Seeds on a Female Jojoba Bush, originally uploaded by kretyen.

Obtained from the seeds of a desert shrub (Simmondsia chinensis) native to Arizona, California and Mexico. The “oil” is technically a liquid wax that solidifies under 10 degrees Celsius (50F). It is made of wax esters and contains several fatty acids: eicosenoic, docosenoic and oleic acid. Its Oxidative Stability Index is 60 – so it has a long shelf life, but castor oil and coconut oil have an even longer one. Jojoba’s most important characteristic is that is resembles the human natural skin sebum. This makes jojoba a very desirable oil for cosmetics and skin care. Either the oil as it is, or certain molecules derived from jojoba (jojoba alcohol, jojoba esters and isopropyl jojobate) are very important in cosmetics.

Jojoba has very little odour of its own, and along with its excellent shelf life, it makes a great base for oil perfumes. I find it particularly useful for customers with dry skin or those who complaint that perfume just doesn’t last long enough on their skin. Either using a jojoba-oil based perfume, or applying a little jojoba oil on pulse points before applying the scent really helps in preventing the scent to absorb too fast into the skin and disappear.

Jojoba is one of the more expensive oils for body and skin care, so it is often not used on its own, but rather blended with other oils, or added as a nutrient to soaps later in the saponification process as to preserve as much as its skin moisturizing properties.

Jojoba oil can also be used as an eye makeup remover, and in facial elixirs along with other rich but fast absorbing, non-comedogenic oils such as squalane oil, rosa mosquetta oil, apricot kernel oil, etc.