CBD Skincare: What You Need to Understand about It

person Larry Ostrovsky
calendar_today Aug 27, 2020

Did you know that the skin is the largest organ of the human body? Considering how important our skin is, maintaining this protective barrier is critical to health. Did you also know that CBD can be used topically to promote healthy skin?

In the following article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about topical CBD and skin care. We’ll start by exploring the endocannabinoid system in the skin so that we can understand how CBD has an impact. The science will be explained simply so that anyone can comprehend the major takeaways.

Once we understand that basic science, you’ll learn about the potential benefits of CBD skin care, including the types of skin conditions that may benefit most. Finally, we’ll note how hemp seed oil is not CBD oil before finding out why Gen Z loves CBD skin care.

RELATED: The Lowdown on CBD Skincare

1. Why Use CBD on Your Skin—The Endocannabinoid System (ECS)
2. What Does CBD Do for Skin?
3. Does CBD Absorb through the Skin?
4. The Benefits of CBD Skin Care
5. Can CBD Help with Skin Issues?
6. Hemp Seed Oil is Not CBD Oil
7. Why Gen Z Is Turning to CBD Skin Care
8. Final Thoughts on CBD Skin Care

LISTEN TO THE BLOG POST HERE:

1. Why Use CBD on Your Skin—the EndoCannabinoid System (ECS)

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is now a well-known and multifaceted homeostatic regulator that influences a wide variety of physiological processes throughout the body. [1] (Click here to tweet)

The ECS is deeply involved in the maintenance of skin homeostasis.

Furthermore, the ECS is unambiguously confirmed to be deeply involved in the maintenance of skin homeostasis as well as skin barrier formation and regeneration. Dysregulation of the ECS contributes to many common diseases and disorders, including acne, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, scleroderma, various tumors, and itch. [1]

The ECS is involved in multiple regulatory functions in health and disease. Within the skin, the ECS is involved in numerous biological skin processes, including: [2]

Proliferation
Growth
Differentiation
Apoptosis
Hormonal production
The functioning of hair follicles and sebaceous glands

Dysregulation of the ECS contributes to many common diseases and disorders, including acne, psoriasis, and itch.

The ECS fine-tunes the immune response to impact the tolerance and competence of our immune responses. Throughout our lives, our skin is constantly balancing the production of skin cells to replace old and damaged cells. [2]

Disruption of this fine balance may facilitate the development of hair growth disorders, cancer, pain, and itch. [2]

Disruption of this fine balance may facilitate the development of hair growth disorders, cancer, pain, and itch.

2. What Does CBD Do for Skin?

Cannabinoids have broadly shown anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, anti-cancer, and itch-reducing properties by various mechanisms. And as such, they are certainly a promising alternative to traditional treatments. [3] (Click here to tweet)

Cannabinoids are a promising alternative to traditional skin care treatments.

CBD has been shown to inhibit the production of fat cells in human skin cell cultures. Furthermore, CBD appears to have complex anti-inflammatory effects involving sebocytes (sebaceous gland cells) in the skin. Finally, CBD has been shown to promote cell death (apoptosis) in skin cell cultures with Kaposi sarcoma (a type of skin cancer) but not in healthy skin. [4]

Other researchers have noted the anti-inflammatory, anti-itch, and pain-reducing properties of CBD. This led those researchers to encourage dermatologists to review the existing evidence for CBD use and be ready to talk about it with patients. If you see a dermatologist, ask them about CBD and provide some of these references if they have not yet researched the use of topical CBD for skin conditions. [5]

Ask your dermatologist about the use of topical CBD for skin conditions.

RELATED: What Is CBD?

3. Does CBD Absorb through the Skin?

CBD can be absorbed by the skin, but it is unlikely to penetrate the bloodstream. Fortunately, when using topical CBD for skincare, this is exactly what we want. (Click here to tweet)

This is also the reason THC is not used in topicals to get people high unless chemical processes are used to make them transdermal. There are transdermal CBD patches out there, which can be used to dose CBD systemically, but not for local topical relief.

When using topical CBD for skin care, we want the CBD to be absorbed by the skin.

We know that the skin contains cannabinoid receptors. We also know that CBD can penetrate the epidermis and enter the layers of your skin. The CBD is likely to get halted by the inner skin barrier, which also helps keep us waterproof and protected from the outside world.

As we have already discussed, research has shown that topical CBD can interact with the skin, the immune system, and the ECS. In the following sections, we’ll explore the benefits of CBD skincare and the issues where it may help most. After that, you’ll learn why hemp seed oil is not CBD oil, and why Gen Z is turning to CBD skincare.

4. The Benefits of CBD Skin Care

Cannabinoids have consistently demonstrated reductions in itchiness and other symptoms in several dermatologic and systemic diseases. While preliminary, human studies have demonstrated very positive results, suggesting that cannabinoids should be considered as adjuvant therapy. This basically means that they boost immune function in the skin and systemically. [6]

A CBD-enriched topical ointment improves numerous skin parameters and symptoms. Many of these relate to immune functioning and the inflammatory process more specifically. [7] (Click here to tweet)

5. Can CBD Help with Skin Issues?

CBD—and cannabinoids, more broadly—have been researched for the treatment of dermatologic conditions, such as severe itching, inflammatory skin disease, and skin cancer. [8]

CBD has been researched for the treatment of skin conditions, such as severe itching, inflammatory skin disease, and skin cancer.

This is crazy but amazing:

CBD may be beneficial in the treatment of various skin diseases. CBD skincare may be beneficial particularly for the following: [5]

Acne
Chronic pruritus
Atopic dermatitis (Click here to tweet)

Research has shown that no irritation or allergic reactions occurred due to the use of CBD topical treatment. This led the researchers to determine that the use of topical CBD without THC is safe, effective, and non-invasive. Furthermore, it is an alternative option for improving the quality of life of patients with some skin disorders—especially those that involve inflammatory states. [7]

Topical CBD may improve the quality of life of patients with inflammatory skin disorders.

6. Hemp Seed Oil is Not CBD Oil

For those looking at various skincare products and maybe getting confused over price and quality, one important note must be mentioned. Hemp seed oil is not CBD oil. Hemp seed oil is a great alternative oil to use in the kitchen. Furthermore, it has a nice nutty taste and is packed with minerals, vitamins, fibers, and amino acids. [9]

Hemp Seed Oil is Not CBD Oil

What hemp seed oil does NOT contain, however, is CBD. Hemp seeds contain basically no CBD, and the process used to make hemp seed oil does not focus on CBD. It is the flower of the hemp plant that produces the most CBD in the hemp plant. It is these flowers that are put through extraction methods to draw out the CBD and concentrate it into oils and tinctures.

Using hemp seed oil for your skin would be like using olive oil or canola oil on your skin. That said, hemp seed oil might be found as an ingredient inside some skincare products. This addition may add some beneficial vitamins to the cream, but not CBD skin care. Do not expect to gain the benefits of CBD from products made using hemp seed oil.

Do not expect to gain the benefits of CBD from products made using hemp seed oil.

7. Why Gen Z Is Turning to CBD Skin Care

Members of the Gen Z cohort have shown more interest in CBD skin care than many would have predicted. This group of people takes their health and wellness seriously. They also understand that what they do or don’t put on their skin can drastically affect health and wellness. [10] (Click here to tweet)

Why Gen Z Is Turning to CBD Skin Care

WATCH: SOL*CBD Cannabidiol (CBD) Infused Balm

It is for these reasons that it is not overly surprising that Gen Z loves using CBD for skin care. Without the anti-cannabis stigma of previous generations, this one has no problem considering the evidence and trying out CBD.

It probably also helps that celebrities and new trendy brands are promoting topical CBD products. This increase in popularity is great, as it should have a positive impact on the skin health of this new generation. Like previous generations had to learn about the harms of too much sun, this generation has learned that product quality matters.

8. Final Thoughts on CBD Skin Care

To help you gain all these benefits of CBD skin care, ensure that you’re buying your CBD skincare products from a reputable and reliable source. Having third-party lab tests are a must to ensure that the product has what it says it has. (Click here to tweet)

It is not overly surprising that Gen Z loves using CBD for skin care.

What’s the Bottom Line?

Here at SOL*CBD, we make sure you are certain about the topical CBD products you buy. We also utilize advanced technologies to create USDA-certified organic formulas you can trust.

You can check out our:

to see for yourself how we make quality our priority for your health and skin care. If you’re looking for even more CBD skin care, check out our CBD Infused Skincare Bundle.