Dear Zoya,
Recipes for the care of the body can be found dating back many centuries. Even before recipes were recorded by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, people would have been well acquainted with ways of looking after themselves by using the indigenous flowers, barks and plants in their environment.
It is only relatively recently that people have lost the ability and desire to make their own beauty products. During the 20th Century the cosmetics industry took off and increasingly complex processes for making products have since been developed. More often than not detergents, preservatives (many of which are hormone disruptive), stabilisers, colourings, artificial fragrances and petroleum products are used. Even products that trade under the ‘green’ banner are often full of undesirable ingredients. More alarmingly the majority of ingredients used in beauty products have not been thoroughly evaluated for safety.
This is quite terrifying when you realize that scientists are discovering some commonly used skincare chemicals lead to the very diseases we want to avoid. It is thought that the average woman will absorb 2.5kg / 5lb worth of toxic chemicals through personal care products ANNUALLY!
The Center of Disease Control tested over 10,000 americans recently for just 5% of the 85,000 known manmade chemicals – and found in each and every american over 700 manmade chemicals that are proven to contribute to: cancer, birth defects, neurological disorders, nervous system disorders, hormonal problems and bad skin.
Our skin is the largest organ of the body which can absorb up to 60% of what we put on it. And what we absorb goes directly into the bloodstream. So it is so important to make sure we nurture our skin and body kindly, safely and without compromising our wellbeing.
We can do this by making our own beauty products and anything is possible, cleansers, toners, moisturisers, scrubs, masks, lotions, hair treatments, soaps, hand creams…
Making these products is so much fun and just smells incredible.
In fact that is the thing that has struck me the most. The scents and fragrances’ of the natural oils used to make these products smell so much better than any product I have ever purchased from a shop and feel wonderful on the skin.
The recipes make use of the best non-toxic ingredients from all around the world such as Peppermint essential oil from India, Rose absolute from Morocco, Jojoba oil from Argentina and Hibiscus flowers from Egypt. The benefits of making your own products is that you know exactly what is in it and you can easily adjust recipes to your own skin type.
Also they make great gifts for family and friends. Other than that it is often cheaper in the long run and is just so good to know that you are feeding your skin with beautiful ingredients that care for you rather than harm you…..
