THE WILD MIX SUMMER SERIES // JULY - LEAVES
Summer is in full swing, green of all shades, everywhere, soothing, relaxing and balancing.
This months article is all about leaves and how you can utilise and extract their potent properties for all sorts of skin conditions. I wanted to give you a real hands on experience this month, something to make and some ideas of how to use it.
JULY - LEAVES
All about: Leaves are how trees and plants breathe; they also protect a plant from predators with their unique aromatics.
For example:
Eucalyptus – the scent of eucalyptus is there to prevent bugs and animals from eating the tree, and the leaves are the lungs of the tree, hey presto! An extract of eucalyptus will act to boost your immune system, especially your lungs and prevent bugs in the winter.
If we take the view of the essence of a leaf and look at how they can benefit our skin the possibilities are literally endless and the application of natural products to our skin is synergy, harnessing that leaf’s distinct property to treat a specific skin condition.
Natural plant properties have been used as a reference for skin care for centuries, all over the world, cosmetic companies mimic them in a lab simply because its cheaper and followed a trend of blinding people with science to keep the cash tills ringing. One of the core values at ‘ The Wild Mix ‘ is to empower women to take back ‘ the science bit’ and be more informed about what they are putting on their skin, how to choose from natural ingredients for their unique skin needs and to celebrate the pure power of nature. Who’s in?
I’ve chosen a range of leaves that grow in the UK all summer, and a method to extract the raw properties for home spa DIY beauty. Feel free to do your own research and pick from the plants that grow near you or that you’d like to use, (if you cant identify it, don’t pick it.)
Raspberry leaf: Astringent, tonic, used for conjunctivitis, good to close open pores and smooth the skin.
Meadowsweet: Astringent, antisceptic, good for breakouts.
Sage: Antibactrial, toning, good for breakouts.
Blackcurrant: Cooling, ant inflammatory, tonic. High in vitamin C. Good to tone the deeper capillaries, great for breakouts and creating a protective top skin layer.
Lemon balm: Astringent, relaxing, cooling, tonic. Protection from UV damage, stimulates circulation, tightening.
Hydrosol: Hydrosol is the water left over from the steam distillation process used for making an essential oil, I'm going to share a simple method of making a hydrosol at home. Hydrosols can be used as a toner, spritz, room mist or added to customise a clay mask for your unique skin type.
METHOD:
1, After washing your leaves put them in the bottom of a saucepan with water that is not scalding but just off the boil. Leave to infuse overnight.
2, In the morning the process begins, set the saucer, collection bowl, large bowl and ice as in the picture. The steam from your infusion will cool on hitting the top bowl and drip into your collection bowl. Set the cooker to a low heat so that you can leave it for half an hour to an hour.
3, Check your water levels, if the collection bowl is near full pour it into your bottle, if there is still water around your leaves you can set it up for another 20 minutes to half an hour.
4, Then your ready to pour all you collected hydrosol into a bottle and use. Spritz bottles are readily available online and in some chemists.
Don’t forget to post your skin care mixes on instagram with the hashtag #mysummerskinmix and someone will win a wild mix formula, yay!
Becky Stanley is a Mother, founder of The Wild Mix, a skincare educator and freedom lover with a dash of puritan. She grew up on the Somerset levels and has perused many roles; silversmith, stained glass designer, trapeze artist, world traveller and baby massage educator - before finding this one. Becky lives in Bristol with her inspirational daughter. You can visit her shop over at TheWildMix.uk | Facebook | Instagram