Here’s Why CBD Cosmetics are Sticking Around

Have you seen CBD cosmetics at your local store, and wondered what they offer? Well, CBD comes from Cannabis. And that’s a species of flowering plant, of which the Cannabis Sativa variety mainly provides us with CBD or cannabidiol.

Now, we can source CBD from marijuana or hemp plants within the sativa family. But we take CBD for cosmetics from the hemp plant, so it contains lower THC percentages. (That’s the psychoactive cannabis component.)  Remember, you can also extract CBD from marijuana plants, but then you’ll see higher values of THC and the highs associated with this drug. Instead, with hemp extract, you’ll enjoy cannabis benefits without legal worries or an altered state of mind. Plus, you’ll tap into years of plant-based benefits, which is why CBD cosmetics may be your new beauty staple!

History of CBD

For centuries, Asian countries used Cannabis Sativa for both its medicinal and psychoactive properties. (Plus, it was a great textile fiber source.)

But why does this plant hold so much power? Well it has to do with cannabinoids, its pharmacologically active compounds. Your body produces endocannabinoids, and they play important internal regulatory roles. At the same time, plants produce phyto-cannabinoids. (And we can reproduce those in laboratories.)

Now, CBD is just one of the 100 different cannabinoids, but it’s one of the most prominent Cannabis cannabinoids. And it’s linked to many therapeutic properties. Which is why CBD cosmetics could do more than just make you look your best.

CBD Cosmetics and Your Body

Our bodies have an endocannabinoid system, comprised of two receptors, CB1 and CB2. These are present in your skin, hair follicles and even your sweat glands. If you apply CBD to your skin with a cosmetic product, it can connect with these receptors, helping regulate certain skin processes.

Remember, your endocannabinoid system helps immune regulation, regulates cell growth, and decides inflammatory responses. So, any disruption could lead to skin diseases. But, with CBD in cosmetic products, you may help imanage skin problems like acne, dermatitis, eczema, and more.

Also, using CBD in cosmetic skincare may help moisturize your skin. It may improve the skin barrier, soothe your skin, control skin oils, or calm treating sensitive skin that’s prone to dermatitis. But before you get CBD in your beauty products, you must get it out of those cannabis plants.

Creating CBD Cosmetics

Producing CBD starts when you dry harvested hemp plants until their moisture levels reach 10 to 12 percent. You can do this naturally, with sunshine, or by using other mechanical means. Once the plant material is sufficiently dry, you can separate flowers from the leaves and stalks, as they contain a higher terpene and cannabinoid percentage.

At times, manufacturers grind parts of the plant to increase surface area and enhance CBD recovery. Now, the most common CBD extraction method uses ethanol extraction. The resulting crude oil has 60 to 70% CBD content, but it also contains fats and lipids that are not desirable. (They’ll be dealt with through winterization.)

But what is winterization? Well, in this process, we dissolve crude oil in food-grade alcohol, then freeze the mix to create solids. Next, we filter the mix through micron-sized machinery. After, we recover the ethanol or food based alcohol through rotary evaporators before exposing it to a high temperature for a fixed amount of time. (We call this part of the process decarboxylation.)

During this step, we remove the carbon from the cannabidiolic acid, producing CBD. We then use distillation is to raise CBD’s molecular purity to above 90%. Finally, if you’re creating CBD isolate, you’ll remove terpenes at lower distillation temperatures.

Clearly, CBD extraction is a complex process, which can be costly, too. For that reason, some companies may scrimp on production steps. And that’s why it’s to check all CBD products for a certificate of analysis. That’s the best way to ensure your product is legal and safe as a cosmetic additive.

Types of Cannabidiol

All CBD extracts, from isolates to full-spectrum products, are oil-soluble. That’s why you need to infuse them into cosmetic products at the oil phase of production.

As a result, your best CBD cosmetics involve oil creams, emulsions, serums, oils, lip balms and massage oils. Also, it’s best to add CBD at temperatures below 40 degrees Centigrade when the product is cooling. If you use CBD powder, add it along with other oils to the formulation.

Now, because CBD is associated with THC in cannabis plants, cannabidiol cosmetics are heavily regulated. The CBD oil must have less than 0.3 percent of THC. (Or contain no THC at all, as with a broad-spectrum or CBD isolate addition.) As you’ll soon see, that’s why certificates of analysis become important when you buy CBD formulations for cosmetics.

Also, depending on where you make or buy your products, the laws differ. European regulations require a transparent and traceable set of good management practices for any cosmetic products that include CBD. That’s why most CBD used in cosmetics comes from hemp.

Safe and Legal Beauty Boosters

There are also a lot of misconceptions regarding the use of CBD in cosmetic products, the primary one being, that they can cause you to become high. This is because of the association of CBD with cannabis THC and lack of understanding that CBD used in cosmetics is always that which carries a certificate of analysis that establishes the absence of THC. So, a cosmetic product containing CBD will not give you a day long high, if you use it before you leave home for work. It will, on the contrary improve your quality of life if you have serious skin problems and inflammation.

The safety of these products is often doubted, but manufacturers of these products carefully select all the ingredients that go in to their making and have the same standards as are there for organic food. Care is taken to see that they do not contain petroleum and animal products, artificial fragrances and colors, other synthetic chemicals, toxins or fillers. People also feel that CBD works best when it is ingested or inhaled. For removing all doubts it is best that care is taken to read the ingredients and their certificates, before you purchase any cosmetic that includes CBD as a part of formulation.

While the fact that ingesting CBD does have its benefits is widely accepted, that fact that it can benefit the skin is less known. CBD has healing properties outside the body as well, mainly due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties that help to remove blemishes, combat redness and dryness of the skin.