Botanicals for the face
Face oils, plant extracts and the claims made for them, graded against the research. Start with dryness, scars or sensitivity, or browse everything below.
19 articles · 12 botanicals
Evidence Check
Oat
Colloidal oatmeal is one of the few botanicals with randomized trials and mechanistic lab work supporting its use for dry, itchy and eczema-prone skin. The strongest evidence is for formulated topical products containing colloidal oat or its extracts; many studies test finished products or combination formulas rather than isolated oat constituents.
Origins
Calendula
Calendula officinalis (pot marigold) has long been used on wounds and rashes. Recent laboratory and animal work is extensive; human trials are small and formulation-dependent, so clinical conclusions are tentative.
Evidence Check
Aloe
Aloe vera has more controlled human trials than many botanicals, but the strongest, most consistent signals are in wound‑care and post‑surgical healing rather than glamorous skin fixes. Much of the recent work is engineering (dressings, gels, vesicles) or preclinical; the human trials that exist are small and context‑specific.
Index Explainer
Squalane
Squalene is a natural unsaturated lipid in skin oils that oxidizes; squalane is the hydrogenated, far more stable form used in cosmetics. The plant sources and stability issues behind that one-letter swap are mostly documented in laboratory and oil‑chemistry studies, with little direct human testing of squalane alone.