Would you put a prickly pear cactus on your face or head? While the answer is obvious, you may change your mind after learning about the incredible benefits of prickly pear seed oil for your skin and hair. How are these three connected?

Using prickly pear oil was part of my childhood in Morocco. Years later and thousands of miles away, I still use this oil pretty religiously to keep my skin and hair healthy. Like most Moroccan women, this cactus oil is an essential part of my beauty routine and the secret to incredibly soft skin and hair.

While the highest-end prickly pear oils are often sourced from Morocco, you can also grow this cactus across many other countries in America, The Middle East, Australia, and the Caribbean islands. Inside this fruit, you’ll find prickly pear seeds that provide hydrating, regenerative and healing properties for women’s skin and hair.

Once you discover the magic of prickly pear oil or the oil extracted from these pear seeds, you’ll wish you knew about it sooner.

Why Is Prickly Pear Seed Oil Good for Your Skin?

It’s amazing how prickly pear oil can improve your skin health, no matter your skin type. It’s loaded with antioxidants that protect your skin from damage linked to aging, sunlight, and other stressors.

Also, it possesses antibacterial substances which stop acne breakouts while cleansing skin.

But that’s not all. The most important benefit of the organic prickly pear seed oil is its hydrating properties. The linoleic acid found in the oil helps the skin retain water, thus maintaining it hydrated. This will help you have younger-looking skin, which is like a dream come true for every woman.

Other prickly pear nutrients that boost skin health include vitamin E and vitamin K which help you to brighten the dark circles under your eyes while improving your skin’s elasticity.

Since it’s not very greasy, the consistency of this cactus oil would fare well with any skin type. In Morocco, we love to use it as a base for our makeup by applying a few drops to our clean face and neck and massaging it in a circular motion. The oil absorbs very quickly and will not leave a greasy feel.

Why Is Prickly Pear Seed Oil Good for Your Hair?

Quality oil like Dae prickly pear hair oil helps moisturize dryness, prevent breakage, and add some shine to your hair. Thanks to the massive amounts of vitamin E, it repairs and conditions your hair, giving it more volume and making it shinier.

Even though perky pear seed oil is good for all types of hair, it’s most beneficial for curly, highly textured, dyed, wavy, and chemically processed hair. You can apply a small quantity as a leave-in conditioner if your hair is damaged, or use it generously on your ends as an oil mask before your regular shampoo.

The Best prickly Pear Oils

I have pretty high standards when it comes to prickly pear oil as I grew up using it very regularly. I can detect a high-quality one by smell and texture, but I understand this can be hard for most people. Here is what I would recommend:

Not all prickly pear seed oils are equal and the quality depends on many many factors, like where it was sourced, how it was extracted, the purity of the composition and so much more.

From my experience, price is a good indicator of the quality of a prickly pear seed oil. A good prickly oil will often be a little expensive. In fact, did you know that to obtain 1 liter of high-quality prickly pear oil, you need to press 1 ton of fruit? That’s a lot.

This being said, the prickly pear seed oil is really worth the price tag as a small quantity goes a long long way. In fact, you only need a few drops for your hair and skin for each application. A small bottle of 0.5 oz (around 14ml) can last for a couple of months if not more. I also think it’s best to buy a small bottle each time to avoid oil oxidation and to be sure you are using the freshest oil.

I tend to prefer prickly seed oils that were extracted in Morocco. I had some of the best results with laya vert

Having youthful and flawless skin as well as beautiful and shiny hair is every woman’s dream, and there’s no better organic oil than prickly pear seed oil that will help you achieve it.