Organic

What Are Cloves?

Cloves are the dried, unopened flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, an evergreen tree in the myrtle family. The tree is native to Maluku in present-day Indonesia, where people cultivated and traded cloves long before the spice reached Europe.

The familiar nail shape is an entire flower bud. Its rounded head holds tightly folded petals, while the stem-like base is the calyx that would have supported the open flower. The buds are gathered before blooming and dried until they become dark, firm, and intensely aromatic.

Clove is naturally rich in volatile compounds, especially eugenol, eugenyl acetate, and beta-caryophyllene. The whole bud also contains tannins, flavonoids, triterpenes, sterols, and other phenolic compounds. This wider chemistry is why a whole clove bud, an oil infusion, a water or alcohol extract, distilled clove essential oil, and isolated eugenol are related but not interchangeable.

We use organic dried cloves as a whole botanical. We do not add distilled clove essential oil or synthetic clove fragrance.

A Flower Bud with a Long History

Clove’s story begins in Maluku, not with the European spice trade. Indigenous growers knew, cultivated, and cared for the trees for generations before European powers tried to control the islands and their valuable harvest.

Cloves also traveled great distances through older Asian and Indian Ocean trade networks. Archaeologists recovered a carbonized clove from the port of Mantai in Sri Lanka in a context dated to about 900 to 1100 CE. That small find shows how far this tiny flower bud had already traveled.

Across Indonesian, Chinese, Ayurvedic, Unani, Persian, and other traditions, cloves became associated with warmth, oral comfort, digestion, breathing, pain, and protection. Preparations included whole buds, powders, infused liquids, oils, and combinations with other plants.

I find it remarkable how much useful chemistry God placed inside one unopened flower bud. Its history shows what can happen when generations observe a plant closely and learn how to work with its natural strengths.

Why We Love It

Anti-Inflammatory Activity

Inflammation is part of the body’s normal defense and repair system. When it becomes excessive or prolonged, however, it can contribute to redness, swelling, discomfort, itching, and damage to the skin barrier. Clove has an unusually strong body of research showing that several parts of its chemistry can influence inflammatory pathways.

In a 2012 cell study, clove extract reduced the production of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-6, two cytokines involved in inflammatory signaling, and also changed interleukin-10 production. Eugenol affected some of the same signals, but not all of them. This suggests that eugenol explains part of clove’s activity while the complete extract has a broader immunomodulatory effect.

A 2017 study examined inflammation triggered by Cutibacterium acnes, the bacterium formerly called Propionibacterium acnes. An ethanolic clove extract and eugenol reduced NF-kappa B signaling and lowered tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1 beta, interleukin-8, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 in cultured immune cells. In a mouse ear model, both also reduced swelling and small abscess formation.

A 2026 study added another skin-specific line of research. Mice with psoriasis-like inflammation received a standardized concentrated clove-bud extract or eugenol by mouth. Both reduced scaling and epidermal thickening while changing the IL-36, IL-17, and NF-kappa B pathways that drive psoriatic inflammation.

These cell and animal studies do not make a clove balm a medical treatment, but they show why we especially value clove for inflammation. Its effects appear across several connected pathways rather than depending on one isolated laboratory test.

Antioxidant Support

Antioxidants interact with free radicals, unstable molecules that can damage fats, proteins, and other cell structures. Oxidative stress contributes to environmental skin damage, barrier strain, and some of the changes associated with premature visible aging.

In a 2004 laboratory study, both water and ethanol extracts of clove buds showed strong antioxidant activity through free-radical scavenging, reducing power, metal chelation, and protection of fats from oxidation. Because the researchers tested extracts of the bud rather than only isolated eugenol, the results reflect a broader range of clove compounds.

A 2025 study is especially relevant to the way we prepare botanicals. Researchers added cloves to olive oil through maceration or by crushing the cloves with the olives. Both methods increased the oil’s total phenolic content, and the clove-enriched oils resisted some forms of deterioration better during accelerated storage. This confirms that an oil preparation can receive antioxidant compounds from the clove bud.

For skincare, that antioxidant chemistry has two useful roles: it helps defend the skin from oxidative stress, and it can help protect the oils within a formula from oxidation. We value clove for both.

Antimicrobial and Antifungal Activity

Clove also has direct laboratory activity against bacteria and fungi. A 2026 study tested an 80% ethanolic extract of dried clove buds against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Candida albicans. The extract inhibited every organism tested. Its minimum inhibitory concentrations, meaning the lowest amounts that stopped visible growth, ranged from 390 to 780 micrograms per milliliter.

Distilled clove essential oil has shown even stronger activity in some laboratory systems. In one study, a 0.4% concentration reduced E. coli, S. aureus, and P. aeruginosa populations by about five orders of magnitude under the tested conditions. Organic matter weakened the effect, which shows how much the surrounding formula can change antimicrobial performance.

That essential-oil study helps identify what clove’s concentrated volatile fraction can do. It does not mean a whole-bud infusion has the same strength. Together with the bud-extract research, however, it helps explain clove’s long association with cleansing, protection, and irritated skin.

Comfort, Itch, and Temporary Numbing

Clove’s traditional connection with tooth discomfort has direct human evidence. In a randomized study of 73 adults, a homemade clove gel and a 20% benzocaine gel both reduced pain from a gum needle stick compared with their placebos. The researchers found no significant difference between the two active gels in that short procedure.

Another small study followed 50 people with chronic itch related to kidney, liver, or diabetic conditions. Twenty-five participants hydrated the affected skin and then used a topical clove-oil preparation twice daily for two weeks; the comparison group used petrolatum. Itch scores improved in the clove group while the petrolatum group did not show a significant change.

These studies used specific gels or clove-oil preparations, not our whole-bud infusion. They still help explain why clove has remained connected with comfort for so long.

Wound-Repair Research

Skin repair requires a coordinated sequence of inflammation, cell movement, new tissue formation, and re-epithelialization, the process that restores the outer skin layer. Clove has shown activity at several points in that sequence.

A 2020 study formulated clove oil into a 10% emulsion and tested it in Wistar rats. The preparation reduced paw swelling in an inflammation model and improved wound contraction, re-epithelialization, granulation tissue, and collagen formation in wound models. The complete emulsion was part of the result, which is an important reminder that formulation affects how a botanical behaves.

This is preclinical research, but it supports continued interest in clove as one part of carefully designed skin-repair preparations.

Why We Use the Whole Clove Bud

Many clove studies use distilled essential oil or isolated eugenol because researchers can measure those concentrated materials precisely. We use those studies to understand the naturally occurring compounds inside the bud, but the ingredient we choose is the organic dried flower bud itself.

Cloves naturally contain an essential-oil fraction. That does not make a whole clove or a clove infusion the same as adding distilled essential oil. Distillation separates and concentrates the volatile fraction. A whole-bud infusion allows oil-compatible compounds to move into the carrier oil in much gentler amounts while the botanical remains part of a wider plant matrix.

This is one reason we prefer to work with the plant the way God made it. We want the useful chemistry of clove, especially its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds, without making a highly concentrated aromatic oil the center of the formula.

That choice matters for people with sensitive skin or a compromised skin barrier, because concentrated clove oil and eugenol can irritate or sensitize skin. Whole clove is still a potent botanical, so concentration and the complete formula matter. We use it as one part of a balanced preparation rather than expecting it to work alone.

Quick Answers

What are the benefits of cloves for skin?

Clove research shows anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, comfort-related, and wound-repair activity. The strongest evidence includes whole-bud extracts, isolated compounds, distilled oil, formulated emulsions, animal models, and a few small human studies, so the exact preparation matters.

Is clove anti-inflammatory?

Yes. Clove extract and eugenol have reduced inflammatory cytokines and NF-kappa B signaling in cell studies. Clove preparations have also reduced swelling and improved inflammatory skin changes in animal models involving Cutibacterium acnes and psoriasis-like inflammation.

Do whole cloves contain essential oil?

Yes. The dried flower bud naturally contains volatile oils, especially eugenol. An essential-oil-free formula can still contain whole aromatic plants; it means no separately distilled and concentrated essential oil has been added.

Why use whole cloves instead of clove essential oil?

The whole bud keeps its volatile compounds within a broader plant matrix and allows them to enter an infusion in less concentrated amounts. We prefer this gentler, whole-botanical approach, especially in formulas intended for sensitive or compromised skin barriers.

Can cloves help acne-prone skin?

An ethanolic clove extract and eugenol reduced Cutibacterium acnes-driven inflammatory signals in cultured immune cells and reduced swelling in a mouse model. This supports further acne research, but it is not yet a human acne-treatment trial.

Are cloves antibacterial and antifungal?

Yes. Clove-bud extracts and distilled clove oil have inhibited several bacteria and Candida in laboratory studies. The strength depends on the preparation, concentration, organism, contact time, and complete formula.

Can cloves support aging skin?

Clove buds have strong antioxidant activity, and antioxidants help limit oxidative stress associated with premature visible aging. This supports the appearance of healthy skin, although cloves have not been shown to reverse aging in a human clinical trial.

Are whole cloves gentle enough for sensitive skin?

A whole-bud infusion is gentler than adding concentrated clove essential oil, but clove is still active and individual skin can respond differently. The finished concentration and the rest of the formula are important.