You guys might not have noticed this, but we have a hidden gem who comments here at Crunchy Betty.
Her name is Susan.
She’s a chemist and, originally, I was so very paranoid that she was going to start telling me how wrong I was about everything I was writing. Quite to the contrary! She’s a champion of safe beauty products, and most of all, homemade goodies.
Well, recently she sent me a little post about her curiosity about vitamin E and why it’s so great for our skin. It’s full of all kinds of technical (but fun! I promise!) information that certainly helped me understand a little better.
So I offer her enlightening post here for you, along with a really great conversation we had later about using vitamin E as a preservative.
To wit: I won’t make a homemade lip balm without vitamin E as an ingredient. And tomorrow (I even have the post written already!) I’ll give you three of my favorite homemade lip balm recipes (complete with vitamin E). Friday, good-hair-day-willing, I’m planning on doing a video tutorial/experiment with a recipe I just found for remedial-easy lip balm (um, using chocolate chips, people).
So learn about the E now, so you know what it’ll do for you later! Susan … take it away!
The Crunchy Chemist’s Take on Vitamin E Oil
Recently I began using Vitamin E oil for a moisturizer, and I fell in love. It is absolutely wonderful. Right after a shower, I slather it on, and my skin has never looked better.
Except maybe when I was two. I was just radiant then.
Being the science person I am, I wondered what exactly is vitamin E oil? I know what vitamin E is (tocopherols, tocotrienols, and all their different forms), but I knew it couldn’t be just straight vitamin E and be that lovely golden color. Straight vitamin E is thick and reddish brown. Why do I know this? I am a chemist!
Currently I work as an analytical chemist for an edible oils company. Just to explain, edible oils just means all the oils that you cook and make food with (I have had to explain to people that no, I do not work with sexy oils).
Here is a little chemistry lesson on why Vitamin E oil is wonderful and what it is made up of.
It turns out the Vitamin E oil that I had purchased is 5000 IU (1 IU vitamin E = 0.667 mg) vitamin E in a mixture of almond, apricot, avocado, and wheat germ oils. Those oils alone are making my skin look great.
So What Exactly IS Vitamin E?
Vitamin E is a collective term for α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocopherols as well as α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocotrienols. Most often, at least what I see on labels, is α-tocopherol added into not only cosmetic but food products. It is also labeled as α-tocopherol acetate and sometimes other forms too.
So now you know if you see the word tocopherol on a label, don’t worry it’s just vitamin E!
Now why is vitamin E so great? We all know that it is a great antioxidant. But why? We know the buzz words when it comes to antioxidants like free radical scavenging, but there are a lot of processes that come into play when talking about oxidation of body tissues. Without going into too much detail, the functional groups and double bonds of vitamin E love to get the other compounds that can cause oxidation of different body tissues.
It also takes the compounds that have been oxidized by sunlight and can stop the rapid succession of oxidation that can take place. (Which can also lead to wrinkles!)
So there is a little chemistry lesson on the joys of vitamin E. Do I think that it is a cure-all and will keep my skin in its mid-20s state forever? Of course not. But it can help.
What will do the most good? Limiting exposure to the sun and other things that cause oxidation in the first place. I took a photochemistry class and now I am terrified of the sun and putting a lot of things besides copious amounts of clothing on my body. But that is for another time…
The Crunchy Chemist Answers a Pressing Vitamin E Question
After Susan sent this post to me (which also happened to be just about the same time I started having my little depressionary (I made that word up) breakdown), I started pondering why it was that more cosmetic companies don’t use vitamin E as a preservative instead of the questionable synthetics they do. Here’s what transpired.
From: [email protected]
Hi, Susan!
Doesn’t vitamin E have preservative properties? If so, what’s the stability of vitamin E as opposed to things like parabens and phenoxythenol?
I guess my gist is this: Why do companies feel the need to use potentially dangerous preservatives over some of the less sketchy ones?
Is vitamin E not a viable preservative choice? Am I just reaching here?
Her Patient Answer:
This is a question that many companies are trying to answer themselves. The bottom line comes down to this…how good the preservative is and how expensive it is. In my industry, vitamin E (usually marketed by the companies that sell it as mixed tocopherols) is being investigated by many companies as an alternative to synthetic antioxidants.
There are some other antioxidants out there that are extracts from plants like rosemary and oregano too that have antioxidant properties. But, the people who are purchasing the product want there to be no difference in shelf life between the synthetic and natural versions. So, companies have to test the levels that are needed to get the same effect. To test shelf life, there are myriad industry wide standard tests that are used (that is my area of expertise).
As you probably know, natural products sometimes require a price premium, and not all consumers are willing to eat that upcharge. Most companies aren’t going to add a natural antioxidant just because it is the right thing to do; they are a company and companies are generally there to make some sort of profit. That is why there is a niche sector of natural products; not everyone is willing to pay more if that is what it means to have natural.
Big Thanks to the Crunchy Chemist!
I gotta be honest here, I don’t think I would’ve made it through my little breakdown moment if it hadn’t been for Susan’s emails. It reminded me that we’re all in this together – impassioned bloggers and scientists alike.
She was kinda my “link” to the other side, which helped me remember that this isn’t a fight – it’s a collaboration. And maybe it won’t all happen immediately (like I want it to dangit!), but it’s happening. We’re getting back to the goodness. We’re reassessing – the industry and the family – what’s important to us, our health, and our happiness.
So thank you, Susan!
SO much!
You guys? Thank her too! Especially if you enjoyed this little lesson.
‘Cause if you did, I’ll be grilling her a LOT more via email and posting more informative tidbits here.
(Good news, right, Susan?)
I’ve heard that JASON brand has been bought out and the new Vitamin E Oil coming out of the company is synthetic. Do you have another brand you would pretty please recommend?? I’ve scoured the internet only to determine I have no idea what I’m doing .Thanks a million!
Hi, I liked this article a lot. I have aquestion however. I have switched to a gluten-free diet and I have read from other celiacs and gluten-intolerant folks that tocopherols that are sourced from wheat germ can cause bad skin reactions for people sensitive to wheat. I was wondeirng if you know how a person could find vitamin e for some of these homemade lotion recipes that is not sourced from wheat products, or if there is an alternative with similar preserving properties. Thanks so much.
Great article!! My doctor just put me on a new skin care regime that includes only an electric exfoliator brush, vitamin E, and cetaphil. I have kind of a funny question for you: I stopped eating foods with “mixed tocopherols” in them awhile ago because I kept noticing that my throat would get tight and itchy and my asthma would get bad. Sure enough every time I would look at the food’s packaging, there were mixed tocopherols in it. Logic tells me this is ridiculous, it is just Vitamin E!! But do you think it’s possible for people to have an allergic type reaction to mixed tocopherols? I even used a lip gloss a few weeks ago that made me feel “not right.” After reading the ingredients and seeing “mixed tocopherols” yet again, I felt even more sure that they are a problem for me. What are your thoughts? Thanks!
Great article!! My doctor just put me on a new skin care regime that includes only an electric exfoliator brush, vitamin E, and cetaphil. I have kind of a funny question for you: I stopped eating foods with “mixed tocopherols” in them awhile ago because I kept noticing that my throat would get tight and itchy and my asthma would get bad. Sure enough every time I would look at the food’s packaging, there were mixed tocopherols in it. Logic tells me this is ridiculous, it is just Vitamin E!! But do you think it’s possible for people to have an allergic type reaction to mixed tocopherols? I even used a lip gloss a few weeks ago that made me feel “not right.” After reading the ingredients and seeing “mixed tocopherols” yet again, I felt even more sure that they are a problem for me. What are your thoughts? Thanks!
I’m using this info for a lip balm-making activity to introduce lipids at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago (MSI)! Thank you!
Thanks for the science lesson!
Hi all, I’m always referring to this blog for information for natural beauty and hair methods! I *love* it!! I just bought some vitamin E oil from Trader Joe’s, but as someone mentioned below, it has soybean oil in it. Is this bad? Does it cause the vitamin E to not be as effective? Should I switch to JASON, or some other brand?
I love Vit E oil as a preservative (and extra moisture) when making balms. I have also used it on cuts and burns because it seems to soften and heal damaged skin so well, but hadn’t thought to use it as an eye cream. Thanks for the tip and the science lesson!
Better living through chemistry! Great post…I learned a lot! Thanks for all the great info. Used to use it in the past… gonna get some more soon and start using it again.
I’ve had a recent acne breakout (neverending adult acne!) and have turned to tamanu oil and neem oil mixed with a bit of vitamin e. tamanu and neem are such powerful anti-acne natural treatments that i thought about leaving out vitamin e, until… i read your post today. had no idea I was already using all the other oils i wanted to try! big thanks to you and the crunchy chemist.
Where do you get the neem oil? I use a neem based spray sometimes on my garden to keep away pests. Also, in what ratio do you use the tamanu, neem, and vitamin e? I’ve been using tamanu for about a month and I’m loving it, but I’m definitely getting some wrinkles these days and I want to start really working on them.
Awesome! You have the best research! Thanks for always going the extra mile to get us the real information. By the way…you are under the spotlight on my blog today…complete with the linky-love:)
Aw. Yay! Going to read it now!
Thank you so much. You’re soooooo fantastically crunchy.
Love vit. E oil too! I’ve been using Trader Joe’s brand for about a month now – but it has soybean oil in it and I’m probably not going to use it again. Does Susan mind telling us what brand she is using? The oils she mentioned along with the vit. E are the exact ones I’d be interested in using.
I have been using the JASON Natural Cosmetics brand. I looked at a few other brands and some do use soybean oil as the carrier oil. I noticed another brand that used rosemary extract in it. Like I said above, this is being used more often as an antioxidant in oils, not so much for the consumer’s benefit, but for protection of the oils. Liquid oils, because of their structure, are susceptible to oxidation, so they need protection too. This helps to extend their shelf life. So here is another bit of advice…when using oils to make beauty products, be careful of how much and where you store oils. I try to only keep enough oil out of the shelf that I may use in a month or less. If you want to buy larger quantities of oil because it is cheaper, I would recommend freezing or refrigerating the oil if possible. (not only vitamin E oil, but any liquid oils that you may be using) I can get a gallon of olive oil at a time for a very low price, but I don’t let it sit out because I won’t use that much in a reasonable amount of time. I divide it, and when I am ready to use it, I just let it come to room temperature.
And thanks for the compliments so far…I just love sharing what I know. Chemistry definitely gets a bad name sometimes, but I think that it just helps me to make better decisions in the world I live in.
Very cool; I have worried when seeing “tocopherol” on the ingredients list — quick question — any suggestions on how to purchase Vitamin E to use on the skin? I’ve heard of people buying the actual vitamins and puncturing a hole in it to release the oils; I’ve done this, but the oil that comes out tends to be pretty sticky. Any insight on how to get this stuff on the skin would be terrific, thanks!
Side note, I am 27 and have started to get slight lines around my eyes; I’ve been using avocado oil on my skin, morning and night, and there has been a dramatic difference — my mother-in-law, in her 50’s started using coconut oil, and all of her coworkers are clambering to find out what she is using (this is a woman who used to shell out for La Mer) — thank you so much!!
Actually, I have vitamin E oil that comes in a bottle … and I have the capsules.
Either way, it’s pretty sticky. However, the stickiness goes away after about 10-20 minutes as it sinks in. I use it often on the backs of my hands at night (when I start being afraid they’re going to turn old and crepe-y). I also use it every single night around my eyes to help keep the wrinkles at bay.
Finding a small bottle of vitamin E oil is VERY preferable to using those capsules all the time. Not only is it time-consuming, but it can also be super messy. (And you end up with more of it all over your fingers than wherever it is you want it to go.)
Thanks for the tip on the avocado oil! And I’ve heard a few people say coconut oil has done wonders for their face (though I’ve also heard younger people say it makes them break out). You’ve so inspired me to do more research into it.
Susan you are giving a good name to chemists everywhere! Great info. I, too, am loving the vitamin E as a moisturizer. Crunchy beautifu.
Are you still using it under your eyes at night? I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t go without it at night, or my face feels naked.
Best part: I haven’t seen any new wrinkles since I started using it.
Eternal youth … here we come. Sorta.
Well done! Okay another thing I need to purchase! I had been eyeing up some Vitamin-E for a while but was not sure if it was necessary. Thank you for this information, and thank you Susan! You two definitely need to keep in touch 🙂
Can’t wait for those recipes <3
Vitamin E oil is actually my go-to for “eye” moisturizing during the nighttime. But sometimes when my hands are a little dry, I’ll slather it on and then wear gloves at night.
Fixes ’em up immediately.
It’s also great to put on scratches after they’ve scabbed over a little – helps everything heal super fast.
Ah, yes. You should definitely get some.