Category Archives: Flowers & Herbs

THE SIMPLER IT GETS – THE HARDER IT GETS

Posted on September 26, 2011 | 5 Comments

Years ago, when I first started making natural skin-care and health products, I would get all caught up in every newbie ingredient that came on the market. Over time my products got so complicated and the INCI-list so long; herbs, tinctures, essential oils, maceration, vitamins and what-have you. One day I realized that I had no idea what kind of reaction all those substances had with each-other, even less when mixed with many others. All natural substances are alive, they react with each-other; sometimes they create synergy and will do great things. Other times they enhance more negative aspects, doing harm.

So, 10 years later, I down-scaled – big time! I went back to my origins with very simple formulas; as stable as possible and needing the bare minimum. I started working on a deeper level with the natural compounds and found beautiful synergies; less is truly more. There came a time for another kind of studying, understanding the magic within nature, and how it can be used. Feeling the product instead of thinking it, making it do whatever it is you want it to do.

Making formulations and products is a very precise matter, never mind how much you “feel” the proportions are right, if they’re not you will end up with some worthless goo fit only for the bin, and the margins aren’t that large. I’ve binned plenty in my day. :-) So you have to be precise and use your head, scales and measures to make it happen. But the magic that truly makes it come alive is in the combination of compounds. This is the real science. And here you have to “feel”. Natural compounds change from year to year, depending on weather etc. Every time you get a new oil or plant it will be different from the last and in a way you have to “start over” every time.

It has taken me 20 years to simplify, to learn to understand these beautiful compounds I work with and how to use them. The stuff I do now looks so simple and easy – it’s not.

It’s like mixing colors; too many in the blend and it ends up brown-greyish. Same, same.

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Posted in Essential oil profiles, Flowers & Herbs, Life, Skincare

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MACERATION or HERBAL OIL

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 2 Comments

There are many ways of using herbs; fresh, dried, boiled (tisane), distilled (essential oil), in alcohol (tincture) and in vegetable oil (maceration/herbal oil). Herbs are full of active chemicals that can be drawn out in different solvents such as alcohol, vegetable oil or glycerine. A maceration or herbal oil is when vegetable oil is used (oil extraction). Some well-known macerations are easily found in the market-place, such as Arnica (Arnica montana), Marigold (Calendula officinalis) and St Johns wort (Hypericum perforatum), but there are many others. Extracting herbs in oil is a simple process that easily can be done at home.

As always, quality plays a great role in the final product; you need to use the very best herbs and vegetable oil. One of the easiest vegetable oils to find for the purpose is organic sunflower oil which is most often used. The finished herbal oil has its own specific properties and in ancient time they were used as medicines and unguents for perfumery. The macerated oils carry some color from the plant, St Johns wort is red, and have their specific therapeutic properties.

Macerations can be used in all kind of products that are fatty; creams, oils, liniments and can help with a wide variety of problems; muscular aches, sprains, cramps, depression and skin-problems. Some are anti-inflammatory and promote wound healing. Since they are active substances, use 5-30% in a blend for desired effect. In large dosages they can be slightly drying or even irritating to the skin. Macerations are excellent to use for people who are very sensitive to essential oils as they are milder in their action on the skin.

I have made many macerations through the years, trying different plants and vegetable oils. I found Jojoba oil to be excellent for flowers, now Jojoba has become so expensive it’s not really possible anymore, so I use Sunflower oil. I have used Olive oil for St Johns Wort since there is a true affinity between them. Today I find it easier to buy the macerations I use the most; arnica, calendula, hypericum, comfrey and some others. But there is one maceration I make every year for my own luxury, and that is with roses. In the early days I always used Jojoba for the roses but today I use a very fine organic cold pressed sunflower oil. It gives me a beautiful oil that I use in my facial products. The scent is rather faint and a bit greenish, the texture is absolutely wonderful. I use this in a dosage of 20% in any given product.

What is interesting about macerations is the fact that they don’t go rancid sitting in the sun. Normally sun, heat and light is the worst environment for a vegetable oil. I believe that the active substances in herbs and plants actually help to conserve the vegetable oil. Their shelf-life depends on what vegetable oil was used and how it is stored. Better to make smaller quantities so they are used up during the season and more can be made the next year. In this way you also find your favorites and you learn to “better” the process each time.

HOW-TO:

Pick your chosen herb at the right time of day and season and fill a glass jar, cover the herbs with cold-pressed organic vegetable oil, cover and set in the sun. The jar should be turned regularly and left in the sun for 2-3 weeks. When macerating flowers you need to exchange the flowers in your jar every so often, usually 1-2 times/week, depending on what flower you are using. For roses I exchange the petals every 3 days. Once the oil is saturated you strain, filter and bottle it. Store in a cool and dark place.

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Posted in Aromatherapy, Flowers & Herbs, Product information, Skincare

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WHERE WILDERNESS CREATES ABUNDANCE

Posted on May 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

One of the nicest thing in my life is my garden. I always had one, no matter where or how I lived; little tiny gardens in my window, a somewhat larger one on the balcony, or even a few different ones when I live in a house surrounded by land. When I feel depleted or exhausted I go into my garden to replenish; smell a flower or a herb, replant something, clear some weeds…having my hands touch the earth is soothing and healing. I can spend hours in my garden and I love all the scents!

For an outside garden I have found it takes 5 years to reach balance, that is when the garden has found its rhythm. Some plants have an affinity for each-other and thrive together – in my garden the most obvious at the moment are the different thymes that are so loved by the roses…I can feel their harmony.

Some plants just can’t stand each-other – lately it has been the rosemary and parsley – and need to be moved apart. Other plants are okay, but not happy and it takes me some time to realize that they need other neighbors. It also happens that plants shrivel up and die, very quickly, when they are not happy. When a new plant comes to my garden, I place it in different spots, with different “friends” to see where it is the happiest, it actually perks up when it hits the right spot. I tried, at one point, to plan my garden – to no avail. The plants, herbs and flowers were not always happy with my planning and I had to start moving things around a bit. This is why it takes time…plants live, breath and have different personalities; I’ve got the pushy roses, the shy ones and the very careful, sensitive ones. They are all roses but oh so different in character. I had a beautiful Aquilegia that just shriveled up and barely survived, so I moved her to the back-garden which is wilder and rougher…she has now become a huge family, lining the neighbors wall and thriving with high grasses, blackberries and nettels…she likes the wild life!

Most of my berries live in a totally wild area behind my house. It is a tiny jungle of currants, black and red, gooseberries and raspberries mixed up with a jumble of vague bushes. Each year they deliver such an abundance of fruit that it keeps us with jam and juice for the entire winter season. Once I tried “cleaning up” the jungle a bit, that year we had no berries… so I go with the flow and allow it to happen as it will. Sometimes the plants that arrive chez moi are hot-house bred and they almost always need to die the first season, no matter how diligently I try to nurse them, only to come back with a vengeance the year after. Some of the stuff in my garden just moved in by itself and stayed, chatting happily away with the neighbor.

We don’t create our gardens, we open a space where creation is allowed and then it happens. This is my best tip for stress-management :-)

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Posted in Flowers & Herbs, Lifestyle, Stress, Wellness

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RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ESSENTIAL OIL

Posted on April 3, 2011 | 1 Comment

Picture from: http://www.sustainablescoop.com

Quite often people comment on the price of essential oils, they find them expensive. The size of the bottles may be small, but what is in there is an astonishing amount when considering below facts. When they are pure, unadulterated and therapeutic grade essential oils, they most definitely are a gift from nature. Then consider that some oils are from wild plants; they are not grown in perfect, easily accessible rows, but scattered over a large area – more often than not making cutting by hand obligatory. Some oils, such as Melissa and Rose require huge amounts of plant-matter, further explaining the high prices of these oils. You get what you pay for.

 

Obtaining 1kg of its essential oil requires:
- 7 kg of dried buds of cloves (Eugenia caryophyllus)
- 50 kg of lavandin (Lavandula burnati)
- 150 kg of true lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
- 1 ton of immortelle (Helichrysum italicum)
- 4 tons of petal of Damascus rose (Rosa damascena)
- 5 to 10 tons of Melissa (Melissa officinalis)

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Posted in Aromatherapy, Flowers & Herbs, Product information

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Flowers’ Fragrance Diminished By Air Pollution, Study Indicates

Posted on January 31, 2011 | 2 Comments

 

Flowers’ Fragrance Diminished By Air Pollution, Study Indicates.

The power of scent is enormous. This article shows how devastating the results are when scent is distorted or destroyed. I sincerely recommend you to read this.

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Posted in Energetics, Flowers & Herbs, Scents, Uncategorized

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ROCK ROSE

Posted on June 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

Cistus, Labdanum (Cistus ladaniferus)

A perennial shrub up to 3 metres high which grows wild in warm sheltered places on some mountainous Mediterranean islands and in the Middle East. The leaves are lance-shaped with white furry undersides, and the flowers are yellow with purple splashes at the center. The parts used for extraction are leaves and twigs.

Cistus produces 5 products:

  1. Crude gum of Labdanum: Dried leaves and twigs are boilde in water. The gum is skimmed off the surface of the water and dried. This is used as a herbal substitute for ambergris.
  2. Resinoid of Labdanum: The crude gum is mixed with alcohol and filtered.
  3. Oil of Labdanum: Essential oil by steam-distilling the crude gum. This oil is used by aromatherapists. It is also a highly valued raw material for perfumers.
  4. Concrète & Absolute of Labdanum: The dried leaves and twigs are extracted with the help of a solvent. This is widely used in cosmetics, perfumes and soaps as a warm balsamic scent with excellent fixative properties.
  5. Oil of Labdnum: Essential oil by steam-distilling dried and fresh leaves and twigs. This is of little use for either perfumery or aromatherapy.

The oil has been used since the middle ages for infected wounds, skin ulcers, skin and soft tissue disturbances. The gum was used for catarrh and diarrhoea.

The scent is warm, deep, musky, soothing and dry. Yang.

In aromatherapy its used for:

  • Lymph drainage: When added to a massage oil for a full body massage. Or locally as warm compresses on swollen lymph nodes in the neck.
  • Menstrual pain: In combination with Marjoram (origanum majorana) as a massage oil or warm compresses over the abdomen.
  • Skin: Mature, wrinkled skin, rough, scarred and hard skin. Use for healing of wounds and scars; with Lavender (lavandula augustifolia), Imortelle (helichrysum italicum) or Frankincense (boswellia carterii). It might be helpful for eczema, inflamed skin and psoriasis. Remember to use lower doses on sensitive/inflamed skin.
  • Respiratory: As an inhalant for coughs and bronchitis.
  • Emotionally: After shock or trauma when the emotional system is cold or empty. Also to sooth and heal past or buried memories. It fills the individual with warmth and strength.

Do not use during pregnancy.

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Posted in Aromatherapy, Essential oil profiles, Flowers & Herbs, Product information

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PEONY or CHINESE ROSE

Posted on June 9, 2010 | 1 Comment

I have an ever increasing love for these flowers. When I was a child my grandmother grew deep-red peonies that used to bloom around midsummer. They were always used to crown the midsummer-pole – The Queen of Midsummer.

There exists about 25-40 varieties. They are heavenly scented with huge flowers ranging from white and yellow over many pink hues to deep red. The leaves are dark green, pointed with clear tracings of nerves. There exists about 25-40 varieties and they are native to Asia,  Europe and north America. They are perennial and reach a height of about 1m, but there are some that become small trees, reaching a height of about 3 m.

Peony is named for the mythical Greek figure Paeon, who was said to be a student of Aesculapius, the great physician. Paeon used the peony plant to heal a wound for the god Pluto. This earned Aesculapius’s jealous wrath, but Pluto saved Paeon from death by turning him into a peony plant.

In China the roots (and sometimes bark of the peony tree) of peonies have a long history of medicinal use, often in combination with licorice root, for cramps, spasms, fever. In TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) peonies have often been used for women’s health problems. For more in-depth information on peonie’s use in alternative medicine look here.

  • The Chinese name for the peony is sho yu. This means “most beautiful.”
  • The peony is the traditional flower symbol of China.
  • In Europe the peony has been called “The rose without thorns”.
  • The history of the peony in China and Japan spans more than 4 000 years.
  • In Asia the peony is a symbol of wealth, good fortune and prosperity.
  • The peony is an omen of good fortune and a happy marriage.
  • The peony is the state flower of Indiana USA since 1957.
  • Mischievous nymphs were said to hide in the petals of the Peony thus causing this magnificent flower to be given the meaning of Shame or Bashfulness in the Language of Flowers. (So if you find me hiding in the petals of a Peony, just pretend you didn’t notice)

Yun Shouping, 17th century

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