What's the difference among processing grades for oils used in skin care products?
Cold Pressed: Low heat mechanical extraction where temperatures are rigorously controlled not to exceed 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. It is the processing method of choice for delicate oils and produces the most unadulterated, luxurious & exquisite oils for skin care products; however, due to processing cost, it is not a practical method for economically-priced commercial products.
Expeller Pressed: Extraction method that produces pure oils through mechanical pressure. The frictional heat created by the press is usually minimized to 120-200 degrees Fahrenheit. This method results in an excellent grade oil well suited for body care products.
Unrefined: Mechanical screen filtering with no additional refining. Resulting oil retains a rich, strong flavor, color & smell. This method results in a good quality oil.
Partially Refined: A process where only some refining methods are employed. Processing methods are used to stabilize oils that tend to go rancid quickly and/or to remove heavy odors & deep colors that people may find undesirable.
Refined: Fully processed oil that is exposed to flash fluctuation in temperatures as high as 450 degrees and as low as -30 degrees. Oil undergoes deodorization to remove heavy odor and natural clay bleaching to alter color & smell. This produces an economical oil for commercial cosmetics and body care products.
If not specifically stated, the majority of commercial skin care products are made from oils that have been processed through the use of solvents, hexane, alcohol extraction or heat-intensive hydraulic extraction. For skin care products that retain the natural moisturizing & healing properties your skin needs, opt for products that specifically reference Cold Pressed, Expeller Pressed or Unrefined methods. For all the reasons cited above, these are the only oils I use in my Body Bliss skin care products. Even if you don't use Body Bliss products, you'll find luxurious, healthy oils for your face and skin at your local coop and grocery stores that carry natural products. Thanks for reading!
Do your hands have "winter" written all over them?
This is one of the most common questions I hear as a customer shows me her (or his) chapped, red, raw and cracked hands. Winter is brutal on your hands. Outside, the low humidity and wind suck natural moisture and oils out of exposed skin. Inside can be equally bad because heating without humidifiers creates dry conditions that sap moisture & natural oils from your skin. Washing your hands frequently to avoid catching a cold or flu can also remove natural oils that your skin needs to remain healthy. How well your hands withstand winter has a lot to do with the strength of the first layer of your skin, the epidermis. Your skin is composed of three integrated layers: the outer layer or epidermis, the middle layer or dermis, and the innermost layer or lower dermis. Two important contributors to the health, look and feel of the epidermis are water and oil. Water helps the outer cells stay plump and smooth, and an oily secretion called sebum acts as the skin’s natural lubricant. Sebum helps keep water in the skin and helps keep irritating substances and germs from entering the body.
Now that you know some skin basics, let’s talk about the "care and feeding" of your hands. (Note that these concepts apply to your face as well - your face and hands are typically the two areas most often exposed and therefore need extra attention during winter.)
During winter even the healthiest of skin suffers in varying degrees (some of it based on genetics) due to a shortage of skin moisture and natural lubrication when subjected to low humidity, cold, wind, dry air and frequent washing. Direct application of a moisturizer to rehydrate AND provide a barrier to moisture evaporation is very important. Moisturizer provides immediate relief but to be effective you need frequent application - at least five or six times a day depending on exposure to elements and hand washing frequency. If you don’t keep your moisturizer close by, you probably aren’t using it frequently enough – think kitchen, bathroom, office, bedroom, car, purse or “man purse”. If the backs of your hands and fingers suffer more than your palms, target those areas by putting the moisturizer on the back of one hand and use the back of the other hand to spread it out and work it into the skin.
There are four basic classes of commercial moisturizers. In order of decreasing moisturizing power they are: Salves, Oils, Creams, and Lotions. Salves have the greatest ability to trap moisture in the skin but they have the greasiest consistency and it’s hard to wear a salve and do important things like open doorknobs. Oil moisturizers are also effective, and less greasy, but again, many people don’t like an oily feeling on their hands. Salves & oils have the ability to penetrate below the epidermis and hydrate the “true skin” - the middle layer or dermis - however, people often avoid them because of their greasier consistency. If you feel that way, apply the more effective salves & oils to your hands at night and then cover your hands with clean cotton gloves to trap in the moisture and helpful emollients while they do reparative work on your skin. Most of us just pull the gloves off in the middle of the night – but if you can tolerate them, this will definitely help.
Creams tend to be more popular than salves or oils because they are less greasy; however, they are generally less effective because they primarily treat the epidermis and do not penetrate to the dermis due to the higher water content. The same goes for lotions, which are suspensions of oily chemicals in alcohol and water. Lotion moisturizers are generally the least greasy and most pleasant to use, therefore quite popular. However, they are the least hydrating and, depending on the alcohol content, can actually be drying when used repeatedly.
Whatever moisturizer you use, look for emollients and humectants. Emollients act as lubricants on the surface on the skin. Jojoba oil is a very good emollient - because it closely resembles sebum, your skin’s natural lubricant, it is readily accepted by your skin and easily absorbed. Humectants, such as glycerin, draw moisture from the environment to the skin's surface, increasing the water content of the skin's outer layer. Another helpful ingredient in a moisturizer is silk protein. Silk protein, also known as silk peptide, comes from the center of the silk worm yarn. After special technical processing the center becomes silk protein. Silk protein aids in moisture retention (silk is credited with the ability to retain 10,000 times its weight in water), resulting in optimum conditioning and increased strength. Silk protein links skin fibers to improve elasticity, resiliency and restore moisture balance. If properly processed, silk protein is ideal for natural-type skin care. This is why I use a lot of jojoba oil, glycerin and silk proteins in the skin care products I make.
When selecting a moisturizer, keep the following in mind: For maximum benefit, use cold pressed oils becasue they have not been processed using solvents or fluctuating heat. Cold pressed oils contain the natural ingredients your skin needs; solvents and high heat denigrate the oil’s benefit to your skin. (That’s why you always hear – don’t use extra virgin olive oil to cook – heat destroys many of the benefits). Also, commercial moisturizers often contain ingredients that can irritate your skin even further – such as synthetic fragrances, parabens or other synthetic preservatives, and alpha hydroxyl acids. Aloe Vera is another ingredient found in many natural skin care products because of its ability to stimulate healthy cell growth and repair damaged tissues. I make my skin care products using cold processed oils and essential oils; many of my products contain organic Aloe Vera juice/gel and I never use synthetic fragrance oils or parabens/other synthetic preservatives.
Exfoliating is another important factor in caring for winter hands. The epidermis contains many dead cells that make it difficult for moisture and oils to penetrate to the middle and lower levels. You can accelerate the “flaking off” of dead skin cells by exfoliating. Look for a natural exfoliator that is gentle but effective such as natural jojoba beads to remove dead skin cells and allow your moisturizer to do a better job. Also, Aloe Vera can be a helpful ingredient as it can aid in removing dead skin cells and has the ability for effective penetration past the epidermis. My exfoliating cream, made from organic aloe Vera juice & natural jojoba beads, is designed to do just that. A caveat - avoid over-exfoliating so you won’t irritate your skin. Twice a week should be sufficient.
Finally, let’s talk briefly about hand washing. Clean hands are important but washing removes some of the protective sebum - and hot, soapy water depletes your natural skin oils to the greatest degree. When you wash your hands, minimize the use of hand soaps with SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate). SLS is the #1 ingredient in commercial liquid and bar soap, shampoo and dishwashing liquid - it’s what produces those mounds of creamy lather people love. Also, try to minimize use of those waterless hand sanitizers – use them in a pinch to kill germs but remember they’re full of alcohol that can be very drying to your skin. Anti-bacterial soaps merit a quick mention here too. Studies show that frequent use of certain types of antibacterial soap may actually be harmful because residue-producing antibacterial soap may kill normal healthy bacteria on the skin as well as unhealthy bacteria, allowing resistant bacteria to take over. Anti-bacterial soap also contains ingredients that tend dry the skin. Regardless of the type of soap you use, after hand washing gently pat your skin partially dry and apply a moisturizer within a couple of minutes to seal the water in the skin before it can evaporate. And remember - dirt and bacteria wash away just as effectively with SLS-free soap and water.
If you take good care of your skin and still experience redness, peeling, and tenderness, you may be suffering from more than just “winter” hands – it may be a skin condition like eczema or psoriasis. Those conditions are entirely different topics. I do hope you've learned a tip or two that can help you get started on clearing up your “winter” hands.
Another Blog?
I've been making natural & organic skin care & laundry products for 10 years. I've had my own business for 7 years. I've had a webstore for 9 months. I set up my first-ever blog site 2 weeks ago. So what made me decide to start blogging? I've been reluctant to blog because there are blogs everywhere - by nearly everybody - about nearly everything. Even the word 'blog' sounds a lot like 'blah' to me. I imagine, like most of you, life keeps me so busy already I rarely have time to read a blog. So my goal is to make mine helpful to you and worth the few minutes a week it will take to peruse it.
I'm blogging for 2 reasons: 1) I love what I do and because of that, I can't stop learning and I want to share what I learn so you can make better choices about skin care. 2) I have been asked so many very interesting questions by my customers - some I knew answers to, some I knew absolutely nothing about and had to research. I'd like to share some of those questions with you and my learnings from them.
I'm constantly reading, researching and working hands-on with skin care and I learn SO much...and I've hardly scratched the surface of what there is to learn...it seemed a shame to keep it all to myself. I'm currently working to become certified in the fundamentals of aramotherapy in order to gain a better understanding of botony, chemistry, and essential oil blending for my natural skin care products.
In the Spring, Summer & Fall seasons I get to share my learnings with my customers at markets (and they are generally appreciative of the opportunity to learn things they didn't have to dig around for) but I miss that in the Winter. If you subscribe to my blog, you'll see that my posts will always start with a question. If you are interested in that particular question - well, take a moment to open that post and see what I have learned about that question. If you aren't interested in the question, skip that post.
I hope that a question I post will occasionally be one you've asked yourself, and that perhaps you'll learn something that can make a teeny difference for you. Thanks for giving my Blog a look!
