Learning about ingredients is one of the critical components to understanding skincare. When possible, MadeMan encourages all men to stick with products that use effective all-natural ingredients, like CBD. But why is CBD so beneficial for our skin?
Implementing organic ingredients like CBD oil into your skincare routine can render a myriad of benefits ranging from treating acne to reducing the appearance of dark spots. If you are interested in learning more about CBD and its top skin care benefits, we invite you to read on.
What Is CBD?
CBD is short for cannabidiol. Cannabidiol is the second primary active ingredient in hemp plants. There are several different methods for deriving cannabidiol, but one of the most common is to soak hemp plants in ethanol or a high profile alcohol and to then strip CBD from the plant.
Cannabidiol is not a psychoactive drug, meaning that it won’t get you “high” like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), another popular hemp compound. CBD is more commonly known for relieving various ailments that include stress and tension, difficulty sleeping, and redness and swelling.
Of course, it also has plenty of benefits for your skin, like regulating oil, combatting free radicals, and providing hydration.
Benefits of CBD on Skin
Why spend the time finding the right CBD product for you? Because there are a lot of benefits that come with including cannabidiol in your skin care routine.
As previously mentioned, CBD is generally regarded for its healing properties. When it comes to applying it to the skin, this is no different. The substance’s antioxidant properties make it especially useful in treating skin conditions.
It can also help you—and your skin—de-stress, reducing the appearance of acne and fine lines.
Helps Regulate Oil Production
An overproduction of sebum can increase your chances of developing acne. CBD skin care products are believed to help regulate this oil production because of their anti-inflammatory effects on sebocytes or the cells that produce excessive sebum.
As a result, CBD can help to decrease your chances of irritation.
Helps Soothe Irritation
Additionally, CBD can be used to treat pre-existing irritation. Symptoms of skin conditions that include swelling, tenderness, and redness can be soothed with the support of CBD.
This also means CBD may be a good skin care option for people with sensitive skin who want to benefit from antioxidant or adaptogenic products. Just be sure to choose a CBD product that doesn’t contain alcohol or other irritating co-conspirators that could undermine its soothing properties.
Helps Fight Free Radicals
The antioxidant benefits of CBD are especially coveted for combatting free radicals.
Free radicals are unstable molecules looking to replace their missing electrons, which often damages skin cells in the process. This damage can present itself on the skin as visible fine lines, dark spots, a loss of elasticity, and a decline in collagen.
Your skin can be introduced to free radicals through airborne pollutants like dust, chemicals, and smog. They can also sneak in due to sun exposure and UV rays. Still, even if you stay out of the sun and protect yourself from pollutants, free radicals can also be produced naturally in the body.
Basically, they’re inescapable—but they’re not invincible.
Antioxidants are capable of combating free radical damage because of their ability to neutralize the free radicals themselves. Antioxidants do this by going deep beneath the outer layer of the skin and giving the free radicals some of their own electrons.
Antioxidants are unique because they have electrons to spare, meaning they can donate an electron to these unstable havoc-wreckers without becoming unstable themselves. Not only will this prevent the unwanted effects of free radicals, but it may also prompt an increase in cell turnover and promote cellular exfoliation.
Helps Provide Hydration
Finally, the antioxidant property of cannabidiol can be used to combat dehydration. Losing more fluids from exercising or being out in heat than you consume may result in skin dehydration.
The symptoms of dehydration include skin dullness, itchiness, and darkening of the under-eye area. Studies suggest that CBD can be beneficial in support for the treatment of these symptoms and effective for repairing dry, dehydrated skin.
May Help Fight Acne
CBD’s acne-fighting powers are two-fold. First, its swelling-reducing properties can help regulate sebum production and reduce the appearance of acne. Second, CBD may help decrease the formation of stress-based breakouts.
Long-term stress is one of the most common acne triggers due to increased stress hormone production. The stress hormone, cortisol, may affect your immune system’s ability to fight breakouts on its own. Simultaneously, high cortisol levels can throw your sebum production out of whack, leading to more clogged pores—and more breakouts.
CBD is a strong adaptogen. Adaptogens are herbs that help the body combat both physical and emotional stress. Part of this process includes balancing the adrenal glands, which produce cortisol.
CBD’s adaptogenic properties may mean that it can help decrease the effects of stress hormones like cortisol (and other stress-related compounds, like kinase and nitric oxide), therefore reducing stress-related acne.
May Aid Anti-Aging
Of course, stress does more to your skin than cause breakouts. High amounts of cortisol can break down collagen and elastin, the proteins that give your skin its firmness and flexibility.
Your body naturally decreases its collagen production in your mid-20s, but you continue to lose collagen throughout your life. This is one reason why wrinkles appear with age and worsen over time.
While CBD can’t produce collagen for you, it can slow collagen breakdown by decreasing cortisol levels and combatting free radical damage.
Meanwhile, its hydrating properties repair more than just dullness and under-eye circles. Although dry skin doesn’t cause fine lines and wrinkles, it exacerbates their appearance. CBD’s hydrating properties may diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by boosting your skin’s moisture content.
All in all, CBD provides a one-two punch of prevention and revitalization that can seriously benefit your anti-aging routine.
Alternative Herbal Options
If you are interested in implementing herbs into your skincare routine but don’t believe that CBD is the right option for you, there are several alternatives for you to try:
- Black Seed Oil: Black seed oil’s antimicrobial properties help soothe rashes, itching, and irritation. It also has thymoquinone antioxidants to help fight off free radicals, vitamin A to reduce the appearance of acne and scarring, and amino acids to maintain the skin’s moisture barrier.
- Rosemary Oil: Rosemary acts as an astringent that can tone and balance the skin. Simultaneously, rosemary oil can help to decongest acne through hydration and supports graceful aging by increasing circulation.
- Hemp Seed Oil: Hemp oil comes from the hemp plant’s seeds, but unlike CBD oil, hemp oil does not contain cannabinoids. Hemp seed oil helps moderate the skin’s oil production, soothes swollen skin with GLA, and encourages skin growth and cell generation.
Hemp seed oil is an especially effective and versatile herbal alternative to CBD oil, which is why MadeMan has included it in our moisturizing serum, The Refresher.
Hemp extract was selected as one of the CBD skincare product’s all-natural ingredients for its substantial skin-calming effects, useful antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties.
The MadeMan Difference
It is unfortunate that the importance of skin care is neglected to be instilled in many boys growing up. MadeMan understands this first hand.
Our CEO has explained his personal experience with learning that skin issues are not a temporary problem from adolescence. He found himself overwhelmed by all of the products and methods he was told could help.
Determined to discover whether a simplified solution was possible, he teamed up with one of the nation’s leading dermatologists. The result was MadeMan, a company committed to making easier, effective, and more accessible solutions available to those who want to learn.
One of these solutions is, of course, CBD skin care. As we’ve seen, CBD has myriad benefits for your skin, from fighting free radicals to providing hydration.
While The Refresher benefits from a solid helping of hemp seed oil, don’t think we’ve forgotten about its crown jewel—CBD. We use 30mg of CBD in this all-in-one serum alongside vitamin C and Indian ginseng for a product that protects, nourishes, and perfects.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this article on the benefits of CBD oil will help you take skin care into your own hands, arming you with the knowledge you need to make informed decisions about your skin care routine.
The herbal option of CBD in skin care has become increasingly popular in recent years, and products containing CBD are worth a try. As with anything, we recommend that you start slow and see how your skin responds to the product.
Sources:
FDA Regulation of Cannabis and Cannabis-Derived Products, Including Cannabidiol (CBD) | FDA
Cannabidiol exerts sebostatic and antiinflammatory effects on human sebocytes | NCBI
Phytochemistry, pharmacology, and therapeutic uses of black seed (Nigella sativa) | PubMed
