Some Who, What, Where, Why and How’s Answered

Where does Shea butter come from?
Shea butter, also known as ‘karite butter’, is a cream-coloured fatty substance made from the nuts of karite nut trees that grow in the savannah regions of West and Central Africa. Karite trees, or Shea trees, are not cultivated. They grow only in the wild, and can take up to 50 years to mature and live up to 300 years.

Why use Shea butter in lip balm and hand cream?
Shea butter has moisturising benefits and has been used to help heal burns, sores, scars, dermatitis, psoriasis, dandruff, and stretch marks. It may also help diminish wrinkles by moisturising the skin, promoting cell renewal, and increasing circulation—its soft, butter-like texture melts readily into the skin.

What are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are therapeutic-grade oils distilled from plants, shrubs, flowers, trees, roots, bushes and seeds and are composed of tiny molecules. Essential oils contain the true essence of the plant it was derived from, they are highly concentrated and a little goes a long way.

What are the benefits of Essential oils?
Essential oils are able to enhance both your physical and psychological well being at the same time. Its distinct chemical composition, which determines its fragrance, colour, volatility and the way in which it affects the system, gives each essential oil its unique set of beneficial properties. For example, the chemical component ester acts as a sedative, a calming agent, an anti-fungal and an anti-inflammatory; Esters are found in lavender, chamomile, bergamot and sage.

How do Essential Oils work?
The molecules are easily dissolved which allows them to penetrate the skin easily and work into the body by mixing with the fatty tissue. Meantime, as the essences evaporate they are inhaled, entering the body via the millions of sensitive cells that line the nasal passages. These send messages straight to the brain, and affect the emotions by working on the limbic system, which also controls the major functions of the body.

What are the Benefits of Vitamin E for the Skin?
Vitamin E is vital in protecting skin cells from ultra violet light, pollution, drugs, and other elements that produce cell damaging free radicals, as it is an anti oxidant.

What has Anti-Aging Benefits?
Vitamin E helps skin look younger by reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and helps reduce the appearance of stretch marks. Vitamin E can help prevent the appearance of age spots and strengthen the skin’s barrier function and helps maintain the skin’s oil balance during the cleansing process.

What is Glycerine?
Glycerine is one of the most versatile and valuable chemical substances known to man and has no known negative environmental effects. A water clear, odourless, viscous liquid with a sweet taste; it attracts moisture to the skin and is an ideal ingredient to include in soap.

Who invented Eau de Cologne?
Legend has it that during the 17th century in Italy, Anne Marie de la Trémoille who was duchess of Bracciano and princess of Nerola first introduced neroli oil as a fashionable fragrance to high society. She used it whilst bathing and also to perfume her stationery, scarves and most famously, her gloves. The fragrance obviously caught on, because in 1709, the Italian perfumer J.M. Farina launched his blend of neroli, bergamot, lavender, lemon, petitgrain and rosemary onto an unsuspecting world, naming it ‘Eau de Cologne’. The rest as they say, is history.