In aromatherapy blending, its generally the essential oils that get all the press. But certain carrier oils have very profound therapeutic activity for healing all sorts of skin conditions, as well as for daily beauty care treatment. It seems that some of the carrier oils from faraway places have the most dramatic therapeutic potential. Here's three great carrier oils from faraway places you can use alone or blend together in your skin recipes that are sure to give you the healing effects you're looking for.
Rosehip seed oil is first on the list. In terms of the exotic carrier oils, it is the one that's been the most widely available for the longest time, so it may not seem so exotic to some. This doesn't at all diminish its truly important therapeutic activity. Pressed from the seeds of rosehips grown in the mountains of Chile (a rosehip is essentially the fruit of wild roses), the oil has a lovely reddish orange color, indicating its high level of therapeutic nutrients. The oil often has a potent, earthy aroma to it.
The action of rosehip seed oil is regenerative to the skin. It has been the subject of much research, showing the oil alone can lessen the appearance of wrinkles, sun damage and scars, as well as improve the skin's texture overall. You'll find it in nearly every recipe for "mature skin" at approximately 20% of the total base mixture. It can be used at 100% if you like. It should not be used in formulas for acne, as its regenerative action can promote breakouts. You'll also find a CO2 extraction of the whole rosehips, deep red in color, if you which to use a more concentrated form.
Tamanu nut oil, also called Foraha, and even sometimes Callophylum inophyllum, is pressed from the nut of trees growing in tropical regions around the Pacific (specifically the islands of Vanuatu). The oil is unique in its consistency and color: the unfiltered oil is exceptionally thick and grainy, and can be solid at room temperature. The filtered oil is often still quite thick and grainy, with a dark green / brown color and somewhat pungent aroma. The grains are simply natural variations in makeup of the fatty acids within the oil, and will disappear when the oil is blended or applied to the skin.
Tamanu oil is considered a "wonder oil" in that it is thought to heal virtually every conceivable condition of the skin. It is an excellent choice for wound healing, scar reduction, and caring for mature skin, as tamanu can significantly increase the "turnover" rate of skin cells -- increasing the speed of this process by up to 3 times. It is thought effective for treating fungal infections, acne and eczema as well. Tamanu can be used at 100% strength, but is most commonly blended with other base oils at 10-20% of the formula.
A new oil sweeping the high end skin care markets is Argan, also called Moroccan Oil -- taking its name from the origin of the nut. The oil has been used for ages in the region for both cooking and cosmetics. It's acceptance by users of natural beauty products have been a boon to the local economy, and resulted in positive steps to preserve this wonderful natural resource.
The oil is rich in essential fats, plus the antioxidant vitamin E and a variety of other antioxidant polyphenols. Argan oil is reputed to have anti-aging properties, and be an excellent lightweight moisturizer. A director of research at Avada skin care suggested "the antioxidants and fatty acids work synergistically to stop inflammation", and important point, as inflammation is a root cause of skin aging. Argan is a very user friendly oil, in that it has little aroma of its own, making its use as 100% of your base formula more of a possibility.
As you can see, these exotic carrier oils are all highly regarded for skin care, with significant potential to keep your skin looking smooth and healthy. For a truly therapeutic aromatherapy base formula, you can use all three together in equal parts. A fourth profoundly effective oil that's no longer so exotic is coconut. While solid at room temperature, when blended with these other oils, it will remain liquid. Coconut, also being one of those skin care oils with a plethora of therapeutic activity, will blend exceptionally well with these three. To this formula, simply add 4 to 11 drops of one or more essential oils per ounce of carrier mixture. The essential oils can be selected precisely for your skin's needs, creating perhaps the finest skin care preparation available to you.
Learn more on the incredible array of therapuetic actions of organic essential oils such as organic Indian peppermint essential oil and many more at ananadaapothecary.com
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August 29 2010 | Skin Care | No Comments »
Have you always wanted to try the world's finest skin care product, but found the prices somewhat outrageous? Ever considered making your own? It's so easy to do, and you can create a formula precisely to match your skin type, with remarkable effective natural and pure botanicals (plant-based ingredients). Making these yourself will give you a skin care product that matches or exceeds the effectiveness of anything you can buy over the counter at a truly affordable price. Try one of these recipes and you may never go back to fancy labels, boxes and prices ever again!
Volatile Therapeutic Plant Concentrates: Essential Oils
You'll find essential oils in every "high end" mature skin beauty product, though sometimes you'll see them discretely labeled as "plant extracts" or similar terms. The thing is that many folks still don't realize that essential oils truly are medicine, not just fine smelling precious liquid in tiny bottles. When you understand that essential oils are simply the concentrated "volatile" (easily evaporated liquid) constituents naturally present in ALL plants, you'll see that they're nothing less than any other herbal concentrate. And essential oils are so very compatible with our skin -- they are very easily absorbed -- that they can actually work better than other types of botanical skin care ingredients. Making a custom recipe for yourself is as simple as matching the therapeutic properties of the essential oils to your skin's needs -- then mixing them together with one or more "fixed" oils, and voila! You've got the perfect daily skin care creation.
Rose is the Oil of Beauty
On to the ingredients -- we'll look at several, and note which ones are best for each skin type. The heart of every formula for woman's mature skin care is also the premier beauty oil of all time: Rose Otto. This steam distilled variety of Rose essential oil is nearly miraculous in its therapeutic beauty care benefits for woman's skin. Rose offers a synergy of effects, being emollient, softening and hydrating in addition to being gently stimulating and cleansing. Amazingly, it is also considered astringent (remember its also hydrating at the same time) and can heal redness, broken capillaries and inflammation. It is somewhat costly, but for your recipe, you'll only need a few drops -- the smallest size available will virtually always be enough, and probably enough for several bottles of your recipe. And oh MY, even those tiny amounts smell simply Out-Of-This-World!
Calendula: Nature's Healing Magic
Calendula oil has been used for hundreds of years for all sorts of skin care uses. Its exceptionally soothing, with the traditional use being for infant's skin care. The flowers have been hard to work with however, limiting the uses of this magnificent medicinal plant. A new extraction technique now offers us a Calendula oil concentrate, often labeled Calendula CO2. This new extract is highly antioxidant, powerfully wound-healing, and one of the most effective soothers of irritated or damaged skin available on Earth.
Stimulate, Regenerate and Cleanse
One or more of these three oils are excellent companion oils to the Rose and Calendula. Rosemary "Verbenone" is a skin-care specialty oil, distilled from a particular variety of Rosemary herb. Long used in all sorts of body care preparations, Rosemary is thought to work by stimulating cellular metabolism (increasing the amount of nutrients getting into our skin cells), speeding the creation of new cells, and enhancing our skin's vitality. Helichrysum is even more potently regenerative -- often used in wound healing, Helichrysum will also increase new skin cell production, while drawing waste products from skin tissues. And lets not forget Lavender, the Grand-Daddy of skin-care medicine. Lavender is regenerative, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and aids skin conditions where stress may be an underlying factor.
A final two essential oils with significant therapeutic action in skin care: Green Myrtle and Sandalwood. Both of these oils are considered highly balancing, bringing oils back to a healthy middle ground. Sandalwood is excellent for both oily AND dry skin, adding a pleasing, grounding, earthy aroma to your formula (it is quite popular in men's skin care too). Myrtle is astringent, tightening, antiseptic, and has a fresh, bright, herbaceous aroma with a lemony-twist.
Holding It All Together: Your Formula's Base
While the essential oils are often considered the "active ingredients", its important to consider the "carrier oils" are exceptionally therapeutic as well. For these recipes, we highly recommend the use of two very well-regarded tropical nut oils: Coconut and Kukui. Coconut has a very long history (thousands of years, actually) in skin care, mentioned often in Ayurvedic medicine. It is antimicrobial and hydrating (spanning the needs from the acne prone to the chronically dry). Kukui has similar properties, and remains liquid at room temperature -- allowing easy mixing and application of your custom recipe. These two oils have been used by peoples of tropical climes to care for the skin of the young and old, successfully, for so long -- and now you too can reap their benefits.
Nature's Mature Skin Cure: Rosehip Seed
For everyone EXCEPT those prone to acne, Rosehip Seed oil is the third important base oil. Rosehip seed naturally balances the incredible tropical nut oils, coming from the high mountain arid regions of South America. Rosehip seed may be the most thoroughly studied carrier oil for skin care use -- and with excellent results. Rosehip has been shown to significantly reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and scars, while smoothing overall skin texture and color. Imagine what its going to do with all these other top-notch therapeutic ingredients...let's get on to mixing them.
Putting It All Together for Your Custom Formula:
Ingredients: 1 dark glass bottle 30 or 60ml (1 or 2 ounces). Blue cobalt is beautiful. Brown is also appropriate. You'll want to use a dark colored glass to protect the essential oils. Also: 1 funnel, Essential oils of choice, Coconut oil (warm to make liquid at room temperature), Kukui nut oil
To Mix: Measure into the bottle your essential oils of choice. Fill the bottle with the indicated parts Coconut, Kukui or Rosehip. Spiral the bottle and allow to blend for 2 hours or longer. The scent will become more and more delicious over time. Use 2 x day on clean skin. Each recipe is for one fluid ounce of blend; you can make more by multiplying the amounts however many times you'd like.
Healing Beauty Formulas For Every Skin Type:
For dry skin with smile lines: Rose Otto 8 drops, Lavender 12 drops, Calendula CO2 6 drops, based in equal parts Coconut, Kukui oil and Rosehip seed oils.
Mature skin with scars or color variations and smile lines: Rose Otto 6 drops, Lavender 8 drops, Helichrysum 6 drops, Rosemary V. 6 drops, Equal parts Coconut, Kukui, and Rosehipseed oils.
Irritated or sensitive skin, perhaps with broken capillaries: Rosemary 8 drops, Lavender 6 drops, Calendula CO2 6 drops, Sandalwood 6 drops, in three parts Coconut and one part each Kukui and Rosehip seed oils.
For skin that is oily or combination: Green Myrtle 10 drops, Lavender 8, drops, Rosemary V. 6 drops, in equal parts of Kukui and Coconut oils only, no Rosehip Seed.
And there you have it: incredibly effective "mature skin" care blends for every woman. Once you make one of these yourself, and realize you may have just made yourself the best skin care formula EVER, you can experiment a little with one or more of the hundreds of essential oils available. Each has unique therapeutic properties that are highly compatible to our skin. Here's to your happy, healthy glow!
Essential oils such as Spruce and Frankincense are available from Ananda Aromatherapy, along with a great many aromatherapy supplies for the home user and natural health professional.
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October 22 2009 | Skin Care | No Comments »