Essential Oil Products
It is widely recognised that essential oils can have a positive effect on relaxation and we can all appreciate their benefits during a massage, but there is so much more they can give us. With anxiety being a key problem in society today, we created natural products that could help support our mental health as well as our bodies. Couple this with a desire to mindfully limit the synthetic chemicals in our lives, and essential oils, being a natural plant based product, were the obvious choice to turn to.
Our journey led us to introduce products into our own lives that can make daily actions into therapeutic mindful moments, such as applying a body oil. Using that moment to consciously massage the skin and absorb the scent, not only provides a mini moment of relaxation to your everyday to support the mind, but can also bring in skin healing properties.
Essential oils are made by distilling plant material (flowers, bark or leaves) creating a super strength natural chemical that needs to be blended with a plant based oil (or ‘carrier oil’) for safe topical application. Together they can provide many therapeutic benefits, including; antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, pain relief, help heal wounds, relief from arthritis, improve concentration, and calm the nervous system, to name a few. These can be utilised through inhaled scent or topical absorption on the skin. Inhaled scent stimulates the olfactory nerves in the brain sending signals to the limbic system which controls emotions, behaviour and memories. While topical application allows the body to absorb the oils beneficial properties into the blood stream or to targeted areas delivering anti inflammatory and pain relief effects among other benefits.
Essential oils have been used medicinally for thousands of years from the ancient Egyptian times. It is even thought Neanderthals used plants therapeutically. The practice was widely used around the world until the 19th century when pharmaceuticals took over, which has obviously had some very positive improvements to medicine but resulted in essential oil use taking a downfall. However, research continues to be carried out into the effectiveness of essential oils in supporting health with some encouraging results but further research is needed. If there is even the smallest chance they can help support our systems in a positive way we are totally on board!
Essential oils can get bad press for having low yields and using lots of water in the distilling process. However, the water from distilling is not wasted as this provides a very valuable floral water which also has many therapeutic benefits. It is for this reason we use only distilled oils rather than solvent extracted oils. Although only a small amount of essential oil is made in the distillation process, only a tiny amount is used in an oil blend. So nothing gets wasted. It is our mission to grow our own lavender fields and distil our own English lavender so we can utilise the floral water in some new products in the future.
Carrier Oils
We use cold pressed carrier oils, or expeller pressed oil (using pressure) to blend with our essential oils. This process means the oil retains as much of the plants nutrient value as possible. Within this we use ‘zero waste’ carrier oils, not only are these products made using the waste products of the jam or drinks industry, they are also packed with vitamins and some of the best skin and wellbeing benefits. For example, raspberry seed oil is made using the waste seeds from the jam making industry, this amazing oil has an element of sun protection while also being anti inflammatory and reducing oxidative stress on the skin. Please note we have not tested our products to see how protective they are in the sun, so please make sure you always use suncream, but any extra help to combat UV damage while promoting skin regeneration can only be a good thing in our book.
We appreciate that using oils on our skin and in particular our face, is not for everyone, and for those with oily skin, you have probably been told to avoid any oil based products all together. However, from personal experience, we would disagree. But because oil products can be a step in the unknown for many, we have deliberately chosen a blend of oils that are gentle and nourishing without feeling oily on the skin. The aim was to be able to apply the oil leaving our hands nourished but not sticky.
Body lotions are mostly water. By using body oils after a bath or shower, on damp or even wet skin we can utilise the water from the shower to lock in moisture while nourishing the skin, rather than drying off before applying a heavily water based lotion. Not only is this a super way to reuse water but it means that every drop of oil is fully nourishing and not packed with cheaper fillers. By using an oil only based product, also means we do not need a preservative to prevent bacteria build up, as is required in water based products, allowing our products to remain as simple as possible.
Our scents and oil bases have been designed to help bring calm, provide support for sore, aching muscles and joints, while delivering anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. Whether these are inhaled using an aromatherapy bag or diffuser oil, to help lower stress when anxiety is building, or applied topically, with a body oil daily or roller oil when needing moments of calm, our products aim to provide all round wellness support for the mind and body using natural non toxic products.