Here’s Why People Rub Emu Oil on Their Skin

As the weather gets warmer and more people are spending time in the sun, Skin Cancer Awareness Month couldn’t have come at a better time. Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer, with roughly 5 million new cases each year. It’s also one of the most preventable forms of cancer, and Emu oil could play an important role.

In observance of Skin Cancer Awareness Month, I’d like to share some fun facts and great studies being conducted that examine the benefits of Emu oil for your skin. So, sit back, congratulate yourself for learning something new, and enjoy this next segment of my blog — let’s dive in!

Your Skin Has Many Roles

Though we tend to think of our organs as being the heart, lungs, and stomach (among many others), your skin is also an organ. In fact, it’s the largest organ in (or rather on) your body and accounts for about 15% of your body weight. It also performs many functions to keep you healthy.

The skin is comprised of seven layers of tissue and are the first defenses to shield your muscles, bones, and internal organs. Without your skin, the rest of you would evaporate. Your skin is waterproof and acts as an insulating shield to guard your body against extreme temperatures, harmful chemicals, and sunlight and other UV rays.

Your skin helps to regulate your body temperature. Part of this process comes from sweating. Heat activates the sweat glands, which bring water to the surface of the skin. As the sweat evaporates, it helps to cool the skin and prevent us from overheating. On an average hot day, you could produce enough sweat to fill three one-gallon milk jugs! Almost every area of your skin sweats.

Skin also protects against outside infections or diseases. Think about it: without skin, your internal organs, muscles, bones, and other components would be exposed to the elements. Your skin safeguards against pollution, UV rays, germs, and a range of other things that could damage your insides.

Every 28 days, or roughly one full cycle of the moon, your skin renews itself. You have about 300 million skin cells at any given time, but these cells die and regenerate at almost lightning speed. This is to help keep your skin healthy and functioning as it should. For this reason, why it’s so important to protect your skin so that it can continue to regenerate at an appropriate pace and offer the highest protection.

Emu Oil’s Effects on the Skin

That’s a lot of new skin knowledge, but there’s a reason why it’s important to understand your skin’s role. This helps to make the connections between how vicious skin cancer can be and why you need to protect your skin as much as possible.

Science has long known that visible changes to your skin can indicate changes to your overall health. One of the simplest examples is sunburn: dryness, redness, and tenderness indicate the skin has been damaged.

Once you get sunburn, there’s not a whole lot you can do to make it heal. Depending on the severity of the sunburn, your skin may heal faster or slower. Aloe might make it feel better, but it’s not like there’s a specific remedy to speed up healing or make it magically disappear overnight. That’s why we wear sunscreen — to reduce our chances of getting sunburn when we’re outdoors.

As the old saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.”

This is where Emu oil comes in — not specifically for sunburn, but rather to prevent general damage to the skin in the first place.

Emu Oil and Melanin Production

Melanin are pigments in the skin that give it its color. The lighter the skin, the less melanin present. A study on melanin production in B16F1 melanoma cells looked at the effects of Emu oil. You can read the study in full here, but I’ll share a few highlights to save you time (TL;DR):

• The cells were cultured with varying concentrations of Emu oil.
• Emu oil was chosen for the study because of its history in the cosmetic industry as a moisturizer and skin-enhancing properties.
• The results indicate that Emu oil reduces cellular melanin production.

Melanin plays a huge role in protecting against UV light. However, too much melanin can cause cosmetic differences, such as freckles or hyper

pigmentation. The study concluded that the Emu oil can prevent the skin from over producing melanin content triggered by the sun’s UV light, serving as a skin shield.

Emu Oil and Skin Stimulation

The skin already regenerates cells at a rapid pace, but the sun can speed up the process and kill off cells before they would die otherwise. Not to mention that sunburn, which is essentially a radiation burn, can alter your DNA and create chaos and confusion among the cells that are trying to repair the damage.

In response, your body has to compensate for those extra dead skin cells. By definition, skin cancer is the abnormal growth of cells. It most often occurs on skin that’s exposed to the sun (but not always). When your body has to continually produce new cells because the healthy ones are dying faster than normal, you risk getting out of a normal, healthy regeneration pattern. Cells that mutate as a result can cause skin cancer because they’re damaged and unable to repair themselves.

By applying Emu oil to the skin, you’re essentially protecting the healthy, living skin cells from overexposure to the sun. Emu oil stimulates the skin and has been shown to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and signs of aging and sun damage.

Before You Go…

I know we’ve covered a lot of information, so I’ll close with this: there’s a lot of research to support adding Emu oil to your daily health routine. We’re continually finding studies and research to share with you so that you can be more informed about these benefits and make the best decisions for your own health. Head back to our blog for more insights, or check out our online store and start adding Emu oil to your daily routine!