Meet Our Ingredients: Alkanet Oil

Welcome to the 13th edition of "Meet Our Ingredients". Each month we will showcase the ingredients we use in our products to keep you informed of what you are putting on your body, why it is so powerful, and how it works to give you amazing skin.

Hawaiian Healing Skin Care prides itself on using only natural and organic ingredients in each of our products. We don't include any chemicals or synthetic ingredients – only item coming directly from nature. We like to say nature knows what you need, so we are giving it to you in each amazing Hawaiian Healing Skin Care product.

This week’s showcased ingredient: Alkanet Oil

What is "Alkanet"?

Alkanet (Alkanna tinctorial) is the general name of several related plants in the borage family (Boraginaceae). The ingredient used in Hawaiian Healing Skin Care's moisturizing cream is derived from the dark red roots (with a blackish appearance which is external, blue-red inside, with a whitish core), and the upper and lower leaves, which are stalked and can grow up to six to eight inches in length.

Oil made with alkanet is an emollient that is soothing and softening to the skin.

All around the world, for centuries dating back to Greek medicine, alkanet oils have been used to heal a variety of skin conditions. “Hippocrates, the Greek physician reported that the A. tinctoria root can be used for the healing of various dermatological diseases, and the botanist Theophrastus [a Greek native, the successor to Aristotle] recorded that it could be utilized as a medicine and dye. Moreover, the Greek pharmacologist and physician Dioscorides also suggested A. tinctoria for the treatment of various dermatological diseases.”

In more recent history, alkanet oil has been helpful with:

skin fungi (such as phlegm, ringworm, and eczema)
improving nail health when used on the hands, as it is beneficial in preventing the cracking of nails and reducing inflammation. (Regular use of this oil along your nails/nail bed stops the nail from being irritated, sore, or infected
protecting the skin from any infection and reduces the inflammation
being widely used to treat burns since it has the natural ability of anti-inflammation (as well as a cooling sensation) to absorb the heat out of the skin
effective at soothing sunburns due to its cooling effect and absorption of heat
having antibacterial, antipruritic, astringent properties
used as an astringent
treating varicose veins, indolent ulcers, bedsores, and itching rashes
having properties to help heal as an antiseptic for skin diseases such as eczema, itching, and scabies

Interesting fact: Many years ago, French women also used alkanet powder as a form of temporary makeup.

Alkanet Oil is used in our most popular product, the Pure Revitalizing Cream, along with 18 other high-quality, all-natural and organic ingredients. Its many healing properties are most commonly used to help heal and protect the skin’s surface but are undoubtedly accommodating in repairing the most stubborn, and most times unsightly, skin conditions.

Hawaiian Healing Skin Care Products are FILLED with the finest natural and organic ingredients. Our glass and bamboo packaging help to support sustainability and are eco-friendly. By having some of the most luxurious ingredients sourced directly from the islands of Hawai’i, and all over the globe, Hawaiian Healing Skin Care is able to provide your skin with the best all-natural and organic skincare products available.