Lavender has been used since olden times to scent baths. In fact, its name comes from the Latin word, lavare, which means "to wash". Today, lavender is considered an essential element of any herbal medicine chest. It has many healing effects. While well known for its relaxing qualities, lavender is also anti-bacterial, analgesic, anti-depressant, and a tonic for the nervous system.
Lavender has been shown to help insomnia sufferers to fall asleep more quickly and have a more restful sleep. In 1995, The Lancet published a study which reported that inhaling lavender essential oil was as effective as tranquilizers in helping insomniacs fall asleep. Moreover, they slept more peacefully when inhaling lavender scent than when using tranquilizers. Lavender is a tried and tested natural remedy for insomnia.
Lavender has also been found to have an effect similar to anti-depressants. It depresses the central nervous system, and therefore can be an effective treatment particularly for stress-related depression.
Lavender is also useful during pregnancy and childbirth. Essential lavender oil can be used in massages to prevent stretch marks and relieve back pains, edema and labor pains. Mixed with water, it is also a good wash for perineal tears. Lavender tea can be used in warm compresses to help ease engorgement when breastfeeding.
Small wonder then that many products use lavender to harness its healing powers. Lavender comfort pillows by Pillows of Lavender contain essential oil of lavender, combined with other herbs, to obtain various results. Used warm, Pillows of Lavender are good for relaxing, relieving pain, and inducing sleep. When cold, Pillows of Lavender help reduce inflammation, ease headaches, and invigorate a tired mind and body.
Both young and old will benefit from the soothing, healing effects of Pillows of Lavender. Try them yourself and give them as gifts. Pillows of Lavender provide a quick get-away from the hustle and bustle of daily life through the natural and proven benefits of lavender.
Pillows of Lavender
I've recently begun expanding my morning routine to include a facial steam.
It takes about 10 minutes and really makes me feel clearer for most of the day.
It's also a nice way to relax into the day while at the same time, energizing.
I have been doing it and then doing my exercises – strength training from the Fit Yummy Mummy Program and yoga on alternate days, with interval training on my bike when I can. (if you are interested, check out Fit Yummy Mummy for the best weight loss and fitness program I've found.
try it out for 4.95)
It is making a huge difference in how I feel throughout the day.
As for the facial steam, I have a bowl that I use especially for this, it's stainless steel with a rubber bottom so there is less chance of spillage or breakage.
I add a few drops of what ever essential oil I'm in the mood for – eucalyptus, spearmint or myrtle if I want to be refreshed, frankincense is all around wonderful and today I used some Australian Sandalwood that I have, a lovely way to start the day.
My cat must like it too. I left the bowl to pour into my diffuser when it's cool enough (gotta stretch that Sandalwood!) and he was sitting beside it when I went to the kitchen.
Especially for the stronger essential oils, it's important to let some of the diffuse before sticking your head under the towel over the steaming water so that they don't burn your eyes or nose/throat.
Don't get too close and enjoy.
You can see a selection of my essential oils here.
I think it would be a great idea to put an assortment of 5ml bottles together for this, stay tuned and let me know if you have any preferences for essential oils that you would like to start the day with.
GREAT PRODUCT IDEA
If you sell soaps, this would be a wonderful and easy product addition to your site as well. If you can find some nice headbands it would be even nicer, you could even go whole hog and add a plush towel.
A smaller one for blotting the face after would spell l-u-x-u-r-i-o-u-s, especially nice packaged as a gift for the coming Christmas season.\
If you're in the US, you can get some nice essential oils at a reasonable price at the sites listed on the sidebar, or for an absolutely decadent experience, try Nature's Gift essential oils (I get no kickback for that, I just LOVE Marge's oils).
Natural skin care – and what is it really – is a really hot topic but over the years it seems to be cooling somewhat as consumers are being heard – we don't want crap in our skin care!
As big business has begun to embrace the concept, small companies have become more confident as well, although the temptation to include some of those nifty synthetics is ever looming.
To be honest with you, when I first started in, I was passionately natural and mortified at the flavour of many of the skin care and soap making mail lists etc that crucified anyone who would suggest that natural is better or at least safer and really would not even discuss the merits of natural (yup – I know that all natural is not all safe, a good observation and another topic for another day).
But I've seen things soften over the years as we seem to have come full circle, much to my pleasure. It was quite dismal there for awhile!
Thinking big picture, I think that we as a society on the whole have reached our peak for complicated and 'plastic', seeing the futility in it and are retreating back to our roots in simplicity.
It's funny, as things seem to spiral ever more out of control, I see more hope today than I ever did 6 years ago – about the time I threw up my hands in frustration and realized the people either get it or they don't, and if they don't, they'll have to find out for themselves (that probably applies to just about anything :0).
The unfortunate part is that we all need to suffer with them as our environment is forever polluted as a by product of all this stuff – it's kind of like second hand smoke – remember the days when it was the norm almost everywhere? (I used to work in a bingo hall, bet some of you remember those days. I'm amazed that anyone could see the cards!))
All in all, the hardest thing to deal with for me is the question of what will be left for our children, I am at the point of shuddering to even think what will be left for our grandchildren. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised as I am certainly seeing a rise to common sense.
I can only hope that it will be enough.
And continue to go natural when ever I can, of course.
SO ANYWAY, WHAT IS NATURAL SKIN CARE?
To me, it's fairly simple and boils down to 5 things.
- fragrance – does it contain synthetic fragrance or essential oils – or no scent at all.
- colour – is it coloured using dyes etc.
- preservatives – you will be hard pressed to find any off the shelf product that doesn't contain preservatives but there are some gentler than others, with new choices becoming available every day. It's a good idea to educate yourself on these, I will have more on this coming up. This is one of the biggest reasons to make it for yourself or shop from a truly natural company who will be up on this stuff or producing waterless products.
- biodegradable – as a rule, if you don't have the above ingredients, it's probably a biodegradable product. Packaging is another area to look at. The less the better. One of the biggest problems we face these days is over packaging.
- ingredients list – if a 'natural botanical' shows up last on the list of ingredients, after preservatives and scent which are used at a relatively low percentage, I am not impressed with any natural ingredient claim to fame. Also, if many of the ingredients are chemicals that I recognize as things that I wouldn't choose to use, of course, it gets a thumbs down.
Something to think about - not only do we need to look at the above factors, but we need to keep in mind the method that items are manufactured, what bi products are produced in the process.
Think large scale. What chemical companies come to your mind? Do some research and find out just how many of them have had chemical spills, lawsuits or moved their operations over seas where the laws and regulations are even more lax.
And what ever you can find, in many cases you can bet there is plenty 'buried' out there that we won't find out about any time soon.
Your choices DO effect the world today, on a larger scale than you may think.
Bottomline – if you want to do your best you need to be diligent in researching ingredients. As a rule, the simpler the better.
And my hat is off to all of you who support the natural skin care industry by making, selling and using truly natural skin care products and to all who want to learn and make the right choices for themselves and for the world around us.
Please jump in, I'd love to hear your views and ideas!
