Does Fish Oil Absorb Into The Skin

Will rubbing fish oil on your face banish wrinkles - or just leave you whiffy?

Published: 22:59 BST, eight December 2013 | Updated: fifteen:56 BST, 9 December 2013

Challenging: After getting a whiff of the capsules' fishy smell, Clare realises how challenging her month-long cod liver oil assignment will be

Challenging: After getting a whiff of the capsules' fishy odor, Clare realises how challenging her month-long cod liver oil assignment will be

Gilt and glistening, the translucent capsules look so enticing in my hand, like magic beans or jewels.

I choose i and pierce it with a needle, before squeezing some of the elixir on to my finger and caressing the unctuous liquid into my face.

Finally, I take a deep breath and am hitting, not by the attracting scent of an expensive perfume, just by a strong pong of fish. It's at this point I realise just how challenging this month-long cod liver oil assignment is going to be.

Co-ordinate to a vast number of nutritionists, beauty editors and online mothers' forums, cod liver oil is the globe'southward best-kept dazzler cloak-and-dagger. Not only will massaging it on to your face help soften and even erase lines, its rich content of vitamins A, D and omega 3 fat acids should keep skin looking hydrated and youthful for longer.

Better yet, the advocates insist, these same nutrients tin assistance plump skin from the inside. At 40, with the lines around my eyes, oral fissure and on my forehead multiplying at an alarming rate, the prospect of a cheap anti-ageing culling to expensive confront creams and serums is very highly-seasoned.

And so I make up one's mind to put cod liver oil to the test. For a month it will replace my usual Lancôme day moisturiser and nighttime cream, which cost £84.15.

I'll apply information technology to my confront after showering in the morning, and later on cleansing at dark. I'll also take one capsule a day orally.

I'll monitor how my pare looks and feels and, for a more contained assessment, volition take my confront scanned before and afterwards using a Visia machine. This machine measures wrinkles, sun damage, redness and pore size.

Nicolas Miedzianowski-Sinclair, of The Cosmetic Imaging Studio clinic in London, gives me my initial scan results and they're a mixed bag: extensive UV harm on my face and below-average skin tone, but wrinkles and fine lines amend than boilerplate for my age.

Ready to begin, I head to my local health food store and spend £7.45 on 90 loftier-potency i,000mg cod liver oil capsules. I choose 1,000mg over the 400mg alternative on the basis that 'high forcefulness' must equal 'more effective'. I'll take ane capsule orally per day and rub the oil of another into my skin.

And so what's it like to apply my new 'moisturiser'? The oil comes in innocuous-looking capsules that don't smell of anything. But once opened, you are reminded that cod liver oil comes from . . . cod.

Before

After

Earlier and afterward: Afterward a rocky first, Clare becomes inured to the pong de poisson

The oil I squeeze out feels pleasant to the bear upon - lite and nigh silky - and is easily massaged into my peel. Information technology doesn't make my skin await greasy, merely as I work it into the crevices of my face up, I feel as if I am basting myself with the contents of a line-fishing trawler.

It'southward so repulsive, I seriously wonder if I volition exist able to continue with the experiment for iv weeks. More important, volition I still have a hubby by the end? Thankfully, the smell fades over the next five minutes and I proposition a cheek to my spouse, Sam, for his opinion. He admits 'there's something of the sea' about me, withal, he says information technology's not offensive.

Just throughout the 24-hour interval, I go enlightened of an odd odour emanating from below my nostrils, which I tin can only liken to the oil from a fish fryer and it even impregnates my pillowcases. The effects on my peel are harder to evaluate. For the first couple of days at that place'south no change. On the fifth mean solar day my chin begins to chip and I wonder if this is due to the vitamin A in cod liver oil.

Some anti-ageing products utilise derivatives of vitamin A as an ingredient because of the style it promotes jail cell turnover in skin (acting a bit like a chemical pare), thereby helping to 'erase' lines. Just stronger, prescription-strength formulations of Vitamin A sometimes cause redness and dryness for the kickoff few weeks.

Result: Clare's wrinkles (highlighted in green on a computer scan) are less obvious

Issue: Clare's wrinkles (highlighted in green on a computer scan) are less obvious

After I've been using it for a week, several people tell me my peel is looking more 'glowy'. Thankfully no one comments on the olfactory property, or my slightly dry mentum. Just I'yard still not convinced.

While some days I think my peel looks great, on others I call up information technology looks terrible - with increased redness and enlarged pores and even a minor pimple next to my nose. I hardly ever become spots, and then it's a very unwelcome visitor.

The lingering smell is as well starting to put me off my food. But, gradually, as the final week approaches, my pare miraculously seems to calm down and - as long as I concord my breath while applying the oil - I become inured to the pong de poisson.

I learn that it's better to pierce a capsule with the point of a pair of tweezers than a needle because it makes a slightly larger hole and you tin can clasp more out at a fourth dimension. Also, i sheathing can terminal for 2 applications.

I'thousand amazed at the number of people who suddenly tell me how good my complexion is. When I go for luncheon with friends I've not seen for months, and who know zippo about my experiment, they all say how young I wait.

'After I've been using it for a week, several people tell me my skin is looking more 'glowy'. Thankfully no 1 comments on the odor, or my slightly dry out chin. But I'm still not convinced.'

At home, it's a unlike story. While Sam said he barely noticed the aroma at the showtime, he's become more sensitive to it. As he comes in for a buss one evening, he grimaces and then says: 'Definitely fishy.' The scent of cod liver oil is not an aphrodisiac.

By the time my calendar month is up, applying the oil - and taking i a day with a meal - has get an integral part of my routine.

But has it made any difference? I render to Nicolas and his Visia machine. Incredibly, it appears the compliments do have some basis in fact: co-ordinate to my 2nd lot of scans, cod liver oil has significantly improved both my skin tone - that is the evenness of my complexion - and also reduced the fine lines and wrinkles around my eyes. On the left side of my face, the texture of my skin, which was ever good, hasn't changed, just my uneven skin tone has improved dramatically, taking me from beingness on the 45th percentile among my peers to the 69th (in these skin tests, high numbers are good).

At that place is a slightly increased redness effectually my olfactory organ, merely the lines effectually my optics have reduced, with most lines appearing less intense or having disappeared altogether. Nicolas estimates information technology's taken 4 to five years off my face.

Cod pong: Unfortunately, Clare's husband prefers her wrinkly rather than whiffy

Intriguingly, the results on the right side of my confront aren't quite then impressive. Nicolas suggests this is caused by me beingness left-handed and applying creams more vigorously to the left side of my face.

So why did applying cod liver oil work? Cosmetic dermatologist, Dr Sam Bunting, says the results are more likely downwardly to the fact information technology's rich in omega 3 fat acids, rather than vitamin A. 'Information technology contains a high percent of omega 3 fatty acids and there's no uncertainty your confront would do good from these every bit they bolster the skin'southward barrier function, improving texture and may provide protection from the dissentious effects of UV,' she says.

She adds that taking cod liver oil orally might likewise boost results if my nutrition had previously been depression in vitamin A, omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D. These tin can work from the inside out to improve hydration and plumpness, protect skin cells and boost elasticity.

Whatever the scientific discipline, it'south working and I am delighted with the results. In fact, even though the experiment has ended I carry on rubbing on my crow's feet.

Until Sam gives me a kiss, sniffs, and asks suspiciously: 'Have you lot been using the cod liver oil over again?' I confess I take. 'Would you like me to finish?' His respond is unequivocal. Sadly, it seems, he prefers me wrinkly to whiffy.