Topicals: Creams, Salves and Lotions

Cannabis topicals are an amazing beginner-friendly way to get comfortable with the world of herb. Topicals are things that you put on top of your skin, like creams, salves, lotions, or gels. Topicals do not enter the bloodstream like other consumption methods, rather they act locally on receptors on the skin. Topicals are different than transdermal patches which are meant to penetrate the skin.

What Are Cannabis Topicals?

Cannabis topicals are products that are infused with cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds found in the plant. Topicals can be purchased in a wide variety of forms: from lotions to balms, salves, patches, eye creams, and everything in between.

Topicals are made with whole-plant cannabis extract that manufacturers put through the decarboxylation process, which activates the cannabinoids. Unlike all of the other products we've discussed in our Consumption Methods Guide, topicals are for external use only, and their cannabinoid content acts directly on the skin. The skin is the largest organ in the body, and it actively produces a variety of receptors that cannabinoids and terpenes can act on providing medicinal benefits like lowering inflammation and reducing pain.

THC can activate the cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors in our skin, muscle tissues, and nerves. This is one of the many excellent ways that cannabinoids can be beneficial for a multitude of ailments. In this specific case, THC acts as an anti-inflammatory and a pain reliever, but will not get you high because it doesn’t travel deep enough to reach your bloodstream. This is an important tidbit to keep in mind because marketing-based misinformation can be common in the current legal cannabis space.

Creams, lotions, balms, and other topicals can be a great choice for people who suffer from muscle pain but don’t want the psychoactive effects of THC. Even CBD balm has been known to help people get the pain relief they need naturally without taking painkillers, however, this is likely not through the CB1 receptor, but rather other receptors on the skin like the TRPV1 receptor.

THC VS CBD Topicals

Once you’ve decided what type of cannabis topical you’d like to try, your next decision will be whether you want THC or CBD, or both. Topicals like massage oils and balms infused with CBD or other non-psychoactive cannabinoids can be beneficial for inflammation and pain relief.

However, studies suggest that topicals infused with whole-plant cannabis with THC offer more potential benefits. As far as we know, this is mainly because THC is perhaps the best pain reliever in cannabis. But as we always say, we need to see many more unbiased studies on plant medicine to confirm these thoughts.

Terpenes may also play an important role in how well a topical product works. Studies show that terpenes like limonene and pinene may act as penetration enhancers, increasing how deep the topical formulations can reach in the skin.

While topicals are a great beginner-friendly product type, they can be expensive. One way to get the benefits of topicals on a budget is to incorporate cannabis-infused oils into the lotions you already have at home. Simply add both into your hand, mix well, and apply to the skin.

With the legalization of cannabis in dozens of U.S. states, the consumer market has seen a drastic rise in the demand for various infused products. As such, the popularity of topicals and creams is rising, while increasing the need for more product awareness and consumer knowledge. HashDash has a vast database of this knowledge available to our platform users, and we are adding new educational content daily.

What We Learned: Topicals: Creams, Salves and Lotions

It can be a bit overwhelming to navigate the various choices of cannabis consumption methods and products available to you. However, with a bit of experimenting, you’ll find what you like in no time. Here’s what we learned in our Topicals and Creams chapter:

• Cannabis topicals are infused with cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds found in the plant.
• Topicals can be purchased in a wide variety of types: from lotions to balms, to salves, to patches to eye creams that are all absorbed through the skin.
• Topicals are made with whole-plant cannabis extract that manufacturers put through the decarboxylation process, which activates the cannabinoids.
• THC acts as an anti-inflammatory and a pain reliever, but will not get you high because it doesn’t travel deep enough to reach your bloodstream.
• THC can be absorbed by the CB1 receptors in our skin, muscle tissues, and nerves.
• Creams, lotions, balms, and other topicals can be a great choice for people who suffer from muscle pain but don’t want the psychoactive effects of THC.
• Topicals like massage oils and balms infused with CBD or other non-psychoactive cannabinoids can be beneficial for inflammation and pain relief.
• You can make topicals at home by incorporating infused oils into commercially available lotions or creams.
• Products with terpenes like limonene and pinene may penetrate further in the skin.

Great work, you have completed our Consumption Methods guide. Look at you go! Soon, you’ll be a cannabis expert with the help of HashDash’s Guides for the Canna-Curious. Answer the question below to close out this Guide officially.