Why Hemp Lotion?

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Hempz Herbal Moisturizer, 17-Fluid Ounce (500 ml) (Package may vary)

Retail Price: $22.00

Amazon Price: $7.50

There’s a new lotion that seems to be getting quite popular, that is Hemp Lotion. The benefits of hemp lotions seem to be that it helps hydrate the skin much faster than traditional oils and or lotions. The mainstream products that seem to be incorporating this new oil the most is in the area of hemp tanning lotions. Let’s take a look at exactly what is in Hemp Oil.

Andrew Weil, M.D. in his article Therapeutic Hemp Oil, breaks down the therapeutic benefits of hemp oil but mainly touches on the nutritional needs. The oil from hemp is 57% Linoleic and 19% linolenic acids. Whatever that means, but apparently it “matches our nutritional needs” in regards to our fatty acids. Additional resources around will tell you that it contains an ideal “three to one” ration of the essential fatty acids omega-6 and omega-3. Wow, that’s great! But I’m not planning on drinking a nice big bottle of hemp body lotion. So what does it do for our skin? Let’s see what we can find on that.

A quick search around the internet will bring up tons of results on how great hemp lotion or hemp hand lotion is for the skin, just read many reviews on Amazon and their hemp products, but as far as I can find, there’s little hard evidence on this fact. One source simply has a bulleted list of the benefits of hemp oil and one among the eight is that it may “reduce & treat dry skin and hair conditions.” That sure doesn’t tell me much. All the resources I’ve found simply throw out all these percentage and things about how great hemp oil is and general information like “adequate supply of antioxidants” and lists a bunch of things like magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and  “modest amounts of iron and zinc” (just for good measure). Ok, so hemp oil sounds like it has a lot of good stuff, but we really don’t know still what it can do (when added to lotion) to benefit the skin. Other than everyone saying it hydrates the skin faster. There is reason to believe that increasing your fatty acid intake (as prescribed or suggested according to a doctor or nutritionist) can help your skins elasticity and color, but that’s when taken orally. One site, (which also sales hemp oil) states that:

Hemp Oil is the only oil of its kind that helps soothe skin irritation and dryness! If you suffer from: Eczema, Psoriasis, Skin cracking, scaling or sagging, Chapped lips, Dry hair

Wow, sounds pretty good to me; but where’s the evidence? Well, like many other products that are sold promoting something, there’s not much medical evidence, just a bunch of suggestions. But with that said, hemp oil is natural and we really don’t see where it would be harmful. Honestly, I would rather put on a lotion that I knew one of the major ingredients was natural.

My wife and I tan quite a bit before we go on vacation every six months, plus we own a pool so we like to get a good looking tan in the summer months as well. We do often use hemp tanning lotions but honestly, neither my wife nor I can really tell the difference from traditional tanning lotions. Realistically, you’re drying your skin out by tanning so any lotion is going to make it feel and probably look better. There are tons of reports on the internet also about how “hemp saved my skin” and so on, so it’s hard to really know the benefits.

With all this information and no pure evidence that hemp lotion can actually hydrate the skin faster (at least not that we could find easily), it still seems to be fairly popular. In all honestly, I have used and will continue to us it. Maybe this summer we’ll try a more detailed case study using different types of lotions. Or maybe not…

Hemp lotion in our opinion is just another part of the whole naturalist’s band wagon and the entire craze with hemp products. Don’t get us wrong, we believe in products containing natural ingredients, but we’re not convinced it’s any better than other hand or body lotion products. With that said, if I had my choice between a non-hemp product and hemp product… hmmm, I’d probably go with a hemp product; all things being equal like price.

After all is said and the information is in, there’s no concrete evidence (that we found) that would suggest lotion containing hemp oil is any great skin care breakthrough. However, with the natural craze, we think its here to stay and when it comes down to it, we have and will continue to use it. So if your thinking about hemp lotion, check out the many great products offered on Amazon.



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