What to know about CBD topicals

What do you know about CBD topicals? Well, I don’t know everything either so that’s why I write this blog. To learn. To educate. So, let’s start with the basics of what to know about CBD topicals. First, CBD from hemp has an important distinction: you don’t get high. With that in mind, let’s proceed.

What are CBD topicals?

It may seem obvious, and in a sense it is. It’s CBD you apply topically, to your skin. These come in the form of lotions, creams, salves and balms. All of Lost Remedy’s CBD topicals are free of chemicals, stabilizers, parabens and other harmful toxins. CBD, or cannabidiol, derived from hemp, is one of many compounds found in the hemp plant. We combine full-spectrum hemp oil CBD with essential and carrier oils. Long known for their therapeutic properties, essential oils have been used for millennia to treat everything from anxiety to aches and pains to acne and more. However, essential oils are volatile and tend to evaporate quickly. So, before they are even absorbed into the skin, a good chunk of them evaporates into the air.

Enter the fatty carrier oil, which doesn’t evaporate at all. The carrier oil surrounds the essential oil to keep it from evaporating. As your skin absorbs the topical, the benefits of all the oils are absorbed with it. When CBD oil is incorporated into any combination of carrier and essential oils, along with other healing ingredients such as aloe vera, it activates the body’s cannabinoid receptor system. This activation allows the healing properties of each element to perform more efficiently and at peak levels. As a result, the three oils combined into lotions, creams, salves and balms work in concert to benefit many conditions.

When to use CBD topicals

What’s important to know about CBD topicals is that they are versatile, easy to use and have few, if any, known side effects. The beauty of topicals is that they go to work quickly. More quickly than if you ingest CBD.

CBD is a known anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, analgesic and antioxidant. The power of CBD can be associated with the endocannabinioid system, or ECS, present in everyone. The ECS is responsible for maintaining homeostasis, or balance, by regulating various processes in the body such as appetite, pain and mood, among others. CB receptors are found throughout the skin and the addition of a CBD topical can help promote healing and homeostasis.

• Topicals can be easily applied directly to an affected area. So, it gets to the heart of the matter faster for:
• Acne
• Arthritis
• Bacterial infections
• Burns, including radiation burns
• Chapped, dry skin
• Fibromyalgia pain
• Itchy bug bites or poison ivy
• Inflammatory skin conditions
• Joint and muscle aches and pains
• Neuropathy
• Rash, eczema, psoriasis
• Wounds
• Youthful skin

There is even evidence that CBD can be preventive. In fact, Lo Friesen, lead chemist for a cannabis wellness company recommends using CBD several times a day – and remember, there are no side effects, so you can. According to Friesen, topicals help the CBD go where it needs to faster, but also builds up, preventing worsening inflammation.

How do CBD topicals work?

I’ve already mentioned our ECS, and this is how it responds to applied CBD. We all have two CBD receptors, CB1 and CB2.

The CB1 receptors in the brain affect coordination and movement, pain, emotions, mood, thinking, appetite, memories and other functions. CB2 receptors are more common in the immune system. They affect inflammation and pain.

When you apply a CBD topical directly to the skin, it penetrates the layers and interacts with the CB receptors. Instead of attaching to the receptors, it acts like a guide, telling the receptors to use more of their own CBD.

“There is research to support that phytocannabinoids, like CBD, interact with receptors and other enzymatic factors within our skin that modulate pain and inflammation,” says Emma Chasen, co-founder of Eminent Consulting, a cannabis consultancy firm. “Because the skin is actually quite thick, when you apply CBD cream, it soaks into the skin but does not make it to the bloodstream. It interacts with CB1 receptors … to modulate the pain and inflammatory response.”

How often can you use CBD topicals?

As I already noted, CBD topicals that are a combination of CBD and carrier and essential oils can be applied as often as necessary. There have been no reported side effects associated with the products and it can act as a preventive when used more often.

But I would caution you to know what to look for when buying CBD topicals. There are a lot of products available, but not all are what they claim. So do your research and be sure you are buying clean, organic products that don’t contain chemicals or toxins.

Have more questions about CBD topicals?

If you have questions not addressed here, feel free to reach out and ask us. We’ll do our best to respond to your questions or concerns as clearly and understandably as possible. We’re here to help you find the products that will be the most beneficial based on the condition you want to