A Natural Antioxidant - Pomegranate
Lise
Pomegranate (INCI: Punica granatum) is heralded as a superfood because of its high content of polyphenols – most particularly ellagic acid (which is a natural phenol antioxidant).
Because of this built-in content of free radical scavengers and natural antioxidant activity, pomegranate can rightly be called regenerative, even helping to stimulate collagen production.
Overall, it is a firming and quite nourishing skincare ingredient. To top off this list of positives, it also has one of my favorites qualities – suitable for all skin types.
Claims, Facts, and a Bit of Pomegranate Gossip
I'll freely admit that I can get as swept up in the excitement about skincare ingredients as the next giddy botanical-based formulator. I do however, prefer documented facts to undocumented claims.
So, at the risk of jumping the gun, here is a bit of 'pomegranate gossip': The initial testing on pomegranate’s beneficial effects for the skin do look very promising.
In fact, pomegranate looks so promising that it is under study for its cancer battling attributes (ref).
The Different Forms of Pomegranate for Cosmetics
There are several suppliers that offer organic pomegranate – both as an oil and as a water-soluble extract. I have worked with both.
The Oil
The oil is made from cold pressing the washed seeds of the pomegranate tree. It is so concentrated that it is recommended to use a maximum of 3% in any product – placing it in the 'active ingredient' category. This actually suits me just fine, because although it is described as a thin oil with a faint scent, I find the aroma is simply not very appealing.
When I got my first whiff of it, I took it back to my supplier to ask if it was supposed to smell that way. Even though the production date on the bottle was good, I found the scent rather heavy – a bit musky and dank – not pleasant at all.
To my surprise, my supplier couldn't understand my query and thought the scent was almost non existent. They also checked the bottle and date and compared with other bottles from the same batch. There was nothing wrong. I chalked it up to difference in scent preferences.
Later, I asked a visiting friend to give me her impression of the scent of the oil. Her reaction was similar to mine, commenting that it reminded her of 'wet dog'. Needless to say, I'm happy it is not recommended for use in doses higher than 3%, and generally try to 'bury it in a blend’ when I am working with it.
Purchased Extract Memories
The extract I used some years ago (when this ingredient was hotly trending) was prepared by using ‘a proprietary extraction and filtration process, then mixed with glycerine’. The product was lovely, non-sticky and quite moisturizing.
Contrary to the oil, the scent of the extract was practically non existent with only one downside: the appearance of sediment in the bottle.
I used it in a variety of ways: in skin tonics and cleansers and as an ingredient in face masks. However, because I never knew if the delivery would be sediment-free, I ended up using it exclusively as face mask ingredient. My suppliers at the time informed me that was not possible to guarantee getting a portion 'from the top of the barrel’, so I eventually stopped ordering and drifted away from using it.
Vinegar and CO2 Extract
These days, there is a CO2 extract as well as a pomegranate vinegar available from cosmetics ingredients suppliers. I haven’t purchased or tried these as I have been a little busy making my own handcrafted gycerites (using the fresh fruit) which will be featured in an upcoming post.
Spoiler alert: it’s fabulous.
Do Tell
Have you worked with pomegranate in your skincare? Please share in a comment below.
More About Pomegranate
Wikipedia on pomegranate
Study on Wound Healing by Journal of Medicinal Food
Potential for prevention and treatment of inflammation and cancer (Science Direct)
Antioxidant activity of Pomegranate (Journal of agricultural and Food Chemistry)
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