Beauty -Botanical Skin Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . botanical SkinCare
The demand for skin care containing natural ingredients has become more and more common place as clients become better educated, but with that education comes the need for results and advanced product technologies.
Many of today’s hard-hitting, results- driven skin care products contain botanical ingredients, which are ingredients derived from plants, mixing nature with the effective results that clients want to achieve. Today’s botanicals combine the best of plant- based ingredients with proven science- driven formulation methods, presenting us with the very best in skin care.
What are botanicals?
Botanical skin care products are products that are made with ingredients derived from plants and include extracts from roots, seeds, leaves or flowers. They are often chosen for a skin care product dependant upon their healing property; so for example, if a skin care product is for the treatment of Acne, it may contain Juniper Berries, Arnica or Blackberry, and if the product is designed to treat dry skin, you may find it contains botanicals such as Aloe Vera, Comfrey, or Licorice Root. Plants may also be chosen for their antioxidant or vitamin properties too, which have both been proven as valuable to the skin.
Lydia Sarfati, CEO and founder of Repêchage believes that skin care should be formulated with the finest botanical ingredients the earth and sea have to offer. “My favourite botanical skin care ingredients is Laminaria Digitata, a beautiful brown seaweed found in the upper-middle section of the ocean. I am crazy about the benefits of seaweed for the skin – I eat it, I drink it, I bathe in it, I love it! This amazing sea plant is truly ideal for all skin types providing hydrating and nourishing benefits by delivering 12 vitamins and minerals, 18 amino acids and anti- oxidants to the skin.
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“Red Clover Extract is another botanical that truly amazes me. As powerful as it is beautiful, Red Clover Extract is rich in plant hormones and is known to mimic a phytoestrogen hormone that helps stimulates skin thickness for the appearance of younger, plumper looking skin.
“This isn’t the only flower with anti- ageing benefits either. Bellis Daisy, derived from Daisy flowers, is known to help reduce melanin activity, provide even pigmentation and makes age spots less visible.”
One of the benefits of using plant extracts as a topical treatment for the skin is that plant materials are very similar to the skin – both have a very complex nature so the two complement each other and the skin is much more accepting.
Virginie Claire of Virginie Claire Products believes that one of the main reasons for using natural botanical ingredients and products is simple: “Chemicals have to pass into our bloodstream, coming into contact with healthy cells and disrupt their functioning, to eventually be passed through the already hard working liver, then filtered in the kidneys and exits through the urinary system. That’s a lot of strain on the body after simply applying a moisturisers / cleanser / mask / lip balm / deodorants, etc.
“When a product is 100% plant based, the components are used by the skin and the skin only; the molecules are used within our skin cells and do not have to pass through the system. Also, botanical ingredients are readily accepted by the skin whereas it can be questionable if some chemical ingredients actually even penetrate to produce an effect. In short, plant extracts are active, effective and do not upset and exhaust the internal workings of the body.”
Is it really that new?
With botanical skin care only becoming known for what it really has to offer over recent years, it sounds like this type of skin care could be a fairly new concept, but in reality plant extracts have been used on the skin and as a cosmetic for centuries, even as far back as 2700BC, when it was used by cultures and traditions, including the Greek, Roman, Chinese, Ayurveda, Shamanism and
Native Americans. In fact, it is probably safe to say that plant derived ingredients were in some of the very first cosmetic products.
“Since the dawn of time, humans have stumbled upon various natural ways to keep their skin youthful-looking – even if they didn’t know why a certain method worked,” says Dr Sam Dhatt, CEO and president of the DermaQuest Skin Therapy product line.
“Cleopatra’s milk baths maintained her beauty, and it is known today that the Lactic Acid in milk served as a gentle exfoliant. The ancient people of the Mediterranean and Middle East treated their skin and hair with olives they cultivated; today it is known that the olives’ Flavnonoid Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants. For centuries in Japan, Kabuki performers and geisha removed their make-up and fought hyperpigmentation with nightingale droppings; today it is known that these droppings contain natural enzymes, such as Guanine, an amino acid with ammonic bleaching qualities. And the list goes on.”
However, as time has gone on and we have become more aware of what it is in plant extracts that achieve results, botanical skin care has become even more sophisticated than just picking a beautiful or fragrant plant.
Playing with science
Today, science has taken plant-derived ingredients one step further and by us being intelligent enough to know what effects these extracts can have on the skin, they are being made even more effective in the lab.
“The modern consumer has a huge advantage, not only knowing why these ancient methods worked, but also in having access to break-through technological discoveries that vastly increase their effectiveness. Cells can be extracted from blossoms long-prized for their beauty and fragrance - such as Edelweiss, Gardenia and Sea Fennel – then cultivated in a laboratory to multiply their molecular potency by literally 1,000 times or more. This concentration, not available in raw state, allows the product to deliver a powerful dose of active ingredients to the consumer. It brings together the best of botanical and clinical worlds,” says Dr Sam.
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