Alchemist's Guide to Oils: Not all Elixirs Are Created Equal

In the ancient world, the role of oil in skin care was well known. In the Odyssey, Homer referred to oil as 'liquid gold' and Hippocrates (father of western medicine) called it 'the great healer' (Clodoveo et al., 2014). The ancient Egyptians used cleansing creams made from animal fat and vegetable oil, and they commonly used oils and creams for protection against the harsh desert elements (McMullen & Dell'Acqua, 2023). Skin produces natural oils, called sebum, to promote skin homeostasis, involving maintenance of skin hydration and antimicrobial defense (Li et al., 2025).

While applying oil directly to skin is not the best way to get its benefits, in the modern world, we have gone completely the other way using harsh detergents in the form of liquid soaps and even in shampoo/body bars that strip our skin of its natural oils causing erythema, scaling, and inflammation as early as the same day of use (Malewicz-Oeck et al., 2024). Fueled by our relatively newfound knowledge of the germ theory of disease we spent decades scrubbing it away with harsh detergents, only to find our skin angry and unbalanced (Carlsson & Raberg, 2024).

The truth is, your skin and hair love oil. It just needs the right type and amount of oil for the right type of skin with a cleansing regimen that does not just wash it all away.

The Chemistry of the Cleanse

At Potionologie, we don't look at "oils"; we look at Fatty Acid Profiles. For example, unsaturated short chain fatty acids are able to penetrate and therefore hydrate hair more readily than saturated long chain fatty acids, which are more likely to sit on top causing buildup (Marsh et al., 2024).

This distinction matters enormously. Two oils that look identical in a bottle can behave completely differently on your skin and hair depending on their fatty acid composition. Coconut oil, rich in lauric acid (a medium-chain saturated fatty acid), is one of the only oils demonstrated to actually penetrate the hair shaft and reduce protein loss, both as a pre-wash and post-wash treatment (Rele & Mohile, 2003). The penetration profile varies further depending on hair damage status; damaged hair absorbs coconut, avocado, and argan oils at different rates and depths (Lourenço et al., 2024). Meanwhile, mineral oil simply coats the surface without providing structural benefit (Rele & Mohile, 2003).

From a skincare perspective, the picture is equally nuanced. A comprehensive review of topical plant oils found that different oils exert markedly different effects: some accelerate barrier repair and reduce inflammation, while others can actually impair barrier function depending on their oleic-to-linoleic acid ratio (Lin et al., 2018).

The Oleic-Linoleic Balance

Perhaps no single insight in cosmetic chemistry is as practically useful as the oleic acid vs. linoleic acid distinction, especially for those with acne-prone or oily skin.

Linoleic acid (C18:2, omega-6) is the most abundant polyunsaturated fatty acid in healthy skin, where it plays a critical structural role: it is incorporated into ceramides, the lipid molecules that form the mortar between skin cells in the stratum corneum (IJMS, 2025). When linoleic acid levels are insufficient, ceramide production is disrupted, contributing to barrier dysfunction and the follicular hyperkeratinization that drives comedone formation (Ottaviani et al., 2010). Research has shown that acne patients consistently have lower levels of linoleic acid in their skin surface lipids, and topical application of linoleic acid achieved a nearly 25% reduction in microcomedone size over just one month (Letawe et al., 1998).

Oleic acid (C18:1, omega-9), by contrast, is a monounsaturated fatty acid abundant in olive oil, avocado oil, and many nut oils. While oleic acid has documented anti-inflammatory properties and contributes to skin softening, in high concentrations it can disrupt the lipid barrier and is associated with increased transepidermal water loss (TEWL) in some individuals (Jiang et al., 1998; Lin et al., 2018).

This is why oil selection is not one-size-fits-all. An oil high in oleic acid may be deeply nourishing for dry, mature skin but comedogenic for acne-prone skin. Conversely, oils with a high linoleic acid content, such as rosehip seed oil, hemp seed oil, and grapeseed oil, tend to be better tolerated by oily and breakout-prone skin types because they support rather than disrupt the skin's natural ceramide production.

The Skin Barrier: Ceramides and the Lipid Matrix

Understanding why fatty acid profiles matter requires a brief look at skin architecture. The outermost layer of skin, the stratum corneum, is often described using the "brick and mortar" model: corneocytes (the bricks) are held together by multilamellar lipid membranes (the mortar) composed of ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids in a roughly equimolar ratio (Tončić et al., 2019). Linoleic acid is esterified at a critical position within acylceramides, and these specialized ceramides are essential for the formation of the lipid lamellae that maintain barrier integrity (Miyamoto et al., 2023).

When this barrier is compromised, whether by harsh cleansing, environmental stress, or underlying conditions like atopic dermatitis, the result is increased water loss, irritation, and susceptibility to microbial invasion (Yokose et al., 2021). Research has shown that ceramide-containing emollients can significantly increase total ceramides, free fatty acids, and cholesterol in the stratum corneum, helping to restore barrier function (Monika et al., 2024).

This is precisely why the cleansing step matters so much. Traditional soaps, produced through saponification of fats with alkali, create a high-pH product that can disrupt the skin's acid mantle. Studies measuring skin pH after natural soap use found significant increases that persisted for up to 30 minutes, potentially reducing the skin's natural buffering capacity (Obaid et al., 2025). Replacing harsh anionic surfactants like sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) with milder alternatives has been shown to better preserve skin's biological properties, including its lipid barrier (Wasilewski et al., 2022).

Sebum: Your Skin's Own Elixir

Your skin is already producing its own oil blend, and it is more sophisticated than anything in a bottle. Sebum is a complex mixture of triglycerides, wax esters, squalene, and free fatty acids, and its composition plays a key role in skin homeostasis, hydration regulation, and antimicrobial defense (Li et al., 2025).

This is what makes jojoba oil uniquely interesting in formulation. Jojoba is technically not an oil at all; it is a liquid wax ester, composed of nearly 98% pure waxes that are structurally similar to human sebum. This similarity gives jojoba a smoothing and balancing effect on the skin without the occlusive heaviness of true oils, and it has demonstrated antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-acne properties (Al-Obaidi et al., 2021).

Squalane, the hydrogenated (and therefore shelf-stable) form of squalene, is another sebum-mimetic ingredient with impressive credentials. Originally derived from shark liver oil but now commonly sourced from olives and sugarcane, squalane has been shown to counteract UV-induced inhibition of collagen biosynthesis and demonstrate anti-inflammatory activity by modulating NF-κB and COX-2 expression pathways (Parafiniuk et al., 2025). It also participates in the oxidative-inflammatory modulation of skin lipid metabolism, offering protection alongside oleic and linoleic acids (Ferreri et al., 2025).

The Potionologie Approach

At Potionologie, every formulation begins with the fatty acid profile. We select oils not by marketing appeal or trend, but by their specific chain length, saturation, and functional role in the formula. A hair oil is built differently than a facial serum because the target substrate is different: hair requires penetrating agents like lauric acid-rich coconut oil, while facial formulations for acne-prone skin call for linoleic acid-dominant oils that support ceramide synthesis without disrupting sebaceous balance.

We pair our oil selections with gentle, pH-appropriate cleansing systems that preserve rather than strip the lipid barrier, because even the most carefully chosen treatment oils cannot compensate for a cleansing regimen that dismantles the skin's architecture twice a day.

The ancient alchemists understood something that modern science has only recently confirmed: oil is not the enemy of clean skin. It is the foundation of healthy skin. The art is in knowing which oils, in what ratios, for which purpose.

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References

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