North Star Health Center

Archive for the ‘Body Care’ Category

Calendula Petals: Herbal Sunshine
One of the key ingredients in our Golden Healing Salve is calendula flowers. We will soon have available to purchase online. Currently available in our store.
This cheerful flower is an easy to grow annual, member of the Aster Family and widely cultivated for its beauty. The golden-orange flowers look like a piece of sun fallen to earth, and these luminous blossoms are soft with flowers that are vigorous in blooming, and strongly associated with the feminine life-nurturing element.  Calendula is believed to comfort and strengthen the heart which is why is so widely grown and used, now and for centuries.  It is one of the most common herbs growing in people’s gardens throughout North America and Europe, and easily self seeds itself.  They will also continue to bloom after frost.  The old English practice of putting Calendula flowers in soup in the winter because it would help increase resistance to colds and fevers, since England has a damp winter with little sunlight.  Maybe it would also be helpful for Seasonal Affective Disorder Syndrome, as I always feel better when drinking the tea or adding petals to soup.   Calendula flowers have been used on injuries to reduce inflammation and as an antiseptic against infection.  It is ideal for delicate skin of infants and children, and is widely used in many natural body care products. Calendula bestows a calming, quieting touch, and has also been used as a remedy for a variety of skin problems ranging from skin ulcerations to eczema.  Externally applied to the ear, it has been reported to alleviate pain and discomfort from an earache. Taken internally, it may aid in eliminating fever, soothing a festering ulcer, and relieving discomfort of menstrual cramps.  Calendula is considered by many to be an effective detoxifying herb that can help with the toxicity associated many severe fevers and infections. Calendula is also widely recognized as a cleanser for the liver, gallbladder, and other organs. To make calendula tea simply pour 8 oz of boiling water over 1-2 teaspoons of calendula flowers and let sit for 15 minutes. Calendula tea may be taken 3 times per day. Also can be added to soup.

• Calendula salve for external application.  Bake 1 oz dried or fresh flowers / leaves with 1 oz olive oil. 160 degrees for 2 hours.

 

Pamela’s Garden Soap

Pamela holds a Ph.D. in clinical nutritionist and has been in private practice since 1974. She is an avid organic gardener and has been making soap for over a decade. She carefully selects every ingredient and prepares small batches by hand, using the finest quality ingredients including plant oils and medical grade essential oils, and fresh and dry herbs, flowers, nuts, milk, honey, minerals, and other natural wholesome ingredients. She includes plants from her organic flower and medicinal herb gardens whenever possible. Her cold process method ensures the vegetable oils are heated only to the melting point, retaining the properties which enable the soaps to nourish and cleanse the skin properly. She meticulously develops recipes to provide combinations of oils and butters, which create superior bars which are gently aromatic, luxurious, feel smooth and creamy and soft in your hands, and offer a rich luxurious lather, and leave your skin clean and exceptionally soft and is gently kind to our skin and the environment. She begins with purified water and sometimes goat milk or honey (the only animal products used in her products) and plant oils, infused herbs. Her recipes contain variations of olive, coconut, palm, palm kernel, castor oil, shea and cocoa butters and also other oils and butters. Her method retains the valuable vitamins and minerals that would be otherwise lost in a conventional machine-processed soap. Essential oils, herbs and spices give the soap their personality and many gentle cleansing properties, and most importantly, a lovely scent. This soap collection is scented with exquisite combinations of the finest plant-derived essential oils and sometimes high quality fragrance oils. Essential oils are a plant’s most precious commodity sharing their vital force, their "soul" and they have long been recognized by many cultures and are acknowledged as providing a wealth of therapeutic effects, including reducing tension, relieving headaches and stimulating circulation. Essential oils smell luxurious and provide health promoting qualities to your skin and tranquility for your mind. She relies on time and air to mellow the soap and create hardness in our bars rather than including chemical hardeners, and this process results in jewels of a long lasting bar of soap. Experience the difference in your skin when pampered with high grade oils and plants included in her recipes. This lengthy, labor-intensive process utilizes no machines and no artificial ingredients whatsoever. Soap like this is a rarity, and a joy to use. Soaps range between 4-7 oz.

This soap is superfatted by adding extra exotic oils and butters, like jojoba, castor, almond oil, wheat germ oil, avocado oil, evening primrose, shea butter to name a few. These extra oils are not consumed in the soap making process and remain to nourish your skin. Olive oil is gentle and moisturizing; coconut provides creamy lather; castor bean creates fluffy lather; and palm oil creates a hard bar with good cleansing properties. Essential oils are a plant’s most precious commodity sharing its vital force, its "soul." The aromatic properties of essential oils have long been recognized by many cultures and are acknowledged as providing a wealth of therapeutic effects, including reducing tension, relieving headaches and stimulating circulation. Essential oils smell luxurious and provide health promoting qualities to your skin and tranquility for your mind. We include the purest essential oils, not those cut or adulterated with inferior oils or chemicals. Essentials oils are potent and they are also volatile, and they can evaporate. Handmade soaps made with pure essential oils usually have a very soft, subtle fragrance. As the soap ages, the essential oils will evaporate off the outer layer of the bar. However, the oils remain inside the soap and as you use it in your shower or bath the lovely subtle scent will return. Handmade soap gets milder with age, and please use within a year since it contains all natural fresh ingredients and no artificial preservatives. We also have some varieties with high quality fragrance oils which are always noted on each label. . Due to the nature of using plant origins, you may find slight variations in hue, as color saturation can change from harvest to harvest. We of course, view this as another of the wonderful differences in using natural materials. We at North Star welcome your feedback and suggestions.