There’s a new oil in town, and it wants YOU to know its name.

I’m not going to beat around the bush… its name is tamanu oil. And apparently some people think it’s the bomb diggity dang for acne and acne scars.

I wish I could say that I’ve personally tried it, but I haven’t. I don’t bother using anything at all on my skin anymore because I don’t really feel the need to, especially in summer. But this oil keeps popping up on my radar as the best thing since sliced jojoba, so I did some research and figured you guys might want to know about it.

Tamanu Oil to the Rescue

I finally took a serious look at tamanu when a real live friend of mine who is having some issues with acne emailed me about it saying that she picked some up, really likes it, and was wondering if I had used it. I said no, but that I know it’s been mentioned around the comments of my blog quite a few times.

Well I got on the ol Google machine and did a thorough search of my site and was surprised to find that every single comment about it was extremely positive… check out the little blurbies from around The Love Vitamin: 

I live in similar climate (hot and humid). Oils works great for me. Tamanu oil is wonderful at fading red marks left by acne and pretty calming too.

I’m using jojoba, tamanu and tea tree oils in my skincare regimen – all seem to be working great for my acne / lightening my scars!

Jojoba, tamanu and rosehip oil sounds like a great oil mix

Have you tried tamanu oil?? I am using it now and starting to see great results. I got organic tamanu from mynaturalmarket.com

I have been using the tamanu oil about a week now and have already seen some awesome improvement, even with scars. You can use the oil straight and all you need is a tiny drop for your whole face (pea size or less). I mix it with my daily lotion so it’s not so “oily”!

Most essential oils will do the trick (to get rid of a big pimple fast). Organic lavender oil seems to work the best. Be sure to mix with a good quality carrier oil like jojoba. I also use Argan and Tamanu oils with success.

I have found that tamanu is amazing for breakouts.

I can calm my skin down by using tamanu oil, which another follower of yours recommended to me. I was very skeptic at first, thinking “not another oil I test on my face”. But so far it works great, better than anything I tried before, even better than Manuka honey and I don’t mind the bouillon scent!

What is Tamanu Oil & How Do I Use It?

Tamanu hails from the South Pacific… Vanuatu, Tahiti, Melanesia …where it is revered as totally sacred for its amazing ability to heal a wide variety of skin ailments.

The tamanu is a tropical tree that grows fruit similar to apples, and inside those fruits there are seeds, and within those seeds, there is magical tamanu oil!

Here’s an earful about it and how to use it according to things I’ve read:

  • The oil itself is dense, thick, dark greeny gold colour, and has a fairly strong scent. It’s high in oleic and linoleic acid which means it’s a nice balanced oil (click here to learn more about the make up of oils, their properties, and using them in your skin care).
  • Purportedly, the oil has anti-oxidant, antineuralgic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antibiotic and antioxidant properties. It also contains a number of specific lipids not typically found in other oils, including calophyllolide (stops inflammation), lactone (an antibiotic), and calophyllic acid (an uncommon type of fatty acid that particularly aids in healing acne).
  • You can use it straight all over your skin, but you might do best with it if your skin type is a balanced skin type. Some people have noticed that it contains some astringent properties, so it might be a bit too drying for someone with dry skin. And others have noticed that it’s quite thick and dense, so it might be too much for oily skin. (I might be wrong on these points – I’ve heard conflicting things, so I’d be interested to hear from people who have actually used it)
  • All skin types can definitely use tamanu oil all over their skin if it’s mixed with other oils suitable for your particular skin type. Click here for a fantastic article about how to find the right blend of oils for your acne prone skin.
  • Tamanu is great to use straight on your skin as a spot treatment. You can also use it straight on scars, scabs, and wounds to reduce healing time and scarring.
  • Great news for those of you suffering with acne scars. Tamanu is apparently, like, da BEST at something called cicatrization, which is the formation of new tissue. It helps your skin repair, restructure, and rehydrate. So I would imagine that a bit of tamanu oil mixed in with some MSM cream would probably be the most kick ass acne scar fighting duo that ever lived. Might help reduce signs of aging too (yeah, okay, I’ll just say it, they’re called wrinkles).
  • When applying, use as little as possible! You don’t want to drown your skin with oil, just enough to soak in easily and lightly hydrate it. So just a few drops, gently massaged in when your skin is either wet or dry.

To get a second, down-to -earth opinion on the matter, I asked my lovely, crazy knowledgeable, skin care encyclopaedia, Svea (author of this oils article), what she thought about tamanu and she says this:

Tamanu oil: I’ve never tried it myself, but it seems to be really great for acne, blisters, fungal skin infections (especially on feet and nails) and seems to reduce thick calluses. On the other hand, there appear to be only moderate treatment results for atopic dermatitis, allergy related skin redness, acne scars, age spots, hyper-pigmentation, insect bites, stings or herpes.

It might work great for some and not at all for others. I think, it hugely depends on your individual skin type. As you know, there is no all-over-miracle cure. I know, there is a lot of hype about that oil at the moment (it’s in fashion), but since I haven’t tried it yet (and haven’t seen others try it), I can’t say how many of its claimed praises are actually true. It’s definitely great to keep your skin moist and supple, but it might be too heavy for people with oily/combination skin and for people suffering from seborrhea or seborrheic dermatitis (too much oleic acid, which might aggravate the situation).

A plus point: it’s a very sun-stable oil that can be used as a day moisturizer in summer without risking any fresh hyper-pigmentation marks. 😉

How to Choose the Right Tamanu Oil

With any oil that you’re going to put on your skin, if you want to get the best results, you need to make sure you are getting the best quality oil!

This means that you want to make sure that it’s organic. And you want it to be both virgin (or unrefined), AND either cold pressed, or C02 extracted. Again, for more explanation on how to decipher oil “jargon” and marketing terms, what to look for, and how to get the best quality oil, read this article.

From doing a bit of researching and looking around, the following tamanu oils fit the bill if they are what the company says they are: California Academy of Health, Dr. Adorable, High Altitude Organics, Cebra, Alki Organix… and… yep. That was about all I could find.

And yes, as you can imagine, unfortunately, tamanu oil is a bit on the expensive side, but for the amount of tamanu fruit required to make just a little bit of oil, it HAS to be expensive if it’s pure and not cut with other cheaper oils. Besides – a little goes a very long way.

Chatting about Tamanu Oil with my Youtube Friends

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E_pIVD3laE

Have you used tamanu oil? If so, what is your skin type, and how do you use it in your skin care regimen?