Tags: dry skin, moisturize
Dispense cleanser into the palm of your hand and add about a half teaspoon of granulated sugar (the finest grain you can find.) Rub hands together and very gently massage product over face and neck. Rinse and move on to the next step in your face care routine. Exfoliate about 3 times per Continue reading
Tags: Exfoliate
My friend, Meca, had an accident that left her with burns on the lower part of her body. When I saw her post on Facebook a couple of months ago, I immediately thought of the scars and hyper-pigmentation to follow. I know from experience that massage and the right mix of essential oils and emollients can greatly reduce a scar’s appearance and even speed healing time. I was already working on a product to help with scars and thought Meca would welcome a sample of my all natural creation. At that time, the product didn’t have a name and I was still trying to figure out the right consistency for the product. After a four second debate with myself (perks of being “the boss,”) I decided to call it Meca’s Scar Butter. This is the result…
For years, the ingredients in Meca’s Scar Butter have been used to treat sunburns, reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks as well as heal rough, dry and damaged skin. Mango butter, carrot oil and macadamia oil all have skin regenerative properties. These oils and butter have been enhanced with vitamin E, as well as antioxidant rich argan and pomegranate oils that will help nature along it’s healing path.
This butter keeps the skin supple and the daily application, along with massage, increases blood circulation to the damaged areas of the skin to speed healing, help reduce hyper-pigmentation and scarring. Meca’s scar butter is rich in antioxidants, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.
Lavender and frankincense essential oils are antiseptics that also have great rejuvenating and healing properties and they give this butter a wonderful, earthy and calming aroma.
Meca’s Scar Butter is 100% natural and preservative free.
Tags: cuts, hyperpigmentation, natural scar care, Scars
I have sold and given away samples of Hair and Skin JUNC products to various salons and people to get feedback and comments to help improve the products. The overwhelming product favorite, for both men and women, is the Lavender Mint Hair Masque. It works very well for processed hair as well as natural hair. Those with naturally thick or curly hair reported they had to use a bit more product to get desired results . The Hair Masque is made with over 89% organic ingredient and based on reviews, the scent is “heavenly” and “relaxing.” I am contemplating adding a sulfate free Lavender Shampoo to go with the Hair Masque.
Other products such as the Sulfate Free Citrus Shampoo and the Herbal Oat and Citrus Conditioner have also been very well received, one person described it as “washing her hair while running naked in an orchard,” (I’m still trying to figure out the logistics.)
Hair and Skin JUNC Elixirs and nourishing butters*, while effective, have been described as having a “medicinal” “herbaceous” and “earthy” scent. While working on these products, my primary goal was to include only oils and butters shown to offer certain benefits to hair and skin. For example, tea tree essential oil for its reputed anti-fungal properties, cedar-wood essential oil for dandruff and dermatitis control, argan oil because its rich in vitamin E, antioxidants, carotenes and essential fatty acids. I chose shea butter because it is an excellent emollient that adds superior moisture to both hair and skin. Shea butter is the main ingredient in the nourishing butters, sometimes constituting up to 70% of the finished product. However, natural unrefined shea butter has a very distinctive and earthy smell that is rather difficult to disguise using only essential oils. I am considering incorporating other butters to reduce the overpowering scent of shea butter.
While the efficacy of the oils and butters is not being questioned, the finished products containing these ingredients need a more appealing scent. I am in the process of incorporating oils and butters that will blend well with the existing formulas but also offer a more pleasing scent. One stylist said, “People will buy anything, as long as it smells good.” I was working from another perspective, “People will buy anything, as long as it is effective.” I know the products are effective, my goal now is to deliver that winning scent.
*Nourishing Butters are only available in sample sizes and are not yet available for sale.
Tags: Be Weave Hair Elixir, Citrus Shampoo, Herbal Oat and Citrus Conditioner, Natural Conditioners, Natural Hair Care, Natural Hair Conditioners, Natural Hair Oils, Rejuvenating Hair Elixir, Soothing Hair Elixir
The Truth About Ingredients presents ingredient information in a non-biased way. I will attempt to explain (in simple English) what the ingredient is and how it works and direct you to read safety information from an independent source. It will be up to you, the consumer, to make an informed decision about ingredients and by extension, what products to select.
I started Hair and Skin JUNC as a way to educate myself and others about ingredients that for years have been overlooked, or substituted for cheaper more easily mass produced ingredients. While I can proudly say all Hair and Skin JUNC products have natural and sometimes organic ingredients at their base, there are still ingredients that one cannot get away from when manufacturing hair and skin care products. To completely avoid certain products, like preservatives, would be to risk product contamination and the harmful effects of using those products. All Hair and Skin JUNC products that are either oil-in-water or water-in-oil emulsions contain preservatives. Facial cleansers and shampoos also contain preservatives. Basically, all products that contain water or a water based substance, will contain one or more preservative.
The cremes that I use at home can be made without the use of chemical preservatives because I will use all the product within one, to two weeks, I will use a spatula to dispense product that are in jars and I can store the product in the refrigerator. Using the product over a short time period limits the amount of time the bacteria has to grow. Using a spatula to dispense the products (stored in jars) reduces the risk of introducing bacteria into the product with hands. Refrigerating the product also helps to create a somewhat hostile environment for bacteria, thereby slowing down the growth rate. To completely avoid the use of preservatives in oil-in-water and water-in-oil emulsions, as well as other products containing water; one would have to buy these items the same way they purchase fresh milk – in the refrigerated section of the store, every seven to ten days. Does that sound like fun? Not for me, so I opt for the preservatives.
Phenoxyethanol
Phenoxyethanol is an organic chemical compound used as a preservative. It provides broad spectrum antimicrobial coverage for gram-positive and gram negative-bacteria, mold and yeast. In short, it is used to kill bacteria and stabilize formulations. Phenoxyethanol can be derived synthetically as well as from purely organic matter. For more information on Phenoxyethanol, go here.
Tetrasodium EDTA
Tetrasodium EDTA is used as a chelating agent and preservative. Chelating agents are chemicals that combine with metal ions and remove them from their “sphere of action.” Cleansing solutions such as body washes, facial cleanser, shampoos, etc., contain tetrasodium EDTA because they work in conjunction with the surfactant*. The surfactant pulls the dirt and oil away from the surface of hair or skin and the tetrasodium EDTA neutralizes the ion molecules that are attracted to the water and the surfactant, allowing them to be washed away. “The binding of metal ions also helps to prevent spoilage of cosmetics and other personal care products. It helps to maintain clarity, protect fragrance compounds, and prevent rancidity.” For more information on Tetrasodium EDTA, go here.
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*Surfactant (Definition copied from here) A shortened form of “surface-active agent”, a surfactant is a chemical that stabilizes mixtures of oil and water by reducing the surface tension at the interface between the oil and water molecules. Because water and oil do not dissolve in each other a surfactant has to be added to the mixture to keep it from separating into layers. Surfactants in cosmetics provide one or more of six functions:
Tags: Be Weave Hair Elixir, Natural Hair Conditioners, Soothing Hair Elixir
Hair Care Products
Once hair has been chemically enhanced, either by perms, relaxers or color, one major problem faced is that of moisture loss and strength. Our products are designed to gently cleanse, moisturize, condition and strengthen hair that has been chemically processed. Shampoos and conditioners are SLS free, therefore, gentle enough for use on color treated hair.
Hair that is in its natural state may be prone to breakage due to actions such as excessive blow drying and over use of products that lock moisture out of the hair. We have products that will detangle, moisturize, soften and add sheen to natural hair. Our elixirs are designed for direct application to the scalp but can be used, in small amounts, to add sheen to hair.
Beeswax combined with natural butters and essential oils makes an incredible pomade for those wishing to start and maintain locs, naturally. The pomade also provides moderate hold for most hair types and does not contain alcohol and other harsh substances, therefore, it will not dry out the hair.
Skin Care Products
Skin goes through many stages of change, with each change, it is imperative that skin remains adequately moisturized.
All moisturizers contain a mix of emollients, humectants, preservatives and fragrances. The quantity of the first three depend on a number of factors, including, skin type, skin sensitivity and age. In addition to those basic ingredients, there may be other vitamins, minerals and extracts added to boost the effectiveness of the above mentioned ingredients, as well as to further tailor them to suit various skin types. We use natural and naturally derived emollients and humectants with preservatives. There are no synthetic fragrances added to our products. If fragrances are detected, it is as a result of one or a combination of essential oils.
Facial cleaners differ based on the skin for which they are designed. For those people with sensitive, dry or normal skin, we have non-foaming creme cleansers designed to gently lift away surface dirt without stripping the skin of its natural moisture. We also use SLS free surfactants that provide mild foaming action and offer a deeper clean for those with oily or combination skin. Toners, cremes and serums work in conjunction with cleaners and help to round out our skin care line.
Tags: Be Weave Hair Elixir, Natural Hair Care, Natural Hair Oils, Rejuvenating Hair Elixir, Soothing Hair Elixir
PTY and I decided to color code products based on whether they are for hair or skin care use. We went further and differentiated between facial products and body products. We went over the edge when we decided to separate hair elixirs from all other hair products. Maybe in the future some actual science will go into deciding what additional colors to use but as of right now, it’s based solely on colors we like.
Elixirs are marked with the same shade of green that is used for the Hair and Skin JUNC Logo. We thought since the idea for JUNC started with the elixirs, they should be represented with the same green – really scientific.
Shampoos, conditioners and all other hair care products are marked by a shade of burnt orange. Or maybe it’s just orange, I could give the HEX and RGB values but who would seriously look those up?
Body products are marked by a deep and totally amazing aquamarine color, it was chosen simply for its beauty. I’m thinking maybe this color would look good on PTY as spring/summer romper (Okay, I jest)
Facial products are marked by another shade of blue; a bit lighter than that of the body products but still beautiful. I wish I could say we chose a color for facial products based on body products because the face and body are closely related but that would be too scientific. I can think of it now but I assure you, I wasn’t able to think of it then.
There will be additional colors as we grow the line and I’m really excited to use the method described above to select them. The men’s line is coming soon and I can see it now, light grey label with black writing. Men, so easy!
PTY is designing my labels and is putting up with my madness. We are trying to get the basic design that will be tweaked a bit for each product. I have lost count of all the version we have gone through but PTY remains patient (or maybe she is hiding her frustrations better that I am.)
If you are in need of graphic design services try www.teneightyink.com . She specializes in wedding and other special occasion stationery and monogram designs.
Love you, PTY!
