This Desert-Sourced Ingredient Shields Your Skin From Damage

A plant has to be ridiculously tough to survive in the desert.

The manketti (mongongo) tree doesn’t just survive—it thrives—and that kind of resilience is a sign of its ability to defend your skin from all kinds of beauty threats.

Now an up-and-coming skin-care ingredient, mongongo oil is produced from the seeds of the tree. While other companies might add a few drops to a product made with otherwise toxic ingredients, LXMI pairs it with other rare, active botanicals to produce, safe, clinically effective products like Nilotica Body Velour.

Desert Roots

The Manketti tree grows in large groves in the Kalahari Desert, a region in southern African that includes Namibia, Botswana, and parts of South Africa. It produces a green, egg-shaped fruit that falls and ripens on the ground, sweetening and turning red-brown in the process.^[1]

People in the region have historically eaten the fruit as a staple part of their diets, and they also extract oil from its large seeds to cook with.^[2] In fact, mongongo is the single most important food in the diet of the !Kung San people.^[3]

Locals in the Kalahari also rub the oil on their skin as a moisturizer and sun protector, and the science shows there are plenty of good reasons it’s so effective.

Mongongo’s Powerful Properties

Mongongo oil contains vitamin E, an antioxidant, and important minerals like calcium and zinc.

But the real magic is in its fats. Mongongo is particularly high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which stay on the skin longer than saturated fatty acids (like those found in coconut oil). That means they can create a protective, emollient layer that prevents moisture from escaping.

And two of those fatty acids work even harder for you. First, linoleic acid^[4] can calm skin, thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties. And alpha-eleostearic acid^[5], which mongongo is particularly high in, can help protect your skin from damage caused by UV rays. (No, that doesn’t mean you can skip your daily sunscreen, but extra defense is a good thing!)

You can also feel really good about using products with mongongo since a market for the oil creates economic opportunity for low-income families in Africa, who are able to gather the superabundant fruit and sell it to suppliers.

In other words, you’re protecting your skin and others’ livelihoods.

^[1] Hetta, Mona. (2016). Phytocosmetics in Africa. International Journal of Phytocosmetics and Natural Ingredients. 3. 1-1. 10.15171/ijpni.2016.01.

^[2] Gwatidzo, Luke & Botha, Ben & Mccrindle, Robert. (2017). Fatty acid profile of Manketti (Schinziophyton rautanenii) nut oil: Influence of extraction method and experimental evidence on the existence of -eleostearic acid. Journal of Cereals and Oilseeds. 8. 33-44. 10.5897/JCO2017.0175.

^[3] Borshay Lee, Richard. (1973). Mongongo: The ethnography of a major wild food resource. Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 2. 307-321. 10.1080/03670244.1973.9990351.

^[4] Yasuda, Michiko & Nishizawa, Takashi & Ohigashi, Hajime & Tanaka, Takuji & Hou, De-Xing & H Colburn, Nancy & Murakami, Akira. (2009). Linoleic acid metabolite suppresses skin inflammation and tumor promotion in mice: Possible roles of programmed cell death 4 induction. Carcinogenesis. 30. 1209-16. 10.1093/carcin/bgp106.

^[5] Gwatidzo, Luke & Botha, Ben & Mccrindle, Robert. (2017). Fatty acid profile of Manketti (Schinziophyton rautanenii) nut oil: Influence of extraction method and experimental evidence on the existence of -eleostearic acid. Journal of Cereals and Oilseeds. 8. 33-44. 10.5897/JCO2017.0175.