Vitamin E in Skin Care

Oils, whether they be vegetable and plant oils in a jar, or oils that make up the cell membranes of an organism are prone to oxidation and degradation. This oxidation can be stopped by antioxidants, particularly vitamin E. 

Oils are mainly triglycerides which are composed of fatty acids. These fatty acids are carbon chains that consist of either double bonds or single bonds between the carbons.  Carbon chains containing single bonds are known as saturated fatty acids while those with one or more double bonds are referred to as unsaturated. It is the unsaturated fatty acids that are more prone to oxidation and the risk of oxidation increases with the number of double bonds.

This oxidation is initiated by light, heat, metals or oxygen, so keeping oils away from these helps to slow oxidation, but it is inevitable. A free radical contains an unpaired electron which makes it highly reactive and unstable. It is looking for an electron on another molecule to steal, thus setting up a chain reaction of forming free radicals. When these oxidative products are formed from oils the breakdown products are off flavor compounds such as ketones, aldehydes, alcohols and more. They tend to have a characteristic smell known as ‘rancid’.

Your body is constantly making free radicals, and at the same time making antioxidants to stop them from causing damage. Hopefully, a nice balance exists, but not always. The oil in a bottle on your shelf or your newly made skin care product has no way to make antioxidants like your body does so it is helpful to add an antioxidant to prevent oxidation.

Vitamin E is an important oil soluble antioxidant to protect polyunsaturated fatty acids and other cell membrane components from oxidation. Vitamin E reacts with a lipid radical faster than that lipid radical can react with other lipids and so suppresses the propagation of oxidation.  It does this by transferring a hydrogen atom to a lipid free radical. Of course now the vitamin E molecule becomes a free radical but it can react with another vitamin E free radical to form a non-radical product. This terminates the chain reaction of oxidation.

Vitamin E is a family of eight different molecules; 4 tocopherols and 4 tocotrienols. Vitamin E is high in wheat germ oil, canola oil, and almond oil, but commercially, vitamin E is typically extracted from soybean oil. Buy your vitamin E from a skin care ingredient supplier, do not use capsules from the store as this is not pure vitamin E.

Bottom line is that your skin care products should contain an antioxidant such as vitamin E to prevent the breakdown of oils in your product. Many crafters are being taught that this is similar to a preservative that will prevent the growth of bacteria or fungus in a product where it is not at all similar. If you have a product that contains any form of water, you need to have a preservative to prevent growth of microbes. Vitamin E will not prevent growth of microbes, but vitamin E should be in your products that contain oil to prevent the breakdown of these oils.

To learn more about preservatives (anti-microbials) see this post on What is the Best Preservative?

Startup Week in Longmont - A Celebration of Entrepreneurship

Startup Week is a week long celebration of entrepreneurship and community. Longmont will host its second Startup Week June 6-12.  The concept of Startup Week was born from Startup Weekend, an idea of Andrew Hyde's (then at Techstars) in Boulder in 2007.  The idea was to get entrepreneurs together to launch a startup in 54 hours and then pitch the idea to an audience. It is intended for early stage startups. Learn more here.  The idea grew as more companies contacted him to have their own Startup Weekend.

Marc Nager of UP Global launched Startup Week as a non-profit, intensive program of entrepreneurship and community. The phenomenon has spread to over 40 cities all across the globe now.

 

Startup Week is a great networking event bringing together entrepreneurs, community leaders, stakeholders and community members in an intensive week of educational talks. It is a tremendous  volunteer effort and the volunteers in Longmont do an amazing job! Last year I participated in a panel on women entrepreneurs and this year I'll be doing one on one mentoring to help others just starting.  Startup Week in Longmont is a unique experience that reflects the particular businesses in our city, as every Startup Week is. This way you could actually travel to all the Startup Weeks across the country and never get the same thing.

Do you have Startup Week in your city? To learn more about how you can bring one to your city see http://startupweek.co/. To see what is happening in Longmont visit http://www.longmontstartupweek.com/.

Beer Brewing Herbs

If you like beer you may be interested in growing some of your own ingredients. Hops are the most common herb used in beer and are used for  bittering. They are relatively easy to grow and make a nice vine to grow up your deck or elsewhere.

hops

I've been reading "The Homebrewer's Garden" by Joe Fisher and Dennis Fisher which details many of the other herbs that are and have been used in beer.  I was not only amazed at how many herbs have been used in beer but also realized that I grow many of these herbs.

Hops are my favorite as I am a fan of great IPA's. They not only bitter the beer it but to create a variety of unique flavor profiles that include floral, piney and citrus. There are some beers that taste very similar to grapefruit juice just becasue of the hops they use. If you are not a beer drinker you may not realize that there are actually many different varieties of hops all producing different aromas and flavors in a beer because of their alpha and beta acids.
 
We grow hops here on the farm and use them in dream pillows as they are a good for destress and to promote sleep. You may have experienced relaxation after you've had a few beers! Hops are also good for skin care and help decrease irritation and promote hydration. I've written about the benefits of hops before, here.

thyme

There are additional herbs that are used in beer for bittering, flavoring and giving the beer a nice aroma.

Herbs used for bittering include yarrow, horehound, sage, dandelion, costmary, and clary sage. They are typically added at the beginning of the boil phase and need to be balanced with hops which are also bitter.

Flavoring herbs include rosemary, hyssop, borage, oregano, mint, bee balm/monarda, lemon balm, sweet woodruff, marjoram and thyme. Add these carefully as they can have rather strong flavors. They can be added at the beginning or near the end of the boil.

Other herbs can be added for aroma including rosemary, hyssop, lavender, chamomile, lemon balm, bee balm, elder flowers. If adding them for aroma they are added toward the end of the boil. 

Yarrow apparently was commonly used to bitter beer before hops were used, a beer known now as Gruit Ale. I don't know if any commercial brewers use this but I did find a lot of interest in it on several beer brewing websites.

Other herbs that I grow that are used in beers are Horehound, Coriander, Summer savory, Nasturtium, Raspberry Fruit, Rhubarb, Rose Hips and Valerian leaf. Not mentioned in the book, but herbs I think would be great in beer include rose petals, red clover, violets, calendula, salad burnett, and feverfew.

I'd love to taste a good hoppy IPA that is flavored with lavender. I've seen several Saison styles with lavender but never an IPA. So, local breweries, make my dream come true please!

Besides using these herbs in beer, they can be used for skin care and bath herbs. Beer Spa is a concept that is gaining in popularity and many of these herbs can be used in conjunction with beer to provide skin benefits. We just put on a beer spa event and hope to do more in our area.

Benefits of Vitamin C for Skin Health

Vitamin C is not made by our bodies and so it must be ingested. Rich sources include citrus fruits, peppers, parsley and berries. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin and so it is not found in oils. Although rose hips may be a good source of vitamin C, the oil extracted from rose hips is not a source of vitamin C as many claim. 

Signs of Vitamin C deficiency are follicular hyperkeratosis (rough, raised bumps), petechial hemorrhages (red marks), swollen or bleeding gums, and joint pain.

Vitamin C is also known as L-ascorbic acid and it likes to work with flavonoids for full activity. Its actions include:

1. It is a cofactor for the enzyme lysyl and prolyl hydroxylase. These enzymes are necessary to form the three dimensional structure of the skin matrix protein, collagen. Improving collagen leads to firmer skin.

2. Vitamin C inhibits the enzyme tyrosinase which results in decreased production of melanin. This helps reduce pigmented age spots on the skin.

3. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and inhibits lipid peroxidation and DNA damage caused by UV light. In doing so it also helps protect against UV induced skin damage.

 

4. Vitamin C inhibits the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1α, IFN-γ, IL-8, IL-2, TNF-α, and eotaxin  as well as CRP. This may result in decreased reddening and irritation of the skin.

5. Ascorbic acid participates in the synthesis of carnitine. (β-hydroxy butyric acid). Carnitine is an antioxidant, is thought to firm the skin and is involved in the production of energy from fats.

6. Ascorbic acid is involved reactions necessary for activity of oxytocin; the love hormone that is stimulated by skin to skin contact.

For a face care product that has vitamin C try Springtide Gold by Colorado Aromatics.

Cosmetic Science for Middle School

Part of the mission statement of our company is to educate. In today's world when there is so much fear of chemistry I love the opportunity to help educate youth about opportunities in chemistry. Yesterday I participated in a presentation for a GEMS group; Girls in Engineering, Math and Science. The day was sponsored by a local high school leadership group and invitations were sent to middle school girls. There were 4 presenters and the girls circulated through the 4 classrooms for presentations. It seemed like the main theme and interest was robotics so cosmetic chemistry was a little different - its nice to let girls know how chemistry applies to their everyday life.

We made bath fizzies and talked about the chemical reaction involved between the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and citric acid. In case you are interested, the equation is below:

NaHCO3 + C6H8O7 → CO2 + H2O + Na3C6H5O7

The reaction between an acid (citric acid) and a base (sodium bicarbonate) yields a salt and water; in this case trisodium citrate and water. In this particular reaction, one of the products is also carbon dioxide which is a gas released and is what produces the fizziness in the bath. 

Here is the bath fizzy formula we used:

1 cup baking soda

1/3 cup citric acid

1.5 ounce kokum butter  (melted)

0.5 ounce rice bran oil (infused with horehound)

6 ml fragrance oil

Melt butter, mix with other ingredients and mold into a muffin tin. Let set for awhile so the butter hardens. 

Another important thing we talked about was how to pronounce ingredients in an attempt to discredit the misnomer that 'if you can't pronounce it then its toxic'. I want girls to be smart enough to expand their vocabulary rather than be intimidated by new words and assume things are toxic just because they've never heard of them. We went over the ingredient list for their bath truffles to make sure they could pronounce everything. 

Sodium bicarbonate, Garcinia indica (Kokum) Butter, Citric Acid, Oryza Sativa (Rice Bran) Oil, Marrubium Vulgare (Horehound) Extract, Fragrance.

I ended up having some time left over, so next year I'll talk more about what a cosmetic chemist does on a day to day basis. I hope I stimulated at least some interest in chemistry. Have you ever taught young students about what you do?

February Tea Party

Did you know that people in Turkey drink more tea than anywhere? I learned that yesterday at the tea party put on my the Rocky Mountain unit of the Herb Society of America. This annual tradition is typically the last weekend of February; when we have the urge to get out and garden but know that its too early. And this year the Rocky Mountain unit is celebrating 20 years as a unit!

scones and more

Candles we took home

 I've been a member of the HSA-RMU most of that time and have thoroughly enjoyed the educational opportunities as well as socializing with people who love gardening and using herbs for all kinds of reasons. Many of the members of HSA-RMU have become friends of mine and it was great to see everyone this weekend.

The tea was held at the Denver Tea Room which I'd never been to but you can read more about here. There were 20 or so of us there and they served the best scones and clotted cream I think I've ever had. We enjoyed a black tea with vanilla and cinnamon as well as a chamomile tea. They gave us a presentation on tea customs around the world which was quite enlightening to learn the difference between high tea and low tea - referring simply to the height of the table!

Springtide Face Cream got a photo shot because it uses green tea as an ingredient.

tea service and Springtide

Warmest February on Record

I thought the snow would never melt but after 2 weeks of warm weather its finally gone - soon to come back though I'm sure. But with the warm weather we spent some time this beautiful February weekend catching up on much need work here on the farm. After cutting down and clearing away dead stalks of lemon balm, we can see underneath that it has started growing already. Some of the lavender has begun to turn green too, which typically doesn't happen until early summer. A few of the other plants such as parsley and horehound are also greening up.

I'd like to start separating some of the perennials too, southernwood especially has gotten overgrown and I've dug out a few roses that never bloom.  

We bought a tractor late last summer and with the ditching attachment I plan to redig some of our irrigation ditches and add some more. Our goal this summer is to keep irrigation water off the lavender. There is  a lot to learn about using a tractor and we are still learning. We will use it for tilling and mowing the pasture once a year too.


Although its nice to get an early start and get some trimming, weeding and cleaning done during this winter month, we need to realize that in Colorado most of our snowfall happens during the month of March. We have to guard our excitement about summer but in the meantime its nice to work hard and then have a glass of wine on the deck to celebrate.

We do have some big plans though for summer.  I hope to have a few farm dinners and farm facials.

It should continue to be warm and we will do another work day on Saturday. We do take volunteers on our farm so if you want to be on our volunteer list, let us know.

Alternatives to Microbeads

Over the past few years tiny beads made from plastic, called microbeads, have found their way as an ingredient in some cosmetic products intended for exfoliating the skin. Exfoliating removes the outer, dead layer of skin.  Why these plastics ever became a staple for some companies has been a mystery to me in a day and age when many of us are so conscious of plastic being a source of pollution in waterways. Thankfully, President Obama recently signed a bill to ban these ingredients in cosmetics, the Microbead-free WatersAct of 2015 HR 1321, after unanimous approval by the U.S. House of Representatives. 

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These plastic beads are not biodegradable and when they go down the drain they end up in aquatic habitats and make up a large part of the pollution in lakes.  Their small size makes it possible for fish to eat them thinking that they are food.

The ban takes effect January 1, 2018 so companies currently using these beads have time to reformulate their products.  Products that use microbeads include body and face scrubs meant for exfoliation. Brands include Clinique, Rite Aid, Kiehl's, Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Aveeno, Estee Lauder, and even Crest Toothpaste.

There are many options in the formulators tool kit, however, for exfoliation and I've always questioned why these plastic microbeads became so popular. They have no real benefits over other materials used for exfoliation.

What are some options for exfoliation?

Salt is one of the best exfoliants for the body and it is easy to find salt scrubs to use on the skin while taking a shower. You can find them in these botanical salt scrubs.  Just rub them on and rinse off for a nice silky feel. Sea salt is rich in other minerals (besides just sodium and chloride) including magnesium which can help with skin hydration. Salt is said to be good at flushing toxins from the skin and is particularly good for acne.  I recently came across this quote that I adore by author Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen);

 " The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea."

Salt can be irritating on broken or sensitive skin. That is why we use sugar as an exfoliant for hands and feet, although salt is perfect there as well.

Sometimes salt can be a little too course for the face so there are other options. Fruit acids also known as alpha hydroxy acids are often incorporated into exfoliants used for the face.  Alpha hydroxy acids include malic acid, lactic acid, and glycolic acid. You can find them in Starbright Brightening Mask. Beta hydroxy acids are also used for exfoliation.

Jojoba beads are small wax beads made from jojoba. They are similar to microbeads in that they are small, round and smooth so good for a mild exfoliation. However, unlike microbeads, they are not plastic and so are completely biodegradable and safe for the environment. They do melt though if they get too hot. You can find them in Meadow Mist Facial Cleanser.

Clay is a good staple for exfoliation and can be found in many forms including kaolin clay, bentonite clay, rhassoul clay, green clay and black clay - all with different properties. Try this herbal clay mask.

These are just a few exfoliants that we tend to use. But there are also a host of others you can choose from that include fruit seeds such as blueberry and strawberry seeds. Ground herbs in general are good exfoliators and we use a lot of that in our soaps. But many people will use ground walnut shell powder and ground bamboos. You can even grind almonds at home to use as a nice, mild facial exfoliator. 

It is important to do a gentle exfoliation both on the face and the body a few times a week, as removing the dead skin cell build up helps your skin care products absorb better so they can do their job.

What exfoliants do you like to use?

Book Review - Woman Powered Farm

Woman Powered Farm
Audrey Levatino
The Countryman Press 2015

When a colleague sent me a link to this book and said she thought of me when she saw it, I had to learn more. I was intrigued knowing that there is a new trend now with women in farming and changing the face of agriculture and food. But I found that this book is much more; it is an actual how to guide for getting things done on the farm.

I was raised in a city and although my Mother always had a garden, I learned to garden from her, this was much different than farming. My father spent some time on a farm as a child and talked of his experiences, but still, that provided me with no practical experience. I basically bought land to farm with my husband with no real knowledge of farming.

I wish I had this book several year ago when we first started on the farm. Although extremely difficult, I find farm work to be quite satisfying. I love the physicality of the work and joke about the money it saves me on a gym membership. I love being close to the earth and the need to be completely aware of the weather. I love having the responsibility of caring for land and animals. I love being able to make a value added product from the herbs I grow on my farm.  (Colorado Aromatics Cultivated Skin Care products).

Women Powered Farm starts by discussing various ways of getting into farming; internships, apprentices, classes etc. In my case it was basically reading all I could and learning from failures. The book also addresses things to look for when buying a farm. We found it was important to look at county zoning and even neighborhood zoning and that even 35 acre plots may have restrictions.

Importantly, author Audrey Levatino talks about health on the farm; stretching to prevent muscle pulls and joint stress, and how to keep your energy and enthusiasm up and making priorities - because work on the farm is never, never finished. As women, we often rely on a man's strength, but she has tips for getting around that.

Other topics covered include;
how to pick out a pair of shoes
how to buy a tractor
what you need to know about burning wood
how to do basic country skills (like put up fencing)
how to use basic hand tools
making compost tea

The book includes a table for germination temperatures for various crops and how much seed is necessary to sow a field. I enjoyed reading the personal stories of women farmers; their struggles and joys.

This book will stay on my shelf as a constant reference source during the year when I need advice about how to do something or for when I need the encouragement and comfort of re-reading another woman's story on her farm. I highly recommend this book to anyone making that transition from gardening to farming.

Read more about our Farm and skin care, we call Farm to Skin.