Hydrosols and Floral Waters

Solvent Extraction

Preparing Plant Material for Making Essential Oils

 What is a Hydrosol? This term is derived from the Latin words hydro and sol meaning "water solution".  Hydrosols come by many names including floral waters, herbal distillates, hydroflorates all of which are pertaining to the water that is a by-product of creating essential oils.  However the highest quality hydrosols come from artisans distillers who in small batches are steam distilling plant material strictly to produce these aromatic herbal waters. These waters contain all of the therapeutic properties and beneficial components of the plant being distilled only in a more mild form than their counterpart essential oils.

 Depending upon the application and type, essential oils are sometimes too potent, therefore a more mild form is not only desired but a necessary. Hydrosols can not only be used on infants but also people with compromised immune systems.  In most hydrosols the essential oil content is only about 5% of the overall volume.  Besides the aromatic constituents, floral waters contain many more of the plant acids than the pure essential oils, making them great for hydrating dry skin. 

Small Home Distillery

Large Steam Distillery Units

Though Rose and Neroli Hydrosols have been used since time immortal,  many of the other floral waters go down the drain as waste water (even today)  from the distillation process of essential oils. It is only in recent history that these exalted waters have begun being used in the aromatherapy fields and beyond.  We are just beginning to see hydrosols as a co-product instead of a by-product of the essential oil process. 

Due to the highly fragile nature of pure floral hydrosols it is strongly recommended to keep them out of direct sunlight, contained in dark bottles (glass is best) and in a cool place.  The shelf life of these waters varies from 6-24 months depending on which hydrosols are in question.  Even with an ideal, sterile environment they are still very susceptible to degradation through oxidation.  When purchasing floral waters one must be informed some companies are taking distilled water and adding a couple of drops of the desired essential oil and selling these as "floral waters" or "hydrolates".  While true floral waters have many other components of the plant with in, making it a far superior product. 

 Types of Hydrosols:
Corn Flower: great for delicate skin, helps diminish fine lines
Cypress: helps with acne, astringent and detoxifying
Geranium: balancing, acne, bruises, mild burns, eczema,   
              hemorrhoids, deters mosquitoes.
Helichrysum: anti inflammatory
Lavender: calming soothing, anti-inflammatory.
Lemongrass: balancing, calming, very refreshing.
Neroli (orange blossom): anti aging, gentile enough for all skin  
          types, great for uplifting dull oily skin types.
Rosemary: works wonders on oily skin with open pores.
Rose: balancing oil, quite possibly the best skin toner and
          re-hydration for dull, tired skin. 
Witch Hazel: very astringent, anti- inflammatory (strips skin of
            natural oils).
Ylang ylang: another hydrosol for oily skin.

There are as many different hydrosols as there are uses for them.  They can be used in combinations, in preparations, standing alone, for cooking, rinses and a vast array of other options. 

Are you familiar with hydrosols? Do you use them in your day to day practices.  Do you have questions about floral waters? Please leave comments as to your experiences with hydrosols and floral waters.  We would love your input!

Wholly Jojoba

INFORMATION BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Abundant Jojoba

Simmondsia chinensis; Jojoba

Jojoba (pronounced ho-ho-ba) is a plant native to the South West United States and Northern Mexico. Known by the nicknames of "goat nut", "deer nut", and "coffee bush" this plant has long been used by the Native peoples of this region.  Simmondsia chinensis (Latin name of the jojoba plant) is an evergreen shrub like plant that grows in arid climates with little need for water. 

Close up of Growing Jojoba Seed Pod

This lovely desert jewel was known very little out side of native cultures up until the late 1960's and early 1970's.  For century's the medicinal values and healing properties of this plant had been passed down from generation to generation among the Native Americans of the South West.  There is one reason why jojoba began to appear in the limelight during this time period of our history. Nations began to become "environmentally conscious" and aware of limited natural resources.  Plants and animals alike were being put on the "new"  endangered species lists.  And soon hunting and harvesting of these wild resources was being ground to a halt, thus products derived from these now endangered species also came to a quick standstill. Among the endangered animals listed was the great Sperm Whale.  For centuries this animal was sought after and killed for its precious oil used in the cosmetic industry and elsewhere.  It was found that this plant held the key to, what turned out to be a superior "oil" to the once highly prized spermaceti waxes of the great whale.

Dried Jojoba Seeds

 Jojoba seeds produce a liquid wax, often referred to as an oil, that makes up about 50% of the seeds overall weight.  This wax vs. oil issue is in truth a big deal.  In fact it is what makes jojoba so beneficial for human skin. This liquid wax produced by the jojoba plant has extremely long strait-chain wax esters instead of triglycerides, making jojoba esters more similar to human sebum (the oil that our skin produces) than other traditionally used vegetable oils.

Pure Jojoba Oil

Jojoba offers a wide variety of health and skin benefits.  It is antibacterial and anti-inflamatory by nature making it very effective in the treatment of topical infections of the skin.  Jojoba also reduces the painful swelling and redness that often accompanies skin injury.  As a moisturizer, jojoba works exceedingly well due to the above mentioned nature of it's wax esters, leaving the skin feeling very soft and supple.  Jojoba acts very similarly upon the bodies dermal layers mimicking humans naturally produced sebum.  It has adaptogenic properties that help balance all types of skin.  In the case of too much oil production the application of jojoba actually tells the body that the skin already has it's supply and to stop making more sebum. In the case of too little sebum production the body is spurred into action with the use of jojoba "oil" almost acting as a reminder to the oil glands to produce more. As one can imagine due to it's antibacterial, anti-inflamatory and adaptogenic properties, jojoba is very effective in the treatment of both adult and adolescent acne.  If this isn't already enough, jojoba is also non-allergenic and non-comedogenic (non pour clogging).   As with anything the effectiveness of the product depends on what processes the plant has gone through before going into the products being used.  Always look for expeller pressed oil and labeling that indicates that the oil is not a blend of refined and second pressed oils. The oil that comes from the first press of the seeds is always the pure essential grade that you want!

What products do YOU use that contain jojoba "oil"? Are you satisfied with them, can you tell a difference on your skin? We would love to hear your comments and stories.


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***The information found within these blog posts is brought to you by Recherch’e Organics.  The owner of this small batch bath and body care company is a trained Master Herbalist, Holistic Nutrition Consultant and a Certified Holistic Healthcare Practitioner.  Many of these wonderful natural ingredients are used with in our product line currently or are being considered for future products of Recherch’e.  For more information or to buy from Recherch’e Organics please visit our website www.rechercheorganics.com and follow us on facebook and through BEAUTIFUL YOU (this blog).

Thank you for reading. 

Truly,

Hillari Ladd

Ohhhhh So Shea (butter)

Karate Tree from which Shea Butter is harvested

 Shea Butter ( Butyrospermum parkii) comes from a tree that grows wild in the savannas (grasslands) of western and central Africa.  These magnificent trees do not need any irrigation, fertilizer or toxic pesticides to produce copious amounts of fruit.  Because they are native to this environment these trees are also resistant to the fires that sweep the savannas every dry season.   

Shea Nuts before harvest

 Shea butter is quite possibly one of the worlds most sustainable natural resources.  Shea trees are wild and are not grown in plantations.  There are two reasons why efforts to start Shea plantations have failed.  First, Shea trees do not germinate easily and have proven not viable in crowded plantation settings.  Second, it takes 25 years for Karate trees to reach production maturity.  For these reasons Shea remains a wild-craft product.  This is a hand harvested and hand produced nut butter.  The people of western and central Africa are in control of this precious resource and over-harvesting is very rare.

Steamed and Dried Shea Nut

The process of collecting and turning Shea nuts into a usable butter is a very labor intensive task. Women and children often have to walk upwards of 10 miles a day searching for and collecting nuts.  Almost all of the nuts are carried back to the villages in baskets worn upon the head.  These baskets can hold up to 100 lbs of Shea nuts per load. Only after this trek, comes the time consuming process of rendering the fat from these precious fruits.  First the nuts are sorted through, selecting only the healthy nuts for production. After selection, the fruits are steamed to shrink the kernel inside.  Shells are pealed away by hand thus revealing the tender fruit inside.  This fruit is set aside and dried under the hot African sun for many hours. This dry time is crucial to ensure that the Shea nut maintains it's shelf life of 5 years time.  Once again the dried nuts are sent for inspection to remove undesirable kernels. The remaining kernels are crushed in a large wooden mortar with an electrical grinder (for wealthier villages).  The crushed Shea kernels are slightly grilled to reduce water content
and then ground down further into powder form.  Clean potable water is added to the powdered Shea nuts and whipped by hand until the color changes, anywhere from 1-3 hours. Warm water is occasionally added, causing the Shea fats to rise to the surface and separate from the non-oil portions. Once collected, the Shea fats are heated slightly to a liquid form once more and put in a gravity filter thus filtering into a clean basin to cool.  This process from time of first selection to end product is 10-14 hours in length.  Due to the length of time and amount of work needed to render this precious resource is the reason why it is so important to buy fair-trade products,  and fairly compensated for ingredients. 

Process of hand stirring Shea butter

Unrefined Raw Shea Butter along side dried Shea kernels

      

Unrefined Shea butter has been used for centuries among the African people and has a rich history of it's own. Shea butter is mentioned in almost all African historical documents, including a reference as early as Cleopatra's Egypt.  Today pure unrefined, unadulterated Shea Butter has many beneficial uses.  It has been shown effective for helping skin against climate and UV aggressions, preventing wrinkle formation, slowing signs of aging by providing natural collagen, it soothes irritated, dry, chapped skin and hair, helps heal blemishes and diaper rash, and is a substantial moisturizer for the epidermal layer of skin.  Shea butter also enhances cell regeneration and capillary circulation which helps in the prevention of stretchmarks, inflammation, scarring and accelerates wound healing. In addition to all of this Shea butter also has a natural 6 SPF.  Shea butter is filled with micro nutrients and vitamins such as Vitamin A (which gives it the rich yellow tint), Vitamin E, Vitamin F (which contain our omega 3, 6, and 9's) .

Refined Shea Butter

One can find Shea Butter on ingredient lists through out the beauty industry today.  This highly prized and highly potent, age old nut butter has made it's debut in a very large way across Europe and through out America.  However, most of the Shea butter available on the market and in products has been "refine" to remove the natural scent and color of natural or unrefined Shea butter.  In this process, the majority of the healing properties are removed and or destroyed.  Furthermore,  during this process of "refinement" usually hexane or other petroleum solvents are used, the extracted oil is boiled (in temperatures upwards of 400 degrees, which kills and devalues the natural vitamin content) then the oil is refined, bleached and deodorized with chemicals such as sodium hydroxide.  Leaving the end product lacking in its natural goodness and with the addition of harsh chemical residues.  The healing effects and potency of refined Shea Butter is greatly reduced through these processes with the only added benefit being it "near white color".  It is important to know and understand what ingredients are in the products we choose to support, how these ingredients are handled, and in this case when Shea Butter is no longer really the Shea Butter we thought it was.

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