2 minute read

Natural beauty

Ylang yl an g

Henna leaves are crushed before they can be used as hair dye or to decorate hands and feet for special occasions.

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This scented paste is made from powdered sandalwood and is used as a skin cleanser.

Henna

Hand decorated with henna

Sandalwood

Cucumber extract has soothing properties and is used widely in skin care products. Perfume

The yellow-gold oil is, in fact, a liquid wax made from seeds.

Jojoba

Waxy yellow flowers have an exotic fragrance.

Cucumber

For thousands of years, people have used plant products to make themselves look and smell good. Floral fragrances and plant-based potions are still big business today, with many people preferring to use natural products rather than artificial ones. Many different parts of plants are used to make beauty products. Ylang-ylang and lavender flowers each contain scents that can be distilled for use in perfumes. It is extracted by steaming. Sandalwood is just that—the aromatic, oily inner wood of a tree, which has

Fatty seeds are used to make shea butter, a popular moisturizer.

Shea

Dried cocoa beans

This thick, fleshy leaf has a gel-like sap inside.

Cocoa Lavender

Dried flowers are used to extract oil.

Cocoa butter, made from the crushed insides of cocoa beans, is melted to make body creams.

Goats

climb argan trees to eat the fruit and disperse the seeds in their droppings.

The fragrant oil has soothing, healing qualities.

Argan

Oil extracted from the seed nourishes skin, hair, and nails.

Clear leaf sap is added to many skin care products for its soothing properties.

Body scrub mixed with argan oil

Inside an aloe vera leaf

Bath bombs infused with eucalyptus oil nourish hair and soothe the skin.

Aloe vera

Eucalyptus bath bombs

Eucalyptus

natural antiseptic and healing qualities. While the seeds of the shea nut, kernels of the argan fruit, and cocoa beans must all be roasted in order to release their rich oils, the seeds of the jojoba plant can simply be crushed. It is the leaves of the henna plant that, when dried and mashed to a paste, release a strong orange-brown dye. The sap inside the thick spiky leaves of the aloe vera plant is not only a soothing gel for burns but also has moisturizing properties. Cleopatra, the queen of ancient Egypt, attributed her great beauty to her use of aloe vera!