10 DIY Beauty Recipes Using Hemp Oil for Skin, Hair, Lips, and Nails

An increasing number of cosmetics and personal care brands are raking in the benefits of hemp oil, extracted from one of the fastest growing and most productive plants on the planet. The flowering annual, known scientifically as Cannabis sativa, is commonly used to produce textiles, ink, soap, wood preservatives, bioplastics, and more. Today, it's also embraced by the beauty industry on account of its laundry list of supposed skin and hair benefits.

What Is Hemp Oil?

Hemp oil, also known as hemp seed oil or cannabis sativa seed oil, is pressed from the seeds of cannabis plants. It differs from CBD oil, which comes from the leaves, flowers, and stalk of the plant, and does not contain tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive constituent more commonly referred to as THC.

Hemp oil is high in vitamin E, antioxidants, and omega fatty acids. It's widely used as a moisturizer in skin and hair care. Hemp has been touted as a sustainable crop because it grows quickly and abundantly with little water and no need for harmful herbicides or pesticides. So, incorporate this brilliant vegetal oil into your beauty routine guiltlessly with these 10 DIY beauty recipes.

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Hemp Shampoo With Tea Tree Oil

Pump bottle of green product surrounded by cannabis plants — Catherine Falls Commercial / Getty Images

Hemp hydrates and nourishes hair with a multitude of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fatty acids. Combined with the organic, unscented base of your choice and antimicrobial tea tree oil, you get a deeply moisturizing shampoo that thoroughly cleanses without damaging the scalp.

Ingredients

1 cup castile soap, grated
1/4 cup hot distilled water
4 teaspoons hemp oil
2 teaspoons jojoba oil
2 teaspoons tea tree oil
2 teaspoons burdock root oil
2 tablespoons plant-based glycerin
10 drops essential oil (optional)

Steps

Dissolve castile soap in hot water.
Stir in glycerin and oils.
Transfer to a bottle, shake, seal, and let sit for 24 hours.
Shake each time before using.

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DIY Hemp Oil Steam Facial

Hemp oil is gentle enough to be applied directly onto skin and can be used as a carrier oil for more potent ingredients. The fatty acids in hemp oil help to alleviate dryness—and, as with any moisturizer, it's most effective on moist skin.

Steam opens pores and allows product to penetrate deeper. For a DIY hemp oil steam facial, cleanse your face and massage a tablespoon of oil into it while it's still damp. Run a clean washcloth under hot water, ring it out, and place it over your face for several minutes. When the cloth cools, use it to wipe excess oil off, then massage the rest into your skin.

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All-Natural Cuticle and Nail Oil

Hemp oil is something of a one-stop-shop for nails. Vitamin E helps to soften the cuticles while magnesium aids in protein synthesis, consequently strengthening nails and encouraging growth. You can use hemp oil on its own or create a more rounded concoction with a tablespoon of hemp oil, a teaspoon each of sesame oil, apricot kernel oil, and jojoba oil, and a 1/4 teaspoon of vitamin E oil.

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Hemp Oil and Avocado Face Mask

Avocado, jars of oil, and homemade face mask — Anna-Ok / Getty Images

Avocado is ubiquitous in DIY face mask recipes. Like hemp oil, it's high in beneficial fats, not to mention biotin and antioxidants that provide gentle exfoliation. This recipe also contains spirulina, a trendy superfood packed with vitamins and nutrients.

Combine a ripe avocado, mashed, with 1/4 cup of hemp oil, and 2 teaspoons of spirulina powder. Add up to 10 drops of an essential oil of your choice for extra power. Apply the mask to clean skin and leave it on for about 20 minutes.

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CBD-Infused Hemp Massage Oil

Hemp oil makes a great carrier for CBD, considering they come from the same plant. While the seeds of the Cannabis sativa contain no cannabidiol themselves, the flowers, leaves, and stems are rich with the prized ingredient repeatedly praised for having potent anti-inflammatory effects.

To make a soothing massage oil with the two, combine a half cup of hemp oil with four full droppers of CBD oil (totaling about 240 milligrams). Add in up to 30 drops of essential oil, such as lavender, mint, eucalyptus, or sandalwood. Shake the bottle before each use.

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Hemp Body Butter With Shea and Oat Oil

Hemp oil amplifies the almighty moisture-locking power of shea butter, which gets its thick consistency from five principal fatty acids: linoleic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, and arachidic. Hemp oil, likewise, contains up to 70% linoleic acid. Combine the two with antifungal oat oil and beeswax and you have the winter skin salve of dreams.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unrefined shea butter
1.5 tablespoons oat oil
1.5 tablespoons hemp oil
1.5 tablespoons beeswax pellets

Steps

Combine ingredients in a double boiler and heat on low.
Once melted, pour into a reusable tin and allow to cool completely before using.

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Minty Lip Balm

Tins of homemade lip balm on wooden table background. — Premyuda Yospim / Getty Images

Hemp oil is edible and therefore perfectly safe to use as a chapped lip fix. This all-natural balm can be used in place of store-bought products that often contain petroleum jelly, parabens, phthalates, and artificial fragrances. It also makes a great holiday gift, considering the recipe is enough to fill roughly seven 1.5-ounce lip balm containers.

Ingredients

4 teaspoons beeswax pellets
3 teaspoons avocado oil
2 teaspoons hemp oil
2 teaspoons jojoba oil
10 drops peppermint essential oil

Steps

Melt all ingredients except the peppermint essential oil over low heat in a double boiler.
Stir in essential oil once melted.
Pour into tins or lip balm containers and allow to completely solidify before using.

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Homemade Hemp Serum

For its high fatty acid content, you might be surprised to discover that hemp oil is a "dry oil"—i.e., one that absorbs quickly into skin. It leaves no sticky residue and is noncomedogenic, which makes it a perfect serum ingredient. Mix two parts rosehip oil with three parts grapeseed oil and five parts hemp oil for a moisturizing-yet-nongreasy facial serum. Add in a few drops of skincare-centric essential oil like lavender or tea tree for added scent and nourishment.

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Elevated Castile Soap

Castile soap is often lauded for being a green product because it's biodegradable, vegan, and chemical-free. However, having a pH of about nine or higher means that it's significantly more alkaline than skin (which has a pH of about five) and can therefore disrupt the skin's protective lipid barrier. To help keep that barrier intact, dilute a tablespoon of castile soap with a teaspoon of hemp oil and 10 tablespoons of water when using it on skin.

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Hemp Oil Hair Mask

Oil, avocado, and comb on wooden platter — kazmulka / Getty Images

This hemp oil, avocado, and coconut oil hair mask deeply conditions and nourishes the scalp while also coating strands in fatty acids, therefore protecting them from environmental damage and promoting shine. Made mostly of standard kitchen ingredients, it's refreshingly simple, cheap, and lightweight enough to indulge your mane with it once a week.

To make, combine half an avocado, mashed, with half a teaspoon each of hemp oil and coconut oil. Apply a generous amount to your hair, coating strands from root to end, and rinse after 30 minutes. (Pro tip: You can substitute a banana for the avocado.)

Tips for Buying and Using Hemp Oil

Look for hemp oil that's organic, unrefined, cold-pressed (which retains the oil's nutritional value), and ethically sourced. It should be slightly green in color.
Note that hemp oil can scorch easily, so always heat it on low.
Hemp oil can degrade if exposed to too much light, so it's best to keep your DIY beauty products in tins or tinted glass bottles.
Hemp oil does not need to be refrigerated, per se, but it should be stored in a cool, dark place and used within a few months of opening. After that, it will begin to lose its nutritional value.