CBD creams and CBD balms are two fan-favorite skincare products designed to localize the benefits of CBD on minor aches and pains.** Unlike other CBD products, CBD creams and CBD balms help you target the soothing, calming effects on troublesome pain points around your body.** Plus, we’ve mixed in other natural pain relievers into our formulas for added comfort and effects.
But what are the benefits of topical CBD? And what are the best ways to use CBD cream?
After checking out the wealth of positive testimonials available on the internet, you’ve perhaps decided to try skincare products with CBD. Millions of people around the world are combining their love for skin care with CBD, and they’re deciding to try these exciting, physically soothing cannabinoid products for themselves.
When you’re first starting out using CBDfx cream and balms, you’ll need to know how to pick the right product, and you’ll also need to find out the best ways to apply CBD, or cannabidiol, topically. We’ll cover all these points and more in this guide, and we’ll even give you tips on how the aging process works to help you protect your skin health for years to come.
CBD Topical Cream vs. CBD Balm: What’s the Difference?
Before we proceed any further, we’ll need to cover one key point: What’s the difference between CBD hemp cream and CBD balm? Both product formulations have their advantages and disadvantages, and learning the differences between these options will help you find out which CBD topical is right for you.
1. CBDfx CBD Creams
In most topical industry contexts, a “cream” is a topical that’s made with a water base. Using water as a base for a topical has a number of advantages: Water-based topicals absorb better into the skin, meaning they can take advantage of transdermal absorption, which is a mainstream application method for active ingredients — including CBD — and other natural compounds.
Topicals that have been formulated with water bases absorb into your skin rapidly. Rapid absorption times ensure that you won’t end up with any streaky residue on your skin, but if your goal is to have a CBD product that remains on your skin’s surface for a longer period of time, you’ll want to choose an oil-based CBD topical instead.
Best Water-Based CBD Topical Creams
CBD Cream for Muscle and Joint: Cooling Formula (1000–3000mg): As the original water-based CBDfx topical, our CBD Cooling Cream shines as the crown jewel of our topical lineup. With simple ingredients and strengths that reach 3000mg CBD per bottle, this topical goes on smoothly and leaves only a light, refreshingly minty scent behind—with a powerful icy-hot sensation.
CBG Muscle and Joint Cream: Heating Formula (1000–3000mg): Made with naturally soothing ingredients, like white willow bark, caffeine, tea tree oil, and muscle-warming camphor oil, our CBG Muscle and Joint Cream: Heating Formula provides a gentle heating sensation that massages muscles and boosts joint recovery. Plus, its light-weight design lets you take all of these soothing benefits on the go!
2. CBDfx CBD Balms
Typically, “balm” is used to describe topicals that are oil-based, and CBDfx balms are no different. Oil-based topicals offer a variety of unique advantages because these types of topical products don’t necessarily absorb into your skin so much as they stay on the surface of your dermis and leave behind a protective barrier on your skin.
In the winter, for instance, balms can protect your skin from getting dry and chapped, while water-based topicals won’t offer this advantage. Plus, smoothing a dab of balm onto your skin just feels good. There’s nothing more relaxing than applying your favorite balm before bed or after a workout, and here at CBDfx, we have a variety of CBD-infused balms for you to choose from.
Best Oil-Based CBD Topical Balms
- CBD Balm Stick Muscle and Joint (750–3000mg): We designed this CBD balm specifically with physical recovery in mind. Whether you just spent all day helping your friend move, or yesterday’s bike ride is still taking a toll, count on ingredients like camphor, wintergreen, and peppermint oils — plus top-tier broad spectrum CBD — to get you through.
What Are the Best CBD Lotions?
Since the CBD industry is still largely unregulated, you could end up choosing an off-brand or poorly made CBD topical if you aren’t careful. If you check for a few simple criteria as you make a purchase, however, you’ll find that picking out the best CBD cream or balm is easier than you think:
1. Check for Lab Testing
All reputable companies test their consumer products for safety. Third-party laboratory testing helps consumers know they’re choosing safe products, and testing also helps regulators ensure that companies are toeing the line and creating their products in good faith.
Since the FDA has yet to determine how to deal with the ever-growing CBD phenomenon, however, this agency hasn’t yet offered its usual powers of direct oversight over the CBD industry. Therefore, it’s up to individual CBD producers themselves to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that their products are free from mold, pesticides, heavy metals, and other contaminants that could pose health hazards.
Reputable, third-party lab testing is especially important in the CBD industry for one crucial reason: verifying the CBD concentration in the final product. Some bad actors within the CBD producer community have been caught selling CBD products that only contain a fraction of the CBD listed on the ingredients label, and others have been busted for selling “cannabidiol” products that don’t contain any CBD whatsoever. Rather, these products tout “hemp seed oil,” another hemp-based extract that doesn’t feature any worthwhile, wellness-boosting cannabinoids.
Especially when it comes to topicals, lab tests of the final product are necessary to make sure you get what you’re paying for. Go ahead and take a moment to check out our lab reports; you’ll find that here, at CBDfx, we always meet the gold standard we’d like to see across the hemp industry at large.
2. Know What Ingredients to Look for
Topicals often contain more ingredients than other types of CBD products to help facilitate absorption and increase shelf life.
For many people wanting to buy CBD topicals, their main complaint is discomfort. Some toxic ingredients commonly used in low-quality topicals actually make certain discomforts worse, which completely flies in the face of what many users are trying to accomplish. We guarantee that our products are made with organic hemp extract and come bristling with nature-backed ingredients, like white willow bark, tea tree oil, and camphor bark oil. As you review the ingredients present in our CBD topicals, please feel free to give us a shout if you have any questions about how they might affect you.
3. Take a Look at the Reviews
As with any other type of product, CBD customer reviews are a mixed bag. Too many people write reviews based on first impressions that rapidly fade, and an equal number of misguided folks complain about products without understanding how to use them. When taken as an aggregate, however, customer reviews can be helpful in ways that extend beyond their mere star ratings.
As you check out available reviews for CBD products, keep the following two factors in mind:
- Are there any repeated complaints? It’s easy to discount a single negative customer review as biased or uninformed. If you see the same complaint over and over again, however, it’s possible that there’s a serious issue with the product that you shouldn’t overlook.
- Are there any common points of praise? No matter what a company says about its products, you can ferret out the truth by poring over enough customer reviews. If you look hard enough, you might even find some high points of the product that the marketing copy didn’t express properly.
4. Learn About the Brand’s Reputation
It’s no stretch to say that the CBD industry is currently inundated with new brands. As CBD becomes ever-more popular, it’s too easy for people who don’t have your best interests in mind to get into the industry.
Established companies, however, have had to fight tooth and nail for years to get to their current positions of prominence. Unlike no-name CBD brands that just sprang up last week, veterans of the industry put their names on the line with every product they sell and ship. In addition to being more experienced, bigger brands also have more at stake and perform better as a result.
In your search to find the best CBD brands, make sure to find ones that are established, have years of gold-standard customer care under their belt, and make their products with organic hemp. Also, like we stated above, only shop from brands that publish up-to-date lab reports alongside their products.
What Is the Best CBD Cream for Minor Aches and Pains?
That’s a bit of a tough question, as the best CBD balm for minor aches and pains is going to be the one with the highest-quality supporting ingredients, as these items are going to be the ones providing effects that pertain to the soothing of certain discomforts. CBD topicals — and CBD creams, in particular — are rapidly growing in popularity, and the products that are being sought after the most are those that possess the best collective cast of ingredients, whether those ingredients be essential oils, all-natural extracts, or herbal essences. Once you’ve found the CBD topical with your own “dream team” of ingredients, follow these simple steps to get used to applying your new CBD cream:
1. Start Taking Your CBD Cream With a “Drop Test”
Whenever you’re trying a new topical for the first time, it’s always a good idea to start with a “drop test.” Pick a particular spot on your skin that you can regularly observe over the next 24 hours, and apply a modest drop of your new CBD topical to that area. Performing a drop test will help you make sure that you aren’t allergic to any of the ingredients in your CBD cream or CBD balm, and as always, you can consult with a physician before you start using a new topical product.
2. Keep Your CBD Topical With You at All Times
There’s nothing worse than getting used to the effects of your topical only to accidentally leave it behind when you would like to have it most. Remember to take your new CBD topical with you wherever you go so you can apply it at a moment’s notice. Here at CBDfx, all our CBD topical products feature convenient packaging that makes it easy to slip your CBD cream or CBD balm into your backpack, purse, gym bag, or glove compartment before you head out for the day.
3. Try Both CBD Balms and Water-Based CBD Topicals
When you’re searching for a reliable, natural means of addressing discomfort, it only makes sense to consider as many options as possible. Instead of limiting yourself to either CBD balms or CBD creams, you might want to consider giving both oil-based and water-based CBD formulas a shot.
Water-based and oil-based CBD topical formulas work differently from person to person. Therefore, one type of formula might not deliver the results you expect, but another option might utterly exceed your expectations.
Plus, you might find that oil-based and water-based CBD topical formulas complement each other. As we mentioned earlier, water-based topicals absorb quickly, which has both benefits and drawbacks. By complementing this increased absorption time with an oil-based CBD topical that stays on your skin, you can enjoy the best of both worlds.
4. Experiment With Different CBD Topicals
There’s no CBD application method that’s right for everyone. For many CBD users, finding the perfect administration method and serving size requires a process of trial and error, so don’t be afraid to experiment to your heart’s content as you get used to using CBD topicals.
Topicals With CBD Oil: What Are the Hallmarks of a Good Product?
We’ve covered how to pick the right CBD topical brand, but how do you determine the quality of a specific topical product that also contains CBD? While the right choice is different for everyone, there are some simple criteria you should keep an eye out for as you move forward:
1. Your CBD Topical Brand Keeps Things Simple
When it comes to CBD topicals, there’s no need to overdo it. You should be able to recognize each of the ingredients on your topical’s product label, or learn everything you need to know with a quick Google search. Topicals that are overly complicated are usually trying to cover for something, but simple CBD topicals harness the power of natural ingredients to deliver excellent results that also feel great on your skin.
2. Your CBD Topical Won’t Harm Your Skin With Nasty Preservatives and Other Toxins
All too often, environmental stresses and toxins make skin age faster than it would normally. Exposing your skin to more toxins is the last thing you’d want to do, but unfortunately, tons of CBD skin care products on the market contain nasty ingredients that have no business coming anywhere near your skin.
As you search for a topical you like, keep an eye out for these common offenders that frequently sneak their way into such products:
- Parabens
- Phthalates
- Artificial coloring agents
- Sodium lauryl sulfate
- Triclosan
- Formaldehyde
How to Learn More About CBD Skin Care Benefits
On your quest to find the best CBD topicals for minor aches and pains, you’re bound to find yourself looking for more information. Here are some places you should start when you’re looking to become more educated on the topic.
1. Check Out the Studies
In addition to there being countless studies on CBD available to you via the internet, a bounty of studies have been performed on a number of the supporting ingredients in our CBD topicals that give the CBD creams and CBD balms many of their effects. You can read in-depth explanations of what makes oils, such as lavender and chamomile, so effective when included in topicals, and you’ll likely come to understand the biological end of these supporting ingredients much better!
2. Check the Reviews
Basic product reviews often leave you wanting more. To satisfy your desire for hands-on (albeit second-hand) knowledge about how CBD works, check out some of the long-form reviews and testimonials that are floating around the internet.
3. Try It for Yourself!
They say that experience is the best teacher, and here at CBDfx, we wholeheartedly agree. We offer a wider range of CBD products than practically any other CBD retailer on the market, which means you have dozens of ways to try CBD for whichever purpose you’re interested in. Remember that we’re always standing by to answer your questions and help you pick the perfect products for your needs.
Hemp Oil Benefits for the Skin: The Bottom Line
Hemp is taking an increasingly prominent position within the skincare market, and many skin health enthusiasts are rightly excited about combining CBD with the beneficial supporting ingredients already found in some of the world’s premium topical products. CBD is getting more mainstream by the day, and major retailers around the country are getting on the cannabidiol bandwagon; continued steps in the right direction are making CBD more legal and freely available than ever before.
There’s never been a better time to try a CBD topical for your skincare needs, and CBDfx.com remains the best place on the internet to find CBD balms, creams, masks, and even bath bombs. Try a CBD topical for yourself today to find out exactly what the hype is all about!
