We first start with Mowrah butter from the Indian butter tree. Mowrah Butter might be the most slickest and lubricating oils on the planet. Great for shaving!
Slowly melting the butter
Don’t want it to get too hot
Now set it aside. Time to prepare the other ingredients
Now for the Vegetable Waxes, Glycerin & DL -Panthenol, Ready for boiling and Reverse Osmosis Purified Water. Making sure to get the temperature just right before adding the oils!
Now adding the butter, everything is tightly controlled. Temperature, Speed even the size of the mixing tools. Tools even have to be changed as the mixture thickens.
Now into a quick Ice bath
On to the giant mixer for the last mix for that extra thick & whipped Shaving Butter!
Whether it’s going into your cars, on your food or on your skin – “oils” play an important role in the day to day lives of people. The origins and use of oils are so vastly diverse that it is hard to label every type of oil as such. While oil in cars is usually labeled a petroleum, the oil we’re talking is usually in the form of an essential oil or a carrier oil.
Webster’s dictionary defines cosmetic oil as: “a substance (as a cosmetic preparation) of oily consistency.”
An incredibly vague definition. Nothing is explained at all about why we use these oils or what kind we use. It is best to explain these oils by type:
Essential oils add the active qualities of a product. Whether it’s skin healing, soothing, softening, anti-inflammatory or a thousand different combinations of the above – every essential oil has numerous qualities. The only limit to a product with essential oils is what type go in what product. An essential oil known to soften rough skin will better go in a moisturizer than a discoloration cream.
Derived from the fatty portion of a plant, carrier oils are the vehicle that takes these oils through your skin. While some believe that oil containing products are what cause their breakouts there are others that believe that an oil can just sit on the skin. Both are wrong. Essential oils by itself may cause skin irritations or just sit there. Carrier oils will dilute these oils and allow the important stuff to break through the skin barriers.
Fragrance oils are the mystery oils in the cosmetic industry. Manufacturers do not need to disclose what is contained in fragrances. This is problematic for those with allergies to fragrances or what is contained in the base form. It’s hard to identify every ingredient in a product when fragrances are used. Aiming for paraben-free products? What about sulfate-free? With fragrances we probably will never know for sure!
Fragrances add little to a product other than aroma. This smell is short lasting and usually better for attracting people to the product rather than what it actually does. Combine the risks of using fragrances with such superficial qualities and this makes it a hard sell for us. We don’t use fragrances in any of our products.
Have you ever gone on a run or bike ride and gotten a cloud of nats stuck to your face? It’s not an enjoyable experience. What if they were ground up and put in the products that go on your face?
Hold the beatles, please The female cochineal, when crushed after feeding on the pricky pear cacti, create a striking red color. The coloring is used in everything from lipstick to cosmetics with a reddish tint. Though this product may have little effect on most, some have had serious allergic reactions to this popular bug extract.
How synthetic coloring? Almost every colorant has some kind of effect on the body. Here is the “palette” of coloring a popular company uses for their line of cosmetics:
Brilliant Blue FCF – Derived from petroleum; known to cause allergic reactions; was banned in over 10 European countries
Sunset Yellow FCF – Derived from petroleum and coal tar; known to cause allergic reactions and hyperactivity; banned in several countries including Norway and Finland
Allura Red AC – Known to cause hyperactivity in children; The Center for Science in the Public Interest is calling for an FDA ban
We can’t look like Brad Pitt anymore than we can make a bug and color-free soap look like that
“Natural” products This goes back to what a natural product really is. We call our products natural and so do many others. But what is exactly is natural? Technically, bug juice is as natural as you get. The Ancient Aztecs used it as a dye for centuries. The real issue is the labeling. Companies list this ingredient as “other” or simply Carmine. It’s skating around the issue that bug juice simply disgusts most of us. Companies would rather keep their margins than disclose the nature of their ingredients.
Bug juice may seem gross but it’s not near as disgusting as some of the synthetic coloring that makes it’s way to the store shelves. Those can have devastating effects for some. For what? To make the product prettier. Nothing more.
