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6 tips to the perfect winter skincare routine for dry skin

Winter is often associated with the “most wonderful time of the year”. It gets cool outside and we just might get cosy with heating or even a fire, however, it brings with it some less than wonderful consequences for your skin, especially if you don’t have your winter skincare routine ready. 

The dry air and cold winds, in combination with the use of indoor heating, have the potential to leave your skin stripped of the natural oils that make it healthy and radiant. 

Winter is also notorious for introducing a host of other skin woes including sensitivity, irritation, and its associated redness. 

Bearing all of this in mind, you need to be vigilant so that you can survive the harsh weather conditions and come out on the other side with beautiful, glowing skin intact. 

If this sounds impossible, fear not, here are 6 tips you can use to craft the perfect winter skincare routine for your dry skin.

Not sure if you have dry skin? Take our skin quiz!

1. STAY HYDRATED

The importance of staying hydrated as part of your winter skincare routine cannot be overstressed! So much so that we’ve talked about it here, here, and here as well.

Adequate hydration is needed for the regeneration of skin cells, but in winter, we often forget to drink water as much as we do in warmer months.

Hitting a target of eight (8) to ten (10) cups of water every day will keep your body and skin in optimal condition.

Water is an essential part of your winter skincare routine
What you put in your body is a key component to winter skincare routines.

2. MODIFY YOUR DIET

A direct correlation has been found between gut and skin health. 

A diet that is rich in fats such as avocados, olive oil, and walnuts can help to kick dry skin to the curb where it belongs and help you to wake up with glowing skin as part of your skincare routine this winter. 

Additionally, you should avoid coffee and alcohol because these are diuretics and will cause your body to lose water, which is the exact opposite of what you want to be doing during winter.

3. AVOID RIDICULOUSLY HOT (AND LONG) SHOWERS

Trust me, I understand. After facing the cold winter air, nothing sounds better than luxuriating in a piping hot bath or shower. However, hot water does much more harm than good by causing increased evaporation of the natural hydration and moisture of your skin. 

It is advisable as part of your winter routine that you keep showers to no longer than ten (10) minutes (with lukewarm water) to prevent excessively drying your skin. 

You can make your shower more moisturizing by avoiding soaps and gels that are drying and substituting them with more natural ones that will help to protect and add to the skin’s moisture. 

A product that fits this description well is the Arianrhod Satin Skin Hand & Body Wash with Lemon Myrtle

This is the perfect answer to a hand and body wash for dry skin because of its amazing combination of mild, natural Hemp Castille liquid soap and the aroma and antiseptic properties of Lemon Myrtle

Skip those harsh chemicals and drying detergents and try this body wash that will leave your skin clean, fresh, and most importantly, hydrated! 

If Lemon Myrtle isn’t your scent of choice or you have skin conditions, try our Hemp Body Wash that is specially formulated for those who have sensitive skin or suffer from skin conditions such as eczema and dermatitis that experience terrible flare-ups and skin irritation during winter. 

4. USE A THICKER MOISTURISER AND MOISTURISE MULTIPLE TIMES PER DAY

After you have showered your next step is to use a moisturiser on your damp skin to lock in the hydration. 

A thick hydrating moisturiser is best for dry skin during winter because it will seal the moisturising ingredients into dry skin and it will adhere for a longer time, facilitating more time for healing and repair. 

Body butter naturally has a thicker consistency than most moisturisers and lotions and they are usually chock full of moisturizing and nourishing ingredients like natural oils, that make them well-suited for this purpose. 

The Arianrhod Mango & Coconut Body Butter is perfect for this.  

Rich in saturated fats and antioxidants, our body butter is especially beneficial for dry skin, a common problem during winter, and it is so safe that it is even edible! 

The fats are easily absorbed so that they remain on the body for hours nourishing it, all without leaving any annoying residue. 

This all-natural body butter is formulated with shea butter, blended with essential fatty acids, phytosterols, and vitamins A and D from rice bran oil, cocoa butter and mango butter. It’s a veritable superfood for your skin! 

Not only does it have a fantastic aroma because of the mango butter, but it is rich in oleic acid which has been recognized as being a powerful aid in repairing skin damage and improving the elasticity of the skin. 

Using good quality body butter in the morning and before bed will do wonders for your skin.

For more information on the difference between moisturising lotions and body, check out our article called “Body Lotion or Body Butter – Which one is right for you?”

5. AVOID WASHING YOUR FACE TOO FREQUENTLY

Some recommend washing the face only once: at night. Crazy right? 

This is because most facial cleansers contain harsh ingredients that will dehydrate your skin. 

To prevent this from happening, wash your face less often and choose a gentle cleanser like the Arianrhod Sativa Revive Foaming Face Wash for all skin types

Made with cold-pressed hemp seed oil, kigelia extract, and silk amino acids, this product has been specially formulated to be nutrient-rich, deeply penetrating, non-greasy and to help in moisture retention and the healing of the skin.

Another way to ensure that your face remains adequately hydrated is to add moisture by using a specialised facial moisturiser. 

Ideally, you want your skin to be properly hydrated but not feel greasy. 

Arianrhod Aromatics Sativa Restore could be what you need. 

Not only does it have an exotic scent because of the essential oils present (frankincense, rose, and sandalwood) but it is suitable for most skin types

The base of Australian hemp seed oil and the presence of cold-pressed oils including argan oil, and rosehip oil is also ideal for combatting the effects of adverse weather conditions (winter anyone??).

A woman applying lip balm as part of a winter sknicare routine

6. PROTECT YOUR LIPS

Do not forget your lips! 

The thin skin of your lips is especially susceptible to damage from the harsh winter elements. 

Keep them hydrated and protected, soft and smooth by wearing the Arianrhod Manuka Lip Balm that is packed with skin-loving ingredients (including jojoba, calendula, and Manuka). 

If you prefer a vegan option, the Arianrhod Aromatics Vegan Hemp Lip Balm is an excellent option to protect and hydrate your lips this winter.

Apply it in the morning and reapply it throughout the day as part of your winter skincare routine.

Putting together the perfect winter skincare routine for dry skin

Combine these tips together into the perfect winter skincare routine for your dry skin. 

Think about your day and how you can incorporate these tips without making life harder.

There is no need for your winter skincare routine to be a burden.

These simple tips can have you leaving winter like it was a beautiful, sunny day in the park. 

Don’t let winter strip your skin of its glory. 

Take the necessary steps to remain hydrated and moisturised and you will see that winter really can be the “most wonderful time of the year” for your skin too.

References

1. Bakkila, B, Franzino A. (2020, January 15). 11 Soothing Remedies for Dry Skin in the Winter. Good Housekeeping. 

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/beauty/anti-aging/tips/a23739/winter-dry-skin-remedies/

2. Hong, H. (2020, November 2). Winter Is Coming—Here’s How to Transition Your Skincare Routine. Real Simple.

https://www.realsimple.com/beauty-fashion/skincare/winter-skincare

3. Rennert, J. (2019, December 3). The Definitive Guide to Preventing Dry Skin—From a Top Dermatologist. Vogue.

https://www.vogue.com/article/how-to-get-rid-of-dry-skin-winter-eye-cream-face-serum-mask-scrub

 

How to wake up with glowing skin every morning

We all want to wake up and feel our best and a big part of feeling our best is looking our best. We all want skin that is so radiant that it dispels our Monday morning blues or carries us over the Wednesday hump. So, how can you achieve skin so beautiful and glowing that it makes your heart sing and sets a positive tone for the rest of your day? Below are a few helpful tips:

GET ENOUGH SLEEP

Beauty sleep is real, people! Getting a good night’s sleep is the best weapon in the anti-aging arsenal that there is. Studies have shown that our circadian rhythms can affect skin repair and function and inadequate sleep can cause your skin to become dull, cause the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, cause your eyes to appear puffy, and cause dark circles under your eyes. Research has indicated that mitosis (the process that enables cell division and repair) occurs roughly between 11 p.m. and midnight, irrespective of whether you are asleep or not. However, sleeping during the peak of mitosis will bestow more benefits on your skin.

Though it is not always possible to get the recommended eight (8) hours of uninterrupted sleep, getting as close to that as possible should be your aim. Some helpful tips include having a set bedtime every night and turning off your phone (crazy, right?) or at the least putting it on silent.

sleep
sleep_right_way

SLEEP THE RIGHT WAY

Okay, so I know this sounds weird, but hear me out your sleeping habits can affect the way you look. We’ve previously written about getting better sleep naturally, but there is more you can do to help yourself wake up with glowing skin. For instance, it is recommended that you avoid sleeping on your side. Sleeping this way can cause your skin to be creased and tugged throughout the night and this can cause wrinkles. Instead, it is recommended that you sleep on your back with extra pillows to support your head. Elevating your head prevents the pooling of fluid that can cause swollen eyes and a puffy face. 

Now if you want to go the extra mile, it is also recommended that you sleep on a silk pillowcase (fancy, right?). The thinking behind this is that cotton pillowcases will pull moisture and sebum (oil) out of your skin, effectively drying it out overnight. Some dermatologists also believe that silk provides a smoother surface for your skin to rub against and this helps to prevent wrinkles.

KEEP HYDRATED

We have long been told of all the wonders that drinking water can do for your skin. Not only does drinking water keep your skin hydrated (and ward off wrinkles) but taking a sip of water before bedtime can rid the body of toxins while you sleep. This may mean placing a bottle of water by your bedside table so that you can sip water before going to bed and when you wake up. A few drops of a probiotic (containing beneficial bacteria) in the water can give your skin added nutrients that it needs to glow.

Additionally, serums can give your skin an extra glowing boost since most of them are filled with moisturizing ingredients that will add hydration. Serums are usually lightweight (so that they can be easily absorbed by the skin) and are applied before moisturizers. One product that you could try is the Arianrhod Aromatics Antioxidant Facial Serum. Antioxidants have been proven to fight oxygen radicals that damage skin cells and lead to aging, so what could be better than working this into your daily routine to not only add hydration but to fight premature aging as well. This serum formulation contains Kukui nut oil, which is excellent for dry and aging skin, as well as frankincense which has an exotic aroma and healing properties. The oil can be used to massage the face before bed or during the day. However, using it before bed will take advantage of the skin’s natural recovery mechanism to reverse damage sustained throughout the day (UV exposure, pollutants) by infusing the skin with the hydrating ingredients, leaving your skin looking refreshed and your complexion glowing the next day. This product is also vegan, so not only are you saving your skin, but you are being environmentally conscious while doing so. Talk about a win-win!

hydrated
wash face

CLEANSE AND MOISTURISE YOUR SKIN

Washing your face after a long day out and about will remove dirt and pollutants that it has been exposed to all day. Skin cells regenerate at night and the dead ones are removed with this process working best on clean skin. Using a mild face wash can greatly enhance what you see in the mirror the next day. One such product is the Arianrhod Aromatics Sativa Revive Foaming Face Wash for all skin types. This product uses cold-pressed Australian hemp seed oil for a nutrient-rich, deeply penetrating oil that leaves skin looking vibrant. Kigelia extract and silk amino acids help the skin to retain moisture and assist the daily rejuvenation and healing process of the skin. Following up with the companion Sativa Restore Facial Moisturiser with its similar formulation will help retain moisture and restore your skin.

EAT THE RIGHT THINGS

Healthier food choices will help your skin to have a noticeable radiance. Fats that are good for the body such as those found in avocado and sweet potato are also good for the skin, while sunflower seeds, which are chock full of vitamin E, can give skin a youthful, glowing appearance.

food
exercise

EXCERCISE

Though this is not a step to be done at night, working up an early morning sweat will boost your glow. Aerobic exercise can help the body to get rid of toxins, gets your blood pumping and oxygen flowing. During exercise, your skin will also start producing natural oils that will keep your skin looking healthy and moisturized.

By following these simple steps and investing in your self-care routine at the end of the day (and early morning in the case of exercise) you will wake up well-rested and with the healthy, glowing skin that you have always wanted.

REFERENCES

1. Mitrokostas, S. (2018, July 18). 11 things you can do before bed to wake up with glowing skin. INSIDER.
https://www.insider.com/clear-your-skin-while-you-sleep-2018-7
2. Mourato, B. (2019, May 5). This Evening Routine Will Help You Wake Up With Glowy Skin. CAREER GIRL DAILY LONDON.
https://www.careergirldaily.com/this-evening-routine-will-help-you-wake-up-with-glowy-skin/
3. URBANCLAPBEAUTY. (2017, September 4). 11 Ways To Wake Up to A Ultra Bright Morning Face. The Urban Guide.
https://www.urbancompany.com/blog/beauty/ways-to-wake-up-to-a-bright-morning-and-a-brighter-face/
4. PLUM. (n.d.). 4 easy early morning habits of people with glowing skin.
https://plumgoodness.com/blogs/tips-tricks-easy-hacks-more/4-early-morning-habits-of-people-with-glowing-skin
5. Robinson, R. (2021, July 25). SLEEP ON IT: 5 BEST TIPS ON HOW TO WAKE UP WITH GLOWING, RADIANT SKIN EVERY MORNING. BeautyStat Cosmetics.
https://www.beautystat.com/skincare/sleep-on-it-5-best-tips-on-how-to-wake-up-with-glowing-radiant-skin-every-morning/
6. OGEE LUXURY ORGANICS. (n.d.). How to Wake Up With the Most Radiant Skin of Your Life.
https://ogee.com/blogs/the-daily-good/how-to-wake-up-with-the-most-radiant-skin-of-your-life

How safe are your After-Sun skincare products?

Here in Australia we’ve been having a pretty merry time out at the beach, especially on the weekends. I know I’ve been out most afternoons lately as the days are so long in summer and the weather has been brilliant for it. However, with the sun, comes sun-kissed skin if we aren’t very careful. Of course, we should do our best to protect our skin when we are in the sun, but sometimes sunburn still happens and then to get some relief, we put on an after-sun lotion or gel. My favourite was always an aloe vera gel.

For a long time, I just assumed that aloe vera gels were made from aloe vera, something natural that I am very familiar with and have even grown myself for a while. The thing is, that’s a pretty easy assumption to make. Many after-sun skincare products, designed to soothe sun-burned skin, are marketed as natural and usually make prominent displays of aloe vera which, of course, is natural. So you would expect it should be natural, right? Have a look at the ingredients list next time you see it, either on the shelf at home or out at the shops. Just how natural are after-sun gels and creams really?

I’ve picked three different after-sun products available from major Australian supermarket chains across different categories to have a look at. I checked the gel, lotion, and spray that had the best ingredients from a variety of brands and here is what I found.

Aloe Vera After Sun Lotion

This particular one was the cheapest after sun product I found at the supermarket, however, it also had the fewest questionable ingredients. All other after sun lotions that I checked had a longer ingredient list, chock full of things, including the second-most expensive after-sun product on the shelf which is a lotion that contains a whopping 37 ingredients, more than anything else I looked at by more than double!

Ingredients
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Aqua, Polysorbate 20, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Alcohol, Alcohol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Sodium Hydroxide, Parfum, Tocopheryl Acetate, Panthenol, CI 19140, CI 42090.

This ingredients list starts out well with Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice and Aqua right at the top. These are two natural ingredients that should make up the majority of the product. From there though, it goes downhill. Before I go too far, I should probably note that even natural ingredients can have their downside. If this Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice contains non-decolorised whole leaf aloe vera, then it has been linked with cancer. If it is the decolorised version then it is safe. We don’t know from this ingredient list but it’s probably fair to assume it would be the decolorised version making it perfectly safe. Even so, men, maybe don’t drink it if you are planning on having children (if you are ever tempted to take a swig of your after-sun lotion or gel). The Cosmetic Ingredient Review found Aloe Barbadensis to cause sperm damage in rats and mice when ingested.

Polysorbate 20 and Carbomer are not natural, but they aren’t too bad either. That isn’t where it stops though. Phenoxyethanol, used as both a preservative and fragrance ingredient has been linked to contact uritica (hives) and dermatitis. It gets worse as we progress. Another form of alcohol, Benzyl Alcohol carries a hazardous chemical warning as a severe eye irritant and is harmful if swallowed or inhaled. 

Next up is an unidentified alcohol followed by Diazolidinyl Urea, a formaldehyde releaser that acts as a preservative. Now, Diazolidinyl Urea is typically used in very small quantities and on its own is not that great, studies have found it to be an allergen and toxic to humans. The bigger concern, though, is what happens the longer that this product is unused. Diazolidinyl Urea slowly releases formaldehyde in a process called off-gassing in order to kill off microbes. You might recognise formaldehyde as a known carcinogen that carries an awful lot of warning labels including: fatal if inhaled, toxic if swallowed, toxic in contact with skin, causes severe skin burn and eye damage, may cause allergic skin reactions, may cause cancer by inhalation, and toxic to aquatic life. Even in small quantities, is that worth the risk? Thanks, but no thanks.

Moving on from that health scare…

Sodium Hydroxide is interesting. It’s considered safe in low quantities, but, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review report released in December 2015 found that Sodium Hydroxide causes eye irritation, skin water loss (that’s kind of bad when you are already burned, right?), and skin irritation. In fact, Sodium Hydroxide was noted in the report to be used as a positive control, in other words, it is used to cause skin irritation in order to test skin creams. So, while safe, could it actually be exacerbating your sunburn, encouraging you to use more of the product?

Parfum is next. Also known as fragrance. Like the unidentified alcohol earlier in the ingredients list, this doesn’t actually break down what the fragrance comes from, which is a worry. The Environmental Working Group gives parfum/fragrance an 8/10 where 10 is the most toxic of ingredients. Why? It’s not fully labelled so that is part of it, but studies have shown that “parfum” causes allergic reactions in adults and children, causes contact dermatitis and exacerbates asthma. Hmmm…

Almost to the end of the list! Tocopheryl Acetate is not rated particularly badly in the Environmental Working Group database and the Cosmetic Ingredient Review found that Tocopheryl Acetate can help prevent contact dermatitis and may have some photoprotective effects. It sounds a little bit like it is added to help overcome the effects of sodium hydroxide and parfum! However, while some photoprotective effects were reported by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review, at least one study has found that Tocopheryl Acetate can “enhance” photocarcinogenesis (or cancer caused by light) in animals. So, this isn’t sounding great and there are still three more ingredients.

Panthenol. Ah, a breath of fresh air, so to speak. Panthenol is both naturally occurring and synthetically made vitamin B5. The ingredients list doesn’t specifically state which one it is, however, natural Panthenol should be labelled as D-Panthenol so it is most likely synthetic. Vitamin B5 serves as a skin conditioner and both the natural and synthetic versions are considered to be quite safe. But, what about those two numbered ingredients at the end of the list? 

CI 19140 is a synthetic yellow colour and CI 42090 is a synthetic blue colour, combined to give the lotion a green colour. Both are considered safe in low concentrations, however, they have both been found to contribute to or cause skin allergies even at low dosages with more severe effects in higher concentrations. Yellow is linked to liver effects and hyperactivity in children, and both yellow and blue are connected to neurobehavioural effects and potential neurotoxicity. It’s unlikely that you’ll find such high concentrations in a consumer product, however, the risk is increased when CI 42090 (blue) is used on damaged skin, around the mouth, on the lips, or around the eyes, as these all increase the risk of absorption. Now, if you are using an after-sun cream on sun-burned skin, chances are your skin is damaged. Chances are also pretty high you are using it around your mouth, lips and eyes. I don’t know about you, but I usually just lather it all over my face!

Now, every after-sun lotion, gel or spray that I looked at in the supermarket has an ingredient list like this. Some are even longer. Only one product (the after sun gel below) had a shorter ingredient list, but it was still made up of many of these potentially harmful ingredients.

Aloe Vera After Sun Gel

Aloe Vera after sun gels seem to be the best choice if you are picking something up off a supermarket shelf. This particular product had the best ingredient list of any after sun gels I could find at the supermarket, however, this one lists “Aloe vera gel” as the first ingredient. As aloe vera gel is typically made up of other things, this suggests there might be something to hide.

Ingredients
Aloe Vera Gel, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, DMDM Hydantoin, Diazolidinyl Urea, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tocopheryl Acetate.

Let’s dive into these ingredients. Other gels listed their first three ingredients as “Water, Alcohol, Aloe Barbadensis leaf juice”. None of them identify what the alcohol is, but it is probably safe to assume that since the product here doesn’t show an ingredient breakdown, it could contain something nasty OR the manufacturer wanted aloe vera to appear as though it is the largest ingredient, which does not appear to be the case in any other gel and so is most likely not the case in this one either. To be completely fair, I have come across products claiming to be 100% natural, organic, alcohol-free that list aloe vera gel as a standalone ingredient. So, the skeptic in me says it is questionable (same with the claims of the natural product), but we will give them the benefit of the doubt here.

So, moving onto the ingredients that are identified!

Triethanolamine is an artificial fragrance and an emulsifier. It is also used as a masking agent (to cover up or counter the effects of another substance. It has a rating of 5/10 on the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep database, in part because there are a lot of gaps in the research on this ingredient. Based on the currently available data, it is generally considered safe for use on the skin in low dosage (diluted to 5% of it’s normal strength), there is, however, some evidence that it can cause skin irritation, particularly with repeated use or dosages where the dilution ratio sees it at higher than 5%. In this kind of product it should be less than 5% anyway, but also being the second ingredient raises my eyebrows.

Carbomer is a synthetic ingredient we spoke about earlier, but what is DMDM Hydantoin? It’s a formaldehyde releaser. We’ve already talked about what this is and why you really don’t want to be using a product that produces formaldehyde, so I won’t go into it now, however, it is, in and of itself somewhat less of an allergen then the formaldehyde releaser in the after sun lotion we looked at first. Except…the very next ingredient is the same formaldehyde releaser we looked at earlier, Diazolidinyl Urea.

This begs the question, why do we need two formaldehyde releasers? Did we reach the maximum recommended limits for one and it wasn’t enough? Is the manufacturer getting around that by adding a second one? We’ll probably never know, but it is a big cause for concern, especially since the second last ingredient in the list is Tetrasodium EDTA. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review found that Tetrasodium EDTA is cytotoxic and slightly genotoxic, but is safe for use in cosmetics in small amounts…UNLESS there are ingredients in the formulation that are dangerous if absorbed through the skin because Tetrasodium EDTA increases the penetration of other ingredients into your skin. This is good for getting those helpful ingredients into your sunburned skin, however, your damaged skin is already more susceptible to absorption of toxins. Tetrasodium EDTA is magnifying the risk of absorbing the nasties.

Which brings us to the last ingredient, Tocopheryl Acetate, which you may recall as enhancing photocarcinogenesis. At least there are no synthetic colours in this one, right?

You are most likely to find salicylates in products that are marketed as anti-dandruff, anti-acne or exfoliating. This is because salicylates help to lift and remove the outer layer of dead skin. You will also want to look for any fruit extracts and essential oils. The percentage of salicylates in fruit extracts and essential oils is much higher than in the whole food form, so they are more likely to contribute to sensitivity than simply eating the food.

Think of it like fruit juice. It is easy to drink 1 litre of orange juice. It’s a lot harder to eat the number of oranges required to get 1 litre of juice. In having the juice, you are having higher quantities of things like sugar (and salicylates) than you might have had were you to have eaten the whole fruit. Essential oils and fruit extracts are the same.

Continuing with the above metaphor, if you are on a salicylate-free diet, a piece of fruit alone might not trigger a reaction, but a small amount of juice could since it is more concentrated. Essential oils and fruit extracts are concentrated even further.

Aloe Vera After Sun Spray

Ingredients
Water, Butylene Glycol, Aloe Barbadensis leaf juice, Phenoxyethanol, Triethanolamine, Lauryl Glycol Ether PPG-1-PEG-9, PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Polysorbate 80, Glycereth 7, Fragrance, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Sodium PCA, Musa Sapientum Banana Leaf Extract, Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract

This ingredient list isn’t looking promising. At least I can see some fruit extracts in here.

First up is Water followed by Butylene Glycol. This is an alcohol derived from petroleum that is used as a fragrance and skin conditioner. Refreshingly, it is considered safe. We are already familiar with Aloe Barbadensis leaf juice, so let’s look at Phenoxyethanol.

Phenoxyethanol is considered safe for external use, but should not be used around the lips or eyes and the European Chemicals Agency warns it is harmful if swallowed and causes serious eye irritation. So maybe keep this spray away from your sun burned face!

Triethanolamine we’ve covered already and it’s not great. What about Lauryl Glycol Ether PPG-1-PEG-9? The National Library of Medicine warns that Lauryl Glycol Ether is a skin and eye irritant that is toxic to aquatic life. Hmm.

PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate? A synthetic polymer that enhances skin absorption. On it’s own, this ingredient has generally been found to be safe, as has Polysorbate 80, a denaturant, surfactant and fragrance.

Glycereth 7 is a synthetic skin conditioner that is considered safe as well, but then we have that unidentified “Fragrance” which is typically made from lots of things that aren’t good, 

Then we head into parabens. Parabens are artificial preservatives that bioaccumulate in the human body and other animals over time and have been linked to decreased fertility, preterm birth, decreased birth weight, endocrine disruption, cancer (including breast cancer), skin irritation, coral death and more. This spray contains two parabens, Propylparaben (one of the worst offenders in the paraben family) and Methylparaben.

Sodium PCA is a hair and skin conditioner derived from proline, a naturally occurring amino acid. It is considered a safe ingredient.

Then we have two totally natural ingredients right at the end that are safe. Musa Sapientum Banana Leaf Extract, or plantain leaf extract and Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Extract.

So in some ways, this spray is the best of the supermarket options since it doesn’t have a formaldehyde releaser in it and with the exception of the parabens, most of the other ingredients are not “too” bad, not great, but not terrible. There are a couple of extra natural ingredients in this one, which is nice to see. However, the presence of parabens is a serious red flag and confirms that none of the supermarket after-sun options are truly safe for use. Remember, the three that I’ve looked at were the three BEST after sun products I could find on the supermarket shelves in each category.

What should you be looking for in an after sun lotion, cream or gel?

Your skin is a living breathing organ and is very sensitive to its surroundings so you want to be looking for natural ingredients, or at the very least, for a product that does not contain chemicals that are known to be harmful to the human body. In after sun products, the biggest ones to avoid are formaldehyde releasers and parabens, but as we saw from these ingredient lists, there are other things going into these products that are not good for your skin, extremely irritating to the eyes, and are also dangerous to aquatic life.

While after sun gel is not sunscreen and we are less likely to put it on directly before swimming, I’m sure I’m not the only one that has in the past put on some aloe vera lotion to soothe a previous sunburn before later hopping in the water without washing it off first. Parabens have been linked directly to coral bleaching, so why take the risk, both with our own body but also with our precious reefs?

Another thing to look out for is unidentified ingredients such as alcohol, parfum or fragrance. These are usually hiding something nasty.

Instead, look for ingredients that are predominantly plant-derived. These ingredients usually cause no irritation except in the most sensitive of skin, and will usually have no known side effects or toxins to the human body. When in doubt, look up the ingredients in the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep® database and look for ones that are rated 3/10 or lower for safety concerns. This database is one of the most comprehensive and unbiased sources of ingredient information that is easily digestible. For more detail, you can also look up ingredients on the Cosmetic Ingredient Review database that goes into in depth analysis of the scientific data available and provides research reports on cosmetic ingredients.

We recommend our Sativa Nourish After Sun Body Lotion as a low-irritant, safe, natural alternative to supermarket after sun products that are full of nasties. Let’s have a look at the ingredients for comparison.

Sativa Nourish After Sun Body Lotion

Sativa Nourish After Sun Body Lotion

Sativa Nourish is based around the soothing properties of aloe vera and cucumber blended with natural ingredients that protect the skin from further moisture loss and help to break down the build up of melanin to help counteract the damage done by the sun’s rays.

Ingredients

Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis), Hemp (Cannabis Sativa) Seed Oil, Cupuaçu (Theobroma Grandiflorum) Butter, Meadowfoam (Limnanthes Alba) Oil, Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus) Oil, Cetearyl Olivate & Sorbitan Olivate, Grapefruit (Citrus Paradise) Seed Extract, Colloidal Silver, Kigelia (Kigelia Africana) Extract, Hydrolysed Silk, Lavender (Lavendula Angustifolia), Patchouli (Pogostemon Cablin). Here’s what one of our customers has said about Sativa Nourish After Sun Body Lotion:

“So cooling and refreshing after a bit much sun – wonderful product. Draws the heat out and calms the redness very quickly.” – Melissa E.

Aloe Vera, we already know is a natural ingredient that is one of the most well-known for sun-burn soothing properties, but that is the only ingredient in Sativa Nourish After Sun Body Lotion that overlaps with the supermarket product range. So, what about the rest?

Hemp (Cannabis Sativa) Seed Oil is extracted from the seeds of the Cannabis Sativa plant and works on the skin as a conditioner. Our hemp seed oil comes from only Australian-grown hemp plants. 

Cupuaçu (Theobroma Grandiflorum) Butter comes from the cupuaçu tree and is related to the cacao tree. This butter is completely safe for human consumption and is great for sensitive skin as it is full of fatty acids like omega 9 oleic acid that helps condition the skin and hair, and laboratory tests have shown that it does not cause dermal irritation. EWG gives it the lowest risk score of 1/0.

Meadowfoam (Limnanthes Alba) Oil comes from the seeds of the meadowfoam plant and acts as a skin-conditioner containing many fatty acids that help to lock moisture into the skin. Studies have found that Meadowfoam Oil is non-irritating and very safe to use on your skin. EWG gives it the lowest risk score of 1/10.

Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus) Oil comes from the seeds of cool, refreshing cucumbers and is also a non-irritating skin-conditioner. Cucumber Oil has a fresh scent, light consistency and absorbs into the skin easily delivering the phytosterols, also known as plant sterols, it is carrying in large quantities. Plant sterols are perhaps most well known for their cholesterol-reducing properties when ingested, however, phytosterols also have the ability to stimulate skin cell regeneration, which is exactly what you want when you have sunburned skin. Phytosterols help the skin to strengthen its lipid barrier, restore moisture balance, improve skin elasticity and smooth the surface of the skin. Mighty for your skin is the lowly cucumber. EWG gives Cucumber Oil the lowest risk score of 1/10.

On a side-note, while studies have not been conducted directly on cucumber oil and absorption through the skin, when ingested, phytosterols have been found to induce cell-death in cancer cells and attenuate (or lessen) their spread, including melanoma. So applying a phytosterol-rich cream to sunburned skin just might not be a bad idea.

Cetearyl Olivate & Sorbitan Olivate is a natural PEG-free olive oil-based blend that serves as an emulsifier. Being derived from olive oil, it also has a high moisturising effect, is hypoallergenic, reduces skin-water loss and bio-mimics the skin making it the ideal emulsifier for use in a product aimed at soothing sunburned skin. Cetearyl Olivate & Sorbitan Olivate both score 1/10 on the EWG database.

Grapefruit (Citrus Paradise) Seed Extract comes from that big, tart, red-fleshed citrus, the grapefruit. Now, grapefruit seed extract is one that we do need to be a little more careful with. While it is 100% natural, it can cause irritation to skin, eyes and lungs if it isn’t correctly prepared. However, grapefruit seed extract serves as a natural anti-microbial, antibiotic, disinfectant, antiseptic, antibacterial ingredient that also has some antioxidant properties. It serves as a natural preservative that also helps to kill off any bacteria trying to force its way through your sun-damaged skin. Rich in both Vitamin C and Vitamin A, grapefruit seed extract provides extra nourishment and protection for your skin. EWG gives it a 1-4/10 risk rating depending on how it is formulated – ours is prepared to be non-sensitising and non-irritating as defined by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review.

Colloidal Silver is microscopic particles of naturally occurring silver suspended in liquid. It acts as an anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal that disables the oxygen-metabolism enzumer in single-celled pathogens. Colloidal silver gets a 4-5/10 risk rating by EWG as the microscopic particles can easily absorb into the skin and there is not a lot of research around possible bioaccumulation. Some governments (eg Canada) have speculated that it may be bioaccumulative, others from the same government have indicated that it isn’t believed to be.

Kigelia (Kigelia Africana) Extract is one of natures wonder ingredients. More well-known as the sausage tree, it has long been used in traditional African medicines with recent scientific studies suggesting that Kigelia has impressive healing and conditioning effects on the skin with no known side-effects. This fruit extract has been scientifically proven to be anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and even anti-cancer with researchers from Northern Ireland finding that it is able to halt the spread of human melanoma cells. These properties are all key to helping your sunburned skin recover. EGW gives Kigelia Extract a 1/10 risk rating, the safest rating.

Hydrolysed Silk is derived silk produced by none other than the silk worm. When applied to the skin, silk gives it a soft, velvet feel and helps your skin to retain moisture. EWG gives it a 1/0 risk rating.

Lavender (Lavendula Angustifolia) is probably best known for its purple flowers and recognisable, strong fragrance, but it also serves as an anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory that is able to penetrate your pores. This anti-inflammatory property helps to reduce redness and soreness from sunburn. Lavender has been rated 2/10 on the EWG risk scale as it can cause irritation in the most sensitive skin and some studies have found it to promote the production of estrogen in children after repeated exposure.

Patchouli (Pogostemon Cablin) is an aromatic shrub that has a very strong scent, and that’s a big part of the role it plays in our Sativa Nourish After Sun Lotion, but it does have a second purpose. There is very little scientific study into the benefits of patchouli, but traditional uses suggest it could be a tissue regenerator that promotes the regrowth of skin cells. While this hasn’t been confirmed, this luxurious fragrance has a 1/10 risk rating according to EWG, so it’s one of the best choices for fragrance on sunburned skin.

When it comes down to safety and effectiveness, there is nothing better than natural ingredients!

Summing it all up

At Arianrhod Aromatics, we select ingredients for our after-sun body lotion (and all our products) that are not synthetic (made in a laboratory), and that have the lowest risk possible to both you, your family, and the environment. We aim to process each ingredient, by hand, as minimally as possible to help keep the ingredients as close as possible to their original form and full of their original goodness. With this in mind, when you read product labels, look for ingredients that have names that you recognise from a natural product. Most of the time, this is a great place to start and an easy rule of thumb to follow. If in doubt, do a search on the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep database for the ingredient to find out more about it. 

Lastly, keep in mind that expensive doesn’t equal better. In fact, the most expensive product at the supermarket was the worst, so always read the ingredients. That said, natural products will typically be more expensive than supermarket products that use large amounts of synthetic ingredients. Can you put a price on the health of yourself, your family and the environment? We can’t. That’s why our environment policy is in place. Every ingredient is scrutinised against this policy to ensure that they truly are the best for both you and the environment.

 

References

 

What are salicylates and how can they impact you?

What are salicylates and and how can they affect you Header

Do you experience unexplained skin reactions after eating certain foods or using cosmetics with ingredients derived from certain plants? If you don’t have any allergies, then salicylates could be the guilty party. This chemical compound occurs naturally in many plants that we eat every day, like strawberries, broccoli, spinach, ginger, honey, and many more. Besides naturally occurring in our food, salicylates are also synthetically manufactured and both the natural and synthetic versions are widely used in medications, skincare products, food, hair care, perfume, and other products. Salicylates are typically used because of the properties that make them a preservative, bactericidal (kills bacteria), and antiseptic.

Most of us have no problem with salicylates. Our bodies can handle the quantities that are in our food perfectly fine. The added salicylates coming through medications and cosmetics are also processed and broken down safely for most of us. However, large doses can cause problems for anyone.

What is salicylate sensitivity?

Some people have a salicylate sensitivity (sometimes referred to as salicylate intolerance) where the body is unable to properly metabolise and excrete salicylates and even a small quantity can be a problem. Salicylate sensitivity is an adverse reaction to the presence of salicylates that manifests in allergy-like symptoms. It’s not known what percentage of people have salicylate sensitivity, but studies have found that rates are more frequent in people who suffer from asthma, food allergies and inflammatory bowel disease (reference). Salicylate sensitivity can also be developed through over-exposure to high quantities of salicylates for long periods of time.

Salicylate sensitivity can be tough to identify since it manifests like a food allergy with responses that can include stomach pain, diarrhoea, swelling, itchy skin, hives, rashes, skin discolouration, breathing difficulty, fatigue, itchy eyes, and more (reference). There are currently no tests for salicylate sensitivity either, so one way of identifying the sensitivity is to rule out other allergies. If you think you might have a salicylate sensitivity it is best to see your doctor.

Woman looking at camera
Jar of cream

Salicylates in skincare

Salicylates naturally occur in most, if not all essential oils, and so even skincare products that are 100% organic, made solely from natural ingredients can trigger adverse reactions for people with salicylate sensitivities if they use ingredients that naturally contain salicylates. Totally avoiding salicylates can be nearly impossible, but as a guide, if you have salicylate sensitivity or have reactions to your skincare products look for ingredients marked as salicylic acid (often labelled as beta hydroxy acid or BHA), methyl salicylate, sodium salicylate and calcium salicylate. 

You are most likely to find salicylates in products that are marketed as anti-dandruff, anti-acne or exfoliating. This is because salicylates help to lift and remove the outer layer of dead skin. You will also want to look for any fruit extracts and essential oils. The percentage of salicylates in fruit extracts and essential oils is much higher than in the whole food form, so they are more likely to contribute to sensitivity than simply eating the food. 

Think of it like fruit juice. It is easy to drink 1 litre of orange juice. It’s a lot harder to eat the number of oranges required to get 1 litre of juice. In having the juice, you are having higher quantities of things like sugar (and salicylates) than you might have had were you to have eaten the whole fruit. Essential oils and fruit extracts are the same.

Continuing with the above metaphor, if you are on a salicylate-free diet, a piece of fruit alone might not trigger a reaction, but a small amount of juice could since it is more concentrated. Essential oils and fruit extracts are concentrated even further.

Salicylate-free ingredients in skincare

Generally, oils from seeds and butters do not contain salicylates or are extremely low in salicylates. Waxes are also usually free from salicylates. Look for ingredients like:

Hemp oil in a glass jar and hemp seeds

Moisturisers for salicylate sensitive skin

Moisturisation makes a huge difference when you have dry, flaky, itchy, scaly skin that comes with an intolerance to salicylates. Being able to lock that moisture in reduces the itchiness and risk of skin breakage that can make salicylate sensitivity even less tolerable.

Zero Tolerance Cream All Over Moisturiser

At Arianrhod Aromatics, Iamme specifically developed the Zero Tolerance Cream for people who have extremely sensitive skin and who cannot tolerate salicylates or essential oils.

Zero Tolerance Cream is a 100% natural primary moisturiser intended to provide hydration all over the body without any fragrances or other ingredients that may cause irritation. The base ingredients of Zero Tolerance Cream are cocoa butter, cupuaçu butter and rice bran oil, all of which are salicylate-free and will help soothe your irritated skin. Combined with a touch of silk amino acids to lock in the moisture and Zero Tolerance Cream will keep your skin hydrated and itch-free.

Here’s what one of our customers has said about Zero Tolerance Cream:

“Always a winner. I have been buying this for years & now buy for my daughter & sister who love it too.”

Hemp Cream All Over Moisturiser

A second choice from the Arianrhod Aromatics range is Hemp Cream. As the name suggests, Hemp Cream is based on hemp flower oil combined with rice bran oil and silk amino acids to provide a nutrient-rich moisturiser for use all over your body that is both salicylate-free and histamine-free.

Arianrhod Aromatics Hemp Cream was developed to be an alternative to Zero Tolerance Cream for customers who are looking for the benefits of a completely natural hemp-based moisturiser. Hemp has been used throughout the ages in skincare routines as it is an excellent skin rejuvenator with healing properties that are second to none.

If your skin is already suffering from severe salicylate sensitivity dryness and irritation, Hemp Cream is the best choice to help your skin heal. Our customers rave about how effective our Hemp Cream is, here’s what Tanya told us:

“Quality product! Easily absorbed into the skin. Very soothing, so incredibly healing. I have been struggling with redness & scarring on my face & neck for many years. Noticeable difference within one month, I couldn’t be happier. Thank you Arianrhod Aromatics.”

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How to start your own skincare business

Making skincare

Do you want to make some money on the side? Have you got an idea for an awesome new deodorant scent that compliments something else you sell? Or do you have an idea of how your business could leverage skincare as a unique value-add for your customers? If so, how do you start your own skincare business? Where do you even begin?

The idea of researching and investing in the equipment to manufacture your own line of skincare products seems like way too much effort and cost for a side hustle, but, it is possible to get started without all that time and investment.

You don’t need to know how to manufacture in order to make and sell a good product that people will love. There are a couple of options available to help you sell without having to know a thing.

But before you get started on selling, you need to make some decisions to help set yourself up for success!

Choose your niche and products

Now comes the fun part! Picking what niche you want to operate in, and subsequently what products you want to sell. Maybe you have already found the products, but you still need to know who is going to buy them (your niche).

Picking your niche

Picking a niche is a lot of fun, but it can be a challenge at the same time. If you aren’t sure where to start, I would suggest that if you’ve come up with a product that meets a need for you, you could look at yourself as the buyer.

Most of the time, we identify potential opportunities based on problems, or gaps in the market, that we have found in our own lives. So, that’s a great place to start.

Who are you? How would you describe people who are like you? Perhaps your niche is men aged between 20 and 40 who have sensitive facial skin and get bad razor burn. Maybe it’s women aged 35-50 who work in a corporate environment and get really dry skin from constant air-conditioner exposure.

Perhaps you are coming at this from left-field and have noticed that throwing in a bottle of skin-sensitive hand sanitiser is a great way to sweeten client deals and help close the sale – plus it means they are carrying your logo around with them all day long! 

It’s up to you, and there is a lot of research you can do on this, but the more specific you can be about who your skincare products will help, the more effectively you will be able to develop and market them.

Remember, an awesome, natural hand sanitiser that serves as a great marketing device is going to need different thought put into it than a product aiming at helping a customer solve a problem.

Finding your products

Unwind Essential Oil Blend - 960x960

If you aren’t sure what skincare products you want to sell, there are a few great places to look to see what is currently in demand. Have a look at current trends in search and buying behaviours on e-commerce marketplaces like eBay and Amazon.

Here’s some great places to check for buyer trends:

You can also explore trends in search behaviour on the Google Trends website. This can be broken down by country and regions within countries so you can really hone in on trends in the area you want to sell to.

Focus on products to suit your niche

Stay away from broad product categories and generic products. It can be pretty hard to compete for general terms and products that are intended for ‘everyone’. The only exception to this is if you happen to have some celebrity status or following. One crazy example of this is a plain white t-shirt. You can’t really compete with the likes of Kmart that sell these for just a few dollars unless you are Kanye West. Then you can sell a plain white t-shirt for $120 and it will sell out, repeatedly. 

If you aren’t Kanye (or Kim), it’s best to create very specific products that meet the needs and desires of your niche, and sometimes this is in the product, other times it’s just in the packaging. For example, instead of a moisturiser that looks like everyone else, you might have more success using branding and labels that feature sayings that people in your niche can relate to at the times they are most likely to use it. Giving someone a laugh can go a long way. There are some great examples of this on RedBubble, like this INTP sarcastic functions t-shirt. I would expect a shirt like this to appeal to most INTP people (like me) who are aware of their Myers-Briggs personality type.

Just be sure though that your product is in line with your brand and that if you are going for quality, your product represents that. Jokes might not be the right choice if you are going for a premium image.

If you aren’t sure what your niche is yet, but you have come up with a product you want to sell, look at what makes that product unique. Think about who is going to want these unique properties. Hone in on the details until you can identify very specific kinds of people. Make them your niche and promote the benefits that they want. If you can’t get that level of detail from your skincare product, it might not be a good choice for starting out. You need to know who it is that will want your product in order to make sure you get your product in front of them.

Think carefully about your product price

High-value items can be harder to sell. Generally speaking, people are less likely to spend $100 on an impulse purchase than they are a $40 item, unless that impulse purchase can solve a serious problem they are having. As a result, more expensive products will also get you more customer scrutiny. The higher the customer risk (the money they are letting go of), the more research they will do into the product, and into your store. They are more likely to check reviews and want to know how trustworthy you and your products are.

Quick sales are great little wins for you, but you need enough margin for the product to be worth selling, especially when you factor in running promos like free shipping. Look at products around the $30-$60 mark that are low-cost to deliver. This is cheap enough to still be an impulse purchase, but should still be high enough to give you a decent margin. Once you start moving your first product, then look at more expensive options you can offer to upsell your customers on.

Reselling or contract manufacturing?

Now you have some idea on your skincare products, should you go with reselling someone else’s products or start manufacturing your own products?

Reselling

Resale is what much of the retail industry is built upon. Reselling products is simply the idea of buying a product someone else has made, usually at a wholesale price, and then reselling it at a retail price.

In this model, you find a supplier for the products you want to sell, this could be direct with a manufacturer like Arianrhod Aromatics, or it may involve a middleman called a distributor.

Learn more about reselling Arianrhod Aromatics branded products.

In either case, you choose the products you want to sell from the supplier’s range, and order from them. Once they receive the order, they ship the product to you, and you then sell it. The products will always have the manufacturer’s branding on them and you will have no options to customise any products. You are buying products off the shelf.

This is a great model for getting started in retail as it gives you access to the reputation of a larger brand, typically the brand that makes the skincare products you are selling. Customers often already have a relationship with that brand and know whether they trust the product or not, so you don’t need to do any convincing on that front, you just have to convince buyers to trust your store to deliver the product.

Resale is also a great option for getting started since you have low investment costs. Typically, suppliers will require minimum order quantities in order to offer you wholesale pricing, but otherwise, there is nil cost.

The big trade-off though is that everyone else is probably also selling the same product from the same brand and so you are competing with them to get in front of customers and make the sale. Some big chain retailers have very deep pockets so it can be difficult to compete with them on the same product.

On the other hand, if you can find a boutique skincare brand that has products that fit the niche you are looking for, but is not sold in major chains, like Arianrhod Aromatics, you can get a little bit of both worlds: an established brand to leverage with much less competition.

Pros of reselling

  • Only upfront costs are the costs of buying the product to sell
  • Access to an established brand reputation
  • No product development time
  • Products are typically available to ship immediately

Cons of reselling

  • You have no control over the products
  • No ability to customise products
  • You are competing with everyone else that is selling the same product from the same brand
Market Stall
Frequently Asked Questions
Contract Manufacturing - Arianrhod Aromatics

Contract manufacturing

Contract manufacturing combines the knowledge, experience and equipment of a quality skincare manufacturer (like Arianrhod Aromatics) with the ability to order and manufacture products on-demand without even needing to leave your lounge. 

In other words, you discuss the type of skincare product you would like to manufacture with the experienced manufacturing company, and they do the hard yards. They come up with the appropriate ingredients, manufacturing techniques and even packaging to meet your requirements. Of course, you can have a hand in the process too, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. 

Learn more about contract manufacturing with Arianrhod Aromatics.

Once your product has been developed, you simply place an order based on the minimum quantity that can be manufactured at a time (usually low when you choose a boutique manufacturer like Arianrhod Aromatics that handles small batches). The contract manufacturer will go ahead and produce your skincare products for you. Before you know it, your skincare order will be at your fingertips, made to your specifications and with your own branding, ready to sell.

Awesome, right? Here are the pros and cons of contract manufacturing.

Pros of contract manufacturing

  • Low cost way of starting your own skincare business
  • You don’t have to invest in equipment
  • You don’t need to learn any skills
  • You don’t need to purchase ingredients or packaging
  • You can have as much or as little involvement in the product creation process as you like
  • Your product gets developed with knowledge and experience that takes decades to gain
  • Your brand is on the products, keeping you front of mind
  • Products appear at your door, ready to sell

Cons of contract manufacturing

  • You are relying on another business to supply your product
  • If anything happens to the manufacturer, you may not be able to reproduce your product
  • Minimum order quantities may be higher than if you made it yourself (can be negated by choosing a boutique manufacturer that specialises in small quantity manufacturing)

Brand yourself

Ok, you have a product. You know your niche. Now who are you?

It’s time to think about how you are going to brand your business.

Choose a name

You can spend lots of time brainstorming ideas, running them by friends and family, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Some of the best names are made up, like Google, and other great ones are multiple words mixed into one word, like WordPress. In any case, your name should in some way represent your brand and appeal to your niche.

At Arianrhod Aromatics, our name comes from the Celtic stellar and lunar goddess of time and space, higher love and wisdom. It’s a name that we believe was written for us through destiny as essential elements within our product compositions have a strong connection with the lunar cycle and our products are handcrafted with love and wisdom. You can learn more about our name here.

If you can identify your product and the problem you are solving in your brand name, that can make it easier for customers to identify why they might be interested in what you are selling. Some examples for a brand that is exclusively selling deodorants might be: “Daring Deodorants”, “BO Busters”, or “Deodorant Central”. At Global Hemp Movement, you know from their name that they are all about hemp products.

You can see in the examples above that each name conjures up different images of what kind of deodorants might be sold, and BO Busters is the only one that suggests the store might sell other things besides deodorant, so make sure that, as random as your name might seem, that it does fit with your product and niche.

Also, be sure you aren’t infringing on any trademarks or you could get yourself into a lot of strife. Governments in most countries have trademark searches available. Just search for “trademark search ”, eg “trademark search Australia”, which will bring you to this site. Be aware, there are sites that will charge you to do trademark searches. Never pay for this. Trademarks can be freely searched in the official registries of each country.

Register your brand

Before you start selling, you will need to register your business. In Australia, you can start out by registering for a free Australian Business Number (ABN) as a sole trader. This means you are trading as yourself and any income is considered personal income for taxation purposes. Alternatively, you could incorporate a company. There are costs involved in registering and maintaining a company, and there is a lot more work involved from an accounting and corporate governance perspective, but a company does afford protections that sole trading doesn’t.

You will have to decide on the best approach for you. When I started my business, I started out as a sole trader and then transitioned to an incorporated company once my revenue was high enough to warrant it.

Where will you sell your products?

Are you starting a new business? If so, where are you going to sell your products? Should you open a store? Should you start a market stall? Start a website? Sell on an online marketplace?

All good questions!

Iamme at the Markets

Open a store

Opening a store can be a very expensive exercise, and commercial leases are often for many years. Often those leases also have rent increases built into them. Then there is the cost of a shop fit out. Right now, opening a store is potentially even more challenging with Coronavirus restrictions in place. I wouldn’t recommend this option as a starting point. There is a lot of cost involved meaning either a lot of capital or loans. If you do decide to open a store, make sure you know your products are going to move off the shelves quickly and that you have a solid plan! Some experience in retail management is also a very good idea.

Start a market stall

Market stalls are a cheaper way to get started with a physical store. There are still costs involved, such as your stall setup, but the cost of having a stall is typically much less than a store. Most markets are also on weekends, so you can run your stall while also holding down your day job!

At Arianrhod Aromatics, Iamme started with a market stall and grew to stalls at many markets and eventually opened our factory/shop in Murwillumbah.

A market stall is a relatively low-cost way to validate your products and see if people are interested in them. It also presents a way to test your branding. The downside is that there can be a lot of work involved in setting up stalls and then packing them up again each day.

Launch a website

Selling online can be both low and high cost. It’s possible to build your own website very cheaply, but it can be tough if you aren’t familiar with web design concepts. There are a lot of site builders around that do try and make the process easier, but I find that the overall user experience on these platforms does suffer with inconsistent appearance between pages that ultimately becomes quite costly to fix.

If you are looking to get started on the cheap, WordPress and WooCommerce often come up since they are free. However, there are a lot of costs involved with running a WordPress and WooCommerce store. The platforms are also complex to setup without a web design background. If you have just a few products, the best online store building platform, in my opinion, is Ecwid. I wrote an article here comparing WooCommerce and Ecwid for small businesses that goes into a lot of detail on why I recommend it, but the short version is that it works out much cheaper than running a WooCommerce store if you are just starting out, only have a few products, and just want to get up and running without any technical background.

At Arianrhod Aromatics, we are using WordPress and WooCommerce that run a lot of advanced functionality.

Once you choose a platform, you can get started with selling online. You will need to promote your website in some way to help people find it though. This could be via your social media, or you could invest in paid advertising. Hopefully people will find you in Google searches as well, but don’t expect this to happen overnight. Search engine optimisation is a very long, ongoing process that never ends.

Sell through online marketplaces

Online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon are extremely popular and very low cost to get started. You can start selling for free on eBay and just pay a percentage of your product sales, or you can pay for a low-cost store subscription to make your listings more prominent and give you access to better promotional and market research tools that can boost your sales efforts. Amazon is similar, but both have increasingly stringent requirements on what you can sell, and what information you must include, especially Amazon.

Besides low cost to entry, one of the biggest benefits of marketplace selling is that you have access to their existing audience immediately. We’re talking millions of people shopping on each marketplace all around the world. Of course, those people do have to be looking for what you are selling, but as long as your prices are reasonable, there is a good chance that you will start to sell things without doing anything besides entering accurate product information that is relevant to what people are searching for.

One other benefit of marketplaces is that they are doing a lot of marketing, all the time. eBay often runs discount promotions that enable buyers to receive discounts on their orders. Some of these promotions require sellers to participate and offer a discount, other promotions are funded entirely by eBay, so you as the seller still receive the full sale amount even though your customer got a discount. Nice.

The downside is that you may have to wait a while for sales and that you are competing against many, many other sellers who might be selling the same or similar products. Selling a new product can also take a lot of time. Don’t expect to sell things immediately unless you have a well-known product at a fantastic price. Like any sales channel, it takes time to build up consistent sales and you should be promoting it as much as possible. 

Our own eBay store gets very little promotion at the moment (I need to work on that) and as a result, sells much lower volumes than our website does. It still sells things, but it’s definitely not a set and forget sales channel if you really want to grow your side hustle into something big.

That’s it!

Of course, there is more nitty gritty that goes into it. Starting a business takes a lot of work and dedication, but it is possible to start your own skincare business on the side with low investment costs.

So, what will you sell? What model will you choose? What will you call your business? And where will you sell?

Can we help you launch your new skincare business? Get in touch with us today about reselling Arianrhod Aromatics branded products, or contract manufacturing your own range of skincare products!

The moisturising and anti-bacterial properties of Tamanu Oil

Tamanu Oil as an essential ingredient in your Winter routine.

Are you starting to feel skin dryness and irritation when you face the winter wind? Cold weather has some unpleasant effects on the skin.  To make the matter worse, dry indoor heat can also lead to cracked skin. Various inflammatory skin diseases such as eczema, ichthyosis, and psoriasis may also show up more frequently during these cold and dry months in Australia.

So what can you do to take care of your skin this winter? To combat skin dryness and irritation, we recommend using skincare products that contain Tamanu Oil during the cold weather. Tamanu oil is considered to be one of the best natural ingredients for skincare.

A brief history of Tamanu Oil

Dubbed as the magic oil and beauty leaf oil, tamanu oil has its share of both ancient and modern skin healing stories. Traditionally used to combat a range of skin problems, this oil has been used by natives of South East Asia and the Pacific Islands for centuries.

In the 1900s, French researchers introduced tamanu oil to western countries to treat a range of conditions. One such example was French nun, Sister Marie Suzanna, who used tamanu oil to treat the symptoms of leprosy, including painful inflammation of the nerves (leprous neuritis). Scientists were impressed by the cicatrizing (or skin regenerating) properties of tamanu oil. Modern scientific studies conducted by Japanese researchers at Meijo University and a Canadian research team at the Université de Sherbrooke have both validated the traditional claims regarding the healing effects of tamanu oil on our skin.

Tamanu oil is 100% natural, derived from the nuts of the Tamanu (Calophyllum Inophyllum) tree through cold-press techniques. These trees are found primarily in tropical countries and islands of the Pacific like Vanuatu and Tahiti, where they grow wild and are naturally organic.

It contains a unique fatty acid called Calophyllic acid, a natural antibiotic called Lactone, and a natural non-steroid anti-inflammatory called Calophyllolide – a lipid which is not found in any other oil. Calophyllolide has anti-inflammatory properties that aid in calming and soothing skin conditions.

While there are many benefits of Tamanu oil, we will focus on how it can help you maintain healthy and glowing skin this winter season.

The American Botanical Council has provided the following benefits of Tamanu Oil to prevent skin conditions brought by cold weather.

 

Anti-inflammatory

Tamanu oil contains xanthones which are highly anti-inflammatory. The oil can provide reductions in rashes, sores, swelling, and abrasions with topical application of the oil.

Our Hemp Balm and MagHemp Joint Relief Lotion contain tamanu oil which is very effective in penetrating and soothing muscle pain such as cramps and leg spasms. Rub lovingly into the painful area and experience muscle and joint pain relief – even rub into your temples to relieve that persistent headache.

Antibacterial and antifungal

Tamanu oil demonstrates significant antimicrobial activity, as demonstrated in antibacterial and antifungal tests. The oil contains several powerful bactericide/fungicide agents, which demonstrate efficacy against various human and animal pathogens.

Cold weather is known to allow certain bacteria to thrive. We recommend always using a hand sanitiser containing tamanu oil to minimize your risk of infections and to help counteract dryness and skin damage that often comes along with hand sanitisers.

Anti-acne

Tamanu oil exhibits high antibacterial and wound-healing activity against bacterial strains involved in acne and is also very helpful in treating inflamed acne.

Using acne facial wash and kigelia oil with tamanu oil is highly advisable especially for people with skin prone to acne. Numerous biological studies have shown that tamanu oil has wound-healing and skin regeneration properties. It’s been shown to promote cell proliferation and the production of certain components of your skin — including collagen and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) — all important in the healing of scars.

Skin Moisturising

Tamanu oil demonstrates significant antimicrobial activity, as demonstrated in antibacterial and antifungal tests. The oil contains several powerful bactericide/fungicide agents, which demonstrate efficacy against various human and animal pathogens.

Our Sativa Fade Facial Moisturiser can be used as a daily moisturiser on skin affected by pigmentation. It includes 100% natural, cold-pressed tamanu oil for its healing and nourishing activity to help your skin recover from the cold winds and dry air-conditioning.

Sativa Repair is an amazing blend of pure Australian Hemp oil and Tamanu oil – combined with Kigelia Extract and Silk that has been created to deeply moisturise dry, cracked skin – for hands and feet!

Keep your skin healthy this winter

More than any other time, it is important that we keep ourselves and our skin healthy. Tamanu Oil has been proven to be effective not only for its moisturising effect on skin but its antibacterial properties – a perfect combination to combat the cold weather.

Explore our healing and specialty oils and balms containing Tamanu Oil.

At Arianrhod Aromatics, we wish you a healthy and peaceful life using organic products that have proven effective, both through history and modern research.

Body Lotion or Body Butter – Which one is right for you?

Coconuts

Does the thought of dry air, whether it’s hot or cold make your skin dry out? Do you suffer from scaly, painful skin when cold winds are blowing and the heating or cooling is running frequently? Unsure whether to choose a moisturising lotion or body butter to help your skin through the Winter? Winter has begun here in Australia, and it’s already started to dry out hands and feet all over the country. So, before your skin gets any more painful, let’s get into the differences between moisturisers/lotions and body butter so you can make the best choice for your skin.

While moisturising lotions have been around in some form for thousands of years, body butters are a comparatively new product that has seen an increase in popularity over the past decade. Body moisturisers and butters both play a significant role in nourishing and protecting our skin. Which one is the right choice for cold and/or dry moments though? 

First, let’s take a look at the key ingredients composing these two different types of moisturising products.

Body Moisturising Lotions 

Lotions have an overall lighter feel. This product is probably more familiar to most people and is more commercialised in stores. Hand creams can generally be considered a lotion as well, though they may have a slightly heavier or thicker feel than a lotion. 

Moisturising lotions are usually a combination of water and different concentrated oils that help your body to absorb the lotion when applied to your skin. Often, it will include amino acid and an emulsifier. Aloe vera is also a popular additive for its skin-healing properties, especially in after-sun lotions. Many manufacturers also add fragrance and some colouring to reach the finished product. At Arianrhod Aromatics, we only use 100% essential oils and completely natural ingredients in our moisturisers.

AB050B - Heavenly Body Lotion

Typical lotion ingredients

Water

Water is one of the most essential ingredients for any hand or body lotion, and for your body – your body is made up of 60% water, after all! Typically this is in the form of straight water or a floral hydrosol; in other words, a blend like rose water or aloe vera. We use water infused with clear quartz, rose quartz & amethyst. Read more about the benefits here.

jojoba

Cold Pressed Oils

Oil is another crucial ingredient in lotion making. Some lotions will use liquid oils while others will use solid oils or butter. Some of the most popular choices are jojoba, avocado, coconut, shea, and olive oils. At Arianrhod Aromatics, we use cold-pressed liquid carrier oils as the base oil in our range of lotions and butters in our range of moisturising hand creams. 

Fragrance

Many moisturisers will have a fragrance, and often this will come from artificial sources, particularly in cheaper products. The Arianrhod Aromatics range of moisturising lotions is blended with 100% pure essential oils to provide their aromatic qualities as well as added moisturising and rejuvenating properties.

Amino Acid

Amino acids play many important roles in your body and are often called protein building blocks1. Many moisturising lotions and creams will include some kind of amino acid. At Arianrhod Aromatics, we use silk amino acid as it has excellent moisture preservation properties and is known to naturally break down the build-up of melanin. Not such a big deal in winter, but breaking down melanin goes a long way in counteracting damage done by the sun’s rays. Not many companies use silk amino acids, and you will need to look at higher-end products to find it, like our Sativa collection

Emulsifiers

Emulsifiers help combine water and oil to make a smooth texture. We only use plant-based raw materials rather than the petrochemicals that are often found in products by other manufacturers. 

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera

Aloe vera is a popular additive to many lotion recipes because of its soothing, healing properties. This is an especially popular choice in lotions for sensitive or sunburned skin, and in winter, it is especially helpful for wind-chapped skin. You will find it in our Sativa lotions

Our popular moisturising lotions

Body Butters 

You will typically feel that body butter has a thicker texture than lotions, even thicker than hand creams, and it often doesn’t absorb into your skin as easily as a lotion or cream, leaving an oily residue on your skin. Iamme didn’t want that to be the experience for our customers though so she came up with our unique butter and rice bran oil blend that soaks into the skin without any residue

Body butters are dedicated entirely to preventing skin dryness. If you are prone to chap, dry or broken skin, body butter can help relieve itchiness and dryness more effectively than lotions.  

Body Butter - Lime and Coconut Group

At Arianrhod Aromatics, we are dedicated to providing our customers with only the highest quality organic products. As such, one of our best-selling moisturising products is body butter. 

Typical body butter ingredients

Aqua - Water

Water

Water, just like in lotions, is one of the key ingredients in body butters, and just like our lotions, we use water infused with clear quartz, rose quartz & amethyst in our body butter as well.

Butter or solid oil

Like moisturisers and creams, body butters make use of oil as it is vital to providing moisture to your skin and helping to protect your skin from dryness. While this is similar to a moisturising lotion, this is also one of the biggest differences. Body butters typically rely on solid oils, also known as ‘butter’. Since the oil is solid and there is a higher ratio of oil to water, it causes the additional thickness of body butters that creates the butter-like consistency they take their name from. 

At Arianrhod Aromatics, our body butter is hand-crafted using shea butter, mango butter and cocoa butter as the base combined with rice bran oil to make our unique butter blend that doesn’t leave an oily residue on your skin.

As a bonus, rice bran oil is also a powerful skin protectant, rich in gamma-oryzanol, which helps to protect and replenish your skin tissue.  

Fragrance

Butters have their own mild scent, but you will find that most manufacturers add fragrance as well.

Silk Amino Acid

Amino Acid

Not all butters include amino acids. Due to the lower percentage of water and more expensive ingredients found in butters, amino acids are often only added to premium body butters. At Arianrhod Aromatics, we only add silk amino acid to our Sativa Lush Whipped Butter.

Emulsifiers

Emulsifiers help combine everything into a smooth, spreadable texture that you can apply to your skin. Like our moisturisers, we only use plant-based raw materials in our body butters and never use petrochemicals.

Our popular body butters

Arianrhod Aromatics body butter is made from food grade ingredients and nothing nasty, so you could eat it if you wanted to. Our unique blend and quality ingredients combine for a long-lasting effect that will keep your skin moist throughout the day, even in the varied indoor and outdoor conditions of the Australian winter. 

High in phytosterols, all our body butters are packed full of incredible moisture and anti-oxidants to help relieve itchy ‘alligator’ skin. Iamme chose ingredients the skin readily recognises, absorbs and uses to add much-needed moisture to your skin and repair damage that has already been done while improving elasticity. 

Our premium body butter, Sativa Lush Whipped Butter also incorporates silk amino acids and kigelia (sausage tree) extract. The unique blend of ingredients in this butter makes it a compelling choice with recent studies 2,3 proving kigelia is anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and can even halt the spread of human melanoma cells. 

The verdict? 

Lotions are typically better suited for less sensitive skin and to use within your usual daily office work routine. For winter and dry, windy weather, it is a good idea to use a quality, organic body butter to help protect you from skin dryness, itchiness and irritation. As you are likely to be inside more during the winter season, exposed to heating sources that tend to try the air out, applying body butter to your skin as part of your morning routine will help keep your skin nourished all day long at cold and dry times of the year! 

Shop our full range of body lotions, body creams and body butters.

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Lotion or body butter. Which one for Winter?
Lotion or body butter. Which one for Winter?

References

  1. Healthline – Essential Amino Acids: Definition, Benefits and Food Sources
  2. Activity of Extracts of Kigelia Pinnata Against Melanoma and Renal Carcinoma Cell Lines
  3. The sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata): ethnobotany and recent scientific work

Is hand sanitiser starting to dry out and crack your skin?

Is hand sanitiser drying out your skin? Here's the solution.

How are your hands?

With all that is going on in the world at the moment, we are all being more cautious with our hygiene. Hand sanitiser is getting used more frequently than ever. The problem is, alcohol-based hand sanitiser has a side effect when used extensively:

Dry, flaky, itchy, cracked skin

Matt's dry, cracked knuckles and hand.

Our web designer, Matt, sent us the photo above of his hand after using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser regularly for the last few weeks. Ouch!

But what’s the solution?

We have to be cautious with our hygiene, but frequent use of alcohol-based hand sanitiser dries out the skin. Taking the time to wash our hands with warm water and a soap that not only cleans your hands but moisturises them at the same time can help counteract that dryness. Our hemp soaps contain hemp seed oilolive oil and shea butter, three key ingredients that hydrate the skin and help to prevent dry, flaky skin.

So, make sure that you use warm water and a moisturising soap whenever you wash your hands. Try to keep hand sanitisers for use while you are out and use your moisturising soap to keep your hands clean while you are at home. If you prefer liquid soap to hard soap, try our Hemp Body Wash for sensitive skin or one of our liquid hand and body soaps as an alternative.

What else can you do?

Make sure to use a good quality moisturiser on your hands regularly. Men, this is especially true for you. I know, most men don’t even think about using a moisturiser, but using one on your hands will help prevent dryness caused by hand sanitiser.

If your hands are already cracking, like Matt’s, make sure to use a moisturiser that is designed to help your skin repair itself while being gentle on exposed areas. Our Sativa Repair cream is designed for hands and feet that are cracking and painful. The Kigelia and Tamanu ingredients help your skin to recover while also providing you with an extra line of defence due to their antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties.

Use a Moisturising Hand Sanitiser

Hand sanitiser doesn’t need to dry your skin out. That’s why we developed our natural hand sanitiser with the requisite amount of naturally-sourced alcohol combined with natural ingredients that help to rehydrate your skin and lock the moisture in!

Have a question?

Get in touch with us today via email, phone or send us a message on Facebook.

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Is hand sanitiser drying out your skin? Here's the solution.
Is hand sanitiser drying out your skin? Here's the solution.
Is hand sanitiser drying out your skin? Try a moisturising soap.
Arianrhod Dry Skin Pin 2

What essential oils are best for skincare, hair care and wellbeing?

Aromatherapy

What oils are best for skincare, hair and wellbeing?

You’re binge-watching those movies depicting ancient kingdoms and wonder if women really had such flawless skin in real life. It turns out that depiction of princesses is actually, at least in part, accurate. Taking care of your skin started a very long time ago. The vast difference between the products used in ancient kingdoms, and those used today is the origin. Hundreds and thousands of years ago, people didn’t have access to the synthetic ingredients we find in most skin-care products today, so they used the materials available to them, and yes, these ancient skincare regimes were organic.

Ancient Greeks and Egyptians used olive oil, moringa oil and a variety of plant-based oils. Many other ancient tribes have left traces of evidence that they used rudimentary essential oils as a moisturiser for both their skin and hair. With the exception of some very dangerous ingredients that we now stay well clear of (like lead), all-natural skin-care products used for millennia have continued to be the best options. It wasn’t all that long ago that we discovered the connection between lead in skincare with issues like hormonal imbalances, neurotoxicity, reduced fertility, and other problems. The dangers of many synthetic products continue to become more apparent and some synthetic ingredients can be very damaging to your skin.

For thousands of years, oils have also been used for wellbeing. Diffusing essential oils for aromatherapy is an ancient practice, dating back at least 6000 years. Some organic essential oils can be beneficial to unwind and destress your mind and body while others can help ease upset stomachs, reduce headache pain and provide other health benefits beyond the simple pleasure of their fragrance.

In this article, we will talk about essential oils. These oils are plant extracts derived from flowers, leaves, bark or seeds. Some provide benefits that stand-alone, while some are blended together to achieve the desired outcome on one’s well being or skin. Essential oils can have many uses, we will categorise them based on suggested usage – skin, hair and personal welfare.

 

For Skin

Good things come gradually – this is an age-old secret. Achieving healthy and vibrant skin comes from your daily care routine. Let’s uncover the hidden gem of the ancients, organic oils. As various oils are used for different types of skin, let’s take a look at which oils are best to use on certain skin conditions. Look for these essential oils in the products you use for your skin care routine, or, if appropriate, consider trying them in a diluted form directly on your skin. Always consult with your dermatologist first and never use undiluted essential oils.

Essential oils for dry skin. 

Oils can provide relief as part of your moisturising routine for dry skin. Especially during extreme conditions like summer heat and winter wind. Some essential oils have anti-inflammatory properties to help your skin heal and reduce redness. Essential oils that are good for dry skin include lavender, chamomile and sandalwood. These oils may be best known for their ability to help you relax and sleep, but they are also natural hydrators that increase moisture and reduce inflammation.

Essential oils for oily skin

Some skin types produce excessive oil (known as sebum) through overactive sebaceous glands, especially in humid climates and hot weather. Hormonal imbalances can also cause your sebaceous glands to work overtime. A number of essential oils can assist in balancing out sebum produced to reduce the oily feeling on your skin: clary sage, rosemary, frankincense, geranium and neroli. Perhaps the most famous due to it’s Biblical references, frankincense is a tree resin from the dry mountainous regions of India, Africa and the Middle East. It has a spicy, woody aroma and can be absorbed through the skin or inhaled with a diffuser.

Essential oils for skin conditions

There are various skin conditions that essential oils can assist with, including skin rashes, acne, and age spots.  If you have acne-prone skin – lemon, lemongrass, cinnamon and tea tree oils might help remove excess oils while reducing skin microbes and inflammation. Lemon is known for its astringent antiseptic properties.

Some oils are known to alleviate itchiness and help battle atopic dermatitis (eczema) and psoriasis. The following oils have pain-relieving properties and can assist your skin health – peppermint, wintergreen, eucalyptus and patchouli. These oils have an analgesic effect and can help to cool down hot rashes.

Some tips on incorporating essential oils into your skincare routine.

  • Start by washing and gently exfoliating the skin.
  • Add a few drops of essential oil to your moisturiser
  • Apply your essential oil infused moisturiser to your skin using a sweeping upward motion.
  • You can also blend 2-3 drops of essential oil with your foundation while applying makeup.

 

For Hair

Using essential oils in your hair care routine is starting to regain popularity, but like skincare, it isn’t a new idea. Essential oils are easy to use in your routine and can improve the health of your hair and scalp. Some essential oils can also increase hair growth, strength and shine. Essential oils can be directly applied and brushed onto your hair or mixed into your shampoo or conditioner. You can also choose a shampoo and conditioner that have the desired essential oils infused.

Look for these essential oils depending on your hair type:

  • Lavender – Lavender oil can speed up hair growth – it has properties that can generate the growth of cells and reduce stress.
  • Peppermint – Peppermint oil can cause a cold, tingling feeling when it increases circulation to the area it’s applied to. It can help promote hair growth during the anagen (or growing) phase.
  • Rosemary – If you want to improve both hair thickness and hair growth, rosemary oil is a great choice thanks to its ability to enhance cellular generation.
  • Cedarwood – It has antifungal and antibacterial properties, which can treat different conditions that may contribute to dandruff and hair loss.
  • Lemongrass – Dandruff can be a common ailment, and having a healthy, flake-free scalp is an important part of hair health. Lemongrass oil is an effective dandruff treatment.
  • Thyme – Thyme can help promote hair growth by both stimulating the scalp and actively preventing hair loss.
  • Clary Sage – Clary sage oil contains the same linalyl acetate that helps make lavender oil so effective in increasing hair growth. It can improve hair strength, in addition to boosting hair growth, making hair more difficult to break.
  • Tea Tree – Tea tree oil has powerful cleansing, antibacterial, and antimicrobial properties. When used topically, it can help unplug blocked hair follicles and increase hair growth.
  • Ylang-ylang – Ylang-ylang oil is ideal for those with dry scalps, as it can stimulate sebum production. As lack of enough oil and sebum causes hair to become dry and brittle, ylang-ylang can improve hair texture and reduce hair breakage.

 

For wellbeing

The aromas of essential oils are also good for your health and wellbeing. Diffusing oil in a diffuser, or other ways, has a range of benefits for both the body and soul. 

Essential Blends – Some essential oils compliment each other and increase their effects. Our blended essential oils are perfect for use in your office, living room and bedroom. All Arianrhod Aromatics 100% essential oils have multiple uses – in the bath, the shower, in potpourri by your bedside or, for the blends intended to help you sleep, within your linen for a restful night’s sleep. Totally relaxing – use some blends before bedtime for a wonderful, restful sleep or wake-up with a refreshed mind using Wakey Wakey. 

Below are some of our popular essential oil blends – my personal favourite is Sweet Dreams.

100% Pure Essential Oil Blend Peace – This 100% pure essential oil blend carries a spicy aroma you will find harmonising, calming and balancing as it contains bergamot, cypress, lavender, sweet orange and vetiver.

100% Pure Essential Oil Blend After Hours – You may like to use this wonderful oil after a long, hard day as this particular blend has a sensuously spicy scent to be welcoming, soothing and uplifting. Using aromatherapy principles, this blend was created to help you unwind and to help eliminate any airborne bugs you might have carried home with you.

100% Pure Essential Oil Blend Sweet Dreams – Totally relaxing! Use before bedtime for a wonderful, restful sleep. Breathe in this soothing aroma as you unwind. Welcome sleep within its aromatic environment. It is created for your bedtime with cinnamon leaf, clary sage, frankincense, mandarin and ylang-ylang.

100% Pure Essential Oil Blend Wakey Wakey – Need that extra energy when you have more to do but you don’t want to be drinking large quantities of caffeine or energy drinks? Wakey Wakey is designed for those times when you are studying or working late into the afternoon or evening. When a yawn or two comes while you are at your computer and you still have work to do. This creation has the answer for you. Walking outside is known to help stimulate your brain, so take a metaphorical walk in the forest when you need some extra energy from nature. Inhale this wonderful aroma for that extra boost you need at any time.

Don’t be overwhelmed

Now that you know some of the many uses of essential oils for body, hair and wellbeing. You might be overwhelmed by the many essential oils that are beneficial for you. If you aren’t sure, just get in touch with us. You can call, email or message us on Facebook with your questions and we’ll help you to pick out the right one for your needs. Once you begin to use essential oils, it won’t be long before you begin to notice their beneficial effects, both to your body and soul. 

At Arianrhod Aromatics, we wish you a healthy and peaceful life using organic products that have proven effective, both through history and modern research.