Kukui Nut Oil

Kukui nut oil is a straightforward emollient. Smoothed over dry skin it fills the fine roughness on the surface, so skin feels softer under your fingers and looks more even in the mirror. On hands, elbows, knees and shins that have gone rough and papery, a small amount makes the dryness far less obvious within a minute.

This is why people who normally dislike face oils get on with kukui. It is one of the thinnest carrier oils in common use, and it disappears into the skin in about a minute. What it leaves behind is a soft, almost matte feel rather than a wet shine, so make-up goes on over it without sliding.

Hot water leaves skin tight, and that tight feeling half an hour after a shower is the most common reason anyone reaches for a body oil in the first place. Smoothed onto skin that is still slightly damp, kukui settles it quickly and keeps skin feeling comfortable through the working day rather than for the first hour of it.

Worked through the mid-lengths and ends, kukui nut oil coats the hair shaft and lies flat over the cuticle, so hair looks glossier, combs through with less snagging and shows fewer flyaways by the evening. It is thin enough that fine hair takes it without going lank, and a few drops is genuinely enough for a full head.

Kukui goes into face oils, serums, night creams, lotions, cleansing oils and body butters, either as the whole oil phase or as the fast-absorbing part of a blend. Because it sinks in quickly and leaves almost no shine, it is the oil brand's reach for when a finished product has to feel light on the skin rather than greasy.

For hair care brands, it works in hair oils, leave-in serums, pre-wash treatments and masks. Its thin body is the commercial advantage: it rinses clear in a single shampoo and does not flatten fine hair, so you can sell a finished product to the large group of customers who have given up on heavier hair oils.

Soap makers use kukui as a superfatting oil at a low percentage rather than as a base oil, because it is polyunsaturated and will shorten the life of a finished bar if overdosed. The same caution applies to lip balms, cleansing balms and solid sticks. Blend it with a stable base and trial your own level.

Salons, spas and massage-oil brands blend kukui in for the finish rather than the slip. It absorbs too fast to carry a long massage on its own, so it usually forms a portion of a blend built on a heavier base, added to leave the skin soft and dry to the touch once the treatment ends.