Best way to use herbs ?

[Fragola]

I am looking for tips, suggestions or resources regarding the use of herbs in creams/lotions for their alleged therapeutic benefits (i.e. anti-cellulite, pain relief, etc.).

On the web, I found many tutorials (and even few herbal tea lotion recipes) but most explanations focus on skin care. I need help figuring the best choices for delivering ingredients under my skin

The herbal extracts (infusions) will contain water, oil, and often alcohol.

 

[maya]

i think what you are asking is a question involving herbalism. about how to get medical benefit from herbs. an infusion is a way to take herbs internally. an infusion is made with water and the herb material, like a tea. a tincture is made with alcohol and the herb material.

you can also infuse herbs into oils and use them on your skin or depending on the herb in your food like olive oil with rosemary in it.

is that what you are asking about?

 

[Fragola]

Not internally. I am asking about creams/lotions and stuff.

Let me ask the question differently. Let's say I have as starter ingredients:

- herbal tincture
- herbal infusion
- oil based infusion

Which is the best way to combine into a mixture that can be quickly absorbed into my skin ?

I was able to google some information on herb based creams, but very little. This is an example:

http://crabappleherbs.com/blog/2007/02/ ... ing-cream/

And as you have noticed, this cream aims to protect the skin from cold weather. Which is absolutely great ! Except that, right now I am focusing more on the matter of herbal ingredients being absorbed into the skin.

 

[maya]

i see!

well, i would skip the tincture (alcohol) and tea infusion because of the oil/water mixture you want a preservative. if you don't want a preservative then you can't use a water product. i would and straight for the infusion with oil. say you infuse calendula (which is reportedly great for skin) in sweet almond or coconut oil, or whatever oil you want to use.

then i would and some other skin loving hard butters like shea or cocoabutter and some beeswax and whip it until it's fluffy. swift has incredible, clear, concise directions on her blog.

she says it so much better then i, really go forth and read! swifts blog. here is her post (or one of them...) on butters http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2 ... tters.html

 

[Fragola]

Thanks for your suggestions. That blog is an excellent resource. In fact, waterless creams are the only thing I have experimented so far.

The reason for which I feel that I need water (or alcohol) is that certain active ingredients from herbs aren't soluble in oil. For example, ginger juice is on my todo list.

The preservative topic is probably for another discussion, after I have researched the matter a little more. For starters, if I could make a lotion that's good to use for a couple of days, that would be enough.

 

[soapbuddy]

Lotion will start to grow germs, mold or bacteria without a preservative within 24 hours, even thought it might smell fine and have no visible signs of bacteria or spoilage. I would not reuse the same bottle or jar either.

 

[Fragola]

Few million germs don't bother me. If we're talking billions, that's another matter

 

[adelej]

I guess a strong tea would be considered an herbal infusion?

I made strong peppermint tea as my water phase for lotion- it made it more of an off-white shade, and the smell is quite lovely and slightly earthy.

One could do the same thing with any kind of herb I would think- fresh or dried. Green tea, herbal teas, basil, sage, rosemary... Embrace the natural colours and scents they bring to the products.

You could also get distillates or hydrosols which are the water portion that comes off when distilling essential oils. They would smell stronger, although Im not sure if they would have a natural tint in them or not.

I'm going to make a lotion with Rosemary hydrosol one of these days- i think it would smell divine!

 

[Lindy]

That recipe has to be one of the best I've seen for growing molds, bacteria and all kinds of nasty things..... Even a preservative would have a hard time holding that one....

******************************

Let me add to this comment. When you are using herbs you need to use boiling water to destroy the microbes that create mold and bacteria which is why I made that comment.

Give me a minute and I'll post something for you to try.

 

[Lindy]

HERE you go....

This is one of many methods to infuse and use herbs in lotions. Some people will put their herbs into the oil and set in a sunny window for a few weeks to infuse. I don't have big enough window ledges so I like to get a quicker infusion.

I hope this helps.

 

[Fragola]

I am grateful for the suggestions. They are very useful since I am still researching and I have yet to make (or fail) my first lotion.

The recipe linked above looks lovely and I thank you for the trouble of making it very detailed.

I noticed that you mention boiling the herbs for hours. Germs are destroyed by boiling water in a matter of minutes, and certainly anything over 30 minutes is overkill. The actual extraction process can also be hastened by grinding the herbs to a fine powder (hopefully I can find a cheesecloth fine enough to filter out any impurities).

 

[Lindy]

Let me edit my response. The reason you simmer it for a few hours is to speed up the process of infusing. When you boil it you are combining it with the distilled water and you are only going to boil for 10 minutes to kill the nasties....

You don't want to infuse water and let it sit for days/weeks/etc because you will get mold, by doing it this way you are going to get all the goodies out of the herbs quickly and safely.

Cheers