In praise of Rhassoul Clay

We're continuing our series on Autumnal skincare, with this short feature on the benefits of gentle facial exfoliation.

Colder weather means that it’s even more important to exfoliate the skin to reveal healthy, plumper new cells underneath. The summer sun can leave the skin feeling dry and tight, so using a muslin cloth as part of your cleaning approach does help. But we're great believers in the use of facial masks, and when used once or twice each week, these ensure your complexion remains bright and uncongested.

Rhassoul is a spa quality clay which has been evaluated in the USA, to test the effectiveness of including it in facial mask treatments. This research concluded that rhassoul clay gave measurable improvements in skin clarity, elasticity and texture and even reduced dryness even after one treatment! It has a very unusual texture when mixed with water - becoming cooling and almost gel-like when it's applied to the skin. We selected this remarkable clay for our masks since it is very gentle, so can be tolerated by all skin types, and it cleans without stripping sebum from the skin. (Readers may be more familiar with green clay masks, which can be quite harsh and drawing on the skin, cracking as they dry out). Instead our non-drying cream clay masks contain rhassoul with hydrolat flower waters, jojoba and coconut oils, soothing aloe vera, D-panthenol, glycerine and botanical extracts. You can read more about these natural ingredients at: http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d5-exfoliators-rhassoul-clay-masks/

On a personal note, I find that rhassoul clay can be a life saver when my very sensitive skin decides to have a nasty flare up! I have mild roseaca and it misbehaved just recently, so I quickly reached for my rhassoul clay mask to calm things down again. I’m pleased to say that it cooled the uncomfortable burning sensation, and over the next few days was invaluable for exfoliating away the nasty little dry bumps that formed on the surface of my cheeks. So I definitely love rhassoul clay!

Natural foot care

In the third of our series of articles abour Autumn skincare, today we're looking at the feet.

A major problem associated with the feet at the end of Summer, is dry, cracked heels. These are typically caused by wearing open backed sandals during the summer. Cracked heel problems can vary between dry or flaky skin, to hard skin and deep fissures which may be very sore. So it’s a good idea to treat your feet to a pedicure.

We’d suggest using a natural pumice stone to smooth away areas of toughened skin. But a gentler approach would be to use a foot scrub to slough away dead skin. This is why we developed our Peppermint Foot Scrub (see http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/Saltscrubs.aspx)

These contain a mixture of fine salts (including Dead Sea Salt), nourishing botanical oils, honey, shea butter, and Vitamin E. It's fragranced with lavender, peppermint and tea tree essential oils, and leaves the feet feeling moisturised and with a delicious fragrance! After smoothing the skin, we'd suggest that a balm product is applied to assist with re-hydration of the skin.

Psst....watch this space, since we have a new foot product on the way! Our rich Foot Balm contains jojoba oil, cocoa and avocado butters, with healing lavender, chamomile and tea tree to refresh and nourish the feet. We'll be adding this to the website in the next few days.

Looking after your lips the natural way

In the second of our articles on Autumn Skincare, we're focussing on the lips...

Colder weather will affect your lips, making them more prone to chapping and soreness. Unfortunately the wind and cold temperatures can cause the lips to flake, usually due to dehydration. So it's important to remember to drink lots of fluids, and use a lip balm to moisturise and protect the lips, ensuring they stay soft and in condition.

Our Lips Silk lip balm is rich in unrefined cocoa and shea butters, and is enriched with avocado oil and Vitamin E. It has no added flavour (but definitely smells of chocolate), since we think it's better that you aren’t encouraged to lick your lips. If your lips become sore or chapped, then it's Lips Soothe to the rescue! This is an enriched version of our lip balm, which is bright yellow in colour (but don't worry, it doesn't stain the lips). The colour comes from the Sea Buckthorn botanical extract we've added to the formulation, and together with some comfrey oil it really does calm things down when your lips are feeling uncomfortable.

PS: We know that many people like to use a flavoured/fragranced lip balm, so we're finally giving in to customer requests. Later in October we'll be launching a new range of lip balms which contain subtle organic aromas/flavours so watch this space!

Natroma Autumn Skincare Advice

Sadly the days are shortening, and it’s definitely becoming chilly at night! So while Autumn may encourage you to enjoy outdoor activities, it’s important to remember that your skin will retain less moisture as the air becomes cooler and drier. This is why at this time of year, many people experience dryness, fine lines, dull and sallow skin tone, sun and age spots, flaking and irritation as well as the flare-up of some conditions like rosacea. So it’s a good idea to pamper your skin in the Autumn and make some adjustments to your skincare regime in readiness for Winter. During the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing a series of articles on Autumn skincare starting with the hands and nails.

Hands and Nails

Nails and cuticles can become dry and flaky at this time of year, so we’d suggest that you invest in products which will replenish lost moisture to keep the skin soft and in good condition.

Our orange blossom and rose hand creams have a lovely formulation, enriched with jojoba and avocado oils with glycerine, comfrey and evening primrose extracts to nourish and condition the hands without greasiness. For the nails we’d particularly recommend a butter enriched nail balm. Our Nail Silk contains shea and cocoa butters, jojoba and avocado oils to replenish the nail surface and surrounding skin. This is a rich balm which smells heavenly (it contains frankincense and neroli, with a touch of lime) but it sinks in within a few minutes. Many of our customers enjoy massaging their nails and cuticles with Nail Silk, whilst watching the TV each evening.

For extra special pampering, invest in a pair of cotton gloves. Slather your hands with balm and hand cream and wear the gloves in bed. You’ll be amazed at how much softer your hands will feel in the morning!

Visit http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d26-nails-and-hands/ for more information on these items.

Anniversary Event Thank You!

We'd just like to say a special "thank you" to everyone who popped in to see us during our anniversary weekend. It was lovely to see everyone, and we were very touched by your good wishes and birthday cards! We launched our new Natroma dry facial masks and Q10 Facial Balm, so we hope that you enjoy using these new products.

We're sure that lots of you, are now checking through our natural skincare Christmas gift catalogue (we handed out loads this weekend), so we plan to have the display of Christmas gift hampers available to view in Studio 12 during the next few weeks.

The first 50 orders placed in Studio 7 during October will qualify for a 10% discount. We've already taken quite a few orders this weekend, so we suspect the next few days may be a little busy! With this in mind, we have extended opening hours this coming week:
Wednesday 12pm - 4pm
Thursday 10.30am - 4pm
Friday 11am - 4pm

Hope to see you soon!

Natural Soapworks Anniversary Event 3rd - 4th October 2009

Our anniversary event has arrived! To celebrate 3 years of making natural skincare, we'll be offering 10% off every item purchased in the studio at The Red House Glass Cone this weekend. In addition to this, we'll also be giving away a free bath bomb with every puchase of Q10 (full size) products. There's also a prize draw and we'll be demonstrating some lovely new products which we're launching this weekend. These include a new Q10 facial balm (a natural, intense moisturiser), some dry facial masks (supplied in powder form so you can mix them at home, and we do not need to add any preservatives), and a new Exotic Flowers body lotion enriched with camelina oil. We'll have testers available so you can try them out during your visit.

We'll be opening Studio 7 & 12 between 11am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, and hope you can join us to see the launch of our Christmas Gift Catalogue! We have some lovely gift ideas this year with stocking fillers from £1, and a range of natural skincare gift hampers ranging from £3 upwards. In total we have 64 different items in the studio catalogue, so there should be something for everyone. The new hampers will be on display in Studio 12 for the next few weeks, so you can see them before placing your order. Since it's our anniversary, we'll also be offering a special 10% off the first 50 Christmas orders placed in the studio during October, so you're advised to order early this year!

So that website customers don't feel left out, we'll also be offering a 10% discount off purchases made on the Natroma website at http://www.natroma.co.uk/ this weekend.

To take advantage of this 10% discount, please enter: CELEBRATE at the checkout. This code will only work on Saturday and Sunday (3rd-4th October). This offer is not applicable retroactively, and may not be used in conjunction with any other discounts. To qualify for this special discount all website orders must be paid by Sunday 5th October at 11:59pm BST.