Education
Hemp Seed Oil for Skin: What It Does, What It Does Not Do and Why It Matters
Cold pressed hemp seed oil is one of the most misunderstood oils in skincare. Here is what it actually does for your skin, what it does not, and why it earns a place in your routine.
Hemp seed oil keeps showing up in clean skincare and people keep asking the same three questions: is it the same as CBD oil, will it make me high and does it actually do anything for skin? Short answers: no, no and yes.
This is a plain English guide to what hemp seed oil is, what it does for your skin and how to use it.
What is hemp seed oil?
Hemp seed oil is a cold-pressed oil made from the seeds of the Cannabis sativa plant. The same plant that produces cannabis, but a different part of it. The seeds.
The seeds contain no THC and no CBD. They cannot make you high. They have been used as food and skincare for thousands of years and are legal everywhere in Australia and most of the world.
What it does for skin
Hemp seed oil is one of the most nutrient-dense plant oils available. The three things that matter for skincare:
1. Omega fatty acids in the right ratio
Hemp seed oil contains omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids in a ratio close to what your skin barrier wants. Your skin barrier is made partly of lipids and oils with the right fatty acid profile help support it without sitting heavy on the surface.
2. Comedogenic rating of zero
That is the technical way of saying hemp seed oil does not clog pores. Many face oils are rated 2 or 3 (mild to moderate pore-clogging risk). Hemp seed oil is rated 0, which makes it one of the few oils suitable for oily and acne-prone skin types.
3. Soothing properties
It is naturally rich in gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), which is associated with calming irritated, sensitive or reactive skin. People with skin conditions like eczema or atopic dermatitis often find hemp seed oil more tolerable than other oils.
What it does not do
It will not whiten your skin. It is not a treatment for acne (it is just less likely to make acne worse than other oils). It will not erase fine lines overnight. Marketing language that promises any of these is overselling.
What it does do is hydrate, support the skin barrier and feel nice on the skin without breaking it out.
How to use hemp seed oil on your face
One to two drops, gently massaged into clean skin morning or evening. Many people use it as the last step of an evening routine to lock in moisture.
For dry skin, layer it over moisturiser. For oily skin, use it on its own a few nights a week and see how your skin responds.
It also works as a body oil after the shower, especially in winter when bathroom-tiled-floor cold meets just-out-of-the-shower skin and everything feels tight.
What we make
Organic Hemp Seed Oil is a 25ml cold-pressed oil made from Cannabis sativa seeds. Contains no THC, no CBD, no psychoactive compounds. Just one ingredient: the oil.
It is part of our face oils range and works well alone or paired with our other oils:
- Organic Perfecta Oil: A blend of jojoba, rosehip, sachi inchi, marula and cacay. Our signature face oil.
- Hydrating Face Oil: Lightweight, rich in linoleic acid. Good for all skin types including acne-prone.
Why we keep selling it (even though Google does not always understand)
Hemp seed oil is legal, safe and a genuinely useful ingredient. Google's automated systems sometimes flag any product with the word "hemp" or "cannabis" in the name because the algorithms cannot easily tell the difference between hemp seed oil (a skincare ingredient) and other parts of the plant (regulated products).
If you have read this far, you now know more about it than most marketing systems do.
Shop Organic Hemp Seed Oil. 25ml. $30.95
Adelaide Hills Organics products are handmade in small batches with natural and organic ingredients in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia.