Why is Tea Tree Oil used in Skin Care Products?
Tea Tree Oil comes from an Australian tree, not from Asian tea leaves. Tea Tree Oil or Melaleuca oil comes from a fir tree native to Australia, called Melaleuca alternifolia. It is not ‘tea’ as we know it, and is not meant to be taken internally. Tea Tree extracts have been used for centuries as a general anti-septic and anti-microbial. Tea tree oil is related to eucalyptus and has a camphor type smell. Tea tree oil is obtained by distilling the tree leaves and contains almost a 100 compounds; one compound, Terpinen-4-ol, is thought to be responsible for the anti-microbial properties. A review of the literature suggests that most of the studies demonstrating an anti-microbial effect have been done ‘in-vitro’, meaning in a ‘test-tube’ situation. In these reports, tea tree oil has shown some anti-fungal, anti-yeast and anti-bacterial activity and thus has been used for cuts, insect bites and to treat athletes foot and nail fungal infections. There are only a few studies where tea tree oi
