Hair Boosting Pre Shampoo Treatment

This quick and easy hair treatment crept its way into my regular routine all by itself years ago because of 2 things:

1. the phenomenal way it makes my hair feel and behave

2. how ridiculously easy it is to do

There are nothing but bonuses to be had from applying virgin coconut oil to hair. It doesn't matter whether your hair is dry, greasy, or normal, kinky, curly, or straight as a board – coconut oil loves all kinds hair.

It literally helps prevent protein loss and has even been side by side tested with a couple of other oils.

Here was the conclusion:

"Among three oils, coconut oil was the only oil found to reduce the protein loss remarkably for both undamaged and damaged hair when used as a pre-wash and post-wash grooming product. Both sunflower and mineral oils do not help at all in reducing the protein loss from hair." REF

If you want to read a few more details about why coconut oil is so fab, please visit this post about the benefits of coconut oil.

Meantime, let's jump straight to this easy peasy hair treatment.

You will need

• Hair

• Coconut oil (virgin or refined)

Method

The amount of oil to apply will depend on your hair type – thick long curly hair is obviously going to need more than short fine hair. My hair is short and fine and about a teaspoon is enough for my hair.

1. Apply oil to dry hair and work through to tips, being sure to reach all of the hair. If you have very long hair, a wide-toothed comb can help distribute the oil.

2. Massage scalp lightly.

3. Let sit for as long as you like.

4. Apply shampoo (no need to wet hair first).

5. Lather and rinse.

6. Dry, set and style as usual.

I do this little oil treatment once a week, applying about 15 minutes before I hit the shower, but if your hair is very dry, you may want to do it more often.

The longer the oil is in the hair, the more benefits.

Enjoy!

Do Tell

If you decide to try this (or already do it), please feel free to share your thoughts, reactions and experiences with it in a comment below.

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Easy Whipped Shea Butter

Over the years, I have used shea countless ways - in emulsions, melt-and-pour products, bars, bath products, hair products, and a plethora of skin care products.

Along the way, there have been lots of opportunities to experience fails, and there have been many, but I have also learned from every single one of them.

A lot of formulators have a love/hate relationship with shea butter. While that’s perfectly understandable, I find it has far too much to offer in the way of skin and hair care to be dismissed simply because it can be fiddly to work with.

Today, I'm going to show you a beautifully simple whipped shea that works for me every time so even if you are new to working with shea, this might be a great way to get acquainted with this wonderful skin-and-hair-loving ingredient.

You can use either refined or unrefined shea butter, but be sure the butter is at room temperature and has a creamy, grain-free texture before you start.

LisaLise's Easy Whipped Shea

Ingredient	%
Shea Butter	80.0
Jojoba (oil)	18.0
Antioxidant of choice	1.0
Essential Oil Blend (optional)	1.0

If you don't want to add essential oils, adjust the amount of jojoba accordingly.

Method

1. Sanitise your equipment and work area

2. Weigh oil and warm to 40°- 45°C

3. Weigh shea and cut into small uniform pieces and transfer to 'whipping container' (choose something tallish that has room for your mixer blades)

4. Transfer oil to shea

5. Whip the mixture. Start at a low speed, then increase until the mixture is homogenous and light (2-4 minutes - depending on batch size)

6. Add antioxidant and (any) essential oils

7. Whip the mixture again until the consistency is light and airy (1-2 minutes).

8. Transfer the mixture to your final container.

It's ready!

Note the difference in color of the final shea - that wasn’t due to whipping, but to the essential oil blend I added.

Over the next 24 hours the butter will ‘set up’ a bit, but will still be light, yet stable. You should be able to easily dip into the balm without having to 'dig’ it out.

A Few Whipped Shea Uses

This simple product is ideal for numerous things! Try it as

• Hand & Cuticle Cream (a little goes a long way)

• Foot Softener (apply after a footbath and don a pair of cotton socks for at home foot spa luxury)

• Dry Hair Tips Conditioner (rub between hands and apply to tips of hair)

• Body Cream (apply after bath for super soft skin)

• Deep Moisturising Night ‘Cream’ (apply after your evening cleanse and massage in gently)

Do Tell

Have you ever made a simple whipped shea? What did you use it for? Please share in a comment below.

Working With Shea Butter

Dandelions For Skincare: Drying the Blossoms

In case you're wondering, this is not a picture of weeds (I've added some helpful text to give you a clue).

Long ago, I would to think only one thing when seeing a meadow full of dandelions: 'pretty, but just weeds'.

No more.

Today, we're going to do a bit of preparation for some honest-to-goodness botanical magic, so grab a basket and get ready to harvest a few dandelion blossoms!

Not convinced why you should be picking 'weeds'?

Then read on to discover what this little treasure of a plant has to offer!

What Makes Dandelions Special

Dandelion (INCI: Taraxacum Officinalis) may be the bain of many gardeners and homeowners, but this widely available plant has so very much to offer.

The 'Officinalis' part of the Latin name is a giveaway that dandelions have a history of medicinal use. Apart from a plethora of different applications for soothing and helping us heal, dandelions are edible (and nourishing) from tip to root.

And there's even more.

My interest in this common plant is due to their natural content of cichoric acid.

And why is this exciting?

Because cichoric acid does a really cool thing: it inhibits the enzyme that breaks down hyaluronic acid in the body. Read: it protects collagen from damage from free radicals.

So, if cichoric acid has the ability to protect our own hyaluronic acid from breaking down, then it might be fair to view dandelions as all-natural little fountains of skincare youth.

See why I'm a little excited?

You: Sounds very interesting Lise, but is all this tested and proven by science?

I love it when you ask me serious stuff!

So far, I am seeing initial conclusions like 'warrants further study' and 'looking positive', but scientific tests are still too few and far between for any conclusive evidence. The prospects have me interested enough to keep digging for more information.

Meantime, there's no reason to put off working with what's growing so abundantly, is there?

So, are you ready to get busy with dandelions?

Dandelion Picking Tips

Although you can use the entire plant, we're going to be concentrating on collecting and drying the blossoms for this exercise.

Where to Pluck Dandelions

Find an area away from roads and other possible sources of contamination (such as pesticides, urinating pets etc). If your own garden lawn happens to fit this description and is filled with dandelions, it's a perfect place to start.

When to Pluck Dandelions

In theory, you can pluck dandelions any time of day, but I find mornings both pleasant and the best time to get the freshest blossoms. Any newly blossomed plants are easy to spot in a lawn (I picked blossoms from my lawn over a period of 3 days). Every blossom I picked for this batch had appeared overnight.

How to Pluck Dandelions

Pinch off blossoms at the top of the stem.

How to Dry Dandelions

Spread out on a clean cloth and allow to wilt in the shade in open air for a few hours. This will give any resident tiny bugs a chance to find another place to reside.

If you have a drying net, use that. A drying net allows air all around the plant.

I started out using my garden table to wilt the flowers, then moved them to a paper towel indoors and placed them face down to finish drying.

Allow the blossoms to dry throughly. Depending on the climate you are in, this could be from a few days up to a couple of weeks.

If you don't have the space to let the blossoms air dry, spread them out on a tray and leave in the oven on very LOW HEAT (about 60°C) overnight.

If you have a dehydrator, even better. Set the dehydrator to between 8-10 hours at about 60°C

When the blossoms are thoroughly dry, pop them into a bag and store dry and dark until use.

A special thanks to Vivienne at The Herbal Hub for the original inspiration to take a closer look at these gems.

Do Tell

Do you work with dandelions in your skincare? How do you use them?

Links to Nerdy Stuff about Dandelions and Cichoric Acid

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf0258858

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24871659

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0031942295008659

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3982519/

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jafc.5b04533

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/ra/c6ra25901d#!divAbstract

TIP: Want to get started making your own extracts but don’t know where to begin? The bundle offer below might be just the thing.

Bundle Offer! Get Started Making Plant Extracts & Three Extracts Guide

Lab Tips: Cleaning Away Fats

Any anhydrous mixture with a large percentage of butters and/or waxes is inevitably going to leave a layer of product on your equipment that can be a major chore to remove.

Fats and waxes don't just magically melt away with a bit of detergent and water - especially if they have had time to set up and cool. And your water pipes will thank you for not pouring melted fats and waxes into them because they WILL harden into a clogged mass and cause all kinds of plumbing hell that costs a fortune to repair (can you tell I speak from experience?).

So today, I’m going to share a simple and effective way to clean your containers and tools after making a batch of balms, solid lotion bars, or other fat-rich products without causing plumber anxiety.

Work Fast and Work Warm

While containers and tools are still warm, wipe away excess product with a paper towel (or 2).

To work warm, you have to act immediately after pouring. While this is easiest from a cleaning perspective, it’s not always possible, so if your equipment has cooled and the product has stiffened up and set, gently reheat just enough to where you can easily wipe away the fats.

If you have been using a water bath, it’s just a question of placing the container back over the warm water briefly. If your heat source has cooled in the meantime and you happen to have a microwave available, place any (microwave safe) containers in the oven and do a few short bursts of heat to soften and remelt the product so it can be wiped away.

Don’t Skimp on the Paper Towel

With beakers or glass containers, wipe the inside with paper towel to remove as much excess as possible.

Do your best to remove everything (read: change the paper as often as needed). I generally use between 3-5 sheets of paper towel for each beaker.

When your beaker (or glass container) looks like this (slightly frosted), it is relatively easy to clean away any remainder with ordinary detergent and hot water.

Some folks have suggested saving the fatty paper towels to use as fire starters. I think this sounds like a useful idea but am not a fire starting expert, so if you have tried this or have any additional tips, please feel free to share!

Every Last Bit

Finish the cleanup process with a pass of boiling water (or dip into a basin of boiled water) before drying and storing your equipment. This will remove every last bit of residue.

Alternative Cleanup Methods

You can also use a (70% solution) of isopropyl alcohol to break down fats. Simply spray the solution onto/into the container, let sit momentarily and then wipe the fats away. This may need to be repeated a few times depending on how much there is to remove.

A 70% solution means it is a mixture of 70% isopropyl alcohol with 30% distilled water. If you have access to both ingredients, you can easily make your own .

Baking soda is said to be useful for removing fats but as I haven't tried this on my cosmetic making equipment, I am unsure of how best to use it. Perhaps making a paste with it and applying? If you have tried this please feel free to share your experiences.

Do Tell

If you have any tips for cleaning fats off of equipment, please feel free to share in a comment below.

Book of Natural Balms - Volume 1

How to Have Fabulous Feet Forever

A good friend asked me if I had any good foot care tips (which I did and shared with her). After having tried goodness knows how many methods for keeping feet looking and feeling great, I thought I’d share my own tried and true method with you today.

If you are struggling with thick skin build-up on your feet (otherwise known as 'cheese rind heels'), this method should be quite useful to you. Depending on how bad your feet are to begin with, this beauty treatment can cost you as little as the price of a brush to as much as the price of one foot-treatment plus one brush.

Start by Ditching The File

Despite what many may believe, foot files do more damage than good. The instrument functions by grating and tearing the surface of the skin which only makes things worse. Filing your feet only encourages an increased production of hardened skin (I have this on good authority from a couple of foot-treating pros). It doesn’t matter if you are using a fancy schmancy brand named tool, the function is the same: results that unfortunately only exacerbate the problem.

If your heels are really bad, start by getting the built-up, hardened skin removed by a professional. When that's done, you will be able to keep your heels smooth and supple with the following method.

Brush Your Feet Daily

Get a brush that fits well in your hand with stiffish bristles (think nail brush). If you can get an oversized nail brush, that's ideal (see mine below).

After bathing/showering while the skin is still soft, brush your heels (and wherever else the hard skin build-up happens) vigorously for a minute or 2.

The stiff bristles of the brush will remove dead skin and the brushing will encourage circulation in the feet (which also keeps hard skin build-up at bay).

Don't forget the toenails – brushing lightly around the toes will keep the cuticles back and encourage circulation.

TIP: wash the brush regularly to keep it smelling sweet. (If you don't think this is necessary, try not washing your brush for a couple of weeks and then give it a sniff. Even if you don’t have a tendancy to get stinky feet, a brush full of dead skin cells starts to smell pretty awful pretty quickly.)

Then Soften

Finish your foot care routine by applying a body butter, cream or lotion to your feet. Give yourself ample time to apply and massage each foot to work the moisturiser in.

Then put on a pair of socks. Even if you plan on wearing sandals that day, 10-15 minutes with socks will allow time for the moisturiser to sink in.

All That Takes Way too Long!

If we don’t count the sock wearing time, this entire process only takes about 5-6 minutes in total: 2-3 minutes of vigorous brushing, 2-3 minutes of moisturising.

If you can make this little routine a daily habit, your feet will repay you in spades by looking and feeling fabulous – forever.

You’re welcome.

Do Tell

Do you have any foot care tips you swear by? Please share in a comment below

Club

If you love working with plants, making your own extracts, and incorporating them into your personal care products, then check out the Club where members have access to exclusive content. Please note: membership spots are limited.

How to Work With Stinky Ingredients

Working with plant-based ingredients has its occasional challenges. Some of the ingredients I work with have an inherently heavy, sharp, pungent, musky, or otherwise less than appealing scent.

Ok, that was the diplomatic description.

Some of them are so stinky there is instant nose-wrinkling and the instinctive pull-back when the seal is broken and the package is opened.

Yes, that stinky.

At the same time, some of them have all kinds of skin-loving goodness to offer, so they cannot be disregarded.

Choices must be made.

The Stinky Conundrum

So, how shall we solve this stinkiness? Shall we mask the odor?

Perhaps just replace the ingredient?

There's also 'the industry maneuver' (my term) which consists of using such a small amount of the ingredient that it won't be discernible to the nose. This is common practice in many commercially manufactured cosmetics and is also referred to as a 'tip-in'.

Using an ingredient as a tip-in is great for marketing purposes, but the downside is – of course – having to live with the fact that the ingredient won't do a dang thing because there's such a teensy tiny amount in the product (0.05%) that it might just as well not be there at all.

So, maybe we should give up and dump the stinky ingredients entirely?

Or.

Maybe we could figure out how to incorporate the smelly things in such a manner that the end product doesn’t insult the nose.

Maybe we can even make the end product a delight to the nose?

Considering the Synthetic Factor

In truth, it's relatively easy to mask even the stinkiest ingredients by using a synthetic scent. Think of detergent. Without the addition of (a synthetic) perfume, most household cleaning agents are, to put it politely, downright foul smelling.

Grabbing a bottle of fragrance would be the most obvious and easiest choice, but I have a problem with that as I am not a fan of synthetic perfumes.

Ok that was the diplomatic description.

In truth, I find (almost all) synthetic fragrances worse than the stinkiest ingredients I work with. Despite several attempts, I cannot bring myself to work with them. This might be due to a perfume allergy (I've never been tested, so I can't say for sure), but it could be because of my lifelong inherent aversion to anything synthetic.

What’s the Stinkiest?

A while back, I asked a few fellow formulators if there were any particular ingredients they would categorise as stinky and hard to work with.

There was a literal flood of replies.

Here are the stinky winners

• Neem oil (the all time winner and receiver of most votes)

• Cocoa butter

• Unrefined shea butter

• Lanolin

• Wheat germ oil

• Argan oil

• Carrot seed oil

• Tamanu oil

• Pomegranate Seed Oil

• Evening Primrose Oil

• Raspberry Seed Oil

• Kelp Powder

• Spirulina

• Tea Tree Essential oil

• Valerian Essential Oil

• Soapnuts

These ingredients all have wonderful properties that are difficult to simply disregard. So, how do we deal with all this stinkiness?

We Take Stinkiness into Account

After years of trial-and-error, it has become second nature to me to take the inherent stinkiness of some ingredients into account when creating a formula.

Even though there are some limitations, it is possible to 'bend' a stinky ingredient (or 2) into something entirely pleasant with no need of masking the smell.

The secret is deceptively simple: work with, not against.

Get your perfuming nose on and get ready to include said stinky ingredient as part of the fragrance.

You doubt?

It's perfectly ok. I didn't think it was possible in the beginning either.

To get busy, we need to do a bit of nose exercise (and no, you don't need to learn how to wiggle your nose).

How To Get Your Perfuming Nose On

This is a relatively simple exercise, but does require your full attention and concentration.

Your nose may be a little offended at first, but will probably surprise you with hidden secrets sooner than you expect.

The object of this exercise is to train your nose to pick out the components of (any) fragrance.

Choose an ingredient. Don't start with the absolute stinkiest ingredient, but choose one you perhaps find a bit challenging. For example, if you have an ambivalent relationship with the scent of unrefined shea butter, start there.

Sniff the ingredient until your nose is thoroughly acquainted with it.

Alternate between sniffing the ingredient and sniffing fresh air.

Continue for a few minutes and you will start to discover the 'undertones' and 'overtones' of the scent. Is there a muskiness in the background? Is it slightly woodsy? Nutty? Fruity?

Identify the components as best you can and write down your impressions.

At one point, your nose is going to ‘sign off’ and that will be your signal that this session has ended.

Wait at least an hour before continuing.

It will probably take a few sessions, but I’m pretty sure it won't be long until you have dissected the scent and can begin to work with it. If there is a musky undertone you find unappealing, the addition of a woodsy fragrance can synergise and 'bend' the scent in an entirely different (and more pleasing) direction.

I admit this takes a bit of practice, but I also know you can totally do this. I think you will surprise yourself at how quickly your nose is able to 'dissect' what you are sniffing. Keep at it and you will discover how easy it suddenly is to dissect the components of a wine, perfume, or any dish.

Let’s Take Cocoa Butter

When you've been exercising your nose and making all kinds of amazing discoveries at how clever your nostrils are at picking out subtle details and undertones, you can move on to this exercise.

We're going to 'bend' the scent of an ingredient that made it quite high up on the list of stinky ingredients in my impromptu poll: cocoa butter.

It almost seems unfair to call it a stinky ingredient. Most people love the smell and taste of a chocolate bar. I know I do. I actually also love the scent of cocoa butter if I am thinking of dessert. But right now, we're putting it on our skin. And not everyone wants to smell like dessert all day.

As delicious and chocolatey as unrefined cocoa butter might smell in the container, it can be downright overpowering when it is applied to the skin in a leave-on product.

In a body butter, non-chocolate-tasting lip balm, or any other water-free product, cocoa butter can have an uncanny ability to take over the entire fragrance profile and become both heavy and cloying.

How to include cocoa butter as a component of our fragrance? Here's a little exercise on how to do just that.

Cocoa Butter Base Note Exercise

For this exercise, you’ll need

• Unrefined cocoa butter

• Essential oils

• Any infused oils you might want to include

Method

1. Have your essential oils at room temperature

2. Gently melt 5 grams (a teaspoon) of cocoa butter in a small glass container (5 grams for each scent you want to create).

3. Sniff the cocoa butter. Note the properties: heavy, creamy, and chocolate-like. This is the base note from which you shall create your fragrance.

4. The next step is to decide which direction you want to take this base. Here are a couple of examples to help inspire.

Woodsy : For a woodsy scent, add a component such as cedarwood, rosewood, petitgrain, or sandalwood. A combination could also be used. Round out the blend by introducing an element of citrus freshness – bergamot, mandarin, blood orange, grapefruit, or lemon could all be considered.

Oriental : To bend your cocoa butter in a more exotic direction, add myhrr or frankincense. Introduce a floral element with rose or geranium, then consider a titch of vanilla to round out the scent and make it deliciously exotic.

Floral : For a floral scent, start with a woodsy component to anchor the cocoa butter (cedarwood might be great here). Then add some rich, dense florals such as geranium or rose. Lighter florals risk being 'buried' in the fragrance profile. Chamomile – with its inherent earthy note – is another possible option. Lavender and/or an element of citrus can be added to round out the scent.

Want to try something else? Go for it! When your nose is 'tuned in', you can create any fragrance combination you think you would like.

Chill, Solidify, and Do a Nose Test

When you have finished your test bowls with essential oils and cocoa butter, pop them into the fridge and let the mixture solidify.

To test the solidified samples, warm the bowl (or solidified cocoa butter) slightly in the palms of the hand and then do a nose test to see if you are satisfied with scent profile. If you are, then you know the EO’s you blended into the sample will in all likelihood be useful for anything you make with cocoa butter

TIP : If you happen to make your own botanically infused oils, these can also be super useful in a fragrance creating setting.

Do Tell

Which scent combos have you tried adding to cocoa butter to create your fragrance? Were you happy with the results? Please share in a comment below.

Club

If you love working with plants, making your own extracts, and incorporating them into your personal care products, then check out the Club where members have access to exclusive content. Please note: membership spots are limited.