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While you have likely at least heard about avocado oil, you may not even know that such a thing as avocado seed oil exists. Though made from the same plant, there are a few important differences between these two.
What Is Avocado Seed Oil?
Avocados are grown from a tree that is native to South-Central Mexico, hence the scientific name of Persea Americana. It has many names, including such self-explanatory names as that of the ‘alligator pear.’ This fruit is popular around the world, but it is largely exported from countries in Central and South America.
Whatever it is called, avocados refer to a fruit that has a leathery outside and a single large seed inside. This seed, together with the peel, make up about one third of the weight on average of each avocado. Since these last parts of often discarded when the avocado is eaten, using the seed to make oil is done partially as a way of preventing waste.
The main takeaway about this oil is that there is a distinct difference between avocado oil and avocado seed oil. The first is made from the light green fleshy part of this food. Meanwhile, the second is made from the seed, as its name suggests.
Avocado seed oil has been around a surprisingly long period of time. In the year 1989, there was a patent made out in the United States on a compound for skin conditions. One of the ingredients in this compound being avocado seed oil, along with other things like peppermint and castor oil.
Therefore, this oil was obviously around long before then. Especially in South America where it originated, the seed itself was used for many different things. Two particular cultures used it as a contraceptive and during their menstrual cycles.
The Benefits Of Avocado Seed Oil
Avocados are known to be extremely healthy and useful. Less known about avocados is the fact that the seeds contain many of the same benefits and some nutrients. Though a seed, it has moisture, crude fat, and seven different types of fatty acids in it that are beneficial.
Also in avocado seed are alkaloids, flavonoids, and proteins. These give the oil some antioxidant properties and there are a couple of amino acids in it as well. Added to a few different polyphenols, and you have a very potent and healthy oil.
More than that, avocado seed oil is also a rich source of a few minerals. Some of these include magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, and zinc. Each of these is are needed by your body for various functions. As for vitamins, avocado seed have only a few. The most noteworthy of these is the Vitamin C.
Aside from the nutrients, there is growing evidence that avocado seed oil has many potential health benefits. Some of these include anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, antimicrobial, and insecticidal properties in it.
Additionally, avocado seeds have saponins in them which boost your metabolism. This helps your body to get rid of the “bad” cholesterol. This cleansing, in turn, is great for your heart and your circulation.
In certain places like Mexico, the seeds are used in their traditional medicine. Some things that it is believed to treat include skin rashes, diarrhea, asthma, high blood pressure, and rheumatism. It was used to treat bactericidal and fungicidal infections.
The beneficial effects of avocado seed oil also extends to things like your hair and skin. Acne and other skin blemishes can benefit from this oil. As more people hear about this oil, new benefits are being discovered.
For Your Hair
Many of the things that are in avocado seed oil are excellent for your hair. If you know the various vitamins that your hair needs, you will find many of them in avocado seed oil. For starters, the moisture in it, as with almost any oil, is great for your hair.
Moisture, if you recall, is needed to keep your hair pliable. Dry hair is also brittle, breaking more easily and making your hair seem thinner. Protein, also found in this oil, is a needed building block for your hair to keep it from breaking.
The minerals, though perhaps not as good as those found in other oils, are still good for your hair too. Added to this is the properties in avocado seed oil such as antimicrobial and fights funguses. This will keep these from gaining a foothold on your scalp.
Also, inflammation is a known hair-killer, and this oil can help with that. Clogged up arteries that are caused by bad cholesterol are just as bad for your hair as it is for the rest of you. Sometimes blockage here can be the sole reason why your hair is falling out.
A couple of other benefits of avocado seed oil include what it can do for oily hair or hair that has problems with dandruff. All healthy hair needs a good balance of moisture and dryness, and this oil helps to keep that balance.
All in all, there are many ways that avocado seed oil can benefit your hair and few things that can be said against it. Hair loss, therefore, is something that this oil can help prevent. Avocado seed oil will help your new hair grow in healthy and shiny.
How To Use Avocado Seed Oil For Your Hair
There are many ways to use oil on your hair for hair loss. However, hot oil treatments tend to be the most popular way to let your scalp soak in the benefits. Hot oil on your hair is best done once or twice a week, and can be done at any time of day.
The two hot oil methods are different in that you can heat up the oil before applying it or add some heat after the oil is already on your scalp. Heating up avocado seed oil is something that you should never use a microwave for.
The proper way to heat up any beneficial oil is by setting a small container of it inside a larger container. Putting hot water in the larger of the two containers will warm up the oil sufficiently.
As for applying heat after the avocado oil is already on your scalp, this is done easily enough. Simply heat up a towel however you please and place in on your head over a shower cap. Either way, rub the avocado seed oil into your scalp thoroughly to encourage your cells to absorb the nutrients from it.
You may also add a small amount of avocado seed oil as part of a hair rinse. Adding it to your shampoo, and even your conditioner, are also great options. Since your conditioner stays on your hair longer, adding the oil to that is a better option.
Finally, it is possible to consume avocado seed oil, and there are many benefits of doing so. However, this indirect help to your hair is at the cost of eating something that tastes quite bitter. If you like bitter foods, then you may enjoy some avocado seed oil on some of your foods.
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The Pros And Cons
Concerning avocado seed oil, there are far too many pros and cons to list. The many benefits and the inherent healthiness of it are all obvious advantages. The fact that oil of any type can make hair greasy and can be messy is an equally obvious disadvantage.
While a few studies have been done on avocado seed oil, these don’t give a lot of information. That is because these studies were done primarily to determine what is actually in avocado seed oil. There have not been any known studies done about what the effects of this oil are regarding hair loss.
Therefore, while some beneficial effects seem to be obvious based on what is in the oil, there is no guarantee. A fair amount of the benefits that you hear about are simply told by people who have used it.
Then, there is also the fact that avocado seeds can be quite toxic in some cases. Though this is while the seeds are whole and raw, the fact that they can be literally fatal in mice is hardly encouraging. To what degree avocado seeds are toxic, has not been researched yet.
Some of the research that had been done on this seed shows that it is quite possibly toxic even to humans. However, the oil made from the seed is thought to be safe due to the processing involved. Also, if you are using it topically, it may not be as toxic for you, if you are worried about this.
Finally, you can use the avocado seed oil or the crushed seeds for other things besides your hair. You can use it as a scrub or as a face mask to help with acne. The ability to be used for various purposes is also something that is nice.
How To Make Your Own Avocado Seed Oil
Making your own avocado seed oil at home is entirely possible, though you will need a few important tools. The three main things for making this oil are the avocados, some form of a press, and a strainer. There are both expensive and inexpensive presses that you can get, or you may choose to make your own.
First, you will need to get the avocado seed separate from the rest of it. You can make guacamole or whatever you like from the flesh, but clean all of it off of the seed. These seeds will then have to dry completely for a couple of days.
Once dry, the avocado seeds can be placed in a durable plastic bag and crushed with a mallet or hammer. This alone may cause some of the oil to come out of the seeds. Therefore, you can use the strainer to filter this into a clean jar.
Next, put all of the seed fragments into the press and squeeze out all of the oil you can. The smaller the seed fragments are before you put them in the press, the easier this should be. Most presses have a spout of some kind for you to catch the oil in.
Once that is done, let the avocado seed oil sit in the jar for a few days without disturbing it. This is to allow any particles of seed that may have slipped past the strainer to sperate from the oil. Finally, you can choose to pasteurize your oil or not.
Pasteurizing your oil is as simple as heating it up to a certain temperature. This is done to remove any water or bacteria that may be in the oil, and can help the oil stay good for longer.
Final Thoughts
As you can tell, avocado seed oil is great for your hair. It is equally good for the environment since it uses something that would otherwise be a waste-product. This is perhaps the reason why avocado seed oil is becoming increasingly popular in shampoos and other cosmetics.
The first thing about avocado seed oil that you want to look for is a simple one. You need to verify that the ‘seed’ is mentioned in the name. If it just calls itself avocado oil, then it is not made from the seed like you want.
