Helichrysum Deep Dive

INGREDIENT INSIGHT

INCI (International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient) names - official name in Cosmetic labelling.

INCI:HELICHRYSUM ITALICUM FLOWER WATER (hydrosol)

INCI: HELICHRYSUM ITALICUM FLOWER OIL (Essential Oil)

Helichrysum - often called the Everlasting Flower, is a wonderful ingredient in skincare. Superb for clearing acne, minimising scars, lessening the darkness of sunspots, dermatitis, reducing wrinkles & fine lines, lessening irritation & redness, maintaining skin elasticity and durability and so much more.

Often referred to as a skin healing & restorative powerhouse. Helichrysum Essential oil and hydrosols are so expensive to buy in NZ (1ml of EO is $15), if you can find them - so I will be growing and processing my own. I need to give my plants a good year to grow to be big enough to produce enough flowers to create a decent amount of essential oils, but I am on the way and can make hydrosol from this year's flowers - and maybe obtain a ml or two of EO in the process. But my favourite way to process Helichrysum at the moment is a Helichrysum glycerite. This involves infusing glycerin with helichrysum flowers for a period of 3-4 weeks. The plant extracts are absorbed by the glycerine, the glycerite is then well filtered and the final product is sunsequently used in formulations. Glycerine is an humectant that helps to improve the skin barrier and prevent Trans Epidermal Water Loss (TEWL) which in turn enables the skin to remain more hydrated.

Glycerites are a wonderful ingredient to use in formulations.