Aromatic Toners

We are busy here getting some special products ready for the Holiday gift giving season. During the summer we distilled some wonderful herbs making aromatic waters. These distillates or hydrosols as they are sometimes called are great skin care products. They are rich in organic acids that help moisturize and keep the skin pH slightly acidic as it should be. This acid mantle is what helps protect the skin. They also contain microdroplets of essential oils making them wonderfully aromatic.

My favorite distillate of course is lavender or is it lemon balm, it’s hard to decide. I made three blends; lavender lemon balm, lavender rose, and cucumber mint all from herbs we grew on our farm this summer. These distillates alone are great to spray on the skin and face for hydration or to use as a body mist or spray in the hair before combing. I wanted to make them a little more special as a toner though so I added a small amount of glycerin as a humectant as well as extracts from raspberry leaf and plantago to soothe and tone the skin. I am selling these in both 1 ounce ($5.10) and 2 ounce ($7.70) spray bottles. You can also spray these on your neck and chest for toning, a place often overlooked when it comes to skin care. Products used in this area are sometimes refered to as décolleté products. The term also refers to a low neckline on a woman’s shirt and is certainly an area you want to look its best.

I love the feel of these toners on my skin and like the scents as a reminder of summer. All the ingredients were grown here on our farm. Distillates alone or with added ingredients are the best of natural skin care. These products can be purchased alone or as part of the gift bags I am putting together as well. These you will hear about soon.

Herbal Distillates

Many herb enthusiasts have taken up the hobby of distilling at home now. Distilling small batches of herbs produces an aromatic water that has a slightly acidic pH. This watery distillate goes by many names by different people. Originally called aqua vitae its more common name now is hydrosol in the US or hydrolat in Europe. If you have taken any chemistry classes you may recognize the word hydrosol as referring to a colloidal suspension in water. So this word can refer to a number of substances including a small amount of essential oil added to water such that it forms a suspension.

But the important thing is to understand exactly what these watery distillates are. Contrary to some claims they do not contain all the water soluble components of the plant. A recently published study from researchers in Spain found that after distilling lavender, the remaining plant material was high in antioxidant and flavonoid compounds. Specific molecules identified were chlorogenic acid and glucosides of hydroxycinnamic acids. Both of these compounds are antioxidants and thus able to scavenge free radicals.

On the other hand, rosmarinic acid was found to be in higher concentration in the water distilled removed from the plant material rather than in the remaining plant material. Rosmarinic acid is much more volatile than chlorogenic acid so it is separated from the plant upon distillation.

So although distillation of herbs is the best way to obtain oils and waters with aromatic properties it is not a way to obtain phenolic flavonoids from plants. Being water soluble, these components are best obtained by making a water infusion, also called a tea (or tisane).

You can also see a version of this article written by me in the recent Herb Companion Magazine.

Torras-Claveria, L., Jauregui, O., Bastida, J., et al. Antioxidant activity and phenolic composition of Lavandin (Lavandula x intermedia Emeric ex Loiseleur) waste. J. Agric Food Chem. 2007, 55:8436-8443.