Native Americans of the Southwest have traditionally used Jojoba Oil for the treatment of wounds, skin afflictions, and hair tonics, as well as a cooking oil. Hundreds of years if not millenniums later, scientists in the early 1930's, started documenting its beneficial properties of the "golden amber liquid".
Pure Jojoba Oil comes from the bean of the Jojoba Shrub or Tree, Simmondsia chinensis, an evergreen, native to the desert regions of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. The beans, which can contain as much as 45% to 60% oil, are collected and crushed mechanically in a process known as "Cold or Expeller Pressing". The oil is filtered and then normally pasteurized to reduce the total plate count of bacteria to below 50 organisms per gram. After being drummed or bottled, the oil, raw material, is read for various cosmetic, pharmaceutical or industrial applications.
Jojoba Oil has remarkable similarities to Sperm Whale Oil and has taken its place. Once heavily used in cosmetics and industrial processes, Sperm Whale oil was banned by the Endangered Species Act of 1971.
Jojoba is most generally referred to as an "oil" however, it is considered chemically, liquid wax esters. The composition of these waxy esters are long mono-unsaturated fatty acid chains, coupled with long mono-unsaturated fatty alcohol chains, primarily C-24 to C-50 molecules.
The lubricating properties Jojoba Oil for industrial uses are also quite outstanding. They include a very high viscosity index of 180 and flash point of 555 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus enhancing the heat transfer attributes of other lubricating oils.
Jojoba Oil has been documented to display increases in skin surface suppleness, and clinical efficacy on dry skin, lasting for many hours. Jojoba Oil was applied to contralateral sites on the back of the hands of five subjects, after baseline measurements had been made. The material induced comparable changes, a slight suppleness after 5 minutes. The maximum increase was after 1 1/2 hours, diminishing after 8 hours. Moreover, unlike most glyceride based oils or lanolin, Jojoba Oil is readily absorbed into the skin, leaving skin smooth and supple.
With Pasteurized, Pure Jojoba Oil's High Stability characteristics makes it favorable as an ingredient in skin products. Some of its uses are: Shampoos, Hair Care Products, Facial, Body and Bath Oils, Sun Tan Lotions, Lipsticks and Glosses, Hand Creams, and Shaving Creams. Jojoba Oil also is idea for HIgh Speed Industrial Applications. It mixes well with other oils, and has a High Heat and Flash Point, thus effectively replacing Sperm Whale Oils.