Use Neem Oil to Improve Your Skin — and Even Fight Pests

With its bitter taste and garlic-like smell, neem oil has the ability to act like an all-natural pesticide that deters both insects and diseases.

Loaded with nutrients, neem oil is also used in natural skin care products because it contains high levels of antioxidants, including carotenoids that help protect the skin from oxidative stress and free radical damage. As a result, cold-pressed neem oil and neem extracts are widely seen in cosmetics such as soap, hair products, hand creams and pet shampoos.

Since neem is also especially high in important fatty acids and vitamin E and can quickly penetrate outer layers of skin, it is extremely effective in healing dry and damaged skin. Let’s look closer at how this oil is made and its many applications.

What Is Neem Oil?

Neem oil comes from cold-pressing the seeds of the neem tree, Azadirachta indica, which is a tropical evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia and Africa and a member of the Meliaceae family.

Azadirachta indica is thought to have originated in India or Burma. It’s a large, fast-growing evergreen that can reach approximately 40 to 80 feet in height.

It is drought-resistant, heat-tolerant and may live up to 200 years! Today it’s mostly found in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

The bark and leaves of the tree are known to be used medically, and less often, the flowers, fruit and roots are used as well. The leaves are generally available year-round as the tree is an evergreen.

Other names for neem include:

•             nim

•             nimba

•             holy tree

•             bead tree

•             Indian lilac

•             margosa

What is neem oil used for? Since the oil contains various active compounds that have insecticidal, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, it has many applications. Neem oil uses include its ability to contribute to protective compounds to products like toothpastes, soaps, shampoos and more.

One of this oil’s very interesting uses is it acts as a chemical-free pesticide.

Neem seed oil is composed of a mixture of components, including terpenoids, liminoids and flavonoids.

Azadirachtin is the most active component and is used for repelling and killing pests. After the extraction of this active ingredient, the portion left over is known as clarified hydrophobic neem oil.

As reported in a study published by Frontiers in Plant Scient, it works as an effective non-toxic insect control agent to agriculture.

Benefits for Skin

Here are some of the top neem oil benefits:

1. Combats Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are some of the hardest urban pests to manage, and bed bug bites are certainly something we all want to avoid. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that neem oil, when combined with certain approved agents, can be safe and effective against bed bugs both at home and in commercial environments.

In fact, the EPA says that cold-pressed neem oil is the only biochemical pesticide registered for use against bed bugs. Performance trials conducted show that neem oil helps control bed bug adults, nymphs and eggs.