Adding herbs to your homemade products is extremely easy. Herbal infusions are inexpensive and simple to incorporate in your skincare formulation. For one thing, there are tons of herbs and flowers to choose from, all with amazing skin and hair care benefits. Every herb is different, and every plant can provide with different properties to healthy/beautiful skin. Making herbal infusions allows DIY-ers / formulators to have control over their end products.
1. Water-Based Infusions
Water-based infusions are a super-quick way of adding herbal, vegetable or fruit extracts to products such as water-based eye make-up removers, tone, facial sprays and face masks. Making a water-based extract (or infusion) from the leaves or flowering tops of dried or fresh herbs is as simple as making a cup of herbal tea
Ingredients
100g dry herbs or 300g fresh herbs
500ml distilled water
Instructions
- Wash the plant material, place it in a heatproof jug or a mug
- Pour over boiling water. Cover to retain the heat and vapour, and allow to infuse for around 10 minutes.
- Strain the hot liquid through a tea strainer, a fine sieve (sifter) or a piece of muslin (cheesecloth) to remove all the herbs.
- Retain the infused liquid. If the end recipe is a face mask or any product that you intend to use immediately, there is no need to add a preservative. If you plan to keep the product for longer, you need to use a preservative, recommended dosage at 1%.
2. Flower Waters
Another way to get water-based herbal extracts into your products is by using flower waters or hydrolats. These are the byproducts of the steam distillation of essential oils and one very easy to use, lavender, orange flower, and rosewater are the most common. They make great skin fresheners in their own right and retain the properties of the essential oil from which they are made.
3. Oil-Based Infusions
Although still quick and easy to make, infused oils are not instant like the water-based alternatives. The plant material is placed in the oil medium and left to infuse over time. Herbs, especially woody herbs such as rosemary and thyme, flowers, notably calendula and St John’s wort; roots and seaweed are ideal for oil-infused. Inexpensive carrier oils, such as olive, sunflower, and sweet almond, are suitable.
Picture Source: Herbal Academy
Ingredients
250g dry herbs or 700g fresh herbs
500ml sunflower oil or olive oil
Instructions
- All plant material should be washed, dried and then chopped finely or grounded in a coffee grinder
- Put all herbs and oil into a double boiler and place on top of boiling water.
- Gently cook for about 3 hours
- Fit cheesecloth around the rim of a glass pitcher and pour in the mixture from the double boiler
- Squeeze the mixture until very last drop using cheesecloth.
- Pour the strained liquid into a clean, dark glass bottle using a funnel.
- Label the jar with the date.
As these infusions contain no water, there is no need for a preservative.
Infused oils make useful additions to creams and lotions, as well as massage oils, and cuticle and nail oils and scrubs. They keep for up to 12 months in suitable storage conditions.
4. Glycerin Infusions
Glycerin infusions allow the use of concentrated extracts in small amounts and are ideal for the use in cream, lotions or any recipes when glycerin is recommended. This method is excellent for tough materials such as roots and stems (for example, licorice root and bladderwrack can be used in infusions if chopped finely before infusion); many wild plants are also suitable, as well as herbs and flowers. Always check that the material you use is safe, and if you are in any doubt, use something you are sure about.
Picture Source : Mountain Rose Herbs
Ingredients
100g dried herbs or 300g fresh herbs
70% (350ml) Glycerin and 30% (150ml) distilled water
Instructions
- All plant material should be washed, dried and then chopped finely or grounded in a coffee grinder
- Prepare the glycerin mix by adding 70% glycerin to 30% water.
- Put all the herbs in a glass jar and covered with the glycerin mixture. The herbs must be entirely covered by the liquid
- You need preservative as it contains water. Add 1% preservative, in this case, 5g.
- Mix thoroughly.
- Seal the jar and store in a cool, dark place for around 3-4 weeks.
- Shake it vigorously at least once a week.
- After 3-4weeks, squeeze the mixture until very last drop using cheesecloth.
- Pour the strained liquid into a clean, dark glass bottle using a funnel.
- Label the jar with the date.
Glycerin infusions can be used in foot creams, healing the skin creams and hair care. They keep for up to 12 months in suitable storage conditions.
Remember! Although the glycerin infusion is preserved, you will still need to add a preservative to any formula containing water in which the infusion is used, to preserve the rest of the ingredients.
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