Bringing Herbal Oils Home

Pick up any popular book on aromatherapy and you are transported in an instant to ancient Egypt. To the land of Pharaohs and the Blue Lotus.  Or, perhaps, to Sheba or even to Aquaba in King Solomon’s time.  If not, you will certainly pass Avicenna and the glories of the Silk Road, and Bokhara.  Perhaps you may traverse China and come back to Europe with the Crusaders to settle on alchemy.  The object of the journey is invariably the same; to establish that the ancients did indeed use aromatherapy.  There seems a need to establish credibility by ancient usage, a need to establish modern ideas with those of the ancestors. 

Today’s aromatherapy is built around the contents of the ubiquitous little brown or blue bottles of essential oils.  Today’s purpose and usage indeed have overtones of the past but it is doubtful if most of the ancients ever saw an essential oil as we know it until well into the Middles Ages.   Distillation in a crude form undoubtedly existed in some cultures and different epochs but the user of aromatic substances did not see essential oils as the universal raw material, or panacea, for every situation as we so often do today.

Doctor, priestess, shaman or even pre-historic “social user” were most adept at using aromatics in a form most suited to the occasion or need.  They did not have the benefit of the pharmacy, supermarket or mail order catalogue to dispense the concentrated powers in the little bottles.  So although the use of aromatics in the past has been so very widespread the methodology or vehicles have been very different.  The essential oil burner of today is likely to have been the incenser of the past.  Common people often could not afford candles, let alone try to fragrance them!  Essential oils were costly and rare in the early days and yet they were used in therapeutic contexts over a long time.  How so?

Most of the texts refer not to a distilled essential oil but rather an aromatic extraction.  In other words aromatic herbs were seen as beneficial food ingredients or even preservatives such as in the East where a whole system of medicine was eventually woven about the concept of taste and diagnosis by smell.  Western herbalism relied heavily upon water extracts, tisanes or teas, or perhaps tinctures which themselves replaced in a way the earlier wines and vinegars.  These latter items formed the backbone of much rural and historical medicine chests. In the 17^th century many manor homes boasted a still room and country medicinal wines were in vogue.

What too of the aromatherapy one hears of in Greece and Rome -  gladiators, athletes and emperors?  Of course, much of the myth is founded on fact but what materials did they use?  Our  research tendency today is simply to read a book which often just repeats what somebody else has said as academia demands the bibliography.  In the end there is not that much original thought around.  At the turn of our century this trend is not only distorting our view of history but trivialising our knowledge of native peoples and their traditions.  Fortunately the last decade or so has seen a rise in people able to question objectively the restraints imposed by regulatory academia.  There are still plenty of people in the world who “practice” aromatherapy just as their ancestors did.  The way aromatics have been used in the past is still  alive today - if you look objectively. I have found these methods in North and South Africa as well as the Far East and even caught a whiff of this with my own grandparents.  The commonest, cheapest and most extractive method for aromatics has long been maceration in a fatty solvent, either vegetable or animal.  The pommade of the perfumer was the salve of the apothecary.  Whilst the ointment makers of Egypt were pleasuring their masters and mistresses, the priest-physicians were healing them with sweet smelling unguent.  Galen was simply telling athletes to use a rosemary body rub or friction rub!

This was first brought home to me in an exchange of “medicines” with a sangoma (traditional healer) in Africa.  Whilst he readily accepted my German chamomile oil I was not so keen on accepting his various potions based upon goat fat.  It was only really in discussion and thinking through the issue that I came to realise what I was seeing and the value of his method within an historical context.  It was not then such a large leap from goat fat to St John’s wort oil.  In my work with aromatic plants I had observed that some yield their essential oils very readily to distillation.  They seemed perhaps ‘built for the job’.  Others did not, St John’s wort being one.  However, the plant yields its ‘oil’ and spicy aroma very easily to a vegetable oil placed in the sun.  I found that other difficult-to-distill oils similarly yield their aromatic principles readily to different vegetable oil solvents.  This traditional process lacks the science of the laboratory distiller or the manufacturer with their GLC and mass spectrometer.  Nevertheless it is a true aromatherapy which most people can handle in their own backyard without many of the problems of concentration and potency associated with neat essential oils.  It is intriguing that the aromatherapist, having gone to all the trouble of obtaining the essential oil via the distillation process, simply adds back the essential oil to a vegetable oil in most instances.

Western medicine has an insatiable desire to find the miracle active ingredient in a plant medicine.  Witness the desire of so-called holistic therapists to take essential oils apart and find the magic molecule that cures X, Y or Z symptom.  Traditional healers have somewhat limited this analytical exercise to saying, for example, that the active part of rosemary is its essential oil and, on that basis alone, proceed to use it.  The oil macerations, herbal oils, infused oils or phytols (meaning here phyto=plants, ol=oleum, rather than the other uses of the term) can be made at home and are a cheap and enjoyable alternative to expensive essential oils.  They are produced commercially and, as you would expect, come in various grades being the products of both high-tech and low-tech processes.  My company has pioneered their uses gaining much valuable experience along the way from therapists who have trialled and acknowledged their uses.  Industrial processes can simply be an improvement of the sun method which takes time and, commercially, is expensive.  Other methods include centrifuge and vacuum extraction whilst the cheapest and commonest method is simply a compression process in oil.  This latter process although cheap has not shown any respect to the plant and does not achieve desirable results.  It is unfortunate that the market is price driven and so confusion exists between good quality and poor quality because the processors are unlikely at the poor end of the market to confess to a low quality product. Hence, if you can’t afford the good quality material then I would recommend that you take the time and trouble to make these infusions yourself.   There are two principle techniques.

The first is the hot method.  Take some good organic sunflower oil, say 500mls, and add 250 grams of dried herbs to the oil.  Heat the oil and the herbs in a glass bowl over a saucepan of boiling water or, if you have one, use a double saucepan.  Heat gently for two to three hours.  Keep a fire blanket handy and behave sensibly!  Hot oil is no fun.  Keep children well out of the way.  Take the bowl and pour the mixture into a small wine press and strain it into a jug.  When everything has cooled and settled down pour off into your brown storage bottles.  The extract should last for well over a year but keep it in a cool dark place.

This hot oil technique is suitable for most leaf herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano and many aromatics plants you probably never even thought about.  Buy a good Herbal and put aside some of the aromatherapy ‘pop’ books.

If you are going to use fresh herb rather than dried herb, as a rule of thumb you will need three times as much plant material, i.e. 250 grams becomes 750 grams to 500ml of oil.

The cold method is usually used for plant petals or flowers such as calendula or St Johns Wort.  You need a large wide-mouthed jar such as Granny used for bottling and pickling.  A kilner jar is ideal.  Pack the jar as tight as you can with plant material but leaving enough room to pour sunflower oil on to the herb.  Slowly pour the oil in making sure it reaches every part of the plant.  Put the lid on and leave in the sun, turning the jar occasionally for two to three weeks.  There is nothing to prevent you stopping and re-starting this process,  pouring the once-infused oil to more plant material and so re-using the oil.  The final mixture should be squeezed through a jelly bag or fine muslin.  Allow it to settle, strain again and bottle.  You are now ready to go!

You could go a stage further and add this herbal or infused oil to an ointment or cream.  Unfortunately ointments today tend to use petroleum jelly or soft paraffin wax.  Recently I have been using a balm base, based on shea butter and carnauba wax.  Ointments are useful where you do not want any blending with the skin and where there is a need to have some occlusion or protection.  You can simply heat the base, again over a pan of boiling water or in double saucepan, and stir your herbal oil into the liquefied base.  A very hard ointment can be made simply using beeswax.  If you do, the unrefined yellow wax is best in my opinion.  There is of course nothing to stop you from melting your wax or base and adding aromatic herbs as with the infused oil.  But my advice in this instance is to use around only 50 grams of dried herb to 500 grams of base or beeswax.  The same hot method process is followed as with an infused oil.  You need to move quickly as the wax soon hardens and you will need thick protective gloves when you come to straining the liquid in a jelly bag.

The uses for herbal oils are as for the essential oils but the advantage of herbal oils is that you have also extracted any fat soluble vitamins, or other oil soluble actives, at the same time.  They can of course be diluted with the addition of further vegetable oil and they can be mixed together.  It is as sensible to mix yarrow and St John’s Wort as it is with lavender and bergamot.

Herbal Oils have a long and respected tradition.  To me they represent the core of historic aromatherapy and perfumery.  Their use is as much art as science.  They have been very under utilised in the modern rush and hype of that which we call aromatherapy.  They lack the glamour of essential oils as their smell is often subtle compared to the concentration of the distilled material.  Nevertheless those that use them report excellent results.  This brings its own problems as those who write or educate in aromatherapy can’t find so much about herbal oils.  The subject is not part of many formal educational programmes and getting good raw material is more difficult than with essential oils and so is less beckoning to essential oil sellers.  Be that as it may, infused oils work and respect tradition.  They are a serious competitor to the uses of essential

oils in many therapeutic situations.  In addition you can make them at home and have fun!

Are you in tune with the seasons of Essential Oils?

How come we can buy essential oils all year round?

 

In a modern world, in the developed countries, we have lost sight of seasonal patterns.  Old timers will remember that it was not so long ago that one bought food and cooked food in tune with the seasons.  We used to understand that harvest time was a season of abundance and that there was a hungry gap between the end of winter and the beginning of spring. 

 

With the rise of the supermarkets this seasonal balance was lost.  Many modern youngsters believe that they should be able to buy fresh apples in April and spring greens in December, buy fresh roses at Christmas and Christmas roses in June.  The supermarkets and hypermarkets, in their greedy desire for profit at any price or cost to the environment, have exploited the Third World countries.  These countries produce cash crops and transport produce from one half of the world to the other at great cost to the environment and often at great cost to the Third World countries themselves.  Such countries know all about poor harvests and famine and the fluctuations of nature.

 

CAN ESSENTIAL OILS BE BOUGHT ALL YEAR ROUND?

To many buyers, aromatherapists included, essential oils are mere commodities – something to be purchased when they want, where they want and at a price they want.  There seems to be some strange belief that you can buy an essential oil from any place and at any time, and it should be exactly the same.  Even amongst educated aromatherapists there seems to be a gullibility that allows a chemical analysis to fraudulently lead to the belief that one essential oil is the same as another.  Our nose tells us something quite different. 

 

Aromatherapy has, however, become big business and those sellers of essential oils around the world whether in Japan, the United States, Great Britain or France, do want essential oils when they want.  Supermarkets, department stores, and even therapists, seem to demand an unending supply regardless of harvest, weather and distillation possibilities.  In the main they are duly satisfied by essential oil suppliers, little realising, or perhaps not even caring, that what they offer their customers is no more than a chemical soup.  One cannot blame the supplier but one must ask the question Who is responsible for this?  Is it the sheer ignorance of the buyer, the consumer or the user?

 

Consider this:  Aromatic plants grow best and provide the most superb aroma when they are grown at the edge of the optimum environment.  They often grow on so-called 'poor' soils but that are just right for the aromatics, the perfumes that grow from such soils.

 

When you are a real plantsman and genuine grower, a lover of the soil, you know that plants have a strong sense of place.  You can feel it in the soil. You can feel it in the plants that grow.  This is not romantic nonsense and is known to every wine lover around the world.  True, as one Biblical reference suggests, you can throw pearls to pigs and they don’t appreciate it.  Today one can drown in vinegar and propylene glycol that is sold as wine but that just tells us that the audience is uneducated and has poor taste – both metaphorically and literally.  The same can be said of essential oils and perfumes.

 

  

CULTIVATED versus WILD

Undoubtedly the best aromatics come from land that is uncultivated and wild, whether this be Lavender or Chamomile, Cedarwood or Thyme.  You only have to walk the land, feel and touch the plants, to understand this.  Unfortunately the few 'experts' that debate about wild crafting, or comment on what should or should not be done in the environment, have little real experience of the beauty of essential oils from the world’s natural resources.  Of course the wild needs protection. Of course endangered species should be protected. But not every wild crafter is an environmental rapist, not every government agency is stupid, not every essential oil distributor is a rogue. 

 

Rather there are many people who have been concerned about the developing of such rich resources and protecting those resources before many of the johnny-come-lately environmentalists were born.  This is especially so of tribal communities, of ancient village communities and local crafts people who are well aware of the destruction that greed and demand from the developed countries have wreaked on their land.  Often it is the academic experts from around the world from, say, Aberystwyth to Tokyo, that have been at the bottom of the advice that has destroyed a great deal of land.

 

Those truly dedicated to aromatherapy, the classical aromatherapists, those with a passion for nature and real plants, understand only too well that there is a finite limit to the very best.  The average consumer does not always realise this.  Led by the supermarket mentality of cheap food, consumers think that essential oils can be turned on like a tap, with an unending supply.  That is just not true.

 

FACTS ABOUT GROWING LAVENDER

We can briefly review the most popular essential oil of all time to illustrate the difficulties that affect the supply of essential oils.  This oil is of course Lavender.  French Lavender in particular is famous world wide.  Yes it is grown in Tasmania; yes it is grown in Norfolk; yes it is grown in the Balkans; and yes it is grown in the Crimea; but they all vary, they are all different.  Chardonnay from France is different from Chardonnay from California.  Ask yourself then how something that was a dry wine becomes something that is fruity and sweet?  The answer is not always in the chemical factory but a difference in the soil and the clone – something that appears to be the same is not always the same.  For example, to suggest that one can buy wild Alpine Lavender and supply the world is simply ridiculous.  It is not possible.  It is not really even possible to supply large volumes of High Altitude Lavender.  It is not even actually possible to supply really large volumes of true Lavender. 

 

This comes as a remarkable surprise to many purchasers.  Here are some basic facts:

 

True Lavender is grown at an altitude of between 800 and 1800 metres.  The 1800 metres height is very rare indeed and is truly a speciality product.

 

The yield per hectare at the lower heights (800 to 1000m) is between 12 and 20 kilograms and nearly all of this goes to the select perfume industry and specialised aromatherapy companies like Fragrant Earth. 

 

The total tonnage produced of essential oils is between 40 and 50 tonnes.  That’s it – no more.  It includes good oil, bad oil, high altitude, middle altitude and so on.  There really isn’t very much to go round. 

 

Most of the Lavender is produced in the Ardeche, Drome and High Alps by a relatively small number of growers, numbering just in the hundreds. 

 

The majority of Lavender is grown by co-operatives – groups of farmers who join together, perhaps using one central distillation unit.  This is the commonest way that fine Lavender is produced.  Several crops are blended together to give a co-op standard.  If the Lavender is grown in Provence, it will be given an AOC mark, AOC meaning Appellation d'Origine Controlée – simply meaning that it has been government approved, or stamped, guaranteeing that it comes from where it says it comes from.  This is a French system and it is also applied to some of the old French colonial territories like the island of Reunion.  Wine drinkers among our readers will recognise that this is exactly the same system that is applied to fine wines.   Co-op Lavender with an AOC mark is good Lavender but it is not necessarily the best.  Each grower may compete for medals based upon aroma and other merits.  A number of specialised growers also have their own stills or favour putting their crop for distillation to a small and expert distiller.  This often applies to organic growers who want their product separated from general or standard co-op Lavender. 

 

Altitude plays a part in quality and the majority of Lavender is farmed between 800 metres and 1000 metres by co-operatives.  Remember too that one side of a mountain produces something different from the other side of a mountain.  There are many quality parameters that combine to make some materials scarce or even rare.  Much of the material sold by Fragrant Earth is classed as High Altitude, a phrase that many co-op farmers would shrug their shoulders at.  After all they are in the business of the mass market as far as is possible and, truthfully, it is not really practical for a co-op to grow such a specialised crop.  For many years Fragrant Earth has, however, offered well grown material from specialised and selected growers from altitudes even as high as 1600 metres, which is virtually unheard of !  These specialists may produce even as few as 5 or 10 kilos per year, but what they do produce is sought after by the cognoscenti, those that really know. 

 

Actually the term Lavender itself is very misleading because it includes a number of species and covers a multitude of meanings.  Let us be clear about what we mean at Fragrant Earth.  Our High Altitude and Wild Lavender is true Provence Lavande Fine from Lavandula angustifolia or officinalis.  This is true population Lavender.  That means that each plant is unique, it is different, it has no particular parentage, it is natural.  Every single plant varies in shape, size, colour or fragrance all of which gives a wonderful subtlety and complexity of aroma and, incidentally, ensures that no bug, virus or anything else can adapt to it. 

 

Beyond this comes cloning.  Every good gardener knows that you can take cuttings from woody plants.  Cuttings are essentially clones.  This means that a specific plant has been taken from a population, perhaps with a certain shape or a certain flower or, particularly with Lavender, having a higher yield and the ability to grow at lower altitudes.  The common varieties of clonal Lavender are Maillette and Matheronne.  We offer an excellent Maillette clonal Lavender, organically grown.  This too is good, general 'work horse' Lavender.

 

WHEN LAVENDER IS NOT LAVENDER

It will surprise many that the majority of Lavender that is sold is in fact Lavendin, a hybrid Lavender, a cross between True Lavender and Spike Lavender.  Lavendin is grown because it yields essential oil 5 or 6 times higher than that of true Lavender.  It also has the commercial benefit of growing at lower altitudes than Lavender.  The aroma of Lavendin is always dominated by camphor although Lavendin Grosso has lower camphor content and its fragrance is not so far away from true Lavender.  The yield of Lavendin is well over 1,000 tonnes and accounts for most of the so-called Lavender that people are buying.  The Plateau of Valensole is the Lavendin capital of the world and the co-operatives are kings of this world.  Lavendin helps to make up many of the chemical 'soups' that are sold as Lavender.  Perfume and other companies buy in varieties of Lavendin and Lavender, mix them, blend them, add natural or synthetic components to them, whatever is required to arrive at smells that purport to be Lavender.  These are sold around the world at different prices in different ways, often to an unsuspecting public and often to an unsuspecting therapist who believes that a GLC will determine what is authentic and what is not.  That is only true to some extent.

 

These adjusted "Lavenders" have many uses.  One of the greatest uses is to neutralise the odour of detergent – it acts like a white out if added at the right proportion, making the unpleasant detergent smell neutral.  After that, many other types of fragrances can be used in the material.

 

BUYING IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

So let’s be real.  If you want the best then you have to accept the difficulties that go with it.  The best is not always available, whether it is Lavender, or Thyme of a specific chemotype, or Cedarwood coming from a specialised area.  There are harvests and growing cycles that have to be taken into consideration.  At Fragrant Earth we also have a policy of choosing the best distillers.  Often our material comes from those who are medal winners or prize winners in competitions for their essential oils.  For example, we look for distillers who use both old fashioned methods and new types of stills, such as hydrodihesion.  We do not use materials that are 'green' or shredded and immediately distilled.  We avoid co-operative blends where possible, preferring single source material from named growers.

 

All of this makes for fine fragrances.  If you are a lover of nature and a lover of perfume, a lover of essential oils, a lover of plants, then you will understand the shortages that come from supply.  You will understand the necessity to buy when available.  You will understand the value that an essential oil will have and you will have the intelligence to appreciate it through your senses.  Be quite sure – the best is finite.  Understand that if you sell on commercially that there may be problems in the continuation of supply.  Be prepared to switch from a wild Alpine type to a clonal Maillette type should the season run dry.

 

Remember that Fragrant Earth works near to nature, near to growers, with short supply lines.  We do not readily substitute materials and we do not hide behind the generic term Lavender.  Rather we really tell you what is going on and offer you the best without compromise.  If you believe that chemistry is all that counts in aromatherapy then this material is not for you.  If you want to sell it in a supermarket and have reproducibility and regular supplies then, again, such material is not for you.  If you are in therapy where impact counts, where your desire is for a simple aroma to change the immune system, then this type of essential oil is for you.  If you are a true perfumer, you already know.

 

 

© Jan Kusmirek

 

The Terrain

The connection between aromatherapy and skincare sometimes categorised as beauty therapy has often been controversial. Aromatherapy grew in the Anglo Saxon world partly because it could not be categorised. In France it was definitely cast under a medical umbrella whilst in the UK it sheltered in a grey area of alternative medicine or beauty and spa treatments.

Today sadly the popularity of aromatherapy has declined and the older practitioner pioneers are at retirement age. Aromatherapy has become so common in the beauty world that it has become a standard offering normally cast as a body massage treatment. Health benefits and skincare, have to a degree, been marginalised by Governments and Trades Unions for various reasons such as concerns over safety, training standards or simply the desire of the medical establishment to control anything that suggests health improvement without their intervention or control.

Aromatherapy is not the same as massage. It is not massage with a pretty smell. You could argue that true aromatherapy has few ‘pretty’ smells anyway! Rather the combination of aromatic materials combined with vegetable oils and then applied to the body has quite specific actions.

Skin is certainly more than a bag we live in. We do not always consider our gut to be a skin and yet in fact the gut or lumen could be argued to be ‘outside’ our body. Certainly it has several features in common with skin. Firstly the acidic nature of the surface, which in healthy skin is pH 5.5 and only variable by small amounts corresponds to the gut maintaining acidic conditions. Secondly the gut, as does the skin, has a colony of microflora.

Our stomach has a pH as low as 1.5! It’s clearly understood that this acid plays a key role in the digestion of proteins by activating enzymes which break down long chains of amino acids. In the duodenum however this  gastric acid is neutralized by the production of sodium bicarbonate which blocks gastric enzymes that have their optima in very acidic conditions. The pH further along our digestive tract now becomes around an average pH of 5-6 not so far off from our outer skin.

The enzyme factor
Enzymes are not only found in our gut but throughout our body system and on within and on our skin. These perfectly natural chemicals speed up the rate of, or cause, chemical reactions without being consumed in the reaction themselves, they are catalysts. Every enzyme in the body has a specific function so there is a mass of different enzymes.

While there are many types of enzymes there are two primary uses mentioned in relation to skin care - exfoliation and anti-inflammation. The exfoliant action is considered more gentle and more effective than scrubs or microdermabrasion , especially for oily skin.

The upper layer of skin the corneum is mostly made of dead skin cells containing keratin protein. This barrier layer is protective of the underlying newer active cells.  Certain enzymes work by specifically breaking down the keratin protein, resulting in smoother skin. The cosmetic industry often promotes the idea of enzymatic exfoliation by adding fruit enzymes to their products such as papain from papain. Such an approach ignores the ever present natural enzymes on the skin. The question is whether our natural enzyme or skin cycle is working properly and why should there be a need to use other substances?

Other natural enzymatic activity includes the anti-ageing scavenging of free radicals protecting skin against oxidative damage. Enzymatic action can protect against damage from sun, environmental pollutants and relieve skin conditions such as acne or eczema. This suggests that when skin is not in optimum condition then the balance of our skin environment is not in balance or as it should be.

For enzymes to function certain conditions have to be present for them to work. As we have seen first we have to have an acidic environment and an appropriate micro climate or temperature. This applies inside and outside the skin. The foods we eat eventually produce by enzymatic action our skin and connective tissue. Diet affects skin health and appearance. As we age our production of enzymes slows and this deficiency shows as the lack of cellular reproduction in wrinkling, dryness and supportive tissue loss.

The Terrain

It becomes necessary to consider the optimisation of the skin environment or in Aromatherapy what Franchomme termed the terrain or ground of the skin. As a person who supports the idea of organic growing I can readily understand the principle of the cultivation of the skin. Organic growing is firstly about sustainability not just about the whether certain chemicals have been applied or not.

The impact of chemical applications such as fertilizer or herbicides on sustainability is the primary concern of organic growers. Soil types or structure  such as sandy to heavy clay have a bearing on the potential crop yield and sustainability year after year. Organic farming is often said to feed the soil but in fact it is not the soil particle which is fed but the microflora, the symbiotic fungi, bacteria which provides soil fertility and actions to give a life sustaining environment for green plants which in turn feed all other life. The only addition needed is water and hopefully this should fall from the sky.

Hence we should see correspondences to our skin. It too requires in effect cultivation and an appreciation of the processes taking place at the surface. The skin terrain needs optimum conditions and nutrition provided by microfloral activity and a healthy dose of ever present enzymes to insure conversion of materials available by application or recycling.

The Forest of the Skin

The skin is a microbiome which under a microscope could be compared to a forest of microorganisms which are ‘part’ of who we are. It is this microbiome which largely contributes to our health and appearance. Just as with agriculture certain species inhabit different parts of the body; some favour moist areas others dry and still others more oil prone areas.

The bacteria which are generally beneficial to our skin rely upon an acidic environment ideally  pH 4-5.5. Under these conditions they thrive but not so pathogenic bacteria which thrive under alkaline conditions. In alkaline conditions, friendly bacteria cannot thrive and are readily lost. The skin reacts to alkaline conditions by swelling slightly, feeling tight, so opening to invasion by foreign bacteria. The outer skin cells are made of keratin, a very hard protein. Keratin must be kept at an acid pH to maintain its hardness and so to keep the protective proteins intact. Alkaline environments or substances soften and loosen the fibres of keratin and create gaps in the protective covering. This allows more allergens, irritants, bacteria and viruses to penetrate into the skin. Acne, skin allergies and other skin problems become more severe when the skin becomes more alkaline.

A good illustration is to think of the skin as a set of roof tiles set tightly together. Any disruption to the skin pH, interferes with this protective barrier, the ‘tiles’ move apart, opening up and intracellular cement is dissolved,  resulting in dehydration, roughness, irritation and noticeable flaking. Skin is left defenceless and susceptible to further environmental damage and above all dry! The pathogenis bacteria can move in and the beneficial are lost.

Assuming that the average human has a colony of 1 trillion bacteria plus a good supply of fungi this colonisation can get out of hand for a variety of reasons. Good bacteria can under certain circumstances do more harm than good. Certainly pathogenic bacteria are plentiful but the immune system skin cells interacting with  and stimulated by bacteria usually deals with these. Desirable bacteria also secrete anti microbial chemicals to kill rival pathogenic bacteria as well as simply competing for the material we supply in the debris of our secretions and dead and dying cells.  Bacteria are great recyclers.

Bathing in our sweat containing natural lactic acid, our personal bacterial colony, the makeup of which is individual like a finger print, will supply skin nutrients and condition our skin to its optimum.   

The Aromatherapy Connection

Often this whole system is referred to as the skin acid mantle or hydrolipid film. The connection with aromatherapy begins to emerge. Hydrolats are well known for their use on inflamed skin and are generally weakly acidic making them an ideal replacement in skincare for neutral or hard water. Likewise the term lipid refers to oils and fats which are the basis of many Aromatherapy treatments.

The skin acid mantle consists of lactic acid and various amino acids from eccrine glands, free fatty acids from sebum, amino acids, pyrrolidine carboxylic acid and urocanic acid from the cornification of dead cells and process water from the deepest layers that has reached the skin. This covering with its contingent bacteria makes for the maintenance of enzymatic activity especially  the enzymes responsible for the synthesis of epidermal lipids. It could be argued that the skin is now self-disinfecting. 

Certainly we can see why cleansing whether face, makeup removing, bathing or showering using soaps and synthetic detergents is not necessarily as beneficial as we have been led to believe! Swiss studies suggest that too much cleanliness can weaken the body's immune system and cause allergies to develop.

The study of essential oil pH has not greatly featured in literature but is generally regarded as acidic. This refers back to the view that the antimicrobial activity of essential oils may not be simply a question of antibiotic action but rather the complementing of the skin acid mantle. In effect pathogenic bacteria may be starved out and so the terrain altered in favour of friendly bacteria rebalancing the microbiome.

Care of the ‘Environment’

The combination of essential oils, hydrolats and vegetable oils can surely be considered superior to many proprietary creams and lotions for general skincare as the objective is not to add substances to the skin but rather to enhance and promote natural skin activity.

Such an approach may be considered a more organic pathway than products labelled as such. True ingredients grown from an organic source are preferred by some consumers but consideration should be given primarily to activity. If we view the skin as a self-sustaining system then any cosmetic should be  supportive rather than active within the medical context. The addition of trained physical techniques such as certain massage movements and frictions also support the function of body systems.

Relaxation or stimulation, fundamental to Aromatherapy massage treatment also, as every therapist knows, contributes to the ‘look’ of the skin following treatment. Additionally we can add in the idea of the bioelectric field of the body and skin which is affected by the frequency of essential oils. When essential oils come into contact with our bodies, the frequency of our bodies becomes raised so that we become inhospitable hosts to pathogenic microorganisms but promoting a desirable and mutually beneficial environment for friendly organisms.

Those associated with the Health & Beauty sector would do well to consider the possibility of providing better product under their own aegis rather than buying in the well known brands of skincare. Whilst the Industry spends vast amounts of money on researching new ingredients and the science behind the biological pathways of various substances, little attention is paid to the fundamental activity to the surface of the skin itself. Aromatherapy is much more than relaxing massage treatments and I hope the fashion wheel will turn again to the use of essential oils. We already see a trend to small volume bottles of very expensive treatment oils. Surely Aromatherapists can better, through their education and hands on experience better such mass produced products to the benefit of individual clients.    

Jan Kusmirek©

Natural Cosmetics a bit of a Joke?

Natural Cosmetics a bit of a Joke?

So having been yet again asked a lot of very silly questions about ‘natural’ ingredients I decided to put fingers to keyboard and have a rant.

Where do these journalists and consumers get these crazy ideas of what natural cosmetics are? Today I have been asked is polyglyceryl-4 oleate natural and is the alcohol used in perfume natural and what about PEG 40 castor oil etc etc.

First let’s be clear about one thing, if you want the Rope sandal and Mung Bean approach, then you are going to be limited to crude vegetable oil and a few essential oils, fats glycerine and alcohol. And whilst on the subject of ethanol or alcohol if you want to use ‘food grade alcohol’ you will end up selling a liqueur needing a licence!

Don’t forget crude vegetable oils may well carry certain proteins and even some moulds that give strong allergic reactions and nibble away at skin cells. So be warned nature is not safe! As for essential oils, in the wrong hands they can be pretty damaging too and look at the list of allergens the law requires to be printed on the pack.

The problem is no one can agree what natural means. That is why the term is not seen on TV adverts for cosmetics. The Noble EU is trying to define the word, God help us.

Look here, let’s accept there is an aversion to Chemistry amongst consumers, so let’s get real and ask consumers what they mean.

Is an egg natural? Answer - yes! Is an omelette natural? Answer - no! Why? because it is not found in nature and all sorts of nasty chemical reactions have taken place when the yolk is mixed with the white and the natural proteins etc are screwed up by the heat and the trace of oil used might get incorporated and the heat might have changed that form and if the pan was non stick coated well we can be sure some trace of some poison got into the omelette. Get the point? Not all chemistry is bad. WE need to be realistic in our appraisal.

Let’s ask another question; is an omelette nature derived? Answer - yes. And here we are again with, from the consumer use of the word, a natural product.

There are all sorts of pundits out there all saving the world by scaring the pants off us about damaging cosmetics. Mostly such sites are trying to sell us a product or a political philosophy. Fear sells. Fact is boring.

The INCI list on the pack may look like a chemical minefield but it is just a list of ingredients using the nomenclature of the specialist scientist for quite common substances especially now when international markets require common labelling. Hence water becomes Aqua for example.

The trouble with the INCI listing is it tells you nothing about the quality of the ingredient. Was an oil made from rotten nuts or an essential oil distilled fresh or from old material? You will not find this from the INCI list. In fact you cannot find out at all about quality yet this is the crucial point for a real natural product and a point of difference between brands.

Natural products have a name for being cheap and come often in minimal packaging. Any vegetable and fruit shopper knows this does not hold water. Nature is not cheap.

Natural Cosmetics have had an easy ride on the back of consumer fears. It’s time consumers woke up and started asking questions about EFFECT not what a product does not contain.

 

 

 

© Jan Kuśmirek