How is hibiscus oil made?

Thehibiscus oil (INCI name: Hibiscus Sabdariffa Seed Oil) is a botanical extract with numerous virtues for the skin and hair. This golden yellow active ingredient has a light and sweet smell, subtly reminiscent of its flowers, and penetrates quite easily into the skin. It is a fatty substance whose composition is enriched with fatty acids (omega-6, omega-9, palmitic acid), but also with vitamin E.

These active ingredients bestow upon thehibiscus vegetable oil several beneficial properties for the skin, it is notably nourishing. The linoleic acid it is enriched with indeed plays a role in the synthesis process of ceramides, lipids ensuring good cohesion between the cells of the epidermis. Hibiscus oil also has antioxidant properties, which are interesting for preventing the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, and anti-inflammatoryproperties. It has been used for several centuries in North Africa to alleviate certain wounds and abscesses.

This vegetable oil is extracted from the seeds of the hibiscus, a plant that blooms in autumn and whose flowers are highly valued for their aesthetic potential. Botanically, hibiscus belongs to the Malvaceae family and is predominantly cultivated in North Africa, India, and Mexico.

The production of hibiscus oil begins with the harvesting of the seeds from the plant. These seeds are contained within the flowers and are protected by a husk. The seeds are small in size, with a width ranging between 3 and 4 millimetres.

Once these are harvested, they are cleaned to remove any impurities that might be clinging to their surface. For this, a cleaner-separator, acting as a filter, or a sieve can be used. The seeds are then mechanically pressed to extract the oil, using a traditional process.

We refer tocold pressing,because the seed is not heated before extraction. The temperature is rigorously monitored throughout the process. Indeed, a temperature that is too high is likely to oxidise and degrade the oil. In the context of cold pressing, a screw press is used to push the seed into a barrel-shaped cavity. The screw compresses the seed and the oil comes out through the openings, while the pressing residues (cake) remain in the barrel.

Once the oil is extracted from the seeds, it must be decanted and filtered. The aim is to rid it of any remaining impurities to achieve a superior quality oil. The decanting process takes several weeks to eliminate the larger particles. The filtering then completes this process. These steps do not require any chemical treatment. Thus, hibiscus vegetable oil is an ingredient of exclusively natural origin.

It should be noted that this process leads to the production of virgin hibiscus vegetable oil. There are other extraction techniques such as solvent extraction, typically used in the food industry and involving hexane. The hibiscus oil used in Typology skincare products is exclusively virgin and has undergone no chemical treatment.