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Olive Oil
Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil · Olea Europaea · Olea Europaea (Olive) OilBarrier
A rich oil that’s mostly oleic acid. It feeds the yeast behind fungal acne and can weaken a fragile skin barrier.
What it does
It’s mostly oleic acid, a fat that feeds the yeast behind fungal acne. It has been shown to disrupt the barrier fats of damaged skin in babies and adults with eczema, so skip it with fungal acne, seborrheic dermatitis or an eczema flare. Ingredients made from it, like olive squalane, don’t carry the same free fatty acids.
The EU’s ingredient database lists it as a skin conditioner, its general term for an ingredient that keeps skin in good condition.European Commission, CosIng (© European Union, CC BY 4.0) · uses put in plain words by Drop ↗
The evidence, graded
expert consensusFungal acne is Malassezia folliculitis — an overgrowth of a yeast already living in normal skin flora, commonly mistaken for ordinary acne. In a culture dish the yeast grows only when fatty acids longer than C10 are added, because it cannot make its own. That is why Drop holds lipid-rich products back while you have this flagged. No source Drop has read tested an oil on skin, set an upper chain length, or showed squalane, MCT or mineral oil to be safe.Rubenstein 2014 · Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology ↗ expert consensusSeborrheic dermatitis is associated with Malassezia (similar to fungal acne). The drug ingredients with evidence behind them are antifungal: ketoconazole 2%, zinc pyrithione 1% and selenium sulfide 2.5%. Oils are the skincare-side variable — applying oleic acid, the fatty acid in olive oil, made dandruff-prone skin flake in the one study read here.Borda 2015 · Journal of Clinical and Investigative Dermatology ↗ Graded per the methodology: strong · moderate · emerging · expert consensus. A weak source on a strong claim gets the weaker label.
Also known as
olea europaea fruit oil
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