Naked Bear Himalayan Apricot Kernel Oil
0.5 fl oz
$18.00
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Naked Bear Himalayan Apricot Kernel Oil
$18.00
The everyday oil of the high Himalaya. Himalayan Apricot Kernel Oil is cold-pressed from the kernels of wild apricots grown in the mountain valleys of Ladakh and northern Pakistan, and it is pure apricot kernel oil — no carrier, no filler, no blend. What's in the bottle is what came off the press.
In Hunza, Baltistan, and Ladakh apricots are the crop the year turns on. The fruit is dried on flat roofs every summer, and the kernels inside the stones are cracked and pressed for an oil used on skin, on hair, on newborns, and in cooking. Sweet-kernel varieties are the ones pressed for skin, and the oil is light, oleic-rich, and very well tolerated.
WHAT IT'S LIKE
Pale gold and light, with a faint marzipan smell. It absorbs quickly and leaves skin soft with no shine.
BEST FOR
Sensitive, dry, or easily irritated skin. Faces that don't get on with heavier oils. Massage. Babies and older skin alike.
HOW TO USE
Two or three drops pressed into clean, slightly damp skin, morning or night. A dropperful massaged over damp skin after a bath. It also makes a gentle oil cleanser — massage in dry, wipe off warm.
WHAT'S IN IT
Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil. That's the whole list.
Pressed from a stone-fruit kernel. Patch test before first use. Keep away from eyes. For external use only.
Ladakh and Hunza
The crop the whole year turns on.
In Hunza, Baltistan and Ladakh, apricots aren't a treat — they're the harvest everything depends on. Every summer the fruit goes up onto flat roofs to dry in thin mountain sun, and afterwards the stones are cracked for the kernels inside. The oil pressed from them has been used in those valleys for generations: on skin, on hair, on newborns, and in cooking, often out of the same bottle.
The gentlest we sell
Mild, well tolerated, and used on the very young and the very old in the same villages.
Light for a rich oil
Oleic enough to matter on dry skin, light enough that it doesn't sit on the surface.
Doubles as a cleanser
Massage into dry skin, wipe off with a warm cloth. It lifts makeup without stripping.
If you've never used a face oil
Start with this one.
It isn't the rarest thing we sell, or the most expensive, or the one with the best story. It's the one least likely to cause you trouble. Mild, light, oleic-rich without being heavy, and tolerated by most skin that has given up on oils for being too much.
There's a reason it's what gets rubbed into newborns and into eighty-year-old hands in the same Himalayan villages. If you're working out whether oils suit you at all, start here and move outward — the ximenia and the cloudberry will still be waiting.
Apricot kernel is a stone-fruit kernel, not a tree nut, so it isn't a declared tree nut allergen. But it sits in the genus Prunus alongside almond, cherry and peach, and some people sensitive to almond do react to it. If your allergy is severe, ask your doctor before using it, and patch test regardless.
Bitter apricot kernels contain amygdalin, and that's a genuine concern — if you eat them. Cosmetic oil is pressed from sweet-kernel varieties and goes on skin, not in you. Don't drink it, and it's fine.
It's among the mildest oils there is and it's traditionally used exactly that way in Ladakh and Hunza. That said, infant skin isn't adult skin, so check with your paediatrician first rather than taking a product page's word for it.
It's the one we'd reach for first. Light, low-scent, and unusually well tolerated. If a face oil has stung or flushed you in the past, this is the one to retry with.
Massage several drops into dry skin — makeup, sunscreen and all — for about a minute, then wipe off with a warm damp cloth. Follow with your usual routine, or with a drop or two of this on damp skin.
Because apricots are farmed at scale and ximenia and cloudberry aren't. Price here tracks what the oil costs us rather than how useful it is. This is one of the two or three most useful bottles on the shelf.
Around 18 to 24 months sealed and about 12 once opened. Being oleic-rich makes it one of the steadier oils in the range. Keep it capped and out of direct sun.
What's in it
Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil.
One ingredient, undiluted — the same oil whether you buy it here or in the Himalaya Collection. Pressed from sweet stone-fruit kernels; not a declared tree nut, but in the same genus as almond, so patch test if you're sensitive to almond. Keep away from eyes. For external use only.
If it's not for you
We offer a 30-day return window for all unused products.
Simply contact us and we'll process your return.