Evening Primrose Oil has a wealth of wellbeing benefits, we tested it out for a month to see...
I remember my grandma professing the benefits of evening primrose oil, good for women of a certain age. I still had that lurking in the back of my mind when I was asked to test out this new evening primrose oil dropper from Efamol, afterall this was the same lady who was convinced that WD40 would help her aching knees. So I did some digging…
Yes, evening primrose oil is said to be good for your bones and yes, it has been known to help elderley people with osteoporosis. But there are a whole raft of other benefits that have been well researched and documented; helping with PMS symptoms, relieving some of the symptoms of menopause, helping with acne, improving skin health and of course, helping to ease bone pain like arthritis.
What is evening primrose oil?
It comes from the seeds of the evening primrose (Oenothera Bennis) plant and its oil is a rich source of omega-6 essential fatty acids.
It contains linoleic acid as well as Gamma-Linolenic Acid (GLA) – both of which are essential components of myelin, the protective coating around nerve fibres and polyphenols protecting the body’s tissues from inflammation and oxidative stress (that can lead to cancers and coronary heart disease). Another of nature’s winners then.
What we found.
You can take this evening primrose oil orally or apply it topically for instant skin moisturisation. I have a friend who swears by it, especially in the winter months to keep her skin nourished but that meant one more step in my skincare regime which might just have taken my limited daily routine over the edge, so I took 1ml with my breakfast every morning.
Now, Efamol suggests optimising the body’s natural store by increasing the intake for the first twelve weeks but I stuck to one dropper a day for four weeks, keeping all the rest of my routine the same.
I can definitely say that my skin feels smoother and more ‘dewy’, much healthier. I even had a coupe of comments on how great my skin was looking (which I didn’t know what to do with!) And I felt more confident in less make-up on the school run too.
This is down to the GLA, which helps smoothe skin, improving elasticity, moisture and firmess and Efamol Evening Primrose Oil Dropper contains up to 33% more GLA that others as well as Vitamin E.
As for the other benefits. I cannot with all honesty report any marked change, possibly some less irritability (Husband will disagree), less bloating perhaps and the arthritis in my knees isn’t giving me as much pain as it sometimes can.
Having said that, it was the effect on skin that we were really testing out. So, yes, as we head into winter and to protecting our skin, I would suggest adding evening primrose oil to your routine. And if you get just one person commenting on how great your skin looks, like I did, it adds a little spring to your step and is completely worth your while.
Efamol Evening Primrose Oil Droppper, £16.99.
