EstherNaturally.com

Esther Naturally is a family-owned business that began in 2006. We are committed to offering the highest quality natural products that give you:

• Nutritious skin care through natural vegetable oils or seed oils as our bases.
• Potent therapeutic results through pure essential oils.
• Restoration of your skin to health and beauty with locally grown herbs.
• Strong anti-aging serums and crèmes fortified with antioxidants and vitamin E and C.
• Maximum protection and revitalizing for your skin with ingredients such as:

Beeswax         Pomegranate juice

Shea butter    Vitamins E, C

Aloe vera        Cocoa butter

Rose hips      Jojoba oil

The size of a molecule of essential oil is incredibly tiny. These small molecules are able to pass through your skin without much difficulty. Your skin will not absorb every drop of oil, however. A small quantity of essential oil evaporates just from the warmth of your skin, and a little stays on the surface of your skin.

 This assimilation does not take place all at one time. Essential oils are formed from lots of different compounds, and some go through your skin quicker than others. The most absorbable components can appear in your blood 20 minutes after you massage them on your skin.

 Try this out. Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub the cut surface freely on the sole of your foot. Put socks on and wait. It will require your blood system about 20 minutes to transport the essential oil of garlic all through your body. You’ll know because you’ll be able to taste it. Not simply can you taste garlic, but its potent antiseptic activity is operating all over your body.

 Essential oils tend to go right where you need them. Assume that you have a sore muscle and would like to make use of an essential oil like chamomile to relieve the pain. Rub a massage oil that includes chamomile essential oil on the sore area, and you’ll dispatch the absorbable portions of the oil to your aching muscle that lies underneath the skin.

 Not only does the troubled region obtain nearly the entire healing dose when you put aromatherapy products on your skin, but a smaller amount of essential oil goes into your blood stream. Not as much essential oil in your blood means less oil has to be processed by your liver.

 Essential oils must be diluted before they may safely be applied to your skin. This is commonly done by mixing a small amount of essential oil with a large quantity of a vegetable oil. Every aromatherapy product that contains vegetable oil – and that includes skin lotion, facial cream, salve, and massage oil – slows down the assimilation of essential oil by your skin. This means that a little less essential oil is absorbed into your body. What is going on is that large molecules in vegetable oils such as sweet almond oil or olive oil are too large to go through your skin, so they remain on surface of your skin and hold onto some of the essential oil while they’re at it. This is good for your skin since it provides the essential oils a chance to do their work directly to your skin.

The information for this post is taken from:

• Kathi Keville. Aromatherapy for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc, 1999

Everybody realizes that a healthy diet is good for you. However, do you know that specific foods also cause your skin to be more attractive?

 Therefore, we suggest you include the following foods in your diet as often as possible:

 Blueberries

 Blueberries are full of anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are the pigments that give blueberries their dark blue color. They are also strong antioxidants. Antioxidants help to protect your skin from the damaging effects of the sun.

 But unlike sunscreens and moisturizers, antioxidants protect your skin from the inside out by guarding your cells from damage. Because antioxidants protect cells and encourage cell growth they also help fight fine lines and wrinkles.

 If possible, eat ½ cup to 1 cup of blueberries every day. For a change, you can replace blueberries with blackberries, red or purple grapes, or raspberries. They also are an excellent source of anthocyanins.

 Chocolate

For good-looking skin, be sure to eat chocolate frequently. Researchers say that a dark chocolate candy bar possesses just as many antioxidants as an equal quantity of spinach, prunes, raisins, kale, and brussel sprouts, combined.

Cacao is the plant that is responsible for dark chocolate’s great flavor. Dark chocolate contains a large quantity of the flavonoid resveratrol that is the same heart-healthy antioxidant we find in red wine. Current studies indicate that cacao’s flavonoids shield your skin from UV damage. In addition, they open your blood vessels. This boosts blood flow and carries nutrients to the surface and deeper layers of your skin and increases skin hydration, thickness, and smoothness.

Most authorities urge eating only very dark chocolate, with at least 70 percent cacao. Cacao nibs or cocoa power are single-ingredient foods and thus the best sources of straight cacao. (Cacao nibs are cacao beans that have been fermented, roasted, stripped of their husks, and broken into bits.) The next time you bake banana bread, try replacing half the walnuts with cacao nibs for a tasty treat. Or combine nibs with cashews and dried fruit, such as cherries or cranberries, for a new twist on trail mix. Cocoa powder can be a great add-on to chili con carne, or try mixing the dry powder with sea salt for a rub on grilled meat.

Citrus

 Shield your skin from the negative effects of stress by consuming citrus and other vitamin C-rich foods, such as broccoli or strawberries.

 When you expose your skin to the sun, a chemical reaction takes place, producing free radicals that can injure cells and modify DNA. This shows up as age spots, wrinkles, and sagging skin. But vitamin C helps prevent this reaction from occurring.

 Vitamin C also promotes the creation of collagen, the structural foundation that keeps your skin soft and elastic, and diminishes wrinkles.

 Incorporate two to three servings of vitamin C-rich foods in your diet every day. When you take vitamin C internally, it will reach every layer and part of your skin.

 In addition to vitamin C, citrus fruits provide a unique nutrient called d-limonene. You find d-limonene in the peel of the fruit. Investigators have observed that people who eat citrus rind at least one time a week experience less occurrence of squamous cell skin cancer. Grate citrus peel and include it in salads or main dishes.

 The information for this post was taken from:

•  Laurel Vukovic, “Beautiful Inside And Out” Better Nutrition magazine, June, 2010
•  Emily Stone, “Health By Chocolate” Natural Solutions Magazine, April, 2010
•  Lindsay Wilson, “The Beauty Bar – Vitamin C” Natural Solutions Magazine, January, 2009

A plant’s scent is created by special oils called essential oils. To find plants that possess these oils, just smell the plant. If the plant has an aroma, it contains essential oils. Roses, violets, and even Christmas trees all owe their distinct scent to essential oils.

 Essential oils are removed from a plant by various techniques. After it is extracted, a pure essential oil is somewhat oily to the touch. Even though it is officially an oil, it is much thinner than vegetable oils we use in cooking, such as canola oil or olive oil.

Essential oils are made up of such tiny compounds that the oils not only feel thin, but they seem to vanish when you rub them between your fingers. They also do not stain when you put them on cloth, and they evaporate quickly into the air. Because they disperse so rapidly, a different name for essential oils is volatile oils.

 Special scent glands in a plant create these essential oils. These glands may appear anywhere, but are most likely in the flowers and leaves and least to be expected in the stems. Essential oils perform many important functions for the plant:

•  They attract bees and other pollinators.
•  They keep away harmful bugs.
•  They repel other plants so that they don’t take up all the space.
•  They kill bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.
•  They close up the plant’s wounds.
•  They make the plant water-resistant.
•  They increase the plant’s resistance to disease.

 The beauty industry welcomes aromatherapy because essential oils improve the health and beauty of skin, hair, and nails. As an extra fringe benefit, they smell terrific when you apply them to your skin. Essential oils assist the human body in many of the same ways they help the plants they come from:

•  They kill bacterial, viral and fungal infections.
•  They cure wounds.
•  They decrease inflammation.
•  They regulate hormones.
•  They tone up and moisten your skin.
•  They stimulate the immune system.
•  They repel bugs.

 Here are a few additional things they will do for your body:

•  They heat up your skin when you apply them in a warm massage oil or liniment.
•  They help blood flow and digestion.
•  They reduce sinus and lung congestion.

The information for this post was taken from: Kathi Keville. Aromatherapy for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc, 1999