Witch’s Brew

Being a good little witch, I try out all my creams and concoctions on myself and friends, but until recently have never needed to use my comfrey ointment.  I had a rather large heavy object fall directly onto my open foot while working at my part time job, and a rather large vein began to rise up and out.  It was quite painful.  I was allowed 15min to sit down and ice it, and then back to work.  Two hours later when I got home, I used my comfrey ointment and kept it well oiled every day.  There was no bruising or discolouration at all.  It kept the pain down too.  A week later I noticed a spot about 6cm away had turned a little blue, as I wasn’t spreading the cream far enough on my foot.  It has been slightly swollen and tender, and I know when more ointment needs to be put on, because it starts hurting again.  I always knew cerebrally it was awesome stuff, but now I truly know how wonderfully it works!

I have also come to some conclusions regarding formulas.  Nourishers, I have tried and tried.  I have finally decided to let go the veg-emulse and go back to my old emulsifier (cetearyl alcohol, ceteareth 20) a vegetable based wax. 

I am still using the veg-emulse for base creams for naturopaths and practitioners, as oil and water can be heated to exact same temperatures before mixing.  It works fine for very basic creams.

I found that to keep my creams consistent I couldn’t lacto-ferment them, but had to mix the ingredients all at the same time including the preservative to avoid separation later on.  I also needed twice as much veg-emulse as I did the original veg wax to hold the ingredients together as the water content needed to be mixed at a lower temperature (to preserve the goodies in the goji berries and aloe vera.)  Also, in order to compensate for the lack of lactic acid, I used potassium sorbate in an effort to prolong the shelf life.

I am going back to what I know works very well, and the old emulsifier is completely safe.  The only negative thing I could find regarding ceteareth 20 is that it makes it easier for toxins to get into the blood stream.  If I was using non trans-dermal preservatives or fillers like the parabens, it would enable them to get into blood stream, and in that respect I can see the harm.  As it is, there are no toxic substances in my creams at all, and the thought of superfoods and saturated fats making it into your bloodstream, well …….. excellent!

I made my first new batch of anti-ageing cream, added the whey last, let it sit for 7-8hrs before adding the grapefruit seed extract, (no potassium sorbate) and it came out beautifully.  I’ve also decided to add some raw cacao powder - just for fun.  Love those anti-oxidants!

Been having trouble with the soap making.  Cold pressed takes long long time to cure, and being a water sign, am too impatient to wait!  Tried making the heat pressed method, and they are coming out a little too dry.  Patience and practice and I will be there soon.  I’m getting lovely lathers from the saponified oils and soapwort content though.  They just don’t look too pretty at the moment. :-)

PS - fight for the tooth goes on.  Its still hanging in there, despite the dentist telling me it was dying and that I would need root canal.  That was 6 weeks ago.