This blog is part of the Farm to Face collection, which launches on November 1st. Each week we show you exactly how we made one of the ingredients that go inside of your beauty products. If you want to follow along the process, subscribe to updates here.

 

Spearmint (Mentha Spicata) 

The most gentle of all the mints - which you can decipher when you smell and taste the leaves - this week we're talking about our final ingredient: spearmint. Peppermint is seen as potentially volatile and irritating, but spearmint not so much.

Spearmint has a long history as a medicine, tea, and herb for cooking. It's been used for centuries globally much in the same way that it's used today.

Why We Chose It: Spearmint Oil (Mentha Spicata) 

Spearmint is another unknown skincare ingredient.

For the most part, it's been eschewed as another sensitizing ingredient (source), but again, that's talking about the volatile essential oil, not an infusion. A little bad press won't stop us from digging further into the research. ;)

As part of the same family as lavender, spearmint actually contains the same monoterpenes, as well as rosmarinic acid, just like sage. 

However, spearmint has an even higher concentration of rosmarinic acid that sage, coming in at 59 mg/g, or over 8x the concentration of rosmarinic acid in rosemary, and about 1.5x of that found in sage (source).

Again, rosmarinic acid is highly anti-inflammatory, making spearmint oil -- not spearmint essential oil -- a good candidate for a soothing face oil (like REWIND) or calming oil for irritation and skin afflictions (like CALM).

As we covered in the last blog about sage (here), rosmarinic acid is also a great regulator for melanin (source), making spearmint another good player in REWIND. Not just rosmarinic acid--but potentially also rosmarinic acid in combination with sage extract, which we already have in REWIND--help with melanogenesis.

Rosmarinic acid also helps alleviate signs of oxidative stress (source), and is strongly antioxidant.

As for the other constituents, spearmint's scent comes from carvone (much like lavender's scent comes from linalool) which helps alleviate stress from the body (source). 

Finally, research suggests that terpenes enhance the penetration of key ingredients into the skin (source). So we expect that spearmint will not only act as an anti-oxidant, oxidative stress reliever, and anti-inflammatory agent to the skin, but it will also help the other key ingredients penetrate deeper, too.

 

Where We Got It: Spearmint (Mentha Spicata)

Spearmint is another herb that's been in my family for quite a while. I don't know the exact origin of the spearmint, but I've picked and used it my entire life. Chewed it, made tea out of it - I've always been quite fascinated with it.

Spearmint is very easy to grow and spreads like a weed. You won't need a lot of it in any given formulation, so it won't be difficult to grow enough to meet your beauty needs ;)

 

How We Made It: Spearmint (Mentha Spicata)

Ok! Enough, enough already, I know. We used the Folk Method to extract the spearmint, using jojoba oil (jojoba + terpenes = great penetration). So yes, all of our ingredients were extracted this way (but that doesn't mean that future batches will all be extracted this way *hint*hint*)

The spearmint leaves diffused their scent into the oil--yay carvones!--and the leaves retained very little of the oil, given their thin membranes, so it was easy to press out the oil. Almost 100% of the oil was retained from the beginning to the end of the process, which is amazing.

 

How We Used It: Spearmint (Mentha Spicata)

As I have previously hinted at, we used the spearmint oil in both REWIND and CALM. Both are used as penetration enhancing ingredients, while adding the extra benefits of anti-inflammatory, melanin regulators, and anti-oxidants.

Who doesn't want a little less stress and a little more protection in their life?

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Sage Oil (Salvia Officinalis)

This week we'll cover sage oil, also known as salvia officinalis--how to make it and use it and why. Although sage is most known for it's use in food as a spice, in the last 5 years sage has become a topic of interest to scientists (we'll dive into that more today), so the future of sage is looking up..very quickly. Though you won't find it in many beauty products on the market today, we're happy to bring it to you in all 3 of our Farm to Face products. Keep scrolling to find out why.

Sage is a lovely plant. The leaves are gentle, like Lamb's ear, and fragrant. When they're new, they carry oils and a certain stickiness--a resin--that gets on your fingers when you rub the leaves too hard. 

It's been used for thousands of years in ancient medicines, especially in the Middle East, where dozens of types of sage can be found. On top of treating almost every disease you can think of, sage is also burned to clear people's auras and cleanse people, spaces (source).

However..

 

Why We Chose It: Sage Oil (Salvia Officinalis) 

As a skincare ingredient, sage is basically unknown.

Primarily, I chose sage for it's ability to cleanse acne.

Did you know that sage can help clear up acne? Most people--including a lot of scientists and skin care experts right now--don't. That's because a constituent of salvia officinlis--rosmarinic acid--has just started to enter the natural acne scene. 

When you hear rosmarinic acid, you might think of rosemary, where the name came from. Rosemary is a good source of rosmarinic acid, but a 2012 study showed that the levels of rosmarinic acid were actually 5x higher in sage (salvia officinalis, to be exact) than in rosemary (source). 

The anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of rosmarinic acid are highly documented, but what about rosmarinic acid as a means of fighting acne?

Although a 2013 study showed that more research needed to be done to understand the ability of rosemary and it's 3 constituents to fight p. acnes (propionibacterium acnes, the bacteria that causes acne), a follow-up study in 2015 showed that rosmarinic acid--separate from the other 2 constituents of rosemary--was highly effective in fighting p. acnes and should be used as alternative to current antimicrobial treatments (source), especially with growing resistance to anti-microbial treatments (yes, that was me! count me in!)

On top of being an anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and acne treatment, rosmarinic acid is also a great regulator for melanin (source). Not just rosmarinic acid--but potentially also rosmarinic acid in combination with sage extract--help with melanogenesis.

For these reasons, I think sage is awesome. Some other players don't agree (source), but then again the research is fairly novel and developing; there's a lot to keep up on! I hope to continue to see sage embraced as a good source of rosmarinic acid, and therefore a great anti-oxidant, anti-aging and natural acne regulator.

 

Where We Got It: Salvia Officinalis

This specific strain of sage has been in my family for 4 generations. My great-grandmother gave it to my grandmother before her death. My grandma has tended to it in her garden for 5 decades, as has my mother; we all live nearby each other and take care of each other. This has been especially true of my grandma's gardens as she gets older - she turns 93 next month and she still tries to do it all by herself! Now you know where I get my spunk ;)

The same sage has been sitting in the same spot my entire life. Thriving, growing, yes, but it's a constant. It's been there in the same spot as long as my family has. 

I used to overlook the sage: how would I use it? I thought. There's too much of it. We rarely cook with it, why does it take up so much of the garden?

This year, I found my answer.

 

How We Made It: Salvia Officinalis / Sage Oil

Of course I was a newbie to extractions, so I followed the Folk Method for everything this year (no more surprises, in case you were wondering). I've since learned that for increasing the rosmarinic acid concentration, there are better methods of extraction (source), but I'm not convinced that supercritical CO2 extraction doesn't come with some not-so-happy skin side effects.

For the sage oil extraction, I used two types of oil: organic jojoba oil for one type and Jamaican black castor oil for another. I later did another batch with organic castor oil.

Black castor oil has been used for centuries for hair and skin, including inflammation, rashes and yes, acne. In fact, it's great at growing lashes and brows, too; that's why its the #1 ingredient in WINK (here).

Castor oil alone is very, very viscous. It's sticky. Did you know that a pure nut oil could be sticky? Well, it can be. This is the most viscous oil that I've ever encountered. Just look at how thickly it coated my fingers during the manual extraction:

If you're wondering why I chose Black Jamaican Castor Oil, it's actually been more effective in side-by-side tests (in-house) for growing lashes, and it tends to be more pure on average. Other sources of castor oil are easier to water-down without being detected, and I am sure that they are; every source of castor oil I've worked with that wasn't black castor oil has been much, much less viscous. The only difference--in theory--is that with black castor oil, the castor beans are roasted first before being cold pressed, so their is the additional ingredient of ash, from roasting the beans. That shouldn't affect the viscosity to the level that I've experienced. So from experience, I am postulating that some or most of the regular castor oil on the market is cut. It's not science, it's common sense.

Additionally ash contains sulfur, which has additional skin benefits (yes, face ash is a thing). And though castor nut ash has not been studied for acne like volcanic ash or seaweed ash, I suspect that there are additional acne-fighting benefits in there.

As for the Jojoba oil--you've heard me say a million times how great it is. It's a moisturizer, occlusive agent, and mimics the skin's natural sebum production, making it both a great oil production regulator and skin-penetrating ninja. Jojoba oil, my love.

 

How We Used It: Salvia Officinalis / Sage Oil

I just talked pretty in-depth about how rosmarinic acid and black castor oil are great for fighting acne, so you know where this is headed.

Sage is the star of CLARITY (here)--our OCM (oil cleansing method) face wash for adult acne. I have been testing CLARITY myself for 6 weeks, (here's where and why I started the test--and no, it's not for the sales) and will reveal the results on the Amalie Blog later this week.

After a few days of using straight sage extracted with black castor oil, I realized that something needed to change; it wasn't working. So I cut the black castor oil with sage extracted via organic jojoba oil (more on the blog later), to make the perfect blended viscosity, without losing the benefits of sage extract.

The face oil should be used at the end of the day as a first line of defense against acne. Warm a dropper full of oil on your fingertips and rub it all over your face, massaging it into the skin; keep massaging in for 6-8 minutes, preferably on a freshly steamed face or with the shower running, to get the steam. Afterwards, use a traditional cleanser (I use the Milky Jelly Cleanser by Glossier, here) to complete the 2-step cleansing method. Follow with any acne-fighting products (like Paula's choice BHA, here)  to continue treating the acne, after naturally cleansing.

Some people cleanse only with an oil cleanser and that's fine, but for more acne-prone skin, you'll need to 2-step cleanse like you're from Korea :P

To save money and extend the use of the product, cut with up to 50% organic jojoba oil. That's up to you.

Sage can also be found in smaller amounts in REWIND (here) and CALM (here). As an anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant, we really couldn't resist. ;)

 

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Rose Oil (Rose Damascena)

This week we'll cover rose oil: how to make it, rose oil's skin benefits, and how we used it in our Farm to Face products.

 

Not to be confused with Rose Hip oil, Rose oil (or rose damascena), more commonly known as the Damask Rose or Castilla Rose, is one of the most luxurious oils you can find. 

Actually finding pure rose damascena oil would be quite the feat, considering a steam distillation or similar method yields oil at a rate of 1:3,000 (source).  

Here - for example - on Amazon, where oils are usually quite competitively priced, a true dram of Bulgarian rose damascena oil runs for $30. That's $30 for 1/8 an ounce, or $240 per ounce. 

For that reason, you'll typically find blends at about 10% rose damascena oil, and up to 90% of other forms of geraniol--the main component of rose damascena oil, which is also found in geranium and palmarosa. Whether the retailer tells you that (or even knows it's adulterated or not) is a totally different story. Ah, the world we live in.

Most high-end brands won't even pretend to give you 100% pure rose damascena. In this* high-end "Ren Moroccan Rose Otto Bath oil 110ml" for example, you pay $49 for an approximately 3oz bottle of oil--which is "enhanced" with rose damascena oil and palmarosa oil. It's expensive, but hey, at least they're being honest about the composition.

Dior's Rose de Granville is the only 100% rose beauty oil that I know of.. but the set costs $1550. Good luck to you, my friend.

 

Why We Chose It: Rose Damascena Oil

Rose damascena oil is another one of those fragrance-type oils that Paula Burgeon doesn't really support, although she admits that "Extensive research has shown it has mixed benefits. In the pro column, inhaling this flower’s scent seems to have relaxing properties and the plant’s petals contain skin-soothing and antioxidant compounds that can benefit skin. 

On the flipside, the numerous chemicals that create this rose’s distinctive fragrance pose a risk of sensitivity." (source)

Lucky for us, we used the oil extraction method, not a steam distillation or other potentially volatile method--like solvent extraction or supercritical CO2 extraction--to extract the geraniol and other compounds inside the rose damascena. The pros should therefore outweigh the potentials cons.

According to this extensive 2011 review of the pharmacological benefits of the rose damascena, it is "an ornamental plant and beside perfuming effect, several pharmacological properties including anti-HIV, antibacterial, antioxidant, antitussive, hypnotic, antidiabetic, and relaxant effect on tracheal chains have been reported for this plant."

The composition of rose damascena oil is as follows:

citronellol, geraniol, nerol, linalool, phenyl ethyl alcohol, farnesol, stearoptene, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-terpinene, limonene, p-cymene, camphene, β-caryophyllene, neral,citronellyl acetate, geranyl acetate, neryl acetate, eugenol, methyl eugenol, rose oxide, α-damascenone, β-damascenone, benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, rhodinyl acetate and phenyl ethyl formate

Pretty comprehensive list if you ask me. Citronellol and geraniol lead the way--and there's linalool again (also found in lavender and spearmint in high quantities). The constituent parts of the rose have been isolated and studied, but since the oil as a whole has been studied so completely, I'd prefer that we look at that research, as it gives a more complete picture.

This 2013 study showed that rose geranium oil - which has a very similar composition to rose damascena oil but is easier to produce - shows very promising anti-inflammatory effects in skin.

Overall, rose damascena oil is very highly researched and has been used for centuries in the middle east and parts of Asia as a medicinal plant. There are powerful anti-oxidant and calming effects, and in the case of our extraction method, very little opportunity for sensitization, the only possible side effect of using the oil.

 

Where We Got It: Rose Damascena Oil

The Damask Rose is widely grown in Syria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Iran and China... and evidently, my grandma's yard, too.

Harvesting the rose oil was a little frustrating, because one day the rose bud comes out. The next two days it blossoms. It will stay open for a day or two, then all the petals fall off at once. What?! I wasn't paying attention and missed two sets of flowers. Once because there was a rain storm during the bloom, and once because I just wasn't paying attention. I didn't think it would all happen so quickly!

Anyway, this was a very, very small batch project, but I loved the rose oil because of how lightly, perfectly fragrant the flowers and petals were, and how beautiful the oil looked in the beginning.

 

How We Made It: Rose Damascena Oil

The rose petals quickly lost their luster, but they stayed a light earthy yellow color, and turned the oil just a hint more yellow.

Organic pomegranate oil was used for this solar extraction, by the way, because from the beginning I planned to include the rose oil in an anti-aging blend, and pomegranate seed oil is a naturally high-vitamin C source, and therefore a great brightener. Although the rose vis a vie pomegranate oil concentration would be moderate in the blend, a little extra vitamin C never hurt anybody. ;) I mean, who doesn't want to glow?

The flower petals were thin and very easy to extract the oil from; they held on to very little. 

The final oil smelled lightly fragrant, but nothing strong like a steam distillation would create. This is the theme of all the extracted oils: the carry the light fragrant scent of their mother plants without creating an overly strong scent. They are perfect inoffensive to the nose.

 

How We Used It: Rose Damascena Oil

I've alluded to it already, but we only used the rose oil in REWIND, our anti-aging face oil. REWIND is made to be an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant blend, and this 100% fit the bill. Rose oil is powerfully anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant, as is its carrier oil, pomegranate seed oil.

In the future we may choose to create and sell a 100% rose damascena blend, because this oil was simply amazing to the smell and touch. Look out for it soon ;)

 

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Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica)

This week I bring to you my absolute favorite oil from the Farm to Face collection: honeysuckle (or lonicera japonica).

 

Lonicera Japonica / Japanese Honeysuckle Flowers

This type of honeysuckle is also known as Japanese Honeysuckle. There's actually two kinds - one indigenous to North America and the Japanese variant, an invasive species I didn't know this until I started researching Honeysuckle, because growing up, all I knew was the yellow+white flower variety. Despite the fact that it is an invasive species, Japanese honeysuckle still packs a beauty punch.

 

Why We Chose It: Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica)

I love honeysuckle. I always have. As a kid, we'd pinch off the end of the bud and pull the the strands of the flower through the new hole we'd made, hoping for a drop or two of sweet juice to come out.

Honeysuckle flower extract is a powerful source of anti-oxidant flavanoids and saponins, making it a good anti-ager. Even better news? It's generally agreed upon by everyone in the beauty community as a great anti-ager. (source). It's, in fact, pretty simple and straight forward when it comes to the anti-aging punch that it packs. It's an anti-oxidant, so it helps reduce free radicals and the aging skin damage that comes with free radicals.

Honeysuckle extract also contains a form of salicylic acid (p-hydroxy benzoic acid of the salicylic class), which you might know from acne treatments. Salicylic acid--also known as a BHA--is a chemical exfoliator that helps prevent pores from getting clogged by correcting the abnormal shedding of cells. It has aspirin-like properties (because aspirin is made from salicylic acid), giving it anti-inflammatory properties. It can improve skin thickness, barrier functions and collagen production -- that's all good news for you.

Japanese honeysuckle has gained popularity in the past few years as a natural preservative, because it mimics a paraben (note: it is not a paraben or a "natural" paraben). And if in fact you are worried about parabens at all, it might be time to second-guess that worry (source). While there are potential estrogen-increasing effects with honeysuckle, it's generally not something to be worried about because of the very low levels and lack of general evidence.

Any other concerns about the safety of japanese honeysuckle as a cosmetic ingredient come from the use of nanotechnology or chemical-splitting involved with the production of a popular company's japanese honeysuckle extract (full discussion here). Fortunately, we are not using another company's extract and have followed a very simple folk method of oil infusion. 

 

Where We Got It: Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica)

In Southern Indiana, Japanese Honeysuckle seems to grow everywhere. The side of the road, every piece of woods you go through, every person's yard.

And while I'd like to pick it everywhere, to be totally safe, the honeysuckle had to come from an area that had been pesticide-free for 3+ years. The area must have proper foliage / flowers / etc. around to prevent erosion.  

While you can see the flowers and surrounding area, You can only guarantee that if you know the owners of the property and ask them about the property's history. I picked the honeysuckle from my grandparent's house, where one plant has taken over a bush. Another rest on the outskirts of the yard, next to the woods.

The honeysuckle was the first flower I harvested for the collection, and my absolute favorite. It smells so sweet and gently fragrant. The smell gets on your hands, but you don't mind. The flowers are delicate and beautiful--and I just harvested the flowers, not any other part of the plant, so I ended up with a giant bowl of flowers to make oil from. It was a very auspicious beginning to the collection.

 

How We Made It: Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica) Oil

After I gathered the flowers, I washed them, and (yes, you guessed it!) following the Folk Method again, infused the flowers with organic jojoba oil.

After 8 weeks, we strained the oil manually, then labeled it and stored it in a cool dark place. It was the first oil finished, so it would have to wait.

 

The thing I loved most about the honeysuckle oil was that it still smelled like honeysuckle. This was my first oil and I wasn't sure if everything would come out smelling like it should.

Jojoba oil is a clear, golden oil that smells slightly nutty, but it's not overpowering. Once it was infused with honeysuckle for 8 weeks, it was a light orangish-yellow, semi-opaque liquid that smelled very strongly of sweet, sweet honeysuckle. It made me realize.. I had done something right! And actually, I think this is way, way better than what you can buy on Amazon. It was validation for me, and a big push to keep going.

 

Side Note: Why are you Always Using Jojoba Oil?!

You'll probably notice by now that most of the collection was made with jojoba oil. This just has to do with the fact that jojoba oil is the best vegan mimic of your skin's natural sebum, and can help balance and penetrate. Any ingredient that you want penetrated into the skin should be combined with an oil that can do the job (and not every oil can, if for nothing else than stearic hindrance).

This also makes jojoba oil a great carrier for anything and everything; you can literally add jojoba oil to any formulation and don't need to worry about it being comedogenic. It won't break you out.

So whether you're formulating an acne wash (like CLARITY), an anti-aging product (like REWIND) or an anti-inflammatory product (like CALM), jojoba is a great choice. It's light, moisturizing--and emollient but also an occlusive agent--penetrating, balancing, and rich in essential fatty acids.

 

How We Used It: Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Japonica) Oil

You can find japanese honeysuckle oil as a big part ofboth REWIND and CALM. 

Thankfully, honeysuckle's sweet smell carries very strongly through both formulations, so you can expect a sweet fragrant - and very natural - surprise inside each bottle. 

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This blog is part of the Farm to Face collection, which launches on November 1st. Each week we show you exactly how we made one of the ingredients that go inside of your beauty products. If you want to follow along the process, subscribe to updates here.

 

Lavender

Lavender is one of those ingredients that everybody loves. It's bright purple, smells wonderful, and instantly calms you. When it comes to essential oils, lavender oil is a staple.

When it comes to skincare, though, lavender is a bit controversial.

Before I dive into that, let me clear up some oil and extract terminology, to help you better understand where the controversy arises.

 

Essential Oils vs Extracts

First off, I should clear up that essential oils and extracts are two totally different things.

Essential oils are the volatile aromatic compound of a plant, whereby the oil is extracted by steam distillation. The plants are put into a big vat of water and boiled. The steam is captured and run off, as is the oil. The only exception to this is with citrus fruits, where the peels are cold-pressed for the oil.

Side note: Many essential oils also include synthetic fragrance to boost the smell, so check the label! Synthetic fragrances are very irritating to the skin (read more about this here).

Essential oils are typically very potent -- thus they come in very small (1oz) packages.

Extracts or Infusions are made whenever plants are steeped in water or oil. Just like making a cup of tea, you can infuse plants in hot water (think: rose water). Alternatively, you can use an oil to steep the plants in, typically at a much lower heat--if at all--and for a long time. 

The extracts smell very faintly of the plant that it contains, but nothing like an essential oil. The extracts are much less volatile, and therefore much less irritating to your skin.

 

..now back to the controversy.

 

The Not-so-Controversial Controversy about Lavender in Skincare

The controversy--as I understand it--starts with knowing the difference between the very volatile and skin irritating essential oils and extracts. Lavender, as a fragrance and essential oil, can be irritating to skin. Lavender extracted oil, maybe not so much.

Before the early 2000s, there wasn't much scientific evidence for lavender's efficacy.

Paula Bugeon--the cosmetic cop--is not a fan of lavender in skincare. Evidently before 2011, she had a very long post in her cosmetic ingredient dictionary about how lavender was irritating and drying. Now it's practically a one-liner. She stands by her original stance, but has backed off on the intensity.

Robert Tisserand, on the other hand, stands by lavender as a powerful anti-inflammatory and healing agent. In this post, he highlights many studies from 1998 onward in which lavender oil was proven to be a powerful healing, anti-redness, and anti-inflammatory ingredient, without any allergic reactions.

One really compelling piece of evidence is that in a an anti-allergic study, lavender oil, applied to the skin of rats or mice at 0.1%, 1.0%, 10% or 100% (WOW 100% is a lot), inhibited immediate-type allergic reactions. It also inhibited the release of the inflammatory mediators, TNF and histamine (Kim & Cho 1999).

Regarding Paula's claims about lavender increasing photosensitivity, a 2005 Japanese study reported that lavender oil inhibited the generation of singlet oxygen, which causes the most damage in response to UVA/UVB radiation (Sakurai et al 2005).

Further, according to Tisserand, "Lavender oil is not photosensitizing on the skin (Opdyke 1976 p451), and linalyl acetate is neither a photoirritant nor a photoallergen (Bickers et al 2003). This means that there is no risk of an adverse reaction in strong sunlight" (source).

 

Lavender Oils Constituents

The two main constituents in lavender oil are linalool and linalyl acetate. These two phytochemicals are found naturally in lavender and many other flowers and spices, and are technically called monoterpenes.

As a member of the mint family (did you know that lavender is part of the mint family?), linalool is also common to spearmint, which we will cover in a later week. ;)

One thing that's really cool about linalool is that in a 2013 study, linalool was shown to be rapidly present in the blood (plasma) after being massaged into the skin, and was shown to produce a powerful anti-anxiety effect. Linalool is what produces the strong smell in lavender. So while it's weird that just massaging lavender oil into the skin produces anti-anxiety effects, it's not all that weird, because the phytochemical that's causing the anti-anxiety effects is the same one that causes the scent! 

So it's not all hearsay! Lavender is seriously relaxing, even when applied to the skin. Awesome.

Both constituents may also be anti-inflammatory, as we visited before, above, though the evidence for the constituent phytochemicals is more sparse than for the lavender oil itself. Here's a recent NIH study talking about the potential anti-inflammatory effects of linalool and linalyl acetate.

 

Lavender Oil: Nothing to Be Afraid of

Like most plant extracts, there are good and bad things to say when it comes to lavender, and some studies are definitely more robust than others.

When it comes to fragrances or essential oils at all, it looks like Paul the Cosmetic Cop might not be a fan. That doesn't mean you should rule out lavender altogether as an option for anti-inflammatory or anti-stress effects.

Lavender oil may create an allergic response in some individuals, but that can be said for any flower, spice, herb. Some things we are allergic to, some we are not. If you want to be careful, like with any beauty or skincare product, test a small amount on the back of your hand before applying the product fully to your face. 

Let me end this with a recap of what we know: Lavender is probably not photosensitizing, probably not allergenic, not pro-oxidant, and most likely is an anti-inflammatory that can help heal wounds and reduce redness while it reduces inflammation. AND IT SMELLS GREAT.

On we go.

 

Where We Got It: Lavender Oil

Now that we got all that out of the way, I wanted to introduce you to our lavender and talk about how we harvested, extracted and turned it into two new products.

My mother has grown lavender for years. It's beautiful, soothing to smell, really perfect for any garden.

I tried growing lavender--twice--and didn't have much luck. This year it got hot really fast--like first week of May fast--and all of my sprouts died from the sudden heat and direct sunlight.

I tried a second time inside the house and they sprouted (finally!), but once I took them outside.. they died again.

Early bird gets the worm, I suppose? 

So this year I had to beg my mother to let me use her lavender. Next year I'll start at the last frost and hope for the best; I would just love to have fields of lavender for the collection! I'll run through them every time something stresses me out and you will never see a stressed Megan again. ;)

 

How We Made It: Lavender Oil

Again we followed the solar extraction method (source), for slowly extracting the phytochemicals out of the flowers using skin-friendly organic oils. 

In this case I used organic jojoba oil with the lavender flowers. This was the most beautiful oil extraction ever... until about week 4.

By the time week 8 rolled around, the lavender was unrecognizable; I was pretty glad that I had marked the jars! The flowers were a yellowish/green tint, just like the leaves in other extractions.

When I opened the jar, the faintest waft of lavender scent came out. It was lovely, actually--more real, more legitimate than any essential oil has ever smelled to me. Not over-done, just very light, gentle and relaxing.

During the extraction process, I sometimes use my (clean) hands to press out the extra oils. In this case, I had to do a lot of pressing. The lavender flowers retained more oil than any of the other leaves or flowers that I extracted this year. I couldn't stop smelling the oil on my hands and didn't want to wash it off!

 

How We're Using It: Lavender Oil

Based on all of the evidence, my stance is that lavender oil--not lavender essential oil--in fact an anti-inflammatory and healing agent. From personal experience, I've used our lavender oil raw and I've also used it as a part of both REWIND and CALM. 

CALM (available here Nov 1st) is specifically for reducing redness, swelling and inflammation associated with eczema or dermatitis, so if lavender was an ingredient that caused additional sensitivity, you think I would notice either no change or a bad change, but CALM has been very effective in reducing the redness and inflammation due to eczema on my hands and arms, and greatly reducing my need to use my prescription steroid spray. Further, as I understand, the fact that lavender oil is an anti-anxiety (calming) agent, should help my state overall, even when applied topically to the skin.

REWIND (available here Nov 1st) is formulated for reducing both redness and inflammation in the skin (due to aging), and to increase water retention and suppleness of the skin, thereby decreasing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. The long-term anti-aging effects of REWIND come from the powerful anti-oxidant oils inside, and the anti-oxidant effects of the carrier oils: organic jojoba and organic pomegranate oil. 

The lavender in REWIND acts as a calming, anti-inflammatory agent, alongside spearmint, another high linalool extract. 

Whether you choose CALM, REWIND, or make your own.. I think you'll be very happy with the results that lavender oil yields.

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