Watermelon Seed Oil and Summer’s Last Glow
What is it about Watermelon?
Watermelon Moonshine. Watermelon Crawl. Watermelon Man. Watermelon in Eastern Hay. Watermelon Sugar.
Americans eat more than 5 BILLION pounds of watermelon every year—that’s a whopping 16 pounds/person. The fruit, ubiquitous at summer bbq’s and in any Dirty Dancing conversation, sets a certain mood: summer, sunshine, even a little body heat. Maybe that’s why so many artists sing about it—that first paragraph is song titles from the likes of everyone from Herbie Hancock and Frank Zappa to Tracy Byrd and Harry Styles.
Even more, though, watermelon is much more than fruit—It also appears to be a systematic rejection of what's most valuable, right in front of our faces.
Those seeds you spit out all summer - show some respect!
Exposure is the reality of summer skin—sun, salt, surf, flights and long days (or delays!). Those freckles that appeared in July? The slight weathering around your eyes from squinting at sunsets? This is your summer biography.
Consider this paradox: while skin and beauty products alike love far-flung botanicals like sea buckthorn from Siberia, bakuchiol from Sri Lanka, and marula oil from Madagascar, we are spitting out one of nature's most sophisticated moisturizers at every barbecue.
Watermelon seeds contain a concentrated blend of omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, and vitamins A and E. These natural anti-inflammatory compounds support “non-comedogenic” products, meaning products formulated this way avoid clogging pores and causing breakouts. Watermelon seed in face oil supports the skin barrier, and helps reduce transepidermal water loss strongly enough to rival anything developed in a laboratory.
So this time around, August offers a different possibility: reconsider what we've been discarding, rather than what needs "fixing." (We feel strongly about this in general! You are NOT something that needs fixing. Indeed, we celebrate the joy of living fully—just do yourself a favor and show that face in the mirror some love).
When pressed, watermelon seed oil (also called Kalahari melon seed oil) delivers what skincare chemists spend years trying to replicate synthetically: lightweight hydration that doesn't clog pores, rapid absorption without slick residue, and a fatty acid profile that supports the skin's natural barrier function.
At Biography, we work with skin’s natural processes rather than against them. In Golden Ray Glow Face Oil, watermelon seed oil joins a ‘fruit seed complex’ of raspberry, pomegranate, and cranberry seeds, a celebration of what most beauty products would never acknowledge using. It's an ingredient list that reads like a composting bin, and therein lies its quiet rebellion.
Re-use, re-cycle, re-joice
The cultural shift feels bigger than skincare. From seed-to-table kitchens to low-waste habits, we’re questioning our throwaway reflexes. Our ingredient lens is the same: keep the joy, add the care, respect the source.
“Your face is your biography” is our foundation. Why erase the most interesting chapters? Applied to ingredients, the question becomes: why chase the rare and exotic when powerful solutions may be hiding in what we habitually discard?
As summer draws to a close, perhaps the most radical beauty act isn’t about adding more. It’s about reconsidering what we’ve been trained to toss. The seeds you’ve been spitting out all season have been waiting to teach us something about value, waste, and paying attention.
Sometimes the most transformative ingredient isn’t the one that costs the most—it’s the one that changes how you think.
Watermelon Seed Oil Quiz Questions: