Pumpkin Mania...eerily good for your skin!

Cucurbita maxima

Fall is in the air and pumpkins are abound!! Seen on nearly every door stoop and in every supermarket, growing on many acres of farm land all to satiate our affinity for these fine berries.
Yes, you read right!  Often thought of as a fruit, sometimes as a vegetable, but in truth these fine orange specimens are berries.  Another little known fact of pumpkins is: they are chalked full of skin purifying nutrients and vitamins!!!


Pumpkins are packed with antioxidants, natural enzymes, iron, zinc, phytonutrients and vitamins such as vitamin A, C,  and K.  The fruit enzymes and alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs) increase cell turn over and rejuvenation.  These work as natural exfoliants ridding the body of dead and dying cells, bringing the new layers of healthy skin to the surface.  Thus helping to maintain bright, beautiful, and smooth skin complexion.   Vitamin A and C work together to increase the bodies ability to produce collagen (the wonderful substance that helps keep our skin tight, smooth and hydrated).  The zinc found in pumpkins works like a dream for acne sufferers.  Zinc assists in hormonal balancing and as well as sebum (skin oil) production. Helping the body find a natural balance between too much and too little oil production.

Pumkin is gentile enough for all skin types.  Though not though of as a "go to" in the beauty industry, this time of year I can not help but think about all of the wonderful nutrients (in big, round, orange, berry form) just sitting out on peoples door steps.

DIY Pumpkin Beauty (it's a Cinderella tale...)

1: 1 tablespoon cooked pumpkin puree (organic canned pumpkin will also do)

2: 1 tsp raw honey 

Mix ingredients together, apply a thin layer to the face allowing 10-15 minutes to do it's magic, then rinse with warm water. 

*If you are prone to acne add 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar to the mix and follow above mentioned directions. 

As always we would love to hear from you! Are you a pumpkin lover, wondering what to do with that pumpkin after the holidays? Let us know, post us photos. Happy holidays.  

Thank you and until we meet again. Tata

Recherch'e Organics

Vitamin C... Topically?!

Vitamin C

Vitamin C: a vitamin that is well known for its ability to help fight off cold and flu season, but much less known for it's ability to maintain healthy and youthful skin. Vitamin C has been used  topically for ages by women (like you and I) searching for that something to maintain our healthy and vibrant glow.  As early as the Tang Dynasty of Tibet (618-907 AD) women would crush and use Seabuck Thorn berries (a very note worthy source of vitamin C) and apply this to their skin.  It is also known that Native Americans would take wild rose petals and rose hips and use topically on their face and hands as a way to care for the skin that was so exposed to outward elements. So why would women, world over, use these fruits and plants as sources of maintaining youthful, taught, healthy and glowing skin? What is it that makes vitamin C so notable for maintenance of healthy skin cells?

As we all know, vitamin C is an important nutrient for over all health. However very little of what is ingested actually reaches our skin, and humans are one of the only mammals on earth that do not produce vitamin C on our own.  This vitamin is crucial for the synthesis of collagen, and collagen is what keeps our skin vibrant and plump with hydration, healthy and smooth looking.  Collagen production naturally begins to decrease as we age.  Along with oxidative stresses such as exposure to out door elements, sun shine, UV rays, harsh chemicals, and smoking, as we enter our early to mid 30s we begin to notice the smile lines that do not go away.  We see the little wrinkles at the edges of our eyes that become a permanent fixture to our facial features.  This is due to the slow decline of collagen production. 

How Our Skin Ages Naturally

As above pictured, over time with the reduction of collagen production and it's partner elastin (enter vitamin E) our skin looses it's ability to maintain it's structure, firmness, and tensile strength. Vitamin C applied topically is known to help with many sensitive aging "issues".  It helps with things like: improving the appearance of elemental damaged skin, supports skins structure from UV/external stressors and damage, reduces inflammation, lessens hyper pigmentation (dark spots), increases collagen production, and mitigates effects of free radicals.  Reading all of this, PLEASE remember aging is beautiful, but there are things we can do to help this process and change take hold gracefully.

 Vitamin C is unstable at best, if packaged poorly it is one of the first essentials to go, if under heat it vanishes into thin air (sort of). The most stable forms of vitamin C are: ascorbic acid, L-ascorbic acid, ascorbic palmitate, sodium ascorbic phosphate, retinal ascorbate, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, and magnesium ascorbic phosphate.  Looking at packaging (if you are buying a product that contains vitamin C for topical use) it is important that it is in opaque and or dark package/container, lest the degradation of the vitamin that your are trying to purchase.

Do you have experience with product that contains topical vitamin C? Has it been a success story in your quest for healthy and beautiful skin? We would love to hear from you!! All questions and stories are welcome.

To Your Health and Ours,

Sincerely,
Recherch'e Organics

Radiant Skin with...Rose Hip Seed Oil?!

CLICK HERE

Rose Hips from Wild Rose: Rosa rugosa

Fall is in the air and these vibrant beauties are out in abundance right now!  Rose hips are the little red fruits found on wild rose bushes throughout the USA, Canada, Europe, and even China. Wild rose bushes are willing to grow most places that have seasonal (autumnal) change world wide.

Possibly best known for their abundance of vitamin C (1,770-2,000 milligrams/ 100 grams vs. an orange approximately 50 milligrams of vitamin C. per 100 grams) these small fruits are packed with a plethora of antioxidants, vitamins, essential fatty acids, and minerals.

Pictured above are the small seeds found within the rose hip fruit.  It is here, in these small group of seeds,  that the precious rose hip oil is extracted from. Rose hip seed oil is the only vegetable source oil known to contain retinol (vitamin A).  This little known, yet highly revered oil also contains great amounts of essential fatty acids, linoleic acid (omega 6,), and linolenic acid (omega 3), a powerful antioxidant called lycopene (what makes tomatoes red) as well as beta-carotene.

Unadulterated Rose Hip Seed Oil 

So what does all of this mean for you and your skin?
The essential fatty acids (EFAs) give this oil it's moisturizing properties.  It is very beneficial for tired, dull, weather worn skin. The vitamin A helps the oil to penetrate into the skins epidermal layers,  deepening the effect of the oils moisturizing ability. Vitamin C antioxidants help with collagen production reducing the visibility of fine lines and wrinkles. Over all rose hip seed oil has been noted to improve the over all tone, moisture content, appearance of dark spots and blemishes, healing damaged skin cells and helping to slough off cell's that are beyond repair.
This leaves your skin feeling fresh and new after each application.  Rose hip seed oil is very gentile in nature making it an oil that can be directly applied to most skin types.

It is important to note however that due to the delicate nature of this oil, through cold pressed extraction process, it should be kept refrigerated in order to prolong it's shelf life.

DIY:

an easy application of this oil is to take a small amount of your favorite lotion, skin cream, night treatment and add a few drops of rose hip seed oil. Mix it together thoroughly and apply to skin.  This oil is considered a "dry oil" and will not leave your skin looking shiny or feeling greasy.
Using rose hip seed oil in this way allows you to keep a larger amount stored safely in the fridge while making it accessible and an easy way to add it to your daily or nightly beauty routine.

Vingegar: Just Another Reason to Love Apples!

To This...

From This...

         
How many different types of vinegar can you name?  Apple cider, balsamic, distilled, but did you also know that there is beer, cane, coconut, date, Asian black, fruit vinegars, vinegar made from job's tears, kombucha, malt, palm, raisin, rice, sherry and wine?

Historically vinegar has been used as a folk remedy for beauty (and many other things) for ages.  Vinegar for uses other than cooking, became popular in American in the early  1950's  when it was promoted by the best-selling book "Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's Guide to Good Health", by D.C. Jarvis.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Vinegar has the natural ability to make both hair and skin look it's best!  Vinegar diluted to a 1:2 ratio, vinegar:water (or 1:4 ratio if you have sensitive skin) helps dissolve excessive fatty deposits and oils on the surface of the skin and hair.  It has a tonifying property (Alpha Hydroxy Acid)  that promotes blood circulation into the small capillaries that matrix through the skin. Vinegar also helps balance the pH of your skin and hair, reduces dry patches and dandruff, strips residue build up of "product" and hard water (which dull the hairs natural shine).  Because vinegar stimulates hair follicles it also helps with hair strength and length. Rinsing with vinegar closes the cuticle scales which cover and protect the surface of each hair shaft.  This lends to a smoother surface, one that will reflect light easier, be easier to manage, less tangle, and lending an over all healthy look (and feel) to your lustrous tresses. Vinegar is rich in Alpha Hydroxy acids, this is the substance in  vinegar that makes it work it's magic!

Unfiltered and Organic

As always my recommendation is to use organic base ingredients.  In this case I would also recommend unfiltered vinegar.  Though there are a large variety of vinegars available on the market, I would recommend which ever is easiest for you to make or use. It will look something like this if it is an unfiltered variety. And apple cider vinegar is probably the most common used for skin and beauty regimes. A raw unfiltered vinegar is going to have all of it's vitamins and minerals intact, making it the best possible product for use.

If you are concerned about the smell of vinegar remember to rinse out fully and then when done with your shower add a couple of drops of essential oil (lavender, rosemary, eucalyptus, rose are a few great choices). You will notice that the smell dissipates greatly once your hair is dry.

*Important: always test your skin and hairs compatibility with a lower ratio dose first.  And regardless of the dilution vinegar stings when it gets in your eyes.  Shut them tight before pouring on this awesome all natural elixir and rinse, rinse, rinse, before opening them again.

Feed Back? Comment?  Photo's? We would love to hear what you have to say about your own personal experience with vinegars for beauty.