Guide to Sea Buckthorn Oil’s Research-Backed Health Benefits

This little berry is jam-packed with nutrients to deeply nourish your skin's health.

Rejoice: we’re living in the renaissance of natural beauty. For centuries before us, practitioners of traditional medicine relied on botanical ingredients to treat a range of health problems, both internal and external. Now we’re rediscovering many of these ancient secrets, and sea buckthorn oil is one of them. Why has sea buckthorn oil enjoyed so much popularity in natural and organic skin care products in recent years? Its cosmetic benefits have been well studied, and its value for internal health is still being researched as well.

What exactly is sea buckthorn oil?

Sea buckthorn oil is the oil that’s extracted from the seeds or fruit of sea buckthorns. Sea buckthorn is a shrub that’s found in China, Mongolia, Russia, and northern Europe. It produces a small bright orange berry, which is why sea buckthorn is also known as seaberry. They’re edible though extremely sour due to their high vitamin C content. That’s why they were usually used for medicine instead, and boast a 2000 year history in traditional Asian medicine. Additional research studies in recent years are backing up this impressive history with scientific evidence.

Sea buckthorn oil nutrients

1. Essential fatty acids

Sea buckthorn oil is incredibly rich in beneficial fatty acids. A whopping 70% of fatty acids in the berries are made up of linoleic and alpha-linoleic acids, which are the two essential fatty acids that your body can’t generate on its own and have a range of benefits for your whole body, especially skin and hair. That’s a big deal, given that potent sources of essential fatty acids are usually meats!

2. Fatty acids

That’s not to say that other kinds of fatty acids don’t have their own benefits. Sea buckthorn oil also contains a high amount of gamma-linolenic acid (also known as omega-6) that’s vital to skin health.

3. Vitamins

Sea buckthorn berries boast a lengthy resume of vitamin content. They mostly contain vitamin C (an amount that’s 15 times higher than what’s found in oranges!) and vitamin A, as well as vitamin E and complex B vitamins. For this reason, they were often applied topically on skin in Indian and Chinese traditions, as well as orally taken as a medicine.

4. Antioxidants

Antioxidants protect your body against free radical damage. Free radicals accumulate in your body from environmental damage over your life, and can damage cell DNA and lead to conditions like cancer. In addition to the vitamins listed above that have antioxidative properties on their own, sea buckthorn oil is also rich in other antioxidants naturally found in the plant.

Benefits of sea buckthorn oil for skin

Due to sea buckthorn’s high fatty acid content, it’s become a popular ingredient in skin care.

1. Fights wrinkles

Sea buckthorn oil is high in vitamin A, lending it regenerative and anti-wrinkle properties that make it a popular ingredient in anti-aging skin care products.

2. Protects against sun damage

As we mentioned above, sea buckthorn contains 15 times the amount of vitamin C as orange has. When applied to skin, vitamin C is able to protect against UV damage by neutralizing free radical damage. For that reason, sea buckthorn is able to protect skin against harmful UVA and UVB rays from the sun that cause signs of aging and skin cancer.

3. Reduces dark spots and hyperpigmentation

Vitamin C is also able to reduce hyperpigmentation when applied to skin. Dark spots and hyperpigmentation are typically caused by long term exposure to the sun and sun damage, as well as hormonal imbalances and acne.

4. Keeps skin moisturized

The fatty acid composition of sea buckthorn oil goes a long way in keeping skin balanced. The high linolic acid content of sea buckthorn oil helps to strengthen your skin barrier, protecting against moisture loss and helping to treat dry skin.

5. Reduces oily skin and acne

Linolic acid is actually naturally found in sebum too. Acne-prone skin is often low in linolic acid, and applying linolic acid can unclog pores and prevent breakouts.

6. Stimulates wound-healing

Sea buckthorn oil is able to stimulate wound healing by promoting the regeneration of new skin cells.

7. Promotes collagen production

Sea buckthorn oil promotes the synthesis of collagen, which is a vital skin protein that keeps skin firm, plump, and youthful-looking.

Best sea buckthorn oil beauty products

Sea buckthorn beauty products have well out-paced medicine and dietary supplements, because sea buckthorn oil’s benefits for skin have more substantial scientific evidence for them. If you’re eager to add this superstar ingredient to your life, we recommend starting with any of the products below. They use the purest forms of sea buckthorn oil, and are complemented by other natural ingredients for the best efficacy.

Seaberry Moisturizer from Puristry
USDA organic, cruelty-free, vegan, gluten-free
This moisturizer is a must-have for anyone looking to deeply repair or nourish their skin. It’s concentrated in organic sea buckthorn fruit oil that’s cold-pressed, meaning that it retains the maximum amount of benefits for your skin (we’re talking about over 50 different phytonutrients that boost your complexion). Apply it at least twice a day to help promote a more radiant complexion and minimize the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Muti-Vitamin + Antioxidants Potent PM Serum from 100% Pure
Cruelty-free, vegan, gluten-free
Who said anti-aging routines need to be a bore? This innovative and luxurious face serum makes your daily skin care regimen more of a pamper treatment. In addition to restorative sea buckthorn oil, it also contains niacinamide that encourages skin plumpness, CoQ10 that fights sun damage, and vegetarian retinol that reduces fine lines and wrinkles. This formula is potent but still gentle enough to use even around your eyes.

Siesta Sunset from SanRe Organic Skinfood
USDA organic, cruelty-free, gluten-free
Fighting dry, stressed, or more mature skin? This skin treatment deeply soothes and softens skin without clogging pores. That’s thanks to the sea buckthorn oil that’s also wonderfully compatible with skin. This organic moisturizer also boasts a generous amount of avocado oil that deeply penetrates skin with vitamins to help heal sun damage, scars, and other signs of aging.

Vitality Elixir from Mahalo Skin Care
Cruelty-free
The sea buckthorn oil in this serum is also supported by other superstar plant ingredients such as black cumin seed and chia seed that deeply hydrate and soothe skin. It includes other anti-aging goodies such as CoQ10 and astaxanthin that help to treat existing and further damage to skin. With so many potent ingredients, it’s easy to understand the reason behind the name of this serum.

Apricot Body Oil from Eminence Organics
Cruelty-free
Sea buckthorn is too powerful of a skin care gem to limit to just your face. That’s why Eminence Organics created this body oil that features sea buckthorn oil for full body nourishing and moisturizing. It’s complemented by other antioxidant-rich oils such as apricot, jojoba, and pomegranate oil. Just warm in your hands and massage your body anywhere you want to hydrate, smooth, soften, or firm.

Sea Algae Serum from Evan Healy
Cruelty-free
Starting to see a trend here? Yup, sea buckthorn oil is typically found in face moisturizers or serums that are targeted to treat more mature and dry skin. But that’s not to say it’s too heavy of a treatment. This face serum actually feels wonderfully light and silky on skin, even when packed with so many skin care goodies like hyaluronic acid, green tea extract, seaweed extract, and more nourishing botanicals.

Sea Buckthorn Oil from Aubrey Organics
USDA organic, cruelty-free, vegan, gluten-free
Are you a skin care veteran who prefers to customize and DIY some parts of your beauty routine? You might want sea buckthorn oil straight-up to use on problem skin. This sea buckthorn seed oil has been obtained through CO2 extraction, when ensures a more pure and clean process as opposed to chemical solvent extraction. It’s friendly to use on all skin types and ages, and is quickly absorbed without feelings of greasiness.

Additional health benefits of sea buckthorn oil

The beneficial effects of sea buckthorn don’t just stop at the skin. Additional research is been done focusing on sea buckthorn’s ability to lower high blood pressure, blood sugar, treat tumors, ulcers, diabetes, and cancer. Sea buckthorn oil certainly ranks highly among all the natural remedies out there. As with all potent ingredients and if you’re choosing to go the dietary supplement route, remember to consult a health care professional first. Who knows what other wondrous benefits of sea buckthorn we’ll continue to uncover!