free of wrinkles until she was 70.

Ripe almonds can be ground up in a blender into almond meal that is wonderful as a skin conditioner, pore cleanser, and refiner. You can use this alone or mix the almond meal with honey or yogurt and apply as a mask.

You will find almond oil as a top ingredient in most quality skin care products. It is perfect to use alone as well. It has been used for centuries as an all-purpose, soothing oil, as an emollient, in face lotions, shampoos for dry hair, massage oils, bath oils, and is a key ingredient for making your own herbal oils. Extracted from the almond nutmeats, almond oil has been used for centuries for the entire body.

Almond oil is a wonderful remedy for dry skin. It can also be used as a gentle non-soap makeup remover. It is healing and soothing to the skin and is included for those reasons in many face creams and emulsions.

Vitamin E Oil

Tocopherol

Vitamin E oil is often made by diluting natural vitamin E with soya oil, usually light- colored and odorless. Wheat germ oil is the best source of vitamin E; however, it can also be made from alfalfa or almond oils.

Vitamin E is an important nutrient for humans and must come from an outside source; the body does not produce its own. Natural vitamin E protects the skin from ultraviolet light, aids in increasing moisture levels, and helps slow down the natural process of decay.

Vitamin E prevents oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids. It keeps the skin healthy and youthful by slowing down the aging of cells resulting from the interaction of oxygen with other chemicals in the body. It works to protect against cell deterioration.

Vitamin E is a superb beauty aid; it is great in facials and day and night creams. It may be applied fresh from the capsule to any part of your skin alone or mixed with wheat germ or other oils.

Vitamin E is absorbed through the skin, and because of its beneficial effects, it is an excellent addition to any blend of oils, creams, or lotions. You may add the contents of a pierced capsule to your favorite cream. It is said it can eliminate scarring and speed healing when applied to an open wound. It is a great skin-care product ingredient that softens and lubricates the skin.

Alfalfa, dandelion, sesame, watercress, and wheat germ are all very high in vitamin E. It is an antioxidant, skin smoother, and hair shiner.

It is said that vitamin E can work favorably at slowing down overactivity of the sebaceous glands. It is a well-known anti-inflammatory agent. It assists in healing by aiding the formation of smoother skin and promoting softer scar tissue, which can diminish the scarring.

Wheat Germ Oil

Wheat germ oil is a valuable source of vitamin E, coming from the heart of the wheat kernel. Wheat germ oil makes tired skin look fresher, more resilient. It is a skin nourishing and softening oil. It is perfect blended with other fine oils and in creams, masks for dry or dull skin, and as an ingredient in fine bath oils. Wheat germ contains fatty acids and is high in protein. It can be used as a massage oil or as a complexion oil to massage the face, particularly effective in wrinkle-prone areas. Soaking your cuticles in wheat germ oil so you may gently push them back is an effective practice for prettier fingernails.

Rosehip Seed Oil

Rosa aff. Rubiginosa

A.k.a.: Rosa mosqueta
The rosa mosqueta, from which rosehip seed oil is commercially derived, is grown in South America. This is one of the finest oils and one of the most expensive oils you will find in a skin care product. From the rosehip fruit come the tiny amber seeds to make the oil. The oil is high in essential fatty acids and is used for severe burns, sunburns, and damaged hair, and for reducing wrinkles, scars, and marks on the body. Skin-smoothing and reportedly regenerative, rosehip seed oil is great for UV sun-damaged skin and deep lines. It is said this oil is excellent as a treatment for prematurely aging skin and acne scars. Because it is so high in essential fatty acids, it is often used not only in healing but in preventing continued wrinkling.

Rosehip seed oil is useful for grooming normal to oily hair; after washing, dry your hair with a very small amount of oil massaged through it for luster and normalization. Rosehip

seed oil can be used as a hot-oil hair treatment for dry hair. It is particularly beneficial to hair that has been damaged by chemical treatments, sun, or cold weather.

Evening Primrose Oil

Oenothera biennis

Evening primrose flowers are nocturnal, the yellow flowers opening only at night. Evening primrose oil is high in essential fatty acids, including gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). It is said that the high GLA content in the oil is what makes it so beneficial. GLA also occurs in mother’s milk and black currant oil.

Evening primrose oil has been used for moisturizing the skin, to treat eczema and psoriasis, inflammation, redness, itching, and diaper rash. The oil is useful used alone or blended with other oils and applied topically to the face, neck, or all over the body in or after a bath. I think it is one of the most desirable oils in creams and lotions and hair care products.

In hair care products, evening primrose oil helps reduce the oil secretion without causing dryness, and it moisturizes dry hair. It is wonderful in shampoos, conditioners, rinses, and can also be applied lightly and directly to clean, dry hair for luster.

Evening primrose oil has reportedly been used successfully for the following:

  • Hair loss
  • Wrinkles
  • Dry scalp and hair
  • Overweight
  • PMS
  • Brittle nails
  • Acne, when taken with zinc
  • Eczema

Lavender Essential Oil

Lavandula officinalis
Lavandula vera

Lavender essential oil is oil distilled from the lavender flower. Today, the largest percentage of the blooms goes into perfume products. One acre of lavender yields 15 to 20 pounds of oil. It is very popular and enjoyable to put a few drops in a bath or to simply enjoy as a perfume. For more about this versatile plant, see the section on Lavender under both Herbs and Essential Oil.