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Every summer, I love to spend as much time as humanly possible outside. With gardening, evening walks and the occasional trip to the beach, my skin can soak up a lot of sun. For those days when I’ve had a little too much sun though, then I turn to this soothing sunburn spray to help relieve damaged skin.

I’m a big advocate for getting some safe sun exposure and soaking up all those lovely rays to boost my natural Vitamin D levels. And for the times where I know I’ll be in the sun all day, like at the beach, I like to take along some natural sunscreen with me. Sometimes though, I don’t always think ahead and my skin ends up a touch too red and I know I’ve overdone it. And while sun is good for you up to a point, burning is definitely not good and can do some serious damage to your skin.

What I used to use for sunburn

We used to use the bright blue aloe vera gel from the drug store every time we had a sunburn. I hated the slimy, sticky feel of the goop on my skin. A few years ago I actually took a look at the ingredients list, and it wasn’t something that I felt good about using anymore, now that we’re using non-toxic and all natural products. I like the first 2 ingredients, but then it goes downhill from there.

Water, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice , SD Alcohol 40-B (12.2% v/v) , Propylene Glycol , Glycerin , Polysorbate 20 , Carbomer , Triethanolamine , Diazolidinyl Urea , Disodium EDTA , Tocopherol , Blue 1 (source)

Yikes! So what’s a safe and healthy option instead of the blue goop?

An all natural solution

You know how much I love all things herbal, and a soothing after sun spray is no different. Herbs like calendula and lavender have skin regenerating properties, while chamomile is deeply soothing.

• Calendula – antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, demulcent
• Lavender – anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine, analgesic (relieves pain)
• Chamomile – antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic (relieves pain)
• Peppermint essential oil – contains soothing menthol to cool skin down

I usually use an herb infused salve when my skin needs some extra care, but in this case, a salve can make the skin feel too hot. A cooling mist is the perfect option since you don’t have to touch the damaged skin, further irritating it. I like keeping this in the fridge so it feels extra cooling and soothing.

Soothing after sun spray

• 1 tsp lavender flowers – get it here
• 1 T. chamomile flowers – get it here
• 1 T. calendula flowers – get it here
• 4 drops peppermint essential oil
• 2 T. pure aloe vera gel – get it here
• 1 T glycerin –get it here
• ¼ tsp non-gmo vitamin E (helps extend the shelf life and protects skin) – get it here
• 7 oz Distilled water
• 8 oz spray bottle or mister – get some here

1. In a clean saucepan with a lid, heat the water until it starts to boil. Turn the heat off and then add the herbs. Let the mixture steep for 5 minutes before carefully straining the herbs out.
2. Pour the herb infused water into your spray bottle and allow it to cool to room temperature. You can place the bottle in the fridge to speed up the process.
3. Next, add the aloe vera gel, vitamin E oil, glycerin and the peppermint essential oil. Shake well to combine.
   Store any extra in the fridge and use liberally on skin that’s had too much sun.

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I’m a big fan of the classic gingerbread cookie, but there’s something about having it in drinkable form that makes this even better. This recipe is similar to my superfood vanilla latte, but it really kicks the flavor up a notch. Of course it’s a latte so you’ll need coffee, but if you’re not into the regular caffeinated type, or you’re trying to give your adrenals a rest, then there’s another option.

A non-coffee option

My friend Jessica from Delicious Obsessions created this fantastic “coffee” blend. It’s made from herbs that are not only caffeine free, but good for your whole body. Her happy liver coffee blend is my favorite, and tastes better than any other coffee sub I’ve tried. You can get the recipe for her secret coffee blends and drinks to make with them from her ebook here.

Pack a nutritional punch

Molasses is what really gives this drink the gingerbread flavor. It has a mild sweetness to it’s thick, syrupy goodness, but it’s also packed with nutrition. Molasses is naturally high in vitamin B-6, potassium and manganese. Just 1 tablespoon will deliver 12% of your daily magnesium. It’s sweet enough on its own, that I actually don’t add any additional sweetener to this recipe.

For the flavoring in this I played around with adding powdered herbs or boiling them in the water before brewing the coffee. With the dried herbs the flavor was too subtle, or gritty. And adding fresh to the water beforehand just made things too complicated for my taste.

Flavor for you gingerbread latte

I settled on adding essential oils to the recipe since it’s simple, yet adds a punch of flavor. If you’re thinking that I’m crazy and unsafe for doing this, then you can read my post on safely ingesting essential oils here. There’s enough fat from the cream and coconut oil for the essential oils to disperse in the drink.

Word of warning here, make sure you’re using pure essential oils, nothing that’s been adulterated. Cinnamon essential oil is commonly diluted with cheaper cassia. Some essential oils are no more than synthetic fragrance oils.

Don’t forget some gluten free chocolate dipped almond biscotti to dunk in your gingerbread latte. It tastes pretty good with some grain free coconut jam thumbprint cookies too!

The post Nourishing Gingerbread Latte, Naturally Sweetened appeared first on The Herbal Spoon.

There are a lot of essential oil myths floating around out there. I covered quite a few of them in this post here, like if it’s really so scary to ingest oils, or if you can use them safely on little ones. Something I’ve learned more about recently though is what phototoxic essential oils REALLY are and how to safely use them.

I thought I had it figured out. Citrus essential oils were phototoxic, meaning that when they were applied to the skin they could cause skin to be much more likely to burn in the sun. But.. I had it all wrong.

Are Citrus Essential Oils Phototoxic?

Yes and no. Certain essential oils do cause the skin to be more prone to burning and many of them are citrus oils. However, not all citrus essential oils are phototoxic. Here’s a list of phototoxic essential oils according to Robert Tisserand and the International Fragrance Association, or IFRA.

Phototoxic essential oils

• Bitter orange peel, cold pressed
• Fig leaf absolute
• Bergamot oil, cold pressed
• Lime oil, cold pressed
• Lemon oil, cold pressed
• Grapefruit oil, cold pressed
• Cumin oil
• Rue oil
• Angelica root oil

Update: There’s controversy over grapefruit being on this list, as professionals in the essential oil field have said that an analysis of the chemical breakdown of the oil and the existing literature show no concerns of phototoxicity. Being a citrus oil however, it tends to just get lumped in with the avoid list. This info comes from a personal conversation with Jessie Hawkins PhD of the Franklin Institute.

Citrus oils that are NOT phototoxic

• Lime oil, steam distilled
• Lemon oil, steam distilled
• Mandarin, cold pressed
• Tangerine, cold pressed
• Sweet or wild orange (citrus sinensis), cold pressed

 Phototoxic Essential Oil Safety for Skin

Based off of my readings from different aromatherapy blogs, I was well aware of the fact that phototoxic essential oils just shouldn’t be used on the skin. Or if you did use them, to make sure you didn’t expose skin to the sun for at least 12 hours, or up to 3 days. That’s not exactly true though.

Wash off products

If you’re including the phototoxic essential oil in a wash off product, then the same rules don’t apply. Since the essential oil won’t be sitting on the skin, there is no concern for phototoxicity. So you can wash your face with a lemon oil laced scrub and go out for a day at the beach with no ill effects.

Anything that’s meant to be washed off of the skin, such as soap, shampoo, face wash and body scrubs can safely use phototoxic essential oils. Each oil however has a maximum percentage that can be used in products before you’re risking skin irritation and sensitization. These guidelines of course are referring to skincare only and don’t apply to essential oils used in higher concentrations for medical purposes.

Leave on products

Some bodycare products that use essential oils are meant to be left on the skin, such as lotion, body butter, body spray and lip balm. Since the oils are going to be sitting on the top layer of the skin somewhat, you do have to exercise more caution here.

Most people believe that phototoxic essential oils can’t be used on the skin at all under any circumstance, but there are actually safe usage limits for leave on products. These guidelines don’t include essential oils used on the lip area. Since the lips are more delicate, the use of essential oils on them is more restricted.  In general, essential oils make up about 2% of skincare products. They’re very concentrated substances, so you don’t need much.

Below are the maximum percentages of certain phototoxic oils that can be used on the skin, and roughly how many drops that would be per ounce of carrier oil or other material. The IFRA guidelines differ a little from what Tisserand recommends in his book Essential Oil Safety. Tisserand seems to be a little more conservative with phototoxic essential oil usage.

Using phototoxic essential oils in leave on products (lotion, body butter, body spray)

Lemon, cold pressed – 2% or about 12 drops per ounce of carrier
Lime, cold pressed – .7% or about 4 drops per ounce of carrier
Bergamot, cold pressed – .4% or about 2 drops per ounce of carrier
Grapefruit, cold pressed – 4% or about 24 drops per ounce of carrier
Bitter orange, cold pressed – 1.25% or about 7 drops per ounce of carrier

Using phototoxic essential oils in wash off products (soap, face wash, body wash)

Lemon, cold pressed – 5% or about 30 drops per ounce of carrier
Lime, cold pressed – 25% or about 150 drops per ounce of carrier
Bergamot, cold pressed – 5% or about 30 drops per ounce of carrier
Grapefruit, cold pressed – 5% or about 30 drops per ounce of carrier
Bitter orange, cold pressed – Listed as no restriction for wash off product. I can’t locate a maximum usage limit for bitter orange, although I’m assuming an undiluted oil could be irritating to skin. Based off of other usage guidelines, I personally wouldn’t use more than 5% in a wash off product, or about 30 drops per carrier.

Resources:

• IFRA phototoxicity standards
• Wholesale Supplies Plus
• Aroma Web

The post The Truth about Phototoxic Essential Oil Safety appeared first on The Herbal Spoon.

My other half struggles with an irritated scalp. I had been applying coconut oil mixed with some herbs, but that was incredibly messy and it took awhile to apply. I’ve since come up with this soothing scalp spray for irritated skin and we’ve seen such a huge improvement.

The beauty of apple cider vinegar

Since apple cider vinegar is antibacterial and antifungal, this makes it the perfect candidate for an itchy, irritated scalp spray. Unlike man made toxic antibiotics, vinegar doesn’t kill off all the good bacteria in the body, just pathogenic ones.  It not only eliminated the dandruff, but it also balanced the scalp’s ph for a healthier scalp and hair.

Its natural acidity discourages build-up on the scalp and adjusts skin pH when applied topically. The acidity of apple cider vinegar changes the pH of your scalp, so it’s not an ideal environment for yeast, fungus or bacteria to grow. (source)

Our skin naturally has an acidic ph of about 4.0-5.5, so we want to use something that has an acidic ph like vinegar on it. I’ve been using it in my 1 minute clear skin toner as a quick way to get better skin.

Essential oils

This past year I’ve discovered and really fallen in love with my essential oils. I concocted a moisturizing and skin clearing honey facewash that features essential oils, but I really wanted to add them to a scalp spray. I happened to find a recipe from this website, but I knew I wanted to change it up a bit.

These essential oils combine beautifully to create a blend that’s soothing, calming and really really works!

Scalp Spray For Irritated Skin

Ingredients:

• 4 drops patchouli
• 10 drops frankincense
• 10 drops geranium
• 1 drop clary sage
• 11 drops lavender
• 1 drop ylang ylang
• 9 drops bergamot
• 3 drops melaleuca
• 6Tbsps apple cider vinegar (preferably raw)
• 3 Tbsps filtered or distilled water
• Spray bottle

Directions:

1. 1. Combine all of the ingredients together and shake well to combine. I like to shake the bottle a little before each time I spray.
   2. Use a comb to part a section of hair close to the ear and spray the scalp with the vinegar blend. Move 1/4 inch over, part another section and spray the scalp there. Continue working in sections until the entire scalp has been covered.

1. This may sting a bit at first, but if it’s very uncomfortable, dilute with some water and try again.

P.S. Want to know all the nitty gritty details of how to make your own natural skincare products? Check out the Herbal Academy’s botanical skin care course here.

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