Everything You Need to Know About Bergamot

With its unmistakable scent, used as the secret flavouring to the famous Earl Grey Tea, Bergamot is a fascinating ingredient for many reasons. It’s well-known for its antiseptic and stress-relieving properties, but the fruit has many other qualities that make it a truly special component.

What Is Bergamot?

Bergamot is a citrus fruit common both in Europe and some tropical areas, especially in Southeast Asia, Southern Italy, and the South of France. Nobody knows where it originated, some historians say it comes from Asia, some from Italy, and some others believe it’s native to the Canary Islands. Bergamot is about the size of an orange, with a yellow/green blush, and it looks
like a curious blend between another citrus: physically similar to lime but with a genetic profile hybrid of other citrus fruits. There’s also no consensus on this: researchers describe it variously as a hybrid between bitter orange and citron, sweet lime or lemon. It blossoms in winter and the fruit
is pressed (cold-pressed to be exact) to get its fragrant oil to use for prized skincare and perfume formulas: to obtain just 3 ounces of essential oil, farmers need to distill around 100 bergamot oranges. The oil, the juice, and the leaves have been used for centuries for their powerful benefits for numerous health issues concerning the body and the mind.

10 Incredible Facts About Bergamot

Apart from its delicious fragrance, which made it really popular as a scent in 17th Century France,
and its delicious taste when incorporated into tea, Bergamot has many other properties that make
it a potent ingredient to aid in multiple health affections. Here are some really impressive facts to
demonstrate it:

1. It’s a natural astringent. Bergamot is ideal for anyone suffering from acne and sebum overproduction: it has to clarify and astringent properties, balancing the skin without being over-drying or stripping.
2. Helps stimulate and regenerate the hair. With its gentle exfoliating action, it’s a great natural option to stimulate the scalp and promote stronger and thicker hair when used over time.
3. Stimulates skin cell renewal. Helps achieve an even and toned complexion by brightening the skin and healing post-blemish problems like hyperpigmentation.
4. It has positive effects on our mood. As an essential oil used in aromatherapy, it supports our ability to stay calm during moments of highly stressful situations by balancing our mood.
5. Helps the digestive system. In Italian folk medicine, Bergamot was used to get rid of the occasional tummy ache, as it contains limonene and alpha-pinene, two components that increase digestive juices.
6. It may help lower cholesterol. We still need larger-scale studies to state this as a fact, but several studies have discovered that two of its compounds, brutieridin and meltidin, when combined with the statin drug usually used to lower cholesterol levels, helped reduce the amount of statin that was needed. Researchers could cut by half the dosage of the drug, which has some strong side effects.
7. It’s antibacterial and antimicrobial. In fact, is one of the most effective essential oils as far as antibacterial properties are concerned, and when used topically, it’s less drying than other ingredients like alcohol or tea tree oil.
8. Gets rid of lice. It’s not the only essential oil to help with lice outbreaks: peppermint, lavender, tea tree, and eucalyptus have also proven to be beneficial in these cases. If you have kids and often have to undergo the lice pest, try mixing a few drops with their shampoo.
9. Helps reduce pain. Bergamot contains linalool and carvacrol, two components that have analgesic, anticonvulsant and anti-inflammatory properties.
10. Clears the respiratory system. Its invigorating scent aids in opening up the chest and clearing up the respiratory system when used diffused in a room or in a chest salve or body oil.

How to Incorporate Bergamot into Your Skincare Routine

With its endless benefits and a godsend fragrance, Bergamot is a must in everyone’s household. Bergamot is one of the main ingredients of our range of hand and body washes, and they all have its clarifying and oil-reducing properties, and its sweet and fruity scent. If you want to give it a go, try any of our soap bars or cleansing washes for a relaxing and calming moment.