I use (and LOVE) jojoba oil as a hair serum. A tiny amount rubbed between my palms and smoothed over dry hair, concentrating on the ends, adds softness and shine, tames frizzies, and seems to be generally good for my long suffering color-treated hair. I will repurchase this forever.
Some people have suggested that you can achieve the same effects more economically with olive oil, but I have never had success using olive oil on my hair. It never seemed to do anything more than weigh it down, add grease, and leave a funny smell.
I was also surprised to see most people use jojoba oil as makeup remover/cleanser/moisturizer; I have really dry skin that's not acne prone at all, but the idea of using this on my face still freaks me out. If I decide to give jojoba oil a go in one of these other capacities, I'll update this review.

UPDATE: I ended up leaving my bottle of Jojoba oil at the BF's because I was using it most often to give him back rubs (a great hair cut has really eliminated most of my dry/dead ends and hair problems in general), and now I'll use it in place of moisturizer whenever I spend the night unexpectedly and don't bring my normal products. I don't prefer it to creams, but it gets the job done (my skin actually hurts when it's dry) and hasn't made me break out. It does work very well to remove stubborn eye makeup residue as well.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Seriously downgrading my rating... the only thing I use Jojoba oil for any more is back massages and eye makeup cleanup. When I tried to use it as my primary moisturizer, I started flaking like crazy and I quickly realized that it did nothing to hydrate my dry skin. I think I didn't notice before because I was using my regular moisturizers most of the time.
I'm having problems with my ends again, but I also stopped using Jojoba oil in my hair because I found that when I used enough to make a difference it made my ends looks greasy and weighed down. Finding the perfect balance was too difficult to warrant giving Jojoba oil a permanent place in my primping routine.

My skin: (Post Accutane) normal, mild acne scarring on cheeks.

AM: Wash face lightly with Amish bar soap. Right after shower while skin is wet massage jojoba into face, lips, neck, and décolletage.
PM: Wet face and massage jojoba into face to dissolve makeup. Apply Yes to Cucumbers daily facial moisturizer over oil to dissolve further. Brush teeth. Gently rinse off excess and add a drop more jojoba to moisturize face, lips, neck, and dècolletage.

I initially broke out (like three spots, nothing major) when I used this. But every time I change my routine this happens, so it wasn't an irregular reaction. My scarring is fading (YAY!), and my skin is neither dry nor oily. I now have a dewy finish without makeup, and my skin looks great! It works for me, and the value is incredible considering you use literally DROPS a day instead of a big glob.

Amazing. I love this stuff! I can seriiously drown my skin in it and it still doesn't feel too heavy. (although I usually only use 2-3 drops). My breakouts have completely stopped. My oily skin is less oily. It helps prime for my foundation, which I really don't even need anymore. I love mixing it with body lotion and self tanner too. Awesome find. Use it AM and PM.

There are very few moisturizers that I can use daily without breaking out, and they're all oil free. Heavier night creams simply do not agree with me. Unfortunately, I also suffer from dry patches, and that's where the Jojoba oil comes in. I use it with my regular Neutrogena Oil-free Moisturizer for Comination skin every evening after I shower. About 4-5 drops of Jojoba oil mixed into my moisturizer every night with a dab of aloe balances my skin out beautifully. It prevents the moisturizer from drying up right away and leaving me with that tight-skinned feeling. Every now and then I'd go out and splurge on a high end night cream, but nothing works better for me than the above combination. I've added a retinol cream to my regimen, which I apply a couple hours later.
During the day, I use just a drop or two (again with aloe and Neutrogena Oil-Free). I wait for a couple minutes and then apply my makeup, and the jojoba once again helps prevent dry patches while giving me a subtle glow without an oily feeling- like I'm wearing a luminizer. It prevents my makeup from caking and flaking and collecting in the fine lines around my mouth or eyes.
I do plan to buy a dropper bottle to use this stuff, because I am not a fan of the packaging, even though they just recently changed it. I often end up spilling or over-pouring and end up having to discard the extra oil. Still, one bottle lasts forever. I opened my latest 4 oz bottle about 3-4 months ago and I am about a third into it.

Love this for a facial moisturizer, make up remover, massage oil, body moisturizer, added to conditioner, used as hot oil hair treatment and leave in conditioner/shine enhancer. Works wonderfully. Good for your skin and hair and it's organic and all natural. I've repurchased again and again.

THANK YOU! Thank you MUAers for sharing your experience with jojoba oil. Because of your experience, I too am a believer in jojoba oil and have definitely seen a great improvement on my oily, easily clogged skin.


I was over exfoliating my skin during the winter, between the chemical peels, glycolic acid cleanser, and clarisonic usage my skin actually turned for the worst, not better :( I had this awful non acne bumps all over my face, especially on the cheeks and the temple.


I bought some jojoba oil and decided to try it out after reading MUA reviews. I was a little afraid and hesitant at first, fearing that my skin will get worse since it didn't work for some people.


I am happy to report that after using it for almost 2 months, my skin is happy!! I managed to get rid of a lot of those inexplicable bumps on my skin. I didn't experience any skin purging either.


Here's my cleansing method:

1. I massage my face for at least 5 minutes every night with jojoba oil when I take a shower and I can actually see & feel build up dry skin/ sebum/ millia UNCLOGGED on my fingertips during the massage. Jojoba oil does an awesome job in DEEP CLEANSING your gunk.


(I have ditched baking soda and other exfoliants since jojoba oil + massage does such an effective job!!)


2. Use a microfiber cloth and a very very mild facial soap to clean off the jojoba oil and makeup residue.


3. Moisturize with a tiny bit of jojoba oil as well as applying my Jan Marini glycolic acid lotion.


Jojoba oil has also made my chemical peel skin experience more effective---it is THE best soother after a harsh peel.


My pores have shrunk because of jojoba oil, I don't get any zits during my period, and I have that creamy-dewy skin going on with or without makeup.


Acneic/ easily clogged skin should definitely try jojoba oil as a treatment but also keep your skin clean off makeup residue/ sunblock residue since it can worsen your skin condition if you don't clean it well and add oil gunk on top of it.

continued >>

I used to use this religiously when I had long hair, it is a great, relatively cheap, natural moisturizer, much better for color treated hair than olive oil. Also, you won't smell like a salad.

I'm pretty new to using jojoba oil but I like this product so far. I don't actually have the Desert Essence brand, I bought the Trader Joe's kind. I use it first to take off all of my makeup and it works well. It takes off all of my eye makeup without irritating my eyes, or without putting too much effort into it. Granted, I don't use waterproof mascara. After using it to take off my makeup, I cleanse, tone, treat, then moisturize. I also use this oil to moisturize my place. I let all of my treatments soak in before applying this. I use just a few drops for my whole face and neck. I make sure to massage it into the skin for a few minutes otherwise I feel like a crazy, oily mess. It doesn't soak in right away, but I'm going to bed, so who cares? I put a Lancome night cream on over this (can't remember which because the writing is scratched off!).

I also use this to moisturize my ears. I have stretched ear lobes that frequently get dried out, especially in the winter time. I was previously using emu oil, which didn't really do much. I wasn't expecting much from this jojoba oil either, but holy smokes! This stuff moisturizes them SO, SO well!! They're so soft, chubby, and supple. I love it!

I haven't used it for anything else but I feel like this could become a staple in my routine :)

BEST PRODUCT EVERRRR HANDS DOWN, so many different uses hair skin nails anything that needs moisture! <3 HG product i mix it with my face moisturizer and body lotion, also in my leave in conditioner and i put more on my ends sincer useing this i have almost zero split ends im in love continued >>

One of my essentials I keep in my skincare kit. Great for mixing in with moisturizers to add more moisture to dehydrated skin (I generally add 3-4 drops, sometimes less - with this stuff, a little goes a long way). Occasionally I'll use this as a conditioner for my hair. It's also superb for removing makeup for eye and face, as most oils tend to be.


The drawback is that jojoba can be difficult to find - it's available at Whole Foods and Sunflower Market (regional natural foods grocery chain in the Southwest, including Vegas) and a bit expensive, but the 4oz bottle I generally buy lasts me months.