Tea tree oil in a face oil for men
Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil · essential oil · 0.1% of the formula, within the 2.0% blend
The tea tree in this face oil is the essential oil of the tea tree's leaves, printed on the label as Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil. It is 0.1% of the bottle, the smallest share of the five essential oils in the 2.0% blend.
It adds scent: one sharp, green top note that opens the blend and is the first to go. At this dose it is there to be smelled, not to do anything else.
By Jon Gore, founder, Berlin · Last reviewed
What is tea tree oil?
An essential oil from the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia: "Leaf Oil" in the INCI name says which part. How ours was distilled is not on file yet. Tea tree is the loudest thing in the botanical cupboard: sharp, green, unmistakably itself.
The contribution here is the dose. At 0.1% the shout becomes a word, spoken once, early, and then gone, ahead of the warmer notes of Australian sandalwood oil and cedar. Next to sunflower oil, which carries the vitamin E and smells of very little, it is impossible to miss.
What does 0.1% mean?
0.1%: the "properly" in "used properly". Tea tree is the ingredient people most often over-pour, usually to feel something happening. Feeling something happening is not the assignment. The bottle is 82.5% jojoba, a liquid wax rather than an oil and 15% rosehip seed oil from Rosa moschata; tea tree is one part in a thousand.
The smallest share in the blend, and the first scent to leave the skin. Weight order and exit order are two different lists.
What does tea tree do in this bottle?
| Aspect | In this bottle |
|---|---|
| Scent | Clean, sharp and green: the top note that opens the blend and is first to go. |
| Proportion | 0.1%: the loudest ingredient, kept the quietest. |
| Register | The formula's one sharp voice, outnumbered eight to one by design. |
Everything here is sensory or compositional. None of it is a medical claim: none may be made, and none is needed.
What does it not do?
Does not treat anything.
Does not disinfect your face.
Does not replace a pharmacist.
Is not medicine in a nicer bottle.
A sharp tool, held lightly. The dose is the discipline. A cosmetic oil is not a treatment; for any skin condition, see a doctor or a pharmacist.
Where does it come from?
Melaleuca alternifolia is Australian; the oil has been distilled from its leaves commercially for about a century.
[ Region and distiller pending certificates of analysis. ]
What does "active ingredient" mean on a label?
A regulatory category for medicines, borrowed by cosmetics for the swagger. It also quietly insults the rest of the formula, as though eight of the nine lines were decoration. "Active" is a costume; a dose is a fact.
Questions
- What won't it do?
- A cosmetic oil is not a treatment, and we make no promise about any skin condition. For those, see a doctor or a pharmacist. What jojoba oil does not do
- Should I patch-test it?
- Yes, as with anything new: a drop on the inner arm for a few days. If the skin reacts, don't use it.