WTF is…Oats?! (Version 2.0)

We decided it was time to update our oats post, because as we have a grown, so too has our research… and it turns out that oats are way more awesome than we thought they were!! Oats are great for helping your skin fight off the harsh conditions of winter (or cooked with milk and a heaping pile of brown sugar dumped on top!). So grab your grains and hunker down. It’s time to talk oats… again!

Mmmm-mmm! Good inside and out! Photo via freefoodphotos.com

Before the simple oat (Avena sativa) was recognized as the grain we all know and love (with brown sugar), it was considered a weed. In fact the term ‘sewing wild oats’ is a reference to the rampant and widespread growth that oats were once known for. However after it was domesticated, oats became a staple in many peoples diet, even to this day! In Scotland oats are still held in high esteem and are a mainstay of the national diet. In Britain oats are sometimes used for brewing beer. Even here in America, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who’s never heard of good old fashioned oatmeal (with brown sugar- ALL the brown sugar).

This is what oats look like before they go into your oatmeal! Photo via commons.wikimedia.org

Not only are oats a great source of energy, but they’re also good for your skin too (but leave out the brown sugar if your going to be smacking oats on your face… apparently brown sugar doesn’t go with EVERYTHING.) Oats are great for gentle exfoliation, as they soften with water, but they are more than just an killer scrub for sensitive skin!

The Cleopatra Salt Bar is a gentle soap for dry and sensitive skin, loaded to the gills with finely milled oats and local honey… try not to eat it!

Oats also contain a whole host of phytochemicals that make them absolute rock stars for skin, including saponins, which help to gently remove dirt and oil from your pores; polysaccharides, which become gelatinous in water and leave a protective residue on the skin preventing further damage; flavonoids and silicic acid to intensely soothe skin irritation, agitation and redness; Vitamin A to rejuvenate your skin; and Vitamin B to help hydrate your skin while also making it feel softer and smoother! Calming, moisturizing, exfoliating. What else can we say but: Bring on the oats!

It doesn’t get any fresher than local farms! We adore our oats supplier, Moraganics Family Farms! Photo via www.morganicsfamilyfarm.com

When it comes to our oats, we’re pretty proud to say that our oats come from a local farm, Morganics Family Farm (you can find out more about them on their website ). Located in Hillsborough, New Jersey, this family run operation grows the best oats ever. Seriously. THE BEST. Plus we think it’s pretty cool to be able to so drastically reduce our carbon foot print with such a ubiquitous ingredient. You can grab Morganics oats in Philly at the Headhouse Farmers Markets on Sundays (If Mack doesn’t beat you to it and buy them all…).

We always seem to have issues convincing people that this oat-packed Cleopatra Bath Cupcake goes in your tub, not your stomach!

We use oats in all their many forms, from the rich oat milk that we swirl into Skin Parfaits, and the milky oat tops that we infuse into Skin Tonics, to the ground oats the we pack into our shower bars and bath confections! if you’re rocking some seriously dry skin, you’ll be happy to know that oats reign supreme in the Cleopatra line up, which you can find here: https://www.therawspa.net/jewel-of-the-nile

It’s creamy, it’s dreamy and it’s packed with fresh oat milk, made with local Morganics Oats and a little patience! The Cleopatra Skin Parfait is a boon for those wrestling with dry or sensitive skin!

If you’re wondering how you can start rocking the oats right now, we’ll have a post up later this week with one of Mack’s super special house specialties, the Milk & Honey Face Wash! Don’t let the name fool you- oats are the star of the show! 🙂

So, what do you think? They’re a little more awesome than you thought, right?

 

 

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The Story of Two Busy Bees

2017 has been a crazy year. So crazy that we let our blog completely fall off the radar! It wasn’t just moving (which was a huge endeavor), or Mack and Guy adjusting to life in very close quarters (550 sq ft of quarters, to be exact). It was also the excitement and absolute whirlwind of getting accepted into the Rittenhouse Square Farmers Market, and learning how to restructure The Raw Spa to keep pace with the sudden ramp up in speed and production!

It’s been exciting, to say the least. We’ve changed some formulas to make them even better- our new and improved Salt Bars, for instance, are bigger, better, and longer lasting, with same awesome ingredients and scents we know you expect from us! We’ve also worked EXTREMELY hard to start expanding our product offerings: in addition to two new types of shower treats, the Marshmallow Cream soaps and the scrubby and bubbly Gelly Baby soaps, we also have an entire host of facial products, including peel off masks, steams, and richly infused Skin Tonic serums!

We continue to be completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from our customers, and Mack has, on more than one occasion, almost started to cry when someone comes back to the market stand to regale her with their love of a specific product. It means the world to both of us, and your enthusiasm is what keeps us going!!

There have also obviously been some pitfalls. There have been MANY products that just never made it into the online store- The entire FarmStand line-up went so fast at the farmers market that the stock was GONE before the listings were even drafted! Many products were sadly cut from the Halloween Things That Go BUMP! line, due to time considerations, and we are both still working diligently to get product listings for Jewel of the Nile and Erotica Sensualis listed, photographed and activated.

We have A LOT of exciting things in store for the coming months, and are already planning some very big things for 2018. Please bear with us, as we find our equilibrium. Going forward, we are hoping to do a much better job of keeping the blog up to date, and we WILL be getting all of the wonderful – and up until now, Philadelphia exclusive – products up into the online store!!

Warmly and most sincerely,

Mack & Guy (a.k.a. Team Raw Spa)

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!

 

 

 

 

We’re Moved In…Mostly!

Hey Gang!

Jeebus almighty it’s been two months already?! Well sorry to keep you waiting! Moving in was, shall we say, a unique experience. But we’re back, mostly unpacked and getting ready to gear things up for the fall and winter seasons!

To celebrate the fact that we’ve liberating the majority of our things from the moving boxes were having a sale! “A sale for what” you might ask. Everything! That’s right! The Raw Spa Store is open again and absolutely everything is for sale! And it’s going to stay on sale all through October! So jump on in and check us out!

Oh and if you’d like to see pictures of the landfill turned post apocalyptic war-zone that is our apartment, pictures are incoming soon!

Stay crunchy!

Mack and Guy at The Raw Spa

Mack adds this disclaimer “Let them know that we’ll be adding more things to the store, but they won’t all be on sale. It’s just all the things I put in this week. Oh! and give them a 10% off coupon code!”

 

Here is your 10% off coupon code: SUPERGREEN

The Raw Spa PSA: We’re going far, far away…

Hey Gang!

So. To say that we’ve been a little bit behind on our once regularly scheduled blog posts is an understatement. I just wanted to take a moment to sit down with you lovely guys, gals, and walruses to explain what’s been going on with The Raw Spa for the past few weeks. Just so you have some context as to why we’ve been so delayed.

As you may or may not know, The Raw Spa is a two person show right now! There’s Guy, who runs all matters electronical (blogs, social medias, email correspondence) in addition to a being a full time Cookie Specialist and a part time Mad Scientist. Here is a picture of Guy!

Here we have a Guydunicus Computernerdicus in it’s natural habitat. Note the Mackium Wheresmyblogius in the corner preparing to pounce! 

Then there is Mack, the original mind behind The Raw Spa! She started off doing all the things on her own. Now she just does all the important stuff (mixing the things, researching the things, making the new things, designing the website things, designing the business card things, and about a bazillion other things I’m probably not even aware of). Here is a picture of Mack!

This is Mack’s “Guy why are you taking pictures of me when we have to pack?!” face. 

Contrary to common belief and movies starting a business is really freakin’ hard, but it’s exceptionally rewarding to see how we’re growing every year. In the past year alone, we’ve been vendors at some awesome live events, advanced in little ways every day and generally are having a challenging, but fun, adventure with The Raw Spa!

Now for the longest time The Raw Spa has been based out of Mack’s mom’s house. While its been relatively cheap living there, we always wanted a space of our own. A space where we can mix and make as we please! A space filled with unique and enchanting scents! A space where we don’t have to worry about a two individuals, who will remain nameless, fighting over whether to use valuable stove top space for lotion or chicken stock.

Anyway, a little while ago a friend of ours phones us with the news that they are moving out of their swanky apartment in West Philadelphia!  And let me tell ya, we dang near jumped down her throat to get into that apartment! Now, after many trials, tears, and convoluted plans to rob a bank for the first/last months rent plus security deposit we are finally finally moving into our own space!

And when we signed the lease we were all like:

Mack had a lot of Will Ferrell in her leap while Guy was working more of the Steve Carell style.

Now, on to what this means for you.  As of today, 8/21/2016, we are going to be shutting down The Raw Spa for a little while while we get moved in. If you place an order via our website, we’ll be more than happy to refund your money since we’ll be too busy packing, moving, setting up utilities…you know, Adult Stuff™.

So do not be alarmed as we do a soft close of our social media and website! We’re just gearing things down on the business so that we have time to focus on moving. Once we have the lotion lab, the office, and the sacrificial circles to the dark gods of skincare moved into the apartment we’ll be sure to let you guys know. We even plan to have a “WE’RE MOVED IN SALE” in early to mid September!

Thank you for bearing with us! You guys rock! Stay crunchy!

Sincerely,

Guy and Mack at The Raw Spa

WTF is…Sugar?!

Oh man, here it is. The big one. The greatest thing or the greatest evil depending on who you ask. Love it or hate it, the fact is we can’t live without sugar in some way, shape or form. There’s a lot of ground to cover here but don’t worry. For you we’ll keep it short and sweet.

Every modern child’s dream. Every modern adult’s nightmare. Image via en.wikipedia.org.

So let us start with origins. Sugar has been produced in India since ancient times, and we’re talking REALLY ancient. Like 8th century Chinese manuscripts BC ancient. For a while sugar wasn’t really a big deal. People chewed raw sugarcane to get their sweet fix. It wasn’t until the Indian people discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that it really took off. Fun fact: in the local Indian language the crystals were called khanda, which is the source of the word candy.

Now when it comes to sugar in terms of health things get a bit…complicated. To summarize just about everything from both sides of the fence: sugar is kind of good for you and kind of bad for you. Unfortunately modern science is unable to determine sugars effect on the human body since they don’t have a large enough population to run the appropriate tests. Essentially since EVERYONE eats sugar in some way, shape or form we can’t get a definite measure of how it effects the human body when ingested.

Fortunately for us, and you, we DO know it’s effects when applied topically! Sugar is primarily used on our skin as an exfoliant. The nature of the sugar granules make it ideal for scrubbing off layers of dead skin. It is also a humectant and draws moisture into the skin from the air.

We here at The Raw Spa  offer a unique alternative to conventional sugar scrubs that come in jars. For our sugar scrubs come in bars! Namely our Spice Merchant exfoliating sugar bars not only smell great but can be applied with a little water to provide a gentle but deeply exfoliating experience.

Speaking of merchants, if you’d like to try some of our products, come visit us on our store page here!

We’ve also got a patreon! If you become a patron not only will you get monthly product, but you’ll also sleep easy knowing that you’re helping two young adults maintain their coffee induced insomnia. Check it out here!

 

 

 

 

 

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!