Olives to Olive Oil to Skincare
Olive Oil, used in Olivella®´s products, has countless benefits for your skin; this incredible ingredient is used in cooking, face and hair masks. Olives’ undoubted benefits are loved by everyone, however making great olive oil takes a lot of effort... and we are here to tell you all about it.
A LITTLE HISTORY CHECK
Olive trees are native to the Mediterranean basin, especially because of their warm climate. They have been growing around the Mediterranean since the 8th millennium BC. It is among the oldest known cultivated trees in the world - being grown before the written language was invented.
Olivella® gets most of its olive oil from Italy, but also from the Mediterranean regions of Greece and Spain. However, before making olive oil based skincare there is a whole world to be discovered.
THE GROWTH
Olive trees also need as much sun as possible to start growing fruit. Olive trees can live up to 600 years, but there are cases where they grow much older. You might be surprised because 600 years is a lot. The reason behind the high life expectancy is that olive trees grow very slowly, and they are also very intelligent fruit trees. When the temperature rises in summer over 30 degrees Celsius and when humidity falls under 20%, the olive tree closes its stomas. When it happens, the tree starts to work and breath at 30% of its full capacity. For that reason,it does not suffer from heat and increases its lifespan even more.
OLIVES & OLIVE OIL
There are many interesting facts about olives, we have listed a few for you:
- Olives picking starts in Autumn. Olives are green in the autumn, while the closer it gets to the winter, they become black, and the acidity levels increase.
- Out of all olives harvested, only 10% are used as table olives, the rest 90% are turned into olive oil.
- It takes approximately 7 kg of olives for the production of one litre of olive oil.
- Each olive cultivar has its own unique chemical and taste characteristics. However, oils made from the same cultivar can be quite different, depending on the cultivation, harvesting, and processing variations.
AFTER THE HARVEST
But what happens after harvesting the olives?
Olives are cleaned and washed by water and then made into a paste with various techniques. It is very important to keep an eye on the process temperature ( it cannot rise too high, otherwise it will affect the quality of the oil). The paste is pumped into spinning centrifugation to separate the juice from the paste. All that comes out of this is the best oil in the world. To limit its exposure to oxygen, fresh extra virgin olive oil goes straight to storage mills. For instance Olivella® “O” - Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil contains high levels of polyphenols, it is purely cold pressed and has a fruity /pungent taste.
OLIVE OIL TO SKINCARE
One big misconception is that Olivella® Skin Care products are similar to its Food Grade Extra Virgin Olive Oil. That is not the case. Olive Oil used in our products goes through many different steps - this is because EVO is comedogenic and can contain high acidity levels, therefore should not be applied directly into the skin.
Olivella's R & D team work constantly to make formulas that make this incredible ingredient safe to use on the skin.
Now you hopefully know how olives grow, and you have a short idea on how olives are made into olive oil, but why is olive oil so different and why is it included in all of Olivella®´s products? Olives are incredible fruits and when made into an oil and added to skincare, they will give your skin all the nutrients it needs - of course this is only valid if the manufacturer knows how to use this incredible raw material.
The benefits of using Olivella® skin care products:
- Have strong anti-aging properties - due to its high concentration of polyphenols.
- Naturally contain large quantities of Vitamin E (largely found in Olives).
- The moisturizing and nourishing properties of olive oil are extremely high.
- Olivella® products are hypoallergenic
Olive oil has been used for such a long time in the Mediterranean Diet and in skincare. It is a natural oil, with countless benefits for your hair and skin. Olives take a long time to grow on trees, costs related to the harvest and processing are often very high and an advanced and precise technology is required to transform this liquid gold into a proper skin care ingredient.
Disclaimer: Olivella® is investing in the largest Organic Olive Farm of Italy - Planting 500,000 Olive Trees.
