The Truth About CBD Skincare

Scroll through your increasingly sponsored Instagram feed and you’ll notice an influx of CBD beauty and pain creams that claim to do everything from eradicate pain to cure rosacea. As fans of the molecule, we’re biased. To get more context to CBD, what it does, how it might help your skin and what’s happening at the molecular level we asked Chemist Confessions (@chemistconfessions) to break down 2019 (and 2020’s) darling molecule.

If you aren’t familiar with Victoria and Gloria, the minds behind Chemist Confessions, we suggest you start listening to their podcast or follow them on Instagram. They’re the chemists behind some of your favorite brands and became friends while working for the same big beauty conglomerate. They started an instablog in hopes of sharing their chemist perspective to help navigate the very saturated and confusing skincare market. Soon after, the two chemists decided to look at the product side and launched their own brand.

Let’s just say they make understanding skincare extremely accessible and actually make sense of it. 

Lastly, if you want to hear a fun podcast on skincare, Nice Paper’s co-founder @charlotteparler is on Broccoli Talk talking all things skincare and CBD.

How do ingredients penetrate your skin? 
"It’s a complex question! By nature, skin is meant to be a barrier that protects you internal organs from the outside world, so the average ingredient for the most part won't penetrate the skin all that well. But certain types of formulas can have slight advantages/ disadvantages when it comes to penetration ability dependent on: formula structure (emulsion type, emulsion structure), the support ingredients which can act as penetration enhancers (glycols, alcohol, etc.), the actual active itself and so on."

How do cannabinoids interact with your skin?
"The ECS (Endocannabinoid System) is your body’s system for processing cannabinoids. In the skin, it seems to be related to a whole host of skin functions like proliferation and differentiation, but the how and why’s are still not well understood. It’s just the nature of a new field like topical CBD. There’s simply not enough data to start trying to understand topical CBD’s pathway and interaction with ECS, so the pathway itself and phytocannabinoids are only pieces of the complex topical CBD puzzle. This is why we try to look to clinical data on the net effect of CBD formulations on skin."
 

Why should I be hyped about weed CBD on my skin? 
"Ok so to make sure there’s no confusion, we’re only going to focus on cannabidiol here since it's the main active from hemp that is being studied for various skin benefits. We’re still on the fence in terms of how hyped we should be. There just isn’t a lot of data out there confirming or denying CBD as a miracle skincare ingredient. We really hope to see clinicals on CBD so we can all understand if we should jump on the hype train or not. Currently you can only find CBD extracted from hemp."

Can it help with acne?
"Given that CBD has anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties, many believe that this makes a strong case for CBD as an acne fighter but the real story is that we still don’t know. Botanix Pharmaceuticals in particular has an ongoing phase 2 clinical study with ~360 people featuring its proprietary synthetic CBD product BTX1503. But other than this results pending study, we wouldn’t expect just random CBD skincare products you find on the shelves to really help with acne."

Can it help with rosacea? 
"Currently, we do not see any data that indicates that it may help with rosacea."

Do CBD topical effects differ from edible effects? 
"Absolutely. Different pathways of delivery equate to different mechanisms of activity which will result in different effects. Additionally with regulation being a mess for CBD in edibles (even more so than topicals), the claims and CBD ingredients are not well managed. Editors note: while claims for edible CBD are outrageous, skincare doesn’t go through the same batch testing which will be required in brands that sell in states like NYC, so, while CBD skincare isn’t as insane as those claiming to cure cancer, soon the edible market will outpace the skincare market in terms of regulations as Sephora isn’t asking or providing batch testing on each product."

What is required for CBD to penetrate skin?
"Given that CBD is lipophilic (oil loving), it should penetrate to top layers easier than water loving molecules. However, there are still many ongoing studies lead by pharmaceutical companies that are gathering information on how to enhance target delivery. Theoretically, we would think it needs to get to the dermis where the actual ECS in your skin is found to work." 

Editor's Note: the dermis is past the epidermis, oils will only sit on top layers therefore unlikely it reaches the ECS in a simple oil form. There would need to be clinical studies to confirm or deny this. 

Can you find cannabinoids in other plants? 
"Yes, a few plants like the purple cornflower but not a lot is known about CBD extraction from these alternative plants."

Are cannabis oil and / or other cannaibnoids safe for fungal acne? 
"It’s a lightweight oil high in PUFAs linoleic and linolenic acid – the type of profile often recommended for oily acneic skin individuals. It has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties as well. However, it has never been tested for fungal acne specifically so once again, we can’t say for sure."

A lot of products have essential oils which I'm allergic to, is it a bad idea to use a CBD oil with essential oils? 
"If you already know you’re allergic to essential oils we definitely do not recommend a CBD with essential oils. Just to be clear, cannabidiol and hemp oil are not essential oils."

Is smoking weed harmful for skin? 
"Generally, any smoke is an irritant irregardless of the compound. But in terms of specifically marijuana, nothing suggests that this particular compound if smoked causes premature aging."

Does it matter how it’s formulated?
"Certain encapsulation technology like liposomes can help penetrate deeper. Your top layer of skin is mostly oily and waxes, but as you get deeper, the water content goes way up. So to help oil based ingredients go deeper, encapsulation can help a lot. With cosmetic brands, it’s hard to know. Because technically by FDA definition, skincare should NOT penetrate into the dermis otherwise it should be more classified as a drug. If a skincare brand is telling you that their CBD oil goes to the dermis so therefore should be used first… is a… very strong stance… and they may or may not have any actual testing to back that up. Editors note: Translation? All those oils should be used last, if they’re telling you to use it first… it’s not a great pro tip."

And now… some Nice Paper wisdom; what should CBD beauty cost?
CBD prices crashed earlier this year, so a good rule of thumb is to look at a tincture brand/dosing and seeing if skincare is adding up. I.e. if you have a 300mg face oil that’s retailing for $80+, why is that? CBD oils will always be the most expensive ingredient in skincare, so why are they charging more for lower doses?  As little research has gone into most CBD face oils and brands, be wary of expensive luxury CBD skincare.