Why Lanolin is such a good skin care ingredient

Lanolin is one of the most wonderful natural products to protect your lips, hands, feet, and your entire body. Lanolin helps keep the sheep’s coat protected and dry throughout the year.  Lanolin is extracted from the wool after shearing, and refined to the highest grade available.

The  composition of lanolin is very similar to that of human skin lipids. Therefore, it is more skin-compatible than any other natural or synthetic ingredient in skincare. Lanolin forms a protective layer on the skin that allows air to get in but holds water in, allowing the skin to hydrate naturally. Lanolin can also be a water reservoir, holding up to 400% of its weight, contributing to the natural skin hydration of lanolin products.

With more than 50 lanolin products in our collection, Koru Naturals offers the most extensive selection of lanolin skin care available today. But, the question is often asked: how do you pick the right one? To help with this decision, let’s first classify our lanolin products according to lanolin content:

• Pure lanolin – 100% USP grade lanolin. It comes in 2 oz pots, lip balm tubes, and small and large lip balm pots
• Lanolin and sunflower wax lip balm
• Balms – 40% to 60% lanolin
• Creams and lotions – Less than 10% lanolin

Pure Golden Lanolin

Our top selling product since 2001, our lanolin has an exceptional level of purity.  Simple and highly effective, our Australian Golden Lanolin is used regularly as skin moisturizer and protectant. It’s also a favorite of DIY crafters, who use it to create creams, lotions, and balms.

Pure lanolin is a wax, which can be pretty hard, particularly in cold weather. What I do is to use a hair dryer on low to soften it to a semi-liquid consistency that is easy to apply. If you use it on your feet it’s best to do it at night and wear woolly socks. Do it daily for a week and you’ll be amazed at the results!

Our 100% pure lanolin is also available in lip balm containers:

• Blue Label set of four tubes
• Set of four small pots
• Single larger pots

Lanolin and Sunflower Wax Lip Balm

Whereas the blue label tubes are the most popular lip balm form, they cannot be shipped in summer because the lanolin melts. The Green Label tubes have a small amount of sunflower wax added, which increases the melting point. Green Label tubes can be shipped year around and they are convenient for warm climates.

Lanolin and Tupelo Honey Lip Balm

On the Lamb Lip Balm: Pure Lanolin combined with Tupelo Honey, shea butter, sweet almond oil, and castor oil

Balms

Pure lanolin can be blended with oils and butters to create products that are softer and easier to spread than pure lanolin.

• Koolpurrie Balm: Lanolin and Emu Oil
• Hydrous Lanolin: 70% Lanolin
• Orange Hand and Body Balm

Creams and Lotions

Too numerous to list all, you can browse all products on our main lanolin page. In general, lanolin creams and lotions contain less than 10% lanolin because otherwise they would feel sticky. A few products and lines we love:

• Pure and Simple Lanolin Cream by Beauty Spa
• On the Lamb Lanolin Co
• Wild Ferns Natural Lanolin Line

Your skin will thank you

Lanolin was the beauty secret of the 20’s and 30’s, but then it was neglected in favor of newer and more expensive ingredients. However, there was never a good reason to neglect lanolin as excellent skin care ingredient, other than generally false claims used to justify high prices. What lanolin does for sheep is also good for your skin, so regardless of what product you choose your skin will thank you.

One for her, one for him.

Poet’s Narcissus

From the fields of Southern France we get pure extracts of Narcissus poeticus flowers which, combined with other natural ingredients, result in this beautiful new fragrance.

The daffodil flowers that inspired this fragrance are intensely fragrant and have a beautiful combination of white petals and yellow corona.  The aroma is reminiscent of jasmine, hyacinth and a light citrus. To this initial flower base we add herbal, earth, orange, and wild notes that result in a feminine, soft yet persistent, solid fragrance.

The Dark Side

Boozy, earthy and woody, our new solid fragrance for men caters to the bad side of the best of gentlemen. It took a very long time to develop this fragrance, but it was definitely worth it. Perfect to alternate with our Bay Rum fragrance, and as a sensual and meaningful gift.

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY AND FRAGRANCE

Fragrance, culture and history

Those of you who follow our blog already know how we like to connect mythology with the products we sell. It is so much fun to learn about how cultures have used natural product through history than to deal with something that was made in a lab recently and is devoid of cultural significance.

The recent launch of the PATCH solid fragrance gave us an opportunity to explore the history of fragrance in India. And how rich and fascinating that history turned out to be!

After a lot of reading, we selected these myths and stories that we found particularly captivating.

The Sad and Beautiful Legend of the Parijata Flower

The Parijata flower is a form of Jasmine that flowers only at night. By day the fragrance is gone, so if the flower is to be offered to the Gods it must be picked at night and offered immediately. Legend has it that Parijata was a mortal princess that fell in love with Surya, the Sun God. Against her father’s advice, Parijata got together with Surya on Earth. Predictably, Surya quickly got tired of Earth and abandoned her, going back to the Sun. Brokenhearted, Parijata tried to follow Surya, but was burned to death by his heat. The Gods felt sorry for her, so they decided to reincarnate Parijata as a tree that would only flower at night to avoid the heat of the sun. Today, Parijata extracts of flowers collected at night are used extensively in perfumery and incense sticks.

The legend of Kamadeva

Kamadeva is the Hindu god of love and desire. Like Cupid, he carries a bow and arrow, but his bow is made of sugar cane, the string a line of honeybees, and his arrows are tipped by five kinds of flowers: mango, jasmine, white lotus, blue lotus, and ashoka.  It was the fragrance of these flowers that made Kamadeva’s arrows so irresistible at capturing hearts.

Gardening Accords

Sophisticated gardens in ancient India combined flowering plants on the basis of the compatibility of their aromas and the timing of flowering. This is in contrast with gardening in the West, where visual integration is generally the norm. In perfumery an accord is a combination of notes that result in a unified single aroma. The gardening practices in India made us think of a “gardening accord”. In fact, the concept of skillfully combined natural aromas was a key part of South Asian cultures: “A good perfume should be like a well-run kingdom, with the correct balance of allies (mild components), neutrals, and enemies (pungent materials).  A good perfume should also be harmonious with incense and garlands, the season and the humoral character of the person wearing it. The skilled use of perfumes delighted the gods, appeased kings, and excited lovers” (4).

Gardens were the center of a plush life that also included poetry readings, music, and multiple day and night aromas from flowers, candles and burning woods. The Sultan’s bedchambers would open directly to the garden, and he would enjoy baths in violet and rose water.

The Book of Delights

In 1469 Ghiyath Shahi assumed the throne of Malwa in central India. In his inauguration speech he was very clear about his plans: he would dedicate his sultanate to his enjoyment of life. At least he was honest, and he shared his expertise of life’s pleasures in a book he wrote called the Book of Delights.

The Book of Delights covers both cooking recipes and the making and enjoyment of perfumes. A true gentleman at that time was expected to have an encyclopedic knowledge of both cooking and perfumery, together with poetry, gardening, and seduction. Much of the book is dedicated to perfumes for the House of Pleasure, which was his harem, and includes detailed descriptions of how to scent a woman’s body.

Perfumes and Life

The history of fragrances in ancient India is a lesson on integrating perfumes with art, spiritually, religion and seduction.  Whereas in the West we tend to think of perfumes as part of fashion and celebrity marketing, extensions such as aromatherapy, candles and room diffusers bring similar connections to loftier aspects of life. Indian perfumery has been in decline because of the dominance of Western, primarily French, fragrances and the extinction of unique sources such as sandalwood and karmawood.  We like to think that with PATCH we are bringing some of that magic back.

Articles we enjoyed reading for this post:

1. Alexis Karl, Royalty and Fragrance
2. William Dalrymple, The perfumed past
3. TanyaDutt, The fragrant myth of Parijat
4. James McHugh, Sandalwood and Carrion: Smell in Indian Religion and Culture

We are asked all the time whether bees are killed to extract the bee venom used in the products we sell. The answer? Never! We love bees and we would never contribute to their destruction.

So how is the bee venom extracted? Through a unique and patented method developed by New Zealand scientists. Bee venom is produced in the venom gland of the bee, and is stored in an adjacent sac in the bee’s abdomen. The amount of venom a bee has depends on age. Newly hatched bees don’t have any venom at all, but the amount increases rapidly for the first two weeks of a worker bee’s life, reaching a plateau of about 0.3 mg (dry weight).

New Zealand scientists have invented a collection device for venom that doesn’t kill the bees. The device consists of a glass sheet placed on the bottom of the beehive. The glass sheet conducts a gentle electric current. When the current is turned on, bees that are on the sheet automatically stick out their stingers, and the action of the muscles pushing the stinger also pumps a small amount of venom out the end of the sting. This venom falls on the glass where it is collected and purified for storage, and freeze-dried to ensure that the venom’s bioactive materials are not degraded. It takes one million sting deposits on a collector board to make 1 gram of dry venom. This is the reason the cost of bee venom skin care products is so high.

So if you love bees and New Zealand Bee Venom skincare, you can buy our products without hesitation knowing that bees were never harmed in the process.

Benefits of Emu Oil

Emu oil for beauty is simple and effective. I’ve talked about taking your skincare and paring it down to just the essentials before in recent articles here. When simplicity wins, you win with an easier beauty regimen that’s just right for your skin and hair. Emu oil is the next level oil you should be exploring for your routine. I’ve found that the benefits of emu oil are extraordinary and time-tested. Here are some of the beautiful benefits of emu oil, that you are going to definitely want to test out for yourself, with a bottle of your own from Koru Naturals.

History

This is an oil you should look into that comes from an interesting Australian flightless bird. The Aborigines of Australia were some of the first people to discover all the ways the emu bird, this Wonder Down Under, could be used successfully for holistic healing, haircare, and especially on the body and face for skin health.

When it was first discovered, the back fat of the bird was used to create the emu oil. The reason the oil is so beneficial number one comes from this fact. This oil contains a bounty of omega fatty acids, including 3, 6, and 9. The trifecta of “good for you” oils as a skin treatment is legendary. This can’t be overstated. What emu oil naturally contains is amazing. Omega-9 specifically is called oleic acid, which is also in many other nut butters (shea butter) and vegetables oils, like olive or grapeseed oil. Oleic acid is responsible for keeping skin supple and radiant.

 Antioxidants Are Plentiful

Another reason, other than the fatty acid content of the emu oil, is that it’s also loaded with antioxidants that help hydrate aging skin, help with skincare issues like eczema or psoriasis, and can even act as a corrective agent to improve the appearance of age spots, fine lines, and other skin imperfections. What doesn’t this simple oil do? It’s a powerhouse all around to add to your skincare regimen.

 Hydration Is Plentiful with Emu Oil

The moisturizing properties of emu oil are insanely effective. It’s able to penetrate much deeper than other oils for true, deep down moisture. I’ve found this is the most luxurious part about using emu oil. After my shower at night, I slick on a layer of emu oil on my damp skin, including my face, to lock in the moisture. It’s truly the best face serum and not expensive like most others on the market for hundreds of dollars. The next morning when I wake up, I notice just how silky soft and gorgeous my skin feels. It’s a nightly treatment that is absolutely essential to my routine now because I just can’t get over how great my skin feels to the touch. My hands and nails enjoy the nourishment too because as a nail hydrating oil it’s helped to stop breakage and ragged cuticles. 

 Plus, it’s been helpful to reducing the appearance of stretch marks and old acne scars. As a mother of two, I thought stretch marks were just a part of life. Once I introduced emu oil into my bodycare regimen, those marks look so much better!

Your Hair and Scalp Will Love Emu Oil Too

Not only does emu oil work wonders on the skin, but you can also use it on your scalp and hair. For scalp issues, like hair itch relief, emu oil can help hydrate and nourish the scalp balancing out your natural oils to reduce the appearance of dandruff and dry scalp. 

 You can also use emu oil as a treatment mask. Just mix a few drops of emu oil with a tablespoon of coconut oil and slather on your hair from root to tip. Leave on for 20 minutes and then shampoo and condition as you regularly do. You’ll find that your hair is fortified, soft, and less frizzy overall. Use this intensely hydrating treatment mask about once a week for best results.

 I sometimes will rub some emu oil in the ends of my hair before I go to the gym or to the pool to protect my strands. Then I just pull it into a topknot and go. It’s an easy way to hydrate and pull my hair up for activities.

 A Note on the Emu’s Environment

Today for Koru Natural products, the emu oil is created from United States farming sources, where all the extraordinary birds are treated humanely. They aren’t subjected to antibiotics or keep in poor conditions. That was an important fact for me before I started using emu oil. Having this oil as a part of my life for years has been such a benefit for my skin and hair’s health and condition, but I had to know the birds were being treated well too.

 If you are interested in finding an exceptional oil that treats so many skin and hair issues, you’ll be so glad you looked into simplifying your skincare with this one product. It’s definitely something I always have on my vanity now for so many reasons. You’re going to love it too!

Our new Flowers and Fire Solid Fragrance contains an extract from very rare coffee flowers. The fragrance of coffee flowers is just wonderfully deep and with none of the overly sweet tones of other fragrances like gardenias. But, when looking for people to test the new fragrance we ran into an unexpected problem: people just don’t believe that coffee flowers don’t smell like coffee beans. “No, thanks, I don’t want to smell like my morning cup of java”. Truth is that coffee flowers don’t smell like coffee at all. But, there was no choice but to change the name to Flowers and Fire from Coffee Flowers and Fire!

image Coffee flowers  Uploaded by AlbertHerring) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons