Ayr Farmers’ Market
See us at the Ayr Farmers’ Market this Saturday!
Masonville Farmers Market
We are back at the wonderful Masonville Farmers Market! Come out to see us and the other amazing vendors.
Combat Dry Skin: Tips and Tricks for Fall and Winter
As we transition from summer into fall, heading for winter, our skin is about to embark on a slippery slope towards dry skin. Each year as the seasons change, we find ourselves battling dry skin. Knowing that everyone has a different type of skin, we’ve put together a quick roundup of tips on how to prevent and deal with dry skin. Here’s how to combat dry skin before it arrives.
Drink water. A great way to help prevent and combat dry skin is to increase your water intake. Hydrate your skin from the inside out. Everyone has a recommendation of the amount of water they should consume each day. But those recommendations are different for each person. Not sure if you’re getting enough water each day? Add in a glass of water and see how you and your skin react.
Moisturize. A great moisturizer can make the difference between regular skin and dry skin. When looking at moisturizers remember to fact in several items. What part of your body is the moisturizer for? Body, face, hands or feet? What are the ingredients in the moisturizer? Some moisturizers contain ingredients like alcohol that further dry your skin. Read the ingredient label carefully. A great moisturizer should provide your skin with moisture, all natural and organic ingredients. We recommend our Face & Eye Cream or Hand & Body Lotion.
Watch the water temperature. When bathing or showering, watch your water temperature. While it feels incredible to have a long hot shower, the hot water strips away your skin’s natural oils and dries your skin, contributing to dry skin.
Moisturize after bathing. One of the best ways to reduce the likelihood of dry skin. We recommend using our Face & Eye Cream. For your body, we recommend Belvedere Lavender’s Body Oil or Body Butter to help seal in the moisture.
Humidifier. If you happen to live in a dry home or environment, consider using a humidifier to ensure the air in your home contains some moisture. In the winter months, often our skin dries out from exposure to dry air, like the air found inside or outside of your home. Adding a humidifier to your home during the winter months can help add moisture to your home, reducing the dry air environment inside your home.
Wash your face outside of the shower. While having a bath or shower, it is easy to wash your face. But this may be contributing to dry skin. We all love a nice hot shower. But using hot water in the shower for washing your face may be making dry skin worse. Washing your face at a sink helps you control the water temperature, ensuring that you’re using cooler water. We recommend applying our amazing Anti-Aging Serum after washing your face in the evening. Our Anti-Aging Serum revitalizes and rejuvenates the look of your skin.
Dry skin is a problem for most in the fall and winter months and in environments where the air is dry. But there are tools and recommendations that can help you should you combat dry skin. How to combat dry skin before it arrives is a great way to win the battle on dry skin.
You can find great luxurious skin care products that work at our safe and secure online store.
St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market
We will be at the World Famous, St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market. Swing by and see what we have for your skin care routine.
What is Hydrosol and how can you use it around your home?
Recently we introduced a brand new product to Belvedere Lavender customers – Hydrosol. But what is this product, how can you use it around your home and most importantly, why should you?
Let’s dive in!
What’s Hydrosol?
When we extract essential oil from lavender, the process creates the essential lavender oil – which we bottle and sell, and the hydrosol. This hydrosol is the floral water, containing essence of lavender and water. Hydrosols are a gentle scent and less concentrated while essential oils are a heavier smell, and more concentrated.
Hydrosol has so many uses and purposes! While new in popularity, you’ll find a rich history of using floral water in various forms. These include: Perfumes, Skin toners, Aromatherapy, Makeup products, Skin care products, and Natural Health Products.
We’ll focus our attention on lavender. When we make essential lavender oil, using our copper still, we end up with 2 different products – the essential oil and the hydrosol. After these mixtures are separated and cooled, they’re bottled separately and dated. At each step we control the manufacturing process to ensure quality. Using both liquids from this manufacturing process is a smart, environmental move. We hate waste!
What do you use hydrosol for?
Now that we know what hydrosol is, what is its purpose? What can the floral water be used for, during or with? This is an excellent question. As we use all natural, organic products in our work and home lives, using hydrosol in our homes is the perfect addition to going green and using sustainable products.
Room deodorizer
You can use hydrosol for many purposes, including in place of room deodorizers. Looking to add a light, gentle scent to your room? Give hydrosol a try. You can add this light scent, without using products full of chemicals.
Ironing
Looking to iron a shirt or pair of pants, or whatever you iron? Use hydrosol in place of regular water. Be careful when ironing – cotton, linen clothing work well with hydrosol. But stay clear of using hydrosol on all silk items.
Cleaning Products
If you’re looking to kick your cleaning products to the curb because they’re made with too many chemicals for your liking, try making your own. We suggest a mixture of distilled water, white vinegar and lavender hydrosol. This cleaning mixture can also be used on windows and glass. If you’re cleaning greasy items, add a little dish soap into the mixture.
Rinsing Clothing
Adding lavender hydrosol to the final rinse of your washing machine is a great way to add softness and a light lavender scent to clothing. Consider swapping out fabric softener.
Makeup Remover
So many makeup removers are full of chemicals and dry out your skin. Instead of using these products, switch to a lavender hydrosol. You can add a little hydrosol to a cotton makeup pad and remove your makeup. The addition of lavender hydrosol adds moisture back to your skin and helps condition and tone it.
These 5 uses for hydrosol begin to demonstrate how useful and how versatile this product is. As we and many others continue to incorporate using all natural ingredients and products in our homes, we’ve begun to use our Lavender Hydrosol in place of many household products. We don’t miss the chemicals, but love the all natural scents.