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Hints & Tips on How To Make Your Wildcrafted Products Go Further

Many of our customers, especially new customers, tend to go through their moisturisers much quicker than is actually necessary.

To help you get the most from our products here are a few simple steps you can take to make your products last longer and go further.

1. Apply the moisturiser to a damp/moist skin. The residual water on your damp skin will help to spread the product, especially moisturisers, further and therefore last longer.
   
2. Use less then you think you'll need. New customers, used to a different brand of products, tend to be heavy handed with our products and apply far too much resulting in left-over product on their hands that ends up going to waste.
   Start using much less than you think and see how far the product will go, then, if necessary apply a little more. You'll soon get the feel for the products and after a few days you'll know how much you'll need to use.
   
3. Make sure you regularly use an exfoliant. By using an exfoliant you reduce the number of dry, dead skin cells covering the surface of your skin. These dead skin cell, being very dry, will soak up any moisture you put on your skin resulting in less of the moisturiser getting to living skin cells underneath.
   Removing dry, dead skin cells also reduces the surface area of the skin and thus your moisturiser will go much further.
   
4. Use a non-alcohol based toner, such as our Milk of Roses Toner or the Wild Herb Toner. Alcohol based toners dry out your skin and will actually draw moisture from your skin - this is the opposite of what a good quality toner should do.
   Using a good quality toner will help to reduce further moisture loss after cleansing and will close opened skin pores. This will help in reducing surface area and therefore reduce the amount of moisturiser you'll need.

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About An Interesting Herb: Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum (L.))

Biological Name:
Trigonella foenum-graecum (L.)

Family:
Fabacae

Other Names: 
Hu Lu Ba

Parts Used:
Seed, fresh leaves²

Active Compounds: 
According to the University of Graz, the following main constituents are present in Fenugreek:

Fenugreek seeds contains only minute quantities of an essential oil. In the essential oil, 40 different compounds were found, furthermore, n-alkanes, sesquiterpenes, alkanoles and lactones were reported.³

The dominant aroma component in fenugreek seeds is a hemiterpenoid γ-lactone, sotolone (3-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-2(5H)-furanone), which is contained in concentrations up to 25 ppm. It supposedly forms by oxidative deamination of 4-hydroxy-isoleucine. Sotolone has a spicy flavour and was also found a key flavour in fermented protein seasonings, e.g., Maggi sauce. There is chemical similarity between sotolone and the phthalides responsible for the quite similar flavour of lovage leaves³. (ACS Symposium Series, 660, 1997)

Toasted fenugreek seeds owe their altered, more nutty flavour to another type of heterocyclic compounds, the so-called pyrazines. See cumin for further information.³

Fenugreek leaves were found to contain small amounts of sesquiterpenes (cadinene, α-cadinol, γ-eudesmol and α-bisabolol). (Journal of Essential Oil Research, 16, 356, 2004)³

Among the non-volatile components of fenugreek seeds, the furostanol glycosides are probably responsible for the bitter taste; among the several more compounds yet identified, steroles and diosgenin derivatives (of potential interest for the pharmaceutical industry) and trigonellin (N-methyl-pyridinium-3-carboxylate, 0.4%) are most worth noting.³

History:
A wide range of uses were found for fenugreek in ancient times. Medicinally it was used for the treatment of wounds, abscesses, arthritis, bronchitis, and digestive problems. Traditional Chinese herbalists used it for kidney problems and conditions affecting the male reproductive tract. Fenugreek was, and re-mains, a food and a spice commonly eaten in many parts of the world.

Traditional Applications in Herbal Medicine:

Western Herbal Applications:

Actions:

Expectorant, demulcent, tonic, galactogogue.⁴

Indications:

• Inflammation of the skin - wounds, boils, sores, fistulas and tumours⁴
• Indigestion⁴, Dyspepsia², Diarrhoea².
• Insufficient lactation⁴, Stimulating development of the breasts⁴.

Chinese Herbal Applications:

Hu Lu Ba (Fenugreek Seed) has bitter and warm properties affecting the Kidney and Liver channels.⁵

Its Clinical uses include:

• Warms the Kidneys, disperses Cold and alleviates pain: used for Kidney Yang Xu patterns with accumulation of Cold and Qi Stagnation. Symptoms include: Abdominal or hypochonriac distension and/or pain; or hernia like disorders.⁴
• Also used for Cold Damp Leg Qi.⁴
• Research has shown that Hu Lu Ba is useful in both the prophylaxis and treatment of mountain sickness, but is not as effective as Ginger.⁴

Other indications include:

• Taken as a tea for simple infective conditions like colds and sinus problems. Produces perspiration. Take in early stages of viral and bacterial infections of the respiratory tract. Also for bronchitis, fevers (reduces), and as a gargle for sore throats.
• Used in poultice form for skin inflammations. Helps normalize skin function and is used in cases of acne.
• Used for flatulence and digestive problems.
• Used to treat diabetes.
• Regulates pituitary gland to control appetite. Helps with difficulty of fat absorption.

Safety:

Use of more than 100 grams of seeds daily can cause intestinal upset and nausea. Otherwise, fenugreek is extremely safe.

References:

1. Grieve, M. (1977). A Modern Herbal. Penguin Books Ltd, England.
2. Stuart, Malcolm (1979). The Encyclopedia of Herbs and Herbalism. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1979.
3. University of Graz - Website: http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Trig_foe.html
4. Hoffmann, David (1983). The Holistic Herbal: A herbal celebrating the wholeness of life. Findhorn Press, Scotland.
5. Bensky, D. Gamble, A. and Kaptchuk, T. (1986) Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica. Eastland Press, Michigan.

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We hope you enjoyed these articles and invite you to send us suggestions of topics you would like to see us cover in the coming months.

Your suggestions are always welcome and we endeavour to cover the topics you would like to know more about - so don't be shy, drop us a line or two!

In good health

Danny & Susan Siegenthaler