Shea Butter

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Shea Butter, skin care

Shea butter (Butyrospermum parkii) comes from the nut of the African shea tree. It is off-white or ivory in colour and can be used in cooking as well as in body care products.

The traditional process of getting unrefined shea butter is quite involved. The pulp of the fruit must be removed and the nut dried. The outer shell must then be removed. Traditionally this is done by hand with small rocks. The nuts are then crushed, often with a mortar and pestle. Once crushed, they are roasted. Again, traditionally this is done over an open fire. After the roasting, the nuts are ground into a paste and kneaded. Water is added during the kneading process to allow the separated butter curds to float to the top. The curds are melted and slowly boiled to removed the excess water. It then is put into pots to cool and harden.

Such a labour intensive process to produce such a lovely product! I find that shea butter is very soothing to dry skin. It is great to use in products or on its own. It can be found in the lip balms and creams that I make and look forward to using it in future products!

Candelilla and Carnauba Waxes

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candelilla wax, carnauba wax, cosmetics, lipstick

Things are moving forward with some of the makeup products! With products such as lipstick, liners, and mascaras, we use one of two different kinds of wax – candelilla wax (INCI name Euphorbia cerifera (candelilla) Wax) and carnauba wax (INCI name Copernicea cerifera (carnauba) wax).

Native to northern Mexico, the Candelilla shrub is where candelilla wax comes from. The leaves and stems are boiled and the wax is skimmed from the surface and then further processed. It is used as a glazing agent in food products and as a binder for chewing gums. With lipstick it helps give it the nice glide feel while giving it a glossy look.

Carnauba wax comes from the leaves of the Carnauba palm found only in north eastern Brazil. The leaves are dried and then beaten to loosen the wax with is then further refined. It has one of the highest melting points of natural waxes and is also one of the hardest natural waxes. This makes it a great wax to use in eye and lip liner pencils. It is also used in many commercial waxes such as floor and furniture polish, car wax, and surfboard wax. It is also used to coat pills and candies. And one of the most common used of carnauba wax is to coat dental floss. Chances are you have encountered this wax a few times in your life without even knowing it!

Seaweed – not just for sushi!

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cosmetics, Gelidiella acerosa, Hypnea musciformis, Jan Benham, Sargassum filipendula, seaweed, skin care

We use a lot of interesting things in natural skin care. Clays, oatmeal, and sugars are some of the more well known items. One that I find extremely interesting is seaweed!

Jan, my teacher, has several recipes using seaweed extract and seaweed gel. Her extract and gel contain the following extracts: Sargassum Fillipendula, Hypnea musciformis, Gelidiella acerosa. Her extracts come from algae off the coast of Brazil.

Hypnea musciformis and Gelidiella acerosa are two different kinds of red algae. Sargassum filipendula is a brown algae. They all contain a lot of natural anti-oxidants and nutrients that can be used for the skin. These three types of seaweed and their extracts are used in over a hundred different skin and hair care products in the world – including masks, moisturizers, anti-aging treatments, shampoos, and body muds to name a few. Gelidiella acerosa and Sargassum filipendula are also harvested as edible seaweed and can be eaten raw or cooked.

At this point I am primarily using them in the extract and gel form for their anti-aging properties and their moisturizing abilities. I have focused on the extract for the past few weeks and I do enjoy using it as a eye serum. Next up I plan to be using the gel on a nightly basis to keep some moisture in my skin during the winter with our crazy radiator heating!

Witch Hazel

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cosmetics, skin care, witch hazel

This past week has been a busy one and in the midst of everything I ended up going on an electronic hunt for witch hazel. I was trying to determine which type of witch hazel to buy and discovered that regulations allow for 14% pure ethyl alcohol to be added to natural witch hazel. As witch hazel is already astringent, I personally would find this too drying for the skin and am buying a pure witch hazel that does not have any additional alcohol added to it.

Hamamelis virginiana (Witch Hazel) Water is distilled from the leaves, twigs, and bark of the shrub. It is wonderful natural astringent for the skin. It can help cleanse and tone oily skin without drying it out and is great to use on acne.

Witch hazel is soothing and great for reducing swelling. It is also said to be great for helping speed up the healing time of bruises. I bruise easily so I’m starting to put that to the test this week!

It is used by many to reduce dark under eye circles and witch hazel is found in many of the hemorrhoid medications you can buy in a store.

It is a very useful product to have on hand!

Kaolin Clay

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cosmetics, facials, Jan Benham, kaolin clay, skin care

With studying skin care and facials, also comes a study of different clays. And there are a number of different clays out there. Currently I am working mostly with Kaolin clay. Kaolin is also called white clay or china clay. It is actually one of the main ingredients in porcelain!

Kaolin clay is naturally absorbent and contains silica and various minerals like magnesium, zinc, iron and potassium. It can be used in any number of cosmetic products. To name a few – dusting powders, soaps, makeup foundations, and of course facial masks.

My first introduction to kaolin was when I did the mineral makeup class with Jan Benham in the fall of 2012. It is one of the powders used in some of the base mixes for the make up.

Next up was dusting powder! I stopped using store bought deodorant quite some time ago. Originally I had switched to a homemade vinegar and water spray but once I was introduced to dusting powders, I switched again. I’ve been using dusting powder for about 8 months now. It is a mix of kaolin, baking soda, and essential oils and I find it really great!

And now I’m using kaolin as a base for some of my facial masks. It is a very mild clay so it can be used on all skin types – and that makes it a great starting point for me when looking at what will work best for different clients. And it is a favourite of mine to use on my own skin!