FLAXSEED OIL

📋 Quick facts

Description: FLAXSEED OIL — EMOLLIENT.

All Functions: EMOLLIENT

Quick Facts:

• Category: emollient
• Also Known As: LINUM USITATISSIMUM SEED OIL
• Comedogenic Rating: 4/5

Proven Benefits At A Glance:

• Flaxseed oil is a source of alpha-linolenic acid, a type of polyunsaturated fat
• In a 12-week human study, daily flaxseed oil supplementation reduced skin sensitivity, TEWL (water loss through skin), roughness, and scaling while increasing hydration and smoothness
• Animal studies suggest flaxseed oil may reduce skin inflammatory responses, though less potently than fish oil
• In mice, oral flaxseed oil administered around the time of chemical carcinogen exposure showed protective effects on skin and altered antioxidant enzyme levels
• Limited human evidence; most research is in animals or uses flaxseed oil as one component in delivery systems

📊 Comedogenicity

4/5

🛡️ Safety rating

Safety tier is a starting heuristic from regulatory status and comedogenic rating, not a dermatological verdict — see our Terms for the full disclaimer. Research confidence reflects how many real cited studies back this ingredient, not the strength of their findings.

🌍 Regulatory Status

💧 Skin Type Compatibility

Derived from this ingredient’s irritancy potential and comedogenicity rating against the needs of each skin type — e.g. oily and acne-prone skin are marked down for pore-clogging ingredients, sensitive skin for irritants. A starting heuristic, not a dermatological verdict.

⚠️ Don’t Combine With

📚 Research & Evidence

🔬 The Science

Flaxseed oil’s effects on skin appear to work through modulation of fatty acid balance and inflammation. Here’s what the research actually shows:

#1: Skin barrier and hydration. In a randomized, double-blind 12-week study of 13 healthy women with sensitive skin, daily flaxseed oil supplementation led to significant decreases in skin sensitivity (measured after a nicotinate irritation test), transepidermal water loss (TEWL—the rate water escapes through the skin), skin roughness, and scaling, while smoothness and hydration increased (Skin Pharmacol Physiol, 2011). The mechanism appears linked to changes in plasma fatty acid ratios; flaxseed oil decreased the n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio, a marker of systemic fatty acid balance.

For comparison, safflower oil improved roughness and hydration too, but the effects were less pronounced and appeared later, and it increased the n-6/n-3 ratio in the opposite direction. #2: Inflammatory response. In a 12-week animal study with cats, both fish oil and flaxseed oil decreased skin inflammatory response to histamine, though fish oil showed more robust immunomodulatory effects overall (Vet Immunol Immunopathol, 2011). This suggests flaxseed oil can reduce skin inflammation, but the cat data indicate it may be “less immunosuppressive than fish oil.”

#3: Chemically induced skin cancer in mice. An animal study using a two-stage skin carcinogenesis model found that mice given oral flaxseed oil (100 µL/animal/day) around the time of carcinogen exposure showed a 76.67% reduction in tumor incidence and significant reductions in tumor number and burden (Integr Cancer Ther, 2016).

Flaxseed oil also reduced markers of oxidative stress (LPO) and phase I detoxification enzymes in skin and liver tissue, while elevating phase II enzymes and antioxidant parameters like glutathione, catalase, and vitamin C. However, this is mouse data with chemically induced cancer—not applicable to typical skin health. Important limitations: The human evidence is limited to one 12-week study in women with sensitive skin. No studies directly tested flaxseed oil applied topically to skin; the benefits shown are from oral supplementation. The animal cancer study used a specific carcinogen model and oral dosing, which doesn’t directly translate to human prevention. The sources do not support claims about flaxseed oil treating diagnosed atopic dermatitis or other skin diseases in humans—though sources mention atopic dermatitis context, they discuss delivery systems and other formulations, not flaxseed oil alone.

📄 Related Research

Matched by search — not necessarily verified support for every statement above.

• Vitek M et al. (2024). Clinical application of hempseed or flaxseed oil-based lyotropic liquid crystals: Evaluation of their impact on skin barrier function. Acta Pharm.
• Sharma J et al. (2016). Chemomodulatory Potential of Flaxseed Oil Against DMBA/Croton Oil-Induced Skin Carcinogenesis in Mice. Integr Cancer Ther.
• Neukam K et al. (2011). Supplementation of flaxseed oil diminishes skin sensitivity and improves skin barrier function and condition. Skin Pharmacol Physiol.
• Park HJ et al. (2011). Dietary fish oil and flaxseed oil suppress inflammation and immunity in cats. Vet Immunol Immunopathol.
• Vitek M et al. (2024). Highly Biocompatible Lamellar Liquid Crystals Based on Hempseed or Flaxseed Oil with Incorporated Betamethasone Dipropionate: A Bioinspired Multi-Target Dermal Drug Delivery System for Atopic Dermatitis Treatment. Int J Nanomedicine.

🧴 Products Containing FLAXSEED OIL

• earth balance Original Buttery Spread
• Colgate PROTEX FRESH SOAP
• Spring Valley Flaxseed Oil