Herbs for Natural Beauty: Create Your Own Herbal Shampoos, Cleansers, Creams, Bath Blends, and More. A Storey BASICS® Title

by Rosemary Gladstar

Overview

Look great, smell wonderful, and feel good as you make your own homemade natural body care products. In this Storey BASICS® guide to holistic beauty, Rosemary Gladstar shares more than 30 simple recipes for cleansers, moisturizers, and creams comprised of essential oils and herbs. Make unique shampoos for lustrous, fragrant hair and learn Gladstar’s amazing five-step system for glowing skin. Skip the harsh commercial ingredients and use nature’s closet to keep your body healthy and beautiful. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612124742
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	11/14/2014
Series:	Storey Basics
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	880,098
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Rosemary Gladstar is the best-selling author of nine books including Rosemary Gladstar’s Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide, Herbs for Children’s Health, and Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health, which draw on her 40-plus years of experiences studying and teaching about the healing properties of herbs. She is a world-renowned educator, activist, and entrepreneur and the founding director of Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center, the International Herb Symposium, and the New England Women’s Herbal Conference. Gladstar is founding president of United Plant Savers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation and preservation of native American herbs. She was the original formulator for Traditional Medicinal herbal teas and has led herbal educational adventures around the world. She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and serves on the board of the Association for the Advancement of Restorative Medicine and The National Health Freedom Coalition. She lives in Vermont. 

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Women's Health, Women's Beauty

There is a story we herbalists have conjured up that I particularly enjoy. Cosmeos, a mythical Greek goddess whose name meant harmony and balance, personified radiant health and inner beauty that flowed from a core of harmony and balance. Cosmeos never sought to mask what she was or how she looked; rather, she fed her inner fire with the eternal gifts of the earth. Her beauty was as unique as the flowers growing wild on the hillside and as powerful as the granite bones of the mountain. Wanting to endow the world and its inhabitants with greater beauty, Cosmeos gave to mortals the gifts of herbs, flowers, and other simple pleasures to nourish the body and soul.

The modern word cosmetic stems from the Greek word kosmeticos, meaning "skilled at adornment." This is precisely what Cosmeos is all about. It was never her intent to cover up; she used her creations to revel in who she was. She is one of my favorite goddesses. I envision her as a wild woodland creature running freely through the forests with her sister herbalist Artemis, whose name also has been immortalized in the name of a plant.

Natural Beauty and Good Health

When I was a young child growing up on my parents' farm, I would often walk into the fields and lie in the tall grasses. I would take off my clothes and lay my body on the bare ground, and feel the earth beneath me. It nourished me and filled me with a deep sense of beauty. I would look up at the blue California sky and ask that I be a reflection of all that I saw in nature, so that when people looked at me they would see the fields and the wildflowers and the depth of the sky in my eyes. It is this early sense of beauty that has permeated me all these years.

The Healing Power of Beauty

Though much of my work as a community herbalist has been concentrated on making medicinal products and helping people manage and heal from their illnesses, I always find a way to weave "the beauty way" into my healing work. I want Cosmeos's hand in the pot!

When I mixed and blended my early medicinal tea blends, they always contained a few herbs "just for beauty," such as roses, calendula, and blue malva flowers. My tinctures and medicines, likewise, had a sweet taste, a touch of the beauty way. I'm a firm believer in the fact that beauty aids in healing, and is perhaps one of the greatest healers. It seduces and induces people back to wellness, back to that place of balance and harmony that is the soul of life. Without beauty, why would anyone want to get well? The flowers, the fresh air, the running waters, and the loving hearts of those who care for us feed and nourish the soul and invite it back to wholeness.

Over the years I've delighted in making wonderful "all natural" cosmetics and skin care products. In the kitchen, whatever I was cooking up often went on my face! It wasn't unusual to find me with egg or avocado or oatmeal on my face, my long hair rubbed with olive oil and rosemary and securely tucked up in a towel. I was a walking salad! I'd spend my evenings playing with and perfecting recipes for herbal masks, baths, and creams and then share these recipes with others. We'd stage "facial parties," gathering friends together to treat one another to herbal hand and foot baths, facial steams, and masks. After the "works," we'd finish with a gentle massage using my favorite face cream.

I'd often take the show on the road, packing up baskets of materials to take to workshops. I'd treat everyone there — and you can bet these classes were well attended. When I first moved to New England and was invited by Rick Scalzo to speak at the annual Gaia Herbal Symposium, I offered to do a cosmetics workshop. Rick was hesitant; he wasn't sure anyone would be interested at a conference that featured herbal medicines. But I felt that if even just a few people showed up, it would be fun. So the cosmetics workshop was included on the schedule, and Rick, still thinking it would be of limited interest, assigned me a small room in which to do my presentation. When it came time for the workshop, it was apparent that we would have to do some quick maneuvering; there were more than 150 people in attendance.

Making Your Own Natural Beauty Products

The recipes in this book are among my favorites. Most are my personal creations; a few have been enhanced by the creative suggestions of others. When I first began making my own natural skin care products, there were no classes being taught and very few books on the subject. Many of these recipes came to me in those moments of inspiration when I'd been out among the flowers. Others I labored long over to get the exact proportions and effects. And some of them were garnered from students, who often took a simple suggestion I made and added the oh-so-perfect ingredient to create a product of excellence.

Gathering the Ingredients

As with most undertakings, it is wise to assemble all the ingredients and utensils you need ahead of time. There have been times when I haven't followed this little bit of advice and in the middle of a project found I was out of a necessary ingredient. This can be either a big or little inconvenience, but it's always annoying.

As with any recipe, you can substitute ingredients and experiment with the formulas to create a more personalized product, but be sure you understand what the particular ingredient in the formula is "doing" so that you can substitute one product with another that has similar properties; otherwise the product may not turn out as you hoped. For instance, in a cream formula, if you substitute liquid oil for a solid oil, the cream may turn out runnier than you'd like. So ask yourself: What is the purpose or role of this ingredient? Is it an emulsifier? Does it help thicken the product? Does it add moisture?

My recipes are designed with lots of room for creativity. I am one of those people who gets frustrated with exact proportions. Coffee cups are most often my measuring cups, and spoons from my silverware drawer serve as measuring spoons. When adding essential oils I lose count somewhere after the fourth or fifth drop and proceed forward by scent and common sense alone. Nothing is exact in my world, and, needless to say, things don't always turn out exactly the same. But I've learned to follow my intuition, and generally it leads me on a very creative process. Using my common sense rather than exact measurements has often produced exquisite results.

Not to worry, however, if you prefer to follow exact directions! I have carefully formulated each of these recipes so that you can follow them step-by-step with assurance. I highly recommend that you make the recipes as directed the first couple of times so you get a feel for how they are supposed to turn out. Then begin experimenting! Try adding your own combinations of essential oils, substituting one type of oil for another, or using different herbs in the formula. Be sure to write down each of the ingredients so that you can re-create the formula at another time. Don't make the common mistake of thinking that you'll remember. I still lament the many times I've made a perfect product but couldn't recall the oils I'd added or the proportions I'd used.

Helpful Kitchen Tools

No special tools are needed for creating any of the wonderful cosmetics described in this book. A kitchen with all its normal gadgets will supply you with most of what you need, and the ingredients called for are mostly found in supermarkets or natural food stores. If not available locally, these items are easily ordered from the suppliers listed in the resources at the end of this book.

Although you don't need many specific items in order to create your natural beauty products, these everyday tools will be helpful:

* Blender

* Fine-mesh strainers

* Hand grater — reserved for grating beeswax, because it's almost impossible to clean the wax off

* An assortment of glass bottles and jars

* Stainless steel or glass mixing bowls

* Measuring cups

* Labels of various sizes

CHAPTER 2

Selecting the Ingredients

Following is a list of some of the most common natural cosmetic ingredients, with some discussion of their properties and "actions," or what they do in the formulas. Understanding the basic action of each ingredient helps you determine when to use it and gives you greater ability to personalize and formulate your own recipes. Most of these ingredients are widely available. They vary greatly in prices, so shop wisely!

Common Natural Ingredients

One of the best reasons for making your own skin care products is that you can control which ingredients go into them. Do not be fooled by the many "natural" ingredients used in commercial skin care products. Many of these ingredients are added only so that the consumer is impressed. Notice how far down on the list of ingredients the natural ones are. The farther down it is, the smaller the amount of the ingredient is in the product. Also note how many ingredients are preservatives, coloring agents, synthetic scents, and other chemicals.

While it is true that not all "chemical-sounding" ingredients are synthetics or "unnatural" additives, most natural ingredients are called by names we recognize. My advice is to know what you are putting on your skin in the same way you are responsible, or try to be responsible, for what you eat. The skin is, after all, our largest organ of assimilation and elimination. If you don't recognize an ingredient, look it up. Don't use it on your body until you know it is really natural, safe, and good for you — and the environment.

Truly natural skin and hair care products take advantage of the incredible diversity of nature in their formulations. Though ingredients will vary, I've listed here those that are ubiquitous, valued across the board for their usefulness, effectiveness, versatility, and safety.

Aloe vera

What it is: This plant originated in Africa but is now found growing in most tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is also an excellent houseplant to keep around.

What it does: The juice from the large, succulent leaves is an excellent first-aid treatment for burns, rough or irritated skin, and wounds. (Because of its ability to seal over a wound, it should never be used on staph infections.) Aloe juice is a wonderful moisturizer that also firms and tones the skin. Though fresh aloe juice is wonderful to use in products that you'll use up in a few days, it doesn't have preservative properties. For those products that need a longer shelf life, such as creams and lotions, use aloe vera gel that has at least 1 percent citric acid added as a natural preservative; you can find commercial preparations of this type of aloe gel in most natural foods stores and pharmacies.

Beeswax

What it is: This rich honey-scented wax is made by bees to build their honeycombs.

What it does: Beeswax is one of the most popular and widely used thickeners in skin care products, found in everything from lip balms to body butters, creams, salves, and lotions. But along with thickening products, it also adds its own rich, soothing, healing, antibiotic properties — bee energy!

Most recipes call for grating beeswax, so that it melts more quickly; you can also buy beeswax granules. Be sure that the beeswax you buy is pure and unrefined. It should be golden to green in color, not white. White beeswax has been refined.

Borax

What it is: Borax, or sodium borate, is a natural mineral mined from only a few places in the world. Imagine the surprise when women discover that those lovely bath salts they love contain the same ingredient as the popular laundry soap 20 Mule Team Borax. In fact, you can use grocery-store borax in your formulas.

What it does: This mineral softens water, is a cleansing agent, and has the unique ability to suspend soap particles in water so they don't adhere to the skin or clog the pores. The skin is left cleaner and softer because of it.

Clay

What it is: Clay is another one of those wonderful substances mined from the earth. It is the essence of a mountain ground down through the ages into a smooth powder, and blessed by thousands of sunrises, sunsets, wind, and rainstorms. When we use clay in our formulas, we are unleashing the energy of thousands of years.

What it does: Clay has been used for thousands of years as both a medicine and a cosmetic. It is found in products as varied as kitty litter (as a deodorizing and absorbent agent), poultices and facials (to help draw out impurities), and bath salts (to cleanse and remove impurities). There are many types. All are drawing, drying, and mineral rich. The concentrations of the various minerals are what determine the color and different effects of the clay. But when one clay isn't available, another clay will do.

Bentonite

This softer, more mucilaginous clay has mild properties good for most skin problems. Bentonite is also taken internally as a mineral supplement. It aids in binding toxic minerals, making them insoluble, so they can be more easily eliminated.

Green Clay

High concentrations of minerals (chromium, nickel, and copper), plant material, and volcanic matter give this clay its green coloring. It is my favorite clay for medicinal purposes, but I also find it excellent for most cosmetic purposes. It is fairly mild and can be used successfully for most skin types. However, its green color isn't appropriate for some body powders.

White Clay

This is the most versatile of all clays and the one used most often in cosmetics. Because it's milder and less drying than other clays, white clay is used in skin masks, body packs, powders, and bath salts. The white clay generally used in cosmetics is called kaolin and is available in natural food stores but can be purchased at a much lower price in ceramic supply stores. White clay is comprised primarily of aluminum oxide and small amounts of zinc oxide.

Red Clay

Rich in the minerals silica, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and iron, red clay sports a rusty color. It is very drying and drawing and is primarily used in medicinal preparations for poison oak/ivy, rashes, and wounds. Red clay is also useful in preparations for oily skin, acne, or other problem skin.

Flower waters (hydrosols)

What it is: Hydrosols, or flower waters, are made by steam-distilling plants. They are often the by-product of essential oil production, a recapture of the water used to steam the plant materials in order to extract their oils, but better-quality hydrosols are made on their own, not as by-products. (Make your own! See recipe for Handmade Rose Water.) Though they contain many of the plant's active constituents, hydrosols are far less concentrated than essential oils and so have less potential to be irritating to the skin.

What it does: Hydrosols are used as spritzers and sprays and as a base (in place of water) in many skin care products such as creams and lotions. They are wonderful used alone as refreshing facial sprays and deodorizing room sprays; they can provide a wonderful cooling mist on a hot day's drive or in a stuffy hot room. Depending on the plant being used, hydrosols can be slightly astringent or moisturizing.

Glycerin, vegetable

What it is: Glycerin is a chemical component of all fats and oils. It is a thick, emollient, soothing, and very sweet substance used in soap making, natural skin care, and medicinal products. Glycerin derived from vegetable sources — such as palm oil, soy nuts, or coconuts — is of much higher quality than glycerin from animal fats.

What it does: Glycerin is a humectant (it draws moisture from the air) and helps moisturize and soothe the skin. It also helps to smooth and detangle hair and is found in many hair care products, especially conditioners. However, though glycerin makes the hair feel smooth and look shiny, it actually coats the shaft of the hair, causing it to weaken and break. It is not recommended for long-term use on hair.

Lanolin

What it is: Lanolin is the protective oil found on the wool of sheep. It helps keep the sheep warm and makes their wool weather-resistant.

What it does: This thick, viscous substance is the oil most like our own skin oil, making it one of the best moisturizers for humans. You can buy hydrolyzed lanolin, which is odorless but heavily processed and often laden with synthetic chemicals. Though it's a bit more challenging to use, I recommend using pure lanolin, or anhydrous lanolin. Use only small amounts, as the sheep-like odor will definitely permeate everything you make.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Herbs For Natural Beauty"
by .
Copyright © 2014 Rosemary Gladstar.
Excerpted by permission of Storey Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface

1  Women's Health, Women's Beauty

2  Selecting the Ingredients

3  A Cornucopia of Natural Skin Care Recipes

4  Beauty and the Bath

5  Hair Care and Coloring

Recommended Reading

Resources

Index