Wholesome Wednesdays: Chamomile

I don't actually have any chamomile growing here - it always gets too hot for it, and since i don't actually LIKE chamomile, i've stopped trying. BUT it's good for the skin and since i put some into my last batch of shea butter soap, i thought i'd point out some of its positive attributes.

crappy out of focus picture of dried chamomile flowers.

I think most of us are familiar with chamomile tea and the calming effects it has on our mood and sleepiness. I personally detest the flavor, but will sometimes force myself to consume the herbal remedy to help get me to sleep and perhaps sooth a sore throat with some honey and lemon added.

Apparently, chamomile has a cumulative affect - meaning that if you take a bit each day you will find a greater benefit than just the occasional sporadic cup of tea. Some of the uses for chamomile include:

• Muscle Relaxant
• Chamomile taken in pill or tea form may help relieve menstrual cramps and other muscle pains. Drink 2-3 cups every day to sooth muscle pains
• Skin Soother
• Chamomile can sooth burns, skin allergies, and other nasties like eczema. Instead of using a salve apply cooled tea to burns - creams can be used for other skin ailments

It's the essential oils and flavonoids within the chamomile that work their magic. The oils sooth the skin and the flavonoids help the body to heal with their anti-oxidant properties.

Lavender, chamomile shea butter available soon!

Chamomile is a great all over soother - for the skin and for insomnia. Consider growing your own chamomile if you suffer from particularly unpleasant menstrual cramps - the fresher the herb, the greater its benefits will be. Plus, chamomile makes a very atttractive low growing ground cover. I've combined freshly ground chamomile flowers with lavender essential oil in my latest batch of soap (ready to order the end of this month) which is a specific blend excellent for soothing eczema and other skin maladies - plus it smells nice :)

I'm Really Tired of Making Mistakes

Yes, we all do it. But it gets frustrating when mistakes are made a little too often.

I just finished a batch of soap: Shea butter soap with Lavender oil, calendula and ground Chamomile. Should be soothing and great for bothersome skin and eczema. Referring to the directions and tips in Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson, making soap really is pretty easy, as long as you take the right precautions: gloves, goggles, prudence. And using stainless steel submerged in a cold bath to mix the lye in - SO much better then glass! It cools off in just minutes, verses what seems like an hour when using glass.

But i misread my recipe and put 14 oz of shea butter instead of 12. That's a big difference, and if i'd known it i should have upped the lye to about 5.83 oz instead of the 5.6 i used. Sigh.

But i just worked out the INS value of the ingredients, and got a value of 156. The ideal range is 145 - 160, so hopefully this soap works out after all. I'll know in about 3 weeks. Feel free to place your orders if you're interested, and i'll be sure and update then to let you know if it's viable and happy soap.

AND i realized in the middle of the night while being kept awake by a perpetually stuffy yet dry nose: i forgot to line my mold with freezer paper. What does that mean? It means i have no freakin' idea how to get the soap out of the pyrex. Big sigh number two.

Anyone know if i can freeze the mold without damaging the soap quality?

So now, what to do with this 1 oz of shae butter left over? Perhaps i'll go rub it in my hair while trying not to make any more mistakes.
Sigh.

*********Happy Update: i froze the soap in its mold (after cutting at the edges and making a mess of it) and it easily shrunk away from the sides of the mold and popped right out. Hopefullyt eh soap quality is unharmed, and at least it's out and ready to be cut into bars!

Wholesome Wednesdays: Lavender

This week i'm focusing on an ingredient i use in soaps, verses food stuffs: Lavender! You can eat it, but i'm more inclined to sniff it and slather it on my body. After the success of my last batch of castile soap, I'm making another batch tomorrow, chock full of lavender essential oil. (**Note: i've since changed my mind and plan on batching a tea tree/ sandalwood castile soap. Next will be a shea butter lavender soap - place your orders now!)

One of many websites that have great information on the benefits of lavender is this one.
In summation:
Lavender is commonly used to calm the nerves and please the senses - the soothing aroma soothes one to sleep and calms an anxious mind. Plus it just smells really darn good. Lavender isn't just relaxing and yummy smelling, however - lavender is antiseptic, great to use on insect bites or other abrasions and cuts. Lavender can help sooth headaches and is a great addition to massage oil, relieving pain in joints and muscles. When inhaled, lavender can help relieve breathing issues (make a hot water bowl, add some lavender, breath in: voila!) and calm bronchitis and other related cold symptoms. Lavender is great for your skin, relieving eczema, acne, burns and healing scar tissue. Eczema is particularly healed when lavender is combined with chamomile (i think that's what i'll make this next batch of soap with!). Finally, lavender is also great to help blood circulation and digestion.

Well, boy howdy - lavender is just great. Plus it's gorgeous in the garden and bees just love it! I sadly lost my lavender bush in this winter's freeze - but it was always covered with the most bees and butterflies than any of my other perennials. It tends to be hardy, love the hot, dry weather, and can be cut back to the nubbins every year to grow back anew. Simply dry the flower heads and use them as you wish. The essential oil needs to be distilled out - i'm not that advanced yet, but the flowers (ground or whole) are a lovely addition to soaps and potpourris.

Lavender is also really fun to throw at a new bride and groom at their wedding: the whole place smelled great, and my dress and hair were full of little aromatic lavender flowers for hours (right down to my underthings!)

This post appears at Simple Lives Thursday.