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Aren’t we all in search of the miracle oil? In recent years, we discovered the benefits of argan oil, coconut oil, and charcoal, but there is a new oil on the skin care block, and it just might be that Do-it-all oil. With an endless amount of remedial benefits, we are talking about “prickly pear seed oil”, a highly moisturizing, nutrient packed skin-softening oil derived from a flowered cactus.
Prickly Pear Seed Oil is derived from the seeds of the Barbary Fig Cactus. Cactus Pear fruits contain up to 300 seeds. It takes over 1 million seeds (8 tons of the actual fruit) and over 3 days of manual labor to produce a single liter of oil. Not the most inexpensive oil on the market. This stuff can get a bit pricey, but the benefits of Prickly Pear Seed Oil outweighs all other skin care oils and serums with many benefits for your skin. Skincare products that feature an effective amount of Prickly Pear Seed Oil tend to be considered luxury.
It is native to the desert like Region of Southwestern Morocco, Sidi Ifni, which is known as Morocco’s’ cactus capital. It is also known as Opuntia or nopal, botanical name Opuntia Ficus Indica. But, while this is all interesting information, what does this mean for skincare and how is it made?
To make cactus seed oil, farmers first harvest the ripe ovoid cactus fruit which is slightly soft, 5 to 8 cm in length and has a green to reddish purple color. Today, Prickly Pear Seed Oil is produced in a similar way as it was done over 300 years ago. The process starts by painstakingly extracting by hand, the seeds found in the fruit which contains the reddish, greenish, yellowish sweet pulp which is full of black seeds. Each fruit can contain 20 to 50 small seeds. The people extracting the seeds must wear protective gloves as not to be harmed by the thorny exterior. After the seeds are extracted, the seeds go through a drying process and then cold pressed much like it was done many generations ago. Because the process of extracting the oil is such a laborious and time-consuming task, in Arabic the word for Prickly Pear cactus is “Subbar”, which means patience in English. Today, this process is performed by the Berber women of Morocco in co-ops that are run by women – much in the same way as Argan oil is extracted.
This seed oil contains amino acids for collagen production and Vitamin K which brightens hyperpigmentation like dark spots and under eye circles, and also great for skin conditions like acne and rosacea and may help stimulate collagen production. Prickly pear seed oil is high in fatty acids and the high linoleic acid content, roughly 62%, ensures that even the most dehydrated winter skin is enriched.
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