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Written by Lesley Brown
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The cosmetic use of plant material runs through all ancient cultures.
Seven thousand years ago, the early tribes of the Nile Valley painted
and anointed their dead both to preserve the body and make it more
attractive for the world beyond. The Egyptians who followed assimilated
their practices and developed them into an elaborate routine of beauty
preparations for religious rituals and ceremonial occasions.
The ancients Greeks changed the focus of cosmetics from ceremonial to
personal, developing a philosophy of all-round health and beauty akin
to modern concepts. The famous physician Hippocrates formulated the
study of dermatology and recommended diet, exercise, baths and massage
for improving physical health and beauty. The Romans indulged further
in aromatic rituals and body pampering. Citro, a Roman writer in the
first century AD, wrote four books on cosmetics with a range of recipes
for bleaching, tinting and greasing hair, avoiding wrinkles and dealing
with body odors.
By the time of the Renaissance there was an awareness of skin care as
separate from medicinal disorders. Recipes for soaps, creams, and
herbal waters were collected and recorded in herbals and still-room
books, which were handed down from mother to daughter for generations.
Today's commercial products are often expensive, having vast amounts of
money spent on advertising, packaging, distribution and testing (which
can involve cruelty to animals). Allergies have increased along with
the use of chemical preservatives, synthetic perfumes and artificial
colorings. As a result, demand has risen for natural ingredients, and
since research has demonstrated the remarkable therapeutic properties
of herbs, many firms are rushing to create their own ranges of herbal
cosmetics.
Homemade herbal cosmetics
By making your own cosmetics, you can be sure of their content. You
select each ingredient and have control over its freshness and purity.
Herbal Face Pack
A face pack or mask draws impurities to the skin's surface, stimulates
the circulation and tightens the skin. It is doubly effective if
applied after a facial steam before the pores have closed. Apply the
mixture to slightly moist skin and then rest with your feet higher than
your head so gravity forces blood to the facial skin. Make cooling eye
pads of cucumber or cotton wool soaked in a herbal infusion and place
them against your eyelids to increase the absorption. Leave the mask on
for 20 to 30 minutes before removing with warm water. Finish with a
pore-closing infusion such as elderflower water, and then a moisturizer.
Green Herbal Mask
Take 2 handfuls of fresh leaves (such as apple mint, chamomile,
lavender, lemon balm, spearmint, chervil or thyme) or 3 tbsp
(45ml) of dried (softened by soaking in boiling water overnight). Add 2
tbsp (30ml) of distilled or mineral water and liquidize at high speed
for a few seconds.
This makes a rather wet mixture but if you are in a bath or lying on a
towel it can be applied as it is. To thicken, add fuller's earth or
ground almonds until it reaches the desired consistency.
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