Estee Lauder Joins Budding Cannabis Beauty Industry

Estee Lauder Joins Budding Cannabis Beauty Industry

Estee Lauder’s Origins line is the latest big-name company to join the cannabis beauty market with the launch of a brand-new celadon face mask containing hemp-derived cannabis oil.

The Hello, Calm face mask was made available in Sephora this week, making Origins the first Estee Lauder company to enter the cannabis market. Origins collaborated with Sephora for the product, and reportedly chose non-psychoactive cannabis sativa oil instead of CBD based on research stating that cannabis sativa oil was more effective in treating inflammation that leads to rosacea, acne, and eczema.

Julie Van Ongevalle, Origin’s Senior Vice President and Global General Manager, told Glossy that they became ready to launch into cannabis skincare because it’s now more mainstream. “We didn’t do it before because it had negative connotations, but as more people start to understand the benefits of it – even in medicine – it’s become more acceptable. We didn’t want to shock our customers,” Van Ongevalle said.

Origins partnered with Sephora to pique the interest of the public, considering that the Hello, Calm face mask and cannabis sativa oil are entirely new. The Sephora website features an online community, and Origins chose 50 engaged members to receive the mask ahead of time and review it. The thread got more than 550 comments, plus 42 photos and 7,600 views from the Sephora community. “The community play is very important. Whenever possible, we try to engage and develop specific programs or pre-seeding or mailings to the Sephora community,” an Origins spokeswoman told Glossy.

Ongevalle also added that Origins wants to focus on the therapeutic benefits of its ingredients instead of the cannabis culture.

Cannabis A Valuable Ingredient In Skincare

The benefits of CBD for the skin are no secret, with several studies pointing to its wide range of benefits from eczema to psoriasis and more. The use of cannabis topicals, such as creams and oils directly on the skin, also offers significant health benefits for treating conditions instead of just having aesthetic benefits. This is because our endocannabinoid system has numerous receptors that act as message receivers when they bind with the cannabinoids in cannabis. These receptors, known as CB1 and CB2, are found throughout the body, including the skin. This is why topicals are an effective way to receive the benefits of cannabis for various skin conditions.

Research firm Brightfield Group released a recent report stating: “As hemp CBD is extremely versatile, companies have begun infusing it into everything from facial scrubs and deodorant.”

While many feel that the effects of cannabis on the skin still need more evidence, there’s no stopping the beauty industry rush from using it.

In a feature article in the Financial Times, Alexa Inge expounds on this. “Cannabis is America’s latest gold-rush,” says Hinge, co-founder of Cult Beauty, a website that is renowned for identifying industry trends. “The human body has an incredible biological affinity to this plant,” she says, “and when it comes to wellbeing through ingestion or topical application, the use of quality, whole-plant extracted CBD can have hugely beneficial anti-inflammatory, calming and protective effects on our skin.”

While researchers are still trying to learn more about cannabis and its use on the skin, don’t expect to get high by slathering cannabis creams and masks on your skin just yet. Although some THC may be absorbed by the receptors on your skin because it enters the bloodstream, it can only do so in trace amounts, and won’t give you the same kind of high that you experience when smoking or eating cannabis products with THC.

Additionally, just like any other kind of skin product, consumers may want to test for allergic reactions even when using CBD products. The excitement brewing in the cannabis beauty market and dermatologist community about the potential benefits of CBD and THC on the skin will be even more heightened when cannabis is legalized on the federal level, because in doing so, this would remove major obstacles to research and allow scientists to delve even deeper into the subject.

Until then, men and women can indulge in the many harmless cannabis topicals available on the market. Whether it’s for beauty or health, the research available today shows that we can do no wrong using cannabis for the skin – unless you may be allergic.