Oils, Oils, Oils (for skincare)

I'm baaaack!! Vacay was wonderful. I got to spend lots of time with my brothers and sister and nieces and nephews and my crazy-beautiful-sweet sis-in-laws. I swear, I would just look around every now and think, not just what a great bunch of folk I'm related to, but also how hot they all are. Dang! One s-i-l hit a birthday (and it's not her 30th) and she holds down nursing school, fixing meals for the kids, keeping a great-looking house, and going to the gym. And the heffa still looks as good as she did when I met her many, many, many (hahaha) years ago.

Anyway, I didn't shop like a maniac. I did shop wisely. I hit all the local bargain spots and scored a handful of makeup, some boots and.... some oils. Let's talk about these oils.

Here are the ones I picked up at T.J. Maxx and Marshall's:

• Grape Seed (and please don't ask me about that stuff in the sidebars!)
• Sesame
• Sweet Almond
• Avocado
• Marula
• Sweet Orange

My 2 favorites are the Marula (because it made my skin feel amazing) and the Sweet Orange (love the scent!), but those are also the ones I've been using daily. By the way, while the 1 fluid ounce bottles for most ran at $3.99, the Marula was $9.99.

Because I know that for myself and lots of other folk, it's important to know have some info on where our products come from, I did a tiny bit of checking on these oils. Also, I know that quality of oils might vary depending on how they are produced and by which brand. If any of you have more info about these brands, do let me know. For now, I will share what I have so far:

Except for the Marula and Sweet Orange, these oils are from the Little Oil Shoppe (a trademark of Jocott Brands). They are labeled as being "100% pure and chemical-free". I did find that one site gave Jocott a low score when the brand was reviewed. I won't link that here because, while the site was clear on what each rating stood for, it was not clear on why it issued the scores to the brand. 

As far as how the products I bought were labeled, I liked that statements were clear and uncluttered. Each of the items I purchased have one ingredient listed - which lines up with the 100% pure statement. Directions for use are just as clear. There are symbols showing the oils as "not tested on animals" and another symbol I had to look up. That turned out to be the "PAO" symbol, indicating  lifetime of a product after opening. Live and learn, right?

now you know

The labels for the Little Oil Shoppe oils show a PAO of 24 months. 

The front of Marula oil bottle itself is labeled as Sonoma Naturals. Closer inspection of the bottle and the box packaging shows that Dermapeutics is the producer. (Love the oil but that name seems just made up to lure in the hopeful-wishful among us who are obsessive about our skincare!)

Marula

Silly name, IMO

I mentioned that the Marula oil is one of my faves. This is because, after the first 2 days I used it, one of my relatives mentioned how soft my skin was after they kissed my cheek. They didn't just say my skin was soft, they went on and on about it. (It's not like I had hard skin before! Really.) I had noticed a fresher kind of softness myself, but hearing it from someone else is always nice. 

Let me mention now that the Marula oil I bought is actually labeled as "Marula Anti-Oxidant Facial Treatment Serum". 

"Omega rich" caught my eye.

Notice that Marula is not the only ingredient (but it is listed first) 

I'm still learning about oils and how to best use them internally and externally. The ones I've talked about here are, of course, those that I use in my beauty care regimen. I'm looking into some other oils to try for this and for my hair care and body health. I am pretty ignorant of different uses for oils and only just now learned (thanks, Adrienne!) that not every fragrant oil is an "essential" oil. I learned some other stuff too, but I'm still learning more.

If you are like me and enjoy scanning random information, here are a couple places to check out when it comes to oils and their uses.

• I like this site especially
• A directory of essential oils
• Making your own perfume oil
• One place for wholesale oils
• Info from Rocky Mountain Oils
• Plantlife Natural Body Care is another resource
• Some home cleaning and body care recipes
• Mountain Rose is a very popular site
• WebMD on aromatherapy

I really encourage you to be careful when dealing with essential oils for various uses. This goes for when dealing with anything you are knew at are in general ignorance of. I have a close personal friend who is no dummy. She is into all things natural and healthy, and even she had a close call recently. She was taking oregano and learned firsthand that taking too much can stop your breathing! So... careful, careful, careful.

As for finding these oils at a good price (and quality), I am going to be checking lots of different sites and doing some research. My local health food store is reputable but can be very pricey. Still, I wanted to share this info with you guys and stir up some interest. (I sure wish I had been using all these oils and potions about 25 years ago!)

Anyway... Now that I am back from the vacay, I am catching up on reviewed products. This is what I came home to:

TONS of stuff... ~sigh~

And more is coming every day. That's the beauty of Tomoson - which I will be doing another little review of soon.

Peace
--Free

P.S.:
If you are interested, here is more info on cosmetic labeling:
http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/Labeling/Regulations/ucm126444.htm

Also, be sure to check out this wonderful posting here: http://wholenewmom.com/health-concerns/essential-oils/. Matter of fact, the entire Whole New Mom site looks interesting.