All About Maracujá: The Power of Passionfruit

     Maracujá is the Portuguese name for the superfruit more commonly known as passion fruit. The name maracujá comes from a word in Paraguayan Guaraní that means “nursery for flies” - probably because the juicy pulp of the fruit contains around 250 black seeds.  

     A culturally important fruit throughout South America, it is now grown in many parts of the world, including Hawaii, East Africa and Southeast Asia.  While more commonly used as an ingredient in many popular desserts and juices, the fruit seeds are very rich with a nourishing oil, which offers some wonderful benefits when used as an ingredient in skin care. 

     Maracujá is rich with some wonderful vitamins and minerals, a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and the B vitamins riboflavin and niacin. It also has a high content of essential fatty acids, calcium and phosphorus. Maracujá oil also has an astounding number of benefits when consumed or applied.  It's best when cold-pressed, as other methods of extracting the oil will often destroy or reduce the many vitamins and minerals that are found in the passion fruit seed.

Maracujá Oil Benefits For Skin

Like many of the other Amazonian superfruits we use in our skincare products, this oil is a superior emollient that has some other amazing benefits when used on any skin type:

• Readily penetrates the skin to deeply moisturize and reduce dry skin.  Thanks to the high fatty acid content, it penetrates the skin to bring moisturizer much more effectively than other oils.
• Heals dry, chapped or cracked skin.  The high content of the antioxident lycopene helps to improve skin tone and works with vitamin C to help promote collagen production
• Balances the skin’s moisture and helps to reduce oily skin
• Reduces inflammation to help treat acne, rashes and other skin conditions by providing the skin with linoleic acid, usually missing in people with acne-prone skin
• Scavenges free radicals with its antioxidant properties, preventing damage while helping to reduce fine lines and wrinkles
• Relieves itching
• Light texture with protective properties to prevent moisture from leaving the skin

Additionally, studies have shown that acne-prone skin is usually deficient in linoleic acid, and thanks to maracujá oil’s high linoleic acid content, it will help to balance the skin and prevent acne.

Maracujá Oil Benefits For Hair

Maracujá oil is known as the “pure miracle” in Brazil, and there are several ways it can help benefit your hair, thanks to the high quantity of vitamins and nutrients present in this oil.  Just some of the vitamins found in this miracle plant that can help your hair include:

• Phosphorous, which helps to prevent the formation of dandruff as well as promote the strength and growth of your hair.
• Vitamin A, which is useful for encouraging hair growth as well as preventing any damage from any weather extremes, including the cold and rain as well as the heat from the sun.
• Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Flavinoids all work together to improve hair growth, as well as fight against free radicals that work to 
• Vitamin K and Potassium primarily work to improve the health of hair and their roots, making the bulbs more firmly rooted in the scalp and preventing them from coming loose too easily.  This helps to prevent hair loss.
• Calcium works with all of the other vitamins and minerals, improving the work that they do to increase hair strength, growth and appearance.

How To Use Maracujá Oil

     Luckily, Maracujá oil is simple and very straight forward to use.  When applying to hair, just warm a few drops in your hands then apply to your hair, starting at the roots and moving up towards the scalp.  It's best to do this after showering, once you're hair is dry.  For skin, just take a few drops and apply wherever it is needed, be that your arms, face or any other spot on your body.  If using as a face oil, warm a few drops in your hands just as with your hair before massing into your face and neck.  Make sure you are using a cold-pressed oil in order to get the maximum benefit from your product.

Our new Shimmering Superfruit Oil, When in Rio features maracujá oil alongside copaíba, buriti and açaí oils to nourish the skin while adding lustrous shimmer. It’s also one of the ingredients in our much-loved Multi-Tasking Oil and popular Beauty Butter for face and body, bringing you the moisturizing, anti-aging and anti-inflammatory benefits of maracujá oil from head to toe!  All of our products use cold-pressed oils in order to ensure that you're receiving the best quality product you possibly can.