- Make It Yourself Lavender Heart-Shaped Bath Bombs!
- 20 Things You Never Knew About “Down There”
- 12 Best Foods For Those Suffering From Arthritis Pain
- 12 Personal Hygiene Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes (Mom Never Told You About #4!)
- 15 Medicinal Plants And Herbs From The Cherokee People
- 12 Mind-Blowing Benefits Of Drinking Coconut Water During Pregnancy
- 12 Outstanding Winter Foods That Won’t Fatten You Up Like A Christmas Turkey
Grow Your Own Beauty Product Garden
Photo credit: bigstock.com
In case you haven’t heard, many of the beauty products and personal care products we use daily contain many unhealthy, even toxic ingredients. Although some of these commercially made products state that they are organic, they aren’t really what you think. All a company needs to do is to add one natural item, for example, calendula flowers, to their product, and they can label it as “natural” or “organic” even if the other 99 percent of the product contains petroleum based chemicals.
Although many commercially made beauty or personal care products will boast that they contain botanical extracts such as aloe vera or lavender, the package will rarely tell you where these botanicals came from, how they were processed, or whether or not they were organic. This is important information that many consumers want to know but almost never find. No one wants to use lavender that was sprayed with dangerous pesticides or aloe vera gel that was so highly processed that it no longer contains any of the healthy ingredients you are buying the product for in the first place!
Most of the truly organic and/or natural products contain parts from everyday plants that you can easily grow yourself at home. If you have ever looked at a bottle of organic rose scented glycerin, or rosehip oil and nearly fainted at the price, you will be really happy to know that you can make the exact same thing with plants from your own garden. You don’t need much land, and in fact, many of them can be grown in containers on your patio, if you are cramped for space.
Yep, you can grow your own roses, green tea, chamomile, calendula, and horsetail in your own home. It’s hard to know which the best part about this is: the inexpensive ingredients, knowing that your ingredients are truly organic, or knowing that you made it yourself.
You don’t have to be Farmer John or Susie Farmer to grow most of these, either, as many of these plants grow wild with nothing more than sun and rain and no special care at all. In fact, there are so many plants to choose from that, unless you live on some considerable acreage, your most difficult task will be choosing which plants you should use!
Perhaps it would be best to look at the personal care or beauty products you have in your home right now and find out what plants you would need to replace them. For example, if you have teenage children, you might want some plants that will fight acne. If you have very dry skin, you will want plants that are super nourishing to dry skin. If you aren’t sure which plants are good for these types of purposes, a simple trip to your local drug store or health food store will help you out. Look at products that state they are perfect, for example, for dry skin. Then note what botanical extracts they contain, such as aloe vera, and write them down. This way you will make a list of the plants you will be able to use in your own beauty products.
We couldn’t possibly list every botanical extract and their use here, but we will list some of the most common ones; ones that you generally find listed in those “natural” beauty products.
Continue to Page 2
