Traveling all around Italy committed
only to chosing the highest quality of botanical extracts,we find ourselves participating
to a centuries-old religious celebration to commemorate the local Saint of this
tiny middle age village close to Rome,during which elderly Italian women are
used to decorate streets with beautiful made with flowers and plants drawings.
But how from all this paradise of
flowers and plants it becomes possible to obtain the essential oils we need for
our skin care line?
STEP
BY STEP FROM HARVEST TO COSMETICS
1) MACERATION;
Parts of the fresh plant are placed in an airtight
container and covered with almond oil or other base oils for 30 days
2) FILTERING AND SCREENING;
After this period the oil is filtered and transferred into another
container and skips to the pressing plant mixed with oil that contains most of
the functional substances in the plant itself. Two more days of resting, then a
second screening and other purifying processes occur before the oil,
filtered and pure, is ready for distillation.
3)DISTILLED;
Essential oils are obtained by steam distillation.
The pressurized steam is introduced into the lower part of
the distiller and passes through the plant parts or oil to
vaporize the volatile oils contained in them. It is a
method that applies to most of the aromatic plants and
exploits the physical properties of essences, in particular their
volatility.It is to separate the essential oil from the plant
origin using a jet of water vapor, which invests plant
tissues and "carries" the essence. From the
process you get two final products: the
distillate and the aromatic water. This is the water
that comes from the condensation of the
same steam, scented by a small fraction of
essence dissolved in it.
The techniques of preparation
of scented oils by maceration of flowers, herbs
and spices in vegetable oils has remained largely the
same over the centuries, until the development of the process
of distilling the essence which allowed to
replace at least part of the long process of maceration,
giving also aromatic
oils therapeutic
efficacy and safety of use unknown before.
The
therapeutic properties of the essential oils in
pharmacology are also the foundation of their special and
profound action in dermo-cosmetics.
That
branch of aromatherapy known as aroma cosmetic uses the power of
penetration through the tissues of the essences to
establish beauty treatments that are not limited to the
surface of the skin, but to be correct in a
stable cells renewal process.
The antiseptic
power of the essences is active, not only for lesions,
wounds and sores, even for a general time-disinfectant
action to rid the skin of microinfection that
cause pimples, eczema, rashes, etc..
Essential
oils perform the function of stimulating the exhausted
tissues, promote cell renewal and maintain constant the level of
purification.
The best
results are obtained with blends of essential oils
that work in synergy with oils or creams or emulsions.
The
most recent research has
developed dermo-cosmetic functional
products based on specific essences for various
treatments that integrate the therapeutic
aspect-base with the aesthetic.
More practically, the
plants can be considered as a laboratory containing many
chemicals, extractable in different ways depending on the
method used. From each of these methods it is possible
to obtain a final product with specific requirements
and characteristics, with specific therapeutic
indications. The extractive techniques applied
to material of vegetable nature, are employed as well
as for obtaining the pure active principle, removing unwanted
components from the plants.
Aromacosmetics
are based on the therapeutic action of extracted herbs and flowers and essentials
oils.
The sources and
quality of the row natural ingredients play a primary role, harvest must occur
in season and in the (balsamic time) when the plants offer the most of their
therapeutic properties
ERBE has been bringing the Italian cosmetics in the United States for years, by embracing and modernizing the work of 15th and 16th century Italian herbalists, physicians and herbalist monks from celebrated monasteries,and combining our local and centuries-old knowledge of the Italian beauty culture formulations with the most recent cosmetics preparation's procedures and modern technology. Our practices are informed by the accumulation of information that has been researched, tested, improved, and enhanced over hundreds of years.
for more information about our exlcusively made in Italy skin care line go to
