Avocado Oil (Huile d'Avocat): Benefits for Skin, Hair and Cooking

What is avocado oil?

Avocado oil comes from the soft green pulp of Persea americana. Producers crush the flesh and separate the oil by pressing, spinning in a centrifuge, or extracting it with solvents. A 2019 review in Molecules describes the top grade, "extra virgin," as oil made from good fruit using only mechanical methods, kept below 50 °C (122 °F) and with no chemical solvents (Flores et al., 2019). At the other end, refined oil has been bleached and deodorized, which removes most of its color, aroma and taste.

Oil extracted from the pit is a separate product: one analysis cited in the same review found Hass seed oil was high in linoleic acid, unlike the oleic-rich oil from the flesh.

Refined vs unrefined avocado oil

Unrefined (virgin or extra virgin) avocado oil keeps the fruit's natural pigments, such as chlorophyll and carotenoids, and its avocado flavor. It suits dressings, dips and lower-heat cooking.

Refined avocado oil trades flavor and some minor nutrients for heat tolerance and a neutral taste. Refining in general raises an oil's smoke point (Lv et al., Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2025). One 2025 study cites a smoke point near 220 °C (428 °F) for avocado oil, higher than the 156 to 200 °C range it gives for olive oil (Marín-Obispo et al., Food Chemistry: X, 2025). Smoke points vary a lot by grade and freshness, so treat any single number as a rough guide.

Fatty acids: what's in avocado oil

According to USDA FoodData Central, 100 grams of avocado oil contains about 71 grams of monounsaturated fat (68 grams of it oleic acid), 13.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat and 11.6 grams of saturated fat. It also has a little palmitoleic acid, an omega-7 fat that is unusual in plant oils. The table compares it with two other oils people often weigh it against.

On fat profile alone, avocado oil and olive oil are close cousins. Coconut oil is in a different category because most of its fat is saturated.

Huile d'avocat bienfaits: skin and hair

Most people asking about avocado oil benefits want to know about skin and hair. Here is what the research supports.

• Moisture. A 2022 review of 27 clinical studies on plant oils applied to skin, including avocado oil, found that on healthy skin these oils act as partial seals. They slowed water loss and raised skin hydration soon after application, comparable to petrolatum or mineral oil, and they were not irritating (Poljšak et al., Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2022).
• A skin-friendly fat ratio. The same review notes that avocado oil has roughly two to three parts oleic acid per part linoleic acid, close to the balance found in the skin's own lipids.
• Psoriasis. A study cited by Flores et al. found a vitamin B12 cream containing avocado oil was well tolerated as a long-term treatment for psoriasis. That is a single formula, not proof that plain avocado oil helps.
• Hair. Avocado oil is a popular pre-shampoo and scalp oil, but we did not find good clinical trials on hair. Any benefit comes from coating dry strands, as other heavy oils do.

In short, avocado oil is a sensible, gentle moisturizer for dry skin and hair, backed more by its makeup than by trials of avocado oil itself.

Is your avocado oil really avocado oil?

Quality is the big catch with avocado oil. UC Davis food scientists Hilary Green and Selina Wang published the first purity and quality survey of avocado oil sold in the US in Food Control in 2020. In a 2021 study, the same two researchers and Ohio State colleagues used NMR to fingerprint commercial oils. Three store-bought "avocado" oils grouped with soybean oil, pointing to full substitution, and two of those three were labeled extra virgin (Tang et al., Molecules, 2021).

The problem is not limited to the US. In a 2025 study of commercial brands from Mexico, only 40% of samples met fatty acid standards for avocado oil, and the suspect samples pointed toward blending with cheaper oils such as canola or safflower (Marín-Obispo et al., 2025). The same paper reports that a global purity standard for avocado oil was only added to the Codex Alimentarius list of named vegetable oils in 2024, and Mexico set a national standard in 2021. Before then there was little to stop mislabeling.

How to shop with that in mind:

• Buy from brands that test their oil and state how it was extracted (expeller-pressed, cold-pressed, refined).
• Check the date and buy a size you'll finish while it's fresh. A stale or off smell is a sign the oil has oxidized.
• Store it away from heat and light with the cap closed.

For more on how pressing methods affect an oil, see our cold-pressed oils explained guide. If you're comparing body oils, our sesame oil page covers a lighter traditional massage oil, and our rapeseed and canola oil page covers a budget cooking oil.

Find it at William's

The avocado oils we list online are all skin, hair and body oils, sold in the personal care section rather than as cooking oils.

• Now organic avocado oil, 4 oz: a single-ingredient organic avocado oil from NOW's personal care line, labeled for dry skin and massage. A good small size to try on your face or hands.
• Now avocado oil, 16 oz: the same kind of skin-care oil in a large bottle, labeled for dry skin and as a massage oil.
• LifeFlo pure avocado oil, 16 fl oz: sold to soften very dry skin and scalps.
• Earth's Care avocado oil, 8 oz: expeller-pressed from avocado pulp, hexane-free, with added vitamin E, in an amber glass bottle. Labeled for hair and scalp treatments and as a carrier oil.

We don't currently list a culinary avocado oil online; call the store to check what's on the shelf.

Frequently Asked Questions