Ingredient glossary
Olive Oil
On your shelf ✓What Olive Oil does for your skin, who it suits, and what to watch for.
INCI: Olea Europaea Fruit Oil
In short: Olive Oil delivers softening and occlusive support, suits dry skin best, and the evidence behind it is moderate.
- What it does
- Softening, occlusive support
- Best for
- Dry skin
- Evidence
- Moderate
- How long
- Straight away
The Glow take
Genuinely worth a spot in your routine.
When your goal is repairing a stressed moisture barrier, Olive Oil pulls genuine weight, with a solid amount of evidence behind it. It tends to suit dry skin best.
— Maya
What it does
- softening
- occlusive support
moderate evidenceSome clinical data show olive oil may impair barrier in infants compared to sunflower oil, suggesting more cautious use on compromised or very young skin.
On a label: usually effective at 2-20%.
Who it's for, and who should skip it
Tends to suit
- dry
- very dry
Approach with care
- acne prone
- infant skin barrier
- Irritation riskLow
How it fits each skin type
- DrySuits
- CombinationNeutral
- OilyNeutral
- SensitiveNeutral
Take extra care if any of these apply to you: acne prone, infant skin barrier.
Where it fits in your routine
This one works on contact — there is nothing to wait for.
What that covers, and what it does not
Measured on: stratum corneum hydration and erythema 60 minutes after a single application, against an adjacent untreated site.
A within-person randomised study in 54 healthy adults marked three 9 cm2 sites on one volar forearm - untreated control, 0.2 mL extra virgin olive oil, 0.2 mL white petrolatum - left the products on for 60 minutes, blotted the residue and measured. The olive oil site read significantly higher on corneometer hydration than the untreated site (48.66 versus 40.23 AU, p<0.001) and significantly lower on erythema (196.03 versus 231.79 AU, p<0.001), so this is a measured controlled effect at one hour, not an inference from film physics. Transepidermal water loss did not separate for olive oil (p=0.06) although it did for petrolatum, so the occlusive claim the base scores barrier_support 6 on is not what was demonstrated. Longer exposure runs the other way and is a separate clause: four weeks of twice-daily olive oil reduced stratum corneum integrity and produced mild erythema in adult forearms where sunflower oil did not, and in 115 randomised neonates four weeks of olive oil improved hydration but left lipid lamellae significantly less developed than no oil at all.
Rubio-Santoyo A, Sanabria-de la Torre R, Montero-Vilchez T, Giron-Prieto MS, Gomez-Farto A, Arias-Santiago S. J Clin Med 2025;14(13):4675, PMID:40649050 (60-minute controlled reading). Slower clauses: Danby et al., Pediatr Dermatol 2013, PMID:22995032 (4-week adult forearm barrier worsening); Cooke et al., Acta Derm Venereol 2016, PMID:26551528 (OBSeRvE, 115 neonates, 4 weeks). Rejected as a combination: PMID:18429773, olive oil/lanolin emollient in preterm infants.
Plays well with
- humectants
- occlusives
Olive Oil, answered
Is Olive Oil safe during pregnancy?
Yes. Olive Oil is considered safe to use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. As with anything, if you are unsure it is worth a quick word with your doctor or midwife.
Who should avoid Olive Oil?
Approach Olive Oil with care if any of these apply to you: acne prone and infant skin barrier.
What concentration of Olive Oil actually works?
Olive Oil tends to do its job in the 2 to 20% range. Much lower and it is likely underdosed.
Does it clog pores?
Rich and oleic-heavy, rates moderate.
- This rating comes from old lab tests on the isolated ingredient, not the finished product.
- The full formula, how much is used, and your own skin all matter more than one number.
- If you are acne-prone it is worth noticing, not a reason to avoid it on sight.
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