Hippophae Rhamnoides Seed Powder, obtained by grinding the seeds of the sea buckthorn plant (Hippophae rhamnoides), is a natural powder rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and essential fatty acids. This powder is appreciated for its exfoliating and regenerative properties, helping improve skin texture and stimulate cell renewal. It is a versatile ingredient used in both skincare and haircare formulations due to its nourishing benefits.
Chemical Composition and Structure
This powder contains a combination of essential fatty acids, including omega-3, omega-6, and omega-9, along with antioxidant compounds like vitamin E and carotenoids. These components work synergistically to nourish the skin, protect it from free radicals, and promote cell renewal. The fatty acids help maintain the skin’s lipid barrier, providing long-lasting hydration and improving skin texture.
Physical Properties
Sea buckthorn seed powder has a fine texture and a color ranging from white to light yellow. It is commonly used in exfoliating scrubs and masks for the skin and can also be incorporated into hair products to add shine and nourishment. The powder acts as a natural exfoliant, helping to remove dead skin cells and stimulate skin regeneration.
Production Process
Sea buckthorn seed powder is produced by grinding the dried seeds of the plant. After harvesting, the seeds are dried and finely milled to preserve the nutrients and create a uniform powder ready for use in cosmetic products.
Harvesting the Seeds: Seeds of Hippophae rhamnoides are collected from ripe fruits. It is essential to follow sustainable harvesting practices to ensure the quality of the plant material.
Cleaning: After harvesting, the seeds are cleaned to remove dirt, residues, and impurities. This step is crucial to ensure that the final powder is of high quality.
Drying: The cleaned seeds undergo a drying process to remove moisture. This helps preserve the active properties and facilitates subsequent grinding.
Milling: The dried seeds are then ground into a fine powder using mills or grinders. This process allows for a uniform consistency, enhancing the bioavailability of the active compounds present in the seeds.
Filtration: The resulting powder may be sifted to remove larger particles and achieve a finer powder, if necessary.
Quality Control and Packaging: Finally, Hippophae rhamnoides seed powder undergoes quality control checks to verify its purity, composition, and compliance with standards. After analysis, it is packaged for distribution and use in dietary supplements and cosmetic products.
Applications
Skin Exfoliation: With its gentle but effective texture, sea buckthorn seed powder is often used in scrubs and facial masks to remove dead skin cells, improve brightness, and promote skin renewal.
Regenerative Care: The richness of essential fatty acids and antioxidants makes this powder an excellent ingredient for regenerative and anti-aging treatments, enhancing skin elasticity and reducing signs of aging.
Hair Care: The powder can be added to hair products such as masks and conditioners to nourish the scalp and add shine to hair, strengthening it and preventing breakage.
INCI Functions:
Abrasive agent. It contains abrasive particles to remove stains or biofilm that accumulate on the stratum corneum or teeth. Baking soda, kieselguhr, silica and many others have abrasive properties. Peeling or exfoliating products used in dermatology or cosmetic applications contain abrasive agents in the form of synthetic microspheres, however, these microspheres, or abrasive particles may not be biodegradable and create pollution in aquatic ecosystems.
Skin conditioning agent. It is the mainstay of topical skin treatment as it has the function of restoring, increasing or improving skin tolerance to external factors, including melanocyte tolerance. The most important function of the conditioning agent is to prevent skin dehydration, but the subject is rather complex and involves emollients and humectants that can be added in the formulation.
CAS: 90106-68-6 290-292-8
Health and Safety Considerations
Safety in Use
Sea buckthorn seed powder is considered safe for cosmetic use. It is well tolerated by the skin and hair and poses no significant risks of irritation or sensitization. Major regulatory authorities, including the European Union and the FDA, approve its use in cosmetic products.
Allergic Reactions
Allergic reactions to this powder are rare, but as with any new ingredient, it is always advisable to perform a patch test before use, especially on sensitive skin.
Toxicity and Carcinogenicity
It is considered a safe and beneficial ingredient for skin and hair due to its nourishing and regenerative properties.
Environmental Considerations
Sea buckthorn seed powder is obtained from a renewable and sustainable resource. The harvesting and processing of the seeds are eco-friendly processes with minimal environmental impact. The production process utilizes parts of the plant that might otherwise be discarded, contributing to a more sustainable and circular approach.
Regulatory Status
Sea buckthorn seed powder is approved for use in cosmetics by major regulatory authorities, including the European Union and the FDA in the United States.
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) Studies
From the leaves and berries of the sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is extracted chloroform and n-hexane, components with intense antibacterial activity (1).
It is a rich source of vitamins C and E, carotenoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, organic acids, amino acids, sterols, triterpenols and isoprenols (2) with an antioxidant activity.
The berries produce an oil containing carotenoids, palmitic, palmitolic and oleic acid, while the seed oil is composed of linoleic, linolenic and oleic acid as main components (3) .
This oil has traditionally been used to improve blood circulation and for the treatment of dermatological problems including wounds, gastritis, peptic ulcers, uterine erosion and inflammatory disorders of the genital organs (4).
Sea buckthorn has significant cardioprotective activity and a positive effects on the healing of the cardiovascular system, including inhibition of platelet activation (in particular platelet aggregation), reduction of cholesterol concentration, blood pressure and antioxidant action (5).
In this study, a positive evaluation of the topical effects on atopic lesions as it improved the severity of dermatitis by reducing epidermal thickness (6).
The results of this study on the extract of Sea buckthorn, provide a basis for affordable, low side-effect therapy for the treatment of psoriasis (7).
Cosmetics
It produces a regenerating effect on the skin produced by carotenoids, vitamin E and unsaturated fats contained in the pulp and seeds.
Other applications
It is placed in foods, candies, to give a particular taste.
Sea buckthorn studies
