WTF is… Rhubarb?!

As a staple in any self-respecting witch doctors garden, rhubarb is a pretty useful plant. And much like old timey shamans, Rhubarb can be both incredibly healing and exceptionally toxic if used in certain ways. Bet you won’t look at a rhubarb pie the same way now! But don’t worry, I’ll tell you how you can safely get your fingers in this pie.

Delicious? Deadly? Both?!  Picture via Wikipedia.org

Before we get to the pie eating, did you know that back in the day rhubarb was valued on the same scale as rubies, silk, and diamonds? In fact, at one point it was more valuable than opium.  That’s right, the humble rhubarb was more expensive than the great grand daddy of narcotics. So obviously it must have been like super crack or an aphrodisiac or both, right? Like a Supercrackadesiac? Actually, the cost of transportation across Asia made rhubarb expensive in medieval Europe. Don’t get me wrong though, rhubarb is still pretty awesome. It has been and is still used in traditional Chinese medicine, primarily as a laxative.

This much rhubarb in medieval times could probably buy you a whole castle. Image via Wikipedia.org

But is it poisonous? Absolutely. Well actually, just one part of the rhubarb plant contains any toxins: the leaf. While eating rhubarb leaves at first will make you very sick, repeated ingestion can be lethal. So if someone offers you some rhubarb leaf tea, you should politely decline. Again, this is a PSA from The Raw Spa: DO NOT INGEST RHUBARB LEAVES!

Now we here at the Raw Spa recommend that you never eat any of our products (no matter how delicious they smell) but if you absolutely have to eat our soaps and things, you can do it without the worry of dying afterward. We use the root and stalk of the rhubarb plant to get all the good effects. Like the fact that rhubarb is astringent which means it can help to balance the oiliness of skin.

At the Raw Spa we use Rhubarb as part of our seasonal Farm Stand line, in particular our Rhubarb Crumble products! It marks the beginning of our Farm Stand line and can be found in our shop May of every year!

 

 

 

 

Advertisements

WTF is…Goats Milk?!

On the big long list of things we rub on our skin to make it happy, goats milk is one of the more straightforward ones. I mean, just because it’s sharp doesn’t mean we have to use it as an exfoliant. Oh I’m sorry was that too cheesy for your liking? Alright I’ll stop kidding around. Let’s talk about why goat’s milk is so *bleat*ing good for you.

Could this goat get any glassier? Eh? Okay I’m done. Photo via sammysmilk.com

Question: How does traditional bar soap clean the body?

Answer: Without getting too technical, the chemicals that are typically used in bars of soap induce an extremely mild chemical burn to cleanse away all the dirt and grime (this is why soap stings when you get it in your eyes). In terms of cleanliness it is great! In terms of hygiene, it is absolute overkill. It’s like mowing your lawn with a flame thrower. Sure you’ll get the job done but in the end you’re left with a dry, barren and damaged surface.

Enter goats milk, the hypothetical lawn mower. Instead of burning off the top layer of skin, goats milk uses it’s alpha hydroxy acid to remove only the dead skin cells when applied topically. It also uses it’s vitamin A content to help repair damaged skin tissue. We could go on about the other bazillion ways goats milk is good for you, like how it is anti inflammatory,  a great source of essential minerals for your skin, yadda yadda yadda but let’s skip to the part where I show you where you can get some!

You’ll find goats milk all through our Cleopatra products from the Jewel of the Nile line! The bars and bath confections are all packed with goats milk, to leave your skin happy and healthy!

If that sounds like something you’d like to have, check out our store page here!

We’ve also got a Patreon! Help keep us happy and healthy (and caffeinated) by becoming a Patron here!

 

 

 

 

WTF is…Coffee?!

Look, let’s just lay it out on the table. The Raw Spa consists of two twenty-somethings who work hard everyday. We. Freaking. Love. Coffee. Look at the first goal of our Patreon and you’ll see just how much we love coffee. But in addition to downing a good old cup of joe, we like putting it in our products. No, we’re not THAT coffee crazy, but you may find the health benefits of coffee to be rather stimulating.

What coffee is like to people who don’t drink it. Image via wikipedia.org

But first some fun facts. Just under half of the worlds supply of coffee comes from Brazil alone. Now those who REALLY know their coffee know that while Brazil’s coffee is tasty, it doesn’t have quite the punch that African coffee has. That’s because the strain of coffee plant that is exported from Africa has about 40-50% more of that special little chemical we know and love. That’s right! Caffeine!

What coffee is like to people who DO drink it. Image via Sylvan Migdal.

Anyone who’s ever drank coffee, a coke, or any of the hundreds of energy drinks out there can attest to how caffeine affects the body when ingested. But what about topical application? You might ask if your skin will jump off and run away in a fit of frenzied over exuberance. To which we would reply: No, that’s just silly.

But products that have caffeine do serve as a stimulant and when applied to skin can increase blood circulation as well as reduce swelling and inflammation. Coffee grounds are also rough enough that they can be used as an ingredient in your daily exfoliant.

Now remember when I said we love coffee here at The Raw Spa? Well we love you more, and to prove it we sacrifice our beloved coffee to be added to products like Charlie Tango and Libertine from the Erotica Sensualis line so that your skin can have the stimulation and care it deserves! You can find all of our caffeinated products HERE!

Hey you! Do you like our blogs? If so you’ll love our Patreon! Check us out, we’ve got lots of stretch goals and fantastic rewards for contributers!

Feel free to check out our store here for all the products we mentioned and so much more!

 

WTF is…Pink Himalayan Salt?!

Oh ho ho! Pink Himalayan Salt! How fancy can you get? I mean, just say it out loud with me: “We don’t use regular salt, we use pink Himalayan salt”. I’m willing to bet a dollar that you said the second part with a bit more haughtiness than the first. That aside, pink Himalayan salt is pretty good for the skin. So let’s dig in!

Such pretty pink powder! Image via wikipedia.org

Story time!  So a few years ago there was this guy called Alexander who was taking a leisurely ride through India with his army. When the army stopped to rest, Alexander noticed that the horses were licking the rocks. He thought that was pretty weird and took some home to take a look at. It turned out that the rocks were salt and a mine was constructed to dig up more of it. The mine was passed through different hands through out history, but today it is known as the Khewra Salt Mine, Pakistan’s oldest and largest mine, the second largest mine in the world, and the main source of Himalayan salt.

Salt crystals are also good for artwork! Image via wikipedia.org

Now if you google pink Himalayan salt you wouldn’t be able to swing your cursor around without hitting an article about how incredibly healing and purifying and miraculous pink Himalayan salt is. For example, many articles say that pink himalayan salt contains more than eighty minerals and elements. That’s a bit of an over exaggeration. But that’s the internet right?

Fortunately we here at The Raw Spa know that the pink Himalayan salt in our products (Nefertiti Salt Bars, Nefertiti Bath Cupcakes, Nefertiti Bath Salts, Whips & Kisses Salt Bar, Whips & Kisses Exfoliant Bar, Whips & Kisses Bath Truffles, Whips & Kisses Bath Salts and Whips & Kisses Bath Cupcakes. That’s right, it’s a long list!) is there to help cleanse and purify your skin by removing dead skin, clearing your pores, and taking advantage of salt’s natural antimicrobial properties. Also you get to say: “I don’t use regular salt bars, mine uses pink Himalayan salt”.

You can find all of our perfectly pink salt products HERE for your cleanliness and convenience! And check out our store here for all our other products! Who knows what you could find?

You know what is also convenient? Getting all natural product sent to you monthly from The Raw Spa, that’s what! Our contributors get this and more! We also use our the money to help make The Raw Spa the greenest company on Earth!

So drop by and support us on Patreon!

 

WTF is…Coconut Oil?!

Let’s face facts: coconuts are useful. The meat inside the shell is tasty and nutritious, its husk and shells when burned and activated are extremely effective as a carbon filter, and in a pinch it can make an exotic fashion item. The oil derived from its meat is also super good for your skin in just about every way.

Edible, drinkable, wearable, topical? Perfection. Image via dailynexus.com

 

Just to give you a little background, the origin of coconuts is a subject of much debate but nowadays most of them come from Philippines. Coconuts are woven deep into their economy and culture, with just about every part of the coconut and even parts of the tree being used in some capacity. They even have the Coconut Palace in Manila, a building made almost entirely of coconut as well as some other local materials. Talk about being coo coo for coconuts!

So many! It’s coconuts! Image via wikipedia.org.

Now when it comes to coconut oil it’s just about as useful as the coconut itself. It’s been used in cooking, as biodiesel, as a repellent for sand fleas and, of course, skin care. As a skin care agent, it’s a great moisturizer for all types of skin. It can even help reduce protein loss when used in hair!

We here in The Raw Spa use coconut oil in our lotions and cream soaps for it’s skin soothing properties. It works well with cucumber in the Egyptian Cucumber Hydration Creme and with cocoa butter in the Oasis Body Butter to give you a powerful and most importantly, natural moisturization. Good news! You can check out our selection of coconut containing products HERE!

Check out our store here for all our other stuff! Exfoliation, moisturization, we’ve got it all!

You can also check out our Patreon here where we have some awesome rewards for our contributers and even better rewards for the planet when we hit certain stretch goals! We’re aiming to be the greenest company in the planet so what are you waiting for?     Drop on by and support us on Patreon!

WTF is…Citric Acid?!

We know what you must be thinking: “Citric acid? It must have something to do with lemons”. And you would be absolutely right! But not in the way you think. So let’s get the squeeze on citric acid.

Almost but not quite. Image via wikipedia.org

So yes, citric acid naturally occurs in citrus fruits such as lemons, limes and oranges among other fruits. But most industrial-scale citric acid production does not come from lemons. You can thank American food chemist James Currie for that, who discovered that certain strains of mold can be efficient citric acid producers. It’s a win-win really. The mold gets to do what it does best and we don’t get scurvy.

Now citric acid is, duh, an acid. It’s why lemons and limes and other citrus fruits taste sour or tart. Fun fact: the sour sugar that coats candies like Sour Patch Kids is probably citric acid. Now because it is an acid it does corrode, and if you’ve never seen people do the Warheads candy challenge…well the resulting chemical reaction is not pretty. Or comfortable. One of us here at The Raw Spa speaks from experience.

If you want to see the effects go ahead but don’t say we didn’t warn you...

Speaking of The Raw Spa, we use citric acid in combination with baking soda to give all our bath products a pleasant fizz when they hit the water. All of our  Bath Truffles, Bath Cupcakes, Bath Bricks and Slick Bricks will fizz up like champagne when you put in in your bath and spread the rich ingredients in your water until there’s none left. You can check out our selection of fizzy products HERE! And yes, they are all on sale! 😉

Speaking of fizzy…okay, I actually didn’t have a silly pun for this one but you should still check us out on Patreon! We’ve got great rewards for those who contribute and lots of stretch goals so we can be the greenest company in the world! So drop on by and check us out!

Check our our store here for all the products mentioned in the blog and then some! 

WTF is…Pearl?!

In keeping with the theme of small shiny things that people go nuts over, this week we’ll be taking a peek at pearls! Pearls are synonymous with purity and radiance but did you know that it’s also good for your skin? Now before you go and break out grandma’s jewelry, there are a few things you should know. So let’s dive in!

The most familiar usage of pearls. Image via wikipedia.org

 

Naturally occurring pearls are extremely rare. No two ways about it. But the majority of pearls found on the market are either imitation, cultured or farmed from pearl oysters. Cultured pearls are made by implanting a tiny spherical bead into the shell of an oyster, forcing it to coat the irritant in nacre and make a pearl.

What is narce you ask? Take any clam shell souvenir and look at the inside. If in addition to being smooth it is also iridescent then you are looking at narce. Also called mother of pearl, narce is a calcium carbonate coating that mollusks produce to protect themselves from irritants. On the inside of the shell the narce protects the soft interior from the roughness of the shell. And as we’ve discussed, if a bit of sand or anything gets in there…jackpot!

Imagine opening hundreds of clams and finally finding THIS. Image via ice-epilepsy.org

Now cosmetically pearl powder has been in play for hundreds of years, and still is today. Usually made from pearls that are below jewelry grade, pearl powder is used in traditional Chinese medicine to improve the appearance of skin, as an anti-inflammatory and a detoxification agent. Ancient Chinese empress Wu Ze Tian used pearl powder on her skin AND internally, and was famed for her beauty and childlike skin.

We here at The Raw Spa have taken a leaf out of the book of traditional Chinese medicine and use pearl powder in Whips&Kisses from the Erotica Sensualis line to utilize it’s famed skin softening properties. You can find all of our radiant, pearl-packed products HERE!

Hey gang if you like out blogs you should consider supporting us on Patreon! We’ve got all sorts of great rewards for our contributers plus environmentally friendly stretch goals!

Check out our store here for all the products we’ve mentioned and more!