How to use oats in cosmetics and how oats works in skin care

Is there any other other natural cosmetic ingredients like oats (Avena sativa)? Using oats is now very topical, as it fits in a dry spring in Finland, in the winter your skin as a protective and curative ingredient.

Oats are a discovered now also the rest of the world. It is used today, superior health product all over the world, including in Asia.

There are very many uses of oats in organic cosmetics. It is an incredibly versatile raw material. Oats has very many good features. It is a very gentle and suitable for most people including children and older people.

I’ll tell you how yo use oats in cosmetics and how it works in skin care

Why it’s good to treat your skin with oats and how oats affect the skin?

Did you know that oat was first medicinal plant? Old times in Egypt oat was used successfully in treatments of skin problems.

Oats have been used to treat the skin already 2000 years BC. in ancient Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula

It was already 4000 years ago. At the time it was a natural oat. Today oat is hybrid cultivated in fields. Oats were used not only for the skin beauty and protection of the skin from the sun. Oats were also used to treat skin disorders such as skin itching and eczema. Already 4000 years ago were eczema sufferers, for whom oat was an important medicinal plant.

Oats have been used, externally at the beginning of the 20^th century as sun protection as well as skin care. Unfortunately, together with the rise of synthetic cosmetics the good features of oats were forgotten.

Oat is grown all over the world

The biggest producer of oat in the world is European Union. Other major oat producers are Russia and North America. In Finland Oats porridge is popular food, that has been entrusted for centuries.

In Central Europe, new hybrids of oats are grown in Germany but in France there is almost no oats as well as in Spain and in Italy.

Plant breeding has been used to develop new varieties of oats. 100 years ago, oats looked like totally different than new hybrids now. In the old days oat grains were dark brown, almost black. Modern oats are golden yellow, or very light in color. The quality of oats may have changed over the years.

Oat is a superior product

Oat contain herbal extracts and phytochemicals. The active ingredients of oat have been studied very much. The use of oat in skin care has been of interest to researchers and for good reason.

Oat is particularly gentle on the skin

Oat contain fat as well as carbohydrates. Fat of oat is very gentle to skin. Carbohydrates of oat treat skin and smooth out the lines.

Oats protein content is unique. Oat gluten contains special protein. Oat proteins are different than proteins in other grains.  Most other grains are rich in gluten, known allergen and the source of the hypersensitivity.

Problems are caused by gluten containing protein

People who are sensitive to gluten can also get symptoms externally when using oat products on skin.  Oats may include remains of gluten from wheat, barley or rye if it is grounded in the same mill. If you are sensitive to gluten you can use oat if it is grounded in separately from other cereals. Such oats are sold as “gluten-free oats”. In reality, there is no such thing as “gluten-free oats”. Oat has also gluten but it’s different from gluten than other grains. Also, oat does not contain much gluten.

Oats contains valuable phytochemicals

Oats have been studied around the world because of its very strong health effects. Oats have been found to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

During the extensive research scientists have also found other interesting things. They have found oat ingredients that help particularly  soothing the skin and itching.  Oats are useful for skin. It can be used both externally and internally.

Oats in skin care works very well. It is designed to promote skin well-being.

Why oats are so good for the skin

Oats have been studied recently because it is so good for the skin. North American researchers have been particularly interested. The antioxidant properties of oats have been extensively studied in the University of Minnesota. Several other universities in the United States have also joined and analyzed the health effects of oats.

Oats has also been studied in Finland but mostly because of cardiovascular disease prevention.

Herbal therapists and folk heelers have always been aware of effects of oats. They know that oats soothe the skin and prevent inflammation. Now there is also scientific evidence to support this old information.

Let’s see, why the use of oat in skin care is so overwhelming.

Oat fats

Oats contain plenty of fats. About 10% of the oats is fat. Only corn is fatter than oats. Fats make oats very gentle on the skin.

Oat carbohydrates

Oats contain long-chain carbohydrate called a beta-glucan. Beta-glucan has been popular phytochemical for skin care.  It has arrived from Korea. It is incredible that the Koreans have used oats for skin care. In Korea beta-glucan is produced from fungi as well.

• The benefits of beta-glucan for skin care are based on its ability to form a thin film on the skin. The film protects the skin from external effects such as UV light, air pollution and mechanical irritation.
• Beta-glucan keeps the skin moisturized. Skin does not dry easily in wind and dry air. Korean people prefer to use beta-glucan as hyaluronic acid. They consider beta-glucan to be a most effective moisturizer.
• Beta-glucan also inhibits bacteria. The antibacterial property is due to the thin film of beta-glucan.
• Beta-glucans are prebiotic on the skin. Beta-glucan nourishes the natural bacterial strain of skin. The bacterial strain of the skin can be well balanced with beta-glucan.
• Beta-glucan is able to penetrate deep into the skin even though the size of the beta-glucan molecule is large. In this way beta-glucan destroys the small lines of the skin.
• Beta-glucan is expected to lower cholesterol if consumed internally

Oats proteins

The particularly high protein content of oats gives us more opportunities to use oats for skin and hair care. Oats have more proteins than any other grain.

Oat gluten contains prolamine protein called avenine. Avenine does not irritate the celiac gut in the same way as wheat gliadin. In addition, the oat avenine content is very low. Therefore, oats can also be used by persons who are sensitive to other grain.

Oats contain a lot of proteins such as globulines and also similar protein than in legume family plants are found. Sensitive individuals can sometimes also have symptoms of hypersensitivity in oats. This you should take into account when selecting ingredients for cosmetics.

Oat phytochemicals

Oat contain many plant chemicals that have a positive effect on the skin.

Important compounds in oats are plant sterols, tocopherols, phenolic acids and group of  aventhramides. Aventhramides . Researchers have found this compound to find out why oats are so good for the skin.

I want to tell you more about aventhramides (acid amide). It’s a group of alkaloids. Aventhramides has been specifically studied in the United States.

1n 2003, the US Food an Drug Administration (FDA) approved colloidal oat (very fine oat dust) for sun protection. The decision was based on extensive research on aventhramides. It was found to protect the skin from the sun. It is incredible that the ancient Egyptians knew this already 4,000 years ago.

Other skin support properties were also found in aventhramides

It was found to significantly reduce skin irritation and soothe the skin. In the same studies aventhramides contained in oats were also found to have a positive effect on food. Aventhramides reduced inflammation and allergies.

Aventhramides contained in oats were found to eliminate itching in the studies

The effect of the of aventhramides on itching was compared to that of steroids. It already tells a lot about how effective a compound is.

However, it should be remembered that these studies were performed with a strong, up to 80% aventhramide solution. Of course, conventional oat powder is not as effective as cortisol in treating eczema.

Aventhramides is extracted from the kernel of oats. The extracts have been used in skin and hair care products and baby skin care products. Aventhramides have proven to be effective in sunscreen products.

Oat micronutrients

Oats contain a lot of important minerals

• Iron 5mg /100gr
• Calcium 54mg / 100gr
• Magnesium 117mg / 100gr
• Zinc 4mg / 100gr
• Phosphorus 523mg / 100gr
• Potassium 429mg / 100gr
• Sodium 2mg / 100gr
• Manganese 4,9mg 7 100gr

The minerals of oat are very welcome addition to natural skin care. When you make a facial mask made of colloidal oat your skin can enjoy all these minerals.

In addition, oats contain a wide variety of vitamin-B.

How to use oats in cosmetics?

Oats can be used in many different forms as a cosmetic ingredient. Follow the tips below to learn how to take advantage of oats and get all the benefits of oats on your skin.

Colloidal oats or oat dust

Colloidal oat is very versatile product. It’s really oat powder. The difference between colloidal oat compared to ordinary (for baking) oatmeal is huge. The colloidal oat powder is grounded to a very fine dust. I tried plain oatmeal as the treatment of skin. The oatmeal used by bakeries is certainly too rough for the face skin but you can use it for body scrub.

You can use colloidal oat

For face cleansing

As an ingredient of creams and body lotions to give texture

• Sunscreen
• Ingredient of powder and talk
• As an ingredient of face masks
• Mixed in bath or foot soak
• Treating your baby’s skin
• For scalp treatment, especially for scalp itching
• For treating eczema-sensitive skin (itching), rosacea, shooting acne and other inflammations

Colloidal oat is a top-quality product

You can easily find new uses for it. Because it’s such a mild, harmless product, the whole family can use it.

• If you have any skin problem, you should definitely follow your doctor’s instructions for treating the disease. In fact, I have used colloidal oats eczema when are having a break of using cortisol. Colloidal oats facilitate really much itching.

Are you excited about colloidal oat?

You should definitely get oats in a colloidal, finely grounded form. Ordinary oat flour for baking is not the same thing.

Oat extract

Oat extract is made from green oat sprouts with alcohol.

The oat sprout extract contains very different substances than oat powder. In herbal therapy, oat extract is used for relaxation and tension removal. For the same purpose, you can use oat extract in cosmetics. You can drop it with a few drops to your night cream. It soothes the skin if the skin is irritated.

Oat shoots contain a particularly large amount of alkaloid, called gramine. The same alkaloid is also found in many flowers of oil plants. Also, many pharmaceutical factories use gramine in their creams. It tells you how powerful phytochemical gamine is. Gramine is especially good for soothing the skin.

How to use oat extract

Mix gramine-containing oat extract with your face cream. oats extract is at its best in night cream. it soothes and takes care of tried skin.

I can recommend A.Vogel’s oat extract.

Fermented oats

Oats can also be fermented. In my book “The Ingredients of Home Made Cosmetic” I explained in detail how to ferment different cosmetic ingredients. Oats are suitable for this purpose. You can use fermented oats to rinse your face. It is also suitable for rinsing the hair and the whole body after shower.

If you would like to try fermented oats, please visit to the Recipes page.

Oats are prebiotics

Oat is one of the best probiotics. prebiotics are nourishment of good skin bacteria. If you want to relive skin with lactic acid bacteria, also use oat-based products. Oat-based products also treat skin bacteria without added probiotics (lactic acid bacteria).

Healthy skin always has healthy bacteria strain. This way the harmful bacteria do not get into the skin. Oat-based products increase and stabilize the skin’s own bacteria strain.

The fats of oat

Oils in oats contain about half of oleic acid and half of linoleic acid. Beautiful yellow color oil smells cozy in oatmeal. Due to the high contain of oleic acid, oat oil may not be suitable for easily clogged skin.

I could recommend oat oil to the following homemade cosmetics products

• For eczema
• For babies
• For kids
• For dry and sensitive skin
• For older people

For teenagers and young adults, this oil is not the best. Oat oil is suitable for both facial and body skin care.

Oat is a cosmetic ingredient that you shouldn’t forget

Oat should be used in homemade cosmetics. The efficiency of oat in skin care has also been scientifically proven. It is a safe ingredient to which only a few are hypersensitive. If you don’t want to make your own cosmetic products you can buy organic cosmetics containing oats