Sweet Almond Oil For Skin And Hair – My 12 Week Test To See If It Really Works

If I had a pound for every time I heard people talking about how they use sweet almond oil for skin and hair purposes, I’d be swimming in a serious amount of coins by now. And its not just sweet almond oil either, its coconut oil, argan oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, the list just goes on and on. But here’s the thing, do any of these oils actually work and if so, which ones work best on which areas?

I personally alternate between three different oils currently and they are sweet almond oil, coconut oil and argan oil but because I interchange them regularly, its very hard to distinguish how well each one is working individually and on what particular area. Because of this, I decided to do a little test, a 12-week test to be exact, where I would use only one oil on both my skin and hair for the entire 12-week period to see how well it worked all on its own. And for the first test, I decided to start with sweet almond oil.

Why Is Sweet Almond Oil So Popular For Skin And Hair

There are quite a few reasons why almond oil is so popular for both skin and hair care and the first one is that its high in vitamin E and fatty acids which make it a highly effective moisturiser. It also has antioxidant properties which means that it has protective qualities against UV damage which is great for both skin and hair.

It contains numerous minerals including Zinc which is extremely beneficial to our skin and hair as well as vitamin A which is well-known in the skincare world for it positive effects in the anti-aging department. It’s also said to be effective at removing scars, brightening skin complexion particularly around the eye area, reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles as well as many other benefits. You can read more about its full benefits and numerous uses here in a previous post dedicated to it.

How And Where I Used Sweet Almond Oil

I usually do a weekly treatment on my hair and seeing as my hair is already greased up anyway, I take that opportunity to slather my face in it while I’m there. This is one of the unfortunate downsides of using these types of oils on your face because its very hard to do so without causing some sort of greasy aftermath on your locks at the same time even when you’re trying your best not to. At least this way because I’m doing both anyway, there’s no need to worry about any unwanted greasy spread.

I usually start with my hair by applying an ample amount to the palm of my hands and running them through my hair from roots to tips. I also make sure that I massage it well into the scalp and to finish, I use a fine toothed comb to brush it through to ensure even distribution. I then apply an ample amount to my face and neck and then leave it on for at least a few hours before jumping in the shower to wash it all off.

Almond oil is actually very easy to rinse out, your normal shampoo and conditioner routine will remove it no problems and you shouldn’t be left with any greasy residue that you can sometimes get when using coconut oil. I find that most of the oil is removed from my face in the shower just from the hair washing routine alone but I also do my cleanse and tone routine after my shower so if any oil does remain, it will be removed at this stage. I find our water makes my skin quite dry so I always cleanse and tone after rather than before to counteract that issue.

How Well Did Sweet Almond Oil Work On My Skin

I have to say that for skin care purposes, almond oil was actually very effective in numerous ways. The first very noticeable difference is that dryness is very quickly alleviated and because of this, my skin looks a lot smoother and feels a lot softer than usual. Fine lines on my forehead, between my brows and all around the eye area look much less noticeable thanks to all the extra moisture. In fact, it was so effective that I started putting it on my feet at the same time to help treat dry, cracked feet and it worked a treat.

It’s also very effective at evening out skin tone and reducing the appearance of blemishes. My skin looked much clearer and brighter too especially around the under eye area. Almond oil is actually very popular for dealing with dark circles under the eyes and I have to say that I can totally understand why. The fact that my husband even commented about how well my skin looked and then proceeding to use it himself only solidified my thoughts on how effective it was for my skin.

I personally noticed that these effects on my skin lasted for about 3 days or so after the initial application and after that, the effects would start to disappear. Because of this, I’ve now started doing the skin part of this routine twice a week so that I can maintain the effects (on a hair washing day, of course). You could however do it more frequently if you wanted, that is if you’ve mastered the art of oiling your face without contaminating your hair with it at the same time or if you don’t mind washing your hair more often.

How Well Did Sweet Almond Oil Work On My Hair

So, here is where I got a little disappointed. Almond oil is renowned for its hair rejuvenating qualities and because of this I was expecting a lot from it here but unfortunately even after 12 weeks of use, I noticed very little difference from a hair point of view. I didn’t really notice any difference in thickness, length, strength or any other improvements for that matter. Shine wise, my hair was already pretty shiny due to fact that I normally use a leave in argan oil serum so, in theory, I guess it did at least maintain the same shine as my more expensive hair serum.

The one thing I didn’t do was try it overnight which is actually how I normally do my weekly hair treatments so maybe I haven’t given it a fair shot here. I just couldn’t face sleeping with a towel or shower cap on my head all night long during the already sticky summer months so I might give it a second shot over the winter to see if it improves the results and I’ll update this post either way whatever the outcome.

I did also attempt to use it on my eyelashes but I’m not gonna lie, I found this very difficult because no matter what way I tried to do this, I found that the oil would ultimately end up running into my eyes. This maybe because I was using too much of it or maybe I was applying it to close to the lash line, either way, it was a fail every time. I may try again though at some point in the future by applying it at bedtime and if I do see some positive results, I’ll be sure to share.

It Did Help One Area Of My Head

So this might be too much information and it may even gross some people out but there was thing that it did do when I applied to my hair and that was how it cleared up my dry scalp. To be honest, I didn’t even realise that I had this problem until after I came down from my shower after the very first time I did this treatment and discovered (gross bit coming) chunks of loose scalp sitting loosely at the roots of my hair and they were big chunks.

It was gross and very noticeable and I had to grab my fine toothed comb to try to brush them out of my hair. It was disgustingly and disturbingly satisfying removing these said chunks from my hair but this was the one and only time that this happened. In the very first treatment, it cleared up a dry scalp that I didn’t even realise I had and every week of oiling thereafter, my scalp was perfect so there’s one thing in the hair area that it was undeniably effective at.

So, What’s The Final Verdict

Well, unfortunately, it was a let down in the hair department which I am really surprised about considering how much people sing its praises for that particular use, again though, I will give it one more shot as an overnight treatment now that the nights are cooler to see if that makes any difference. Obviously, in the skin department, its extremely effective at dealing with dry skin whether that be on the face, the feet, the scalp or anywhere else on the body for matter.

It’s great for giving skin a smoother appearance and brightening and evening skin tone too so I’ll definitely continue to use it for skin purposes, unless that is, one of the other oils knocks it out of the park on the next 12-week test but until then, I’m more than happy with its results on the skin at least.

What do you think about almond oil? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it especially if you’ve used it as a hair treatment and even more so if you’ve had great results from it so please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences (good or bad) in the comments’ area below.

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