Saturday 15th June St Mary's Church Caterham

This was the Church's annual Summer Fair, a small but established event. I met so many lovely people who were interested in my products.

The rose geranium mini hand creams sold out!

Making comfrey infused oil...

An Aunt of mine suffers from an itchy skin condition, primarily on her hands. She asked me if I could suggest or make a cream for it. Never one to shy away from a challenge I made a rich hand cream using comfrey oil as the main ingredient. Shea butter and beeswax made up the oils and at the end of the process I added a few drops of lavender and geranium essential oils.
This it seems has proved an absolute winner which isn't altogether surprising since comfrey (used externally) has anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties and makes a good oil for creams when used in conjunction with others.

Better still, we have a huge amount of comfrey growing beautifully at our allotment and this early growing period is the perfect time to harvest it so this morning before nine I was up, out and cutting...

...then weighing....

....chopping...

...noting...

...and finally simmering in sweet almond oil, in a bain marie....

Later I hope to bottle it and make some more nourishing and healing hand cream.

Watch this space!

3 hours later...

My recipe made just over half a pint of dark green, sumptuous-looking infused comfrey oil. Can't wait to try it in a hand cream!

Tuesday 11th June 2013

Here it is...

I created my recipe using safflower oil and shea butter as well as the comfrey oil. The safflower oil makes a lovely non-greasy cream that is easily absorbed. I added essential oils of lemongrass and lemon to the final mix to give it a light citrussy fragrance.