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Are essential oils good for your skin?

We believe wholeheartedly in the therapeutic benefits of pure essential oils. When blended knowledgeably into organic skincare products, high-quality essential oils can bring incredible healing benefits. However, using cheap essential oils (and products that contain them), or using essential oils inappropriately, can be damaging for your skin. In this blog, we hope to shed some light on the wondrous benefits of using essential oils properly, as well as showing you how to use them safely and how to identify essential oil skincare that you can trust.

Are essential oils good for your skin?

It depends which essential oils you are using, and how you are using them.

In high-quality skincare products, essential oils can be very healing for the skin and your general wellbeing. The essential oils should be 100% pure, and should be blended into the products in low volumes. Certain essential oils are also good for massage and can be effective for homemade skincare. However, essential oils are strong, so never apply them to the skin undiluted.

Watch out for cheap essential oils, as these can be damaging for your skin. They are often watered down with chemical fillers, alcohol or dilutants, which can cause skin irritation.

Good essential oils for skincare

There are a number of different essential oils you can use to heal and soothe your skin.

For example, geranium essential oil has healing properties for skincare disorders. Lemongrass can be used to treat cellulite. May Chang and Fennel are effective toners. Other essential oils aid your wellbeing, which can have the knock-on effect of being good for your skin. For example, lavender helps you sleep, which results in brighter, healthier skin.

Here are just some of the essential oils we use in our organic skincare at Purdie’s of Argyll:

  • Orange – high in vitamin C to detoxify the mind and body
  • Cedarwood – helps to soothe and calm irritated skin; effective for treating rheumatism
  • May Chang – tones the skin
  • Geranium – uplifts the mind and treats skincare disorders
  • Lemon – contains antiseptic properties to help treat and clear the skin
  • Lavender – calming for the mind and a good sleep aid
  • Neroli – hydrates and balances the skin, manages inflammation, and helps with anxiety
  • Lemongrass – an effective treatment for cellulite
  • Lime – contains antiseptic properties to help with acne and inflammation
  • Patchouli – helps to soften and balance the skin, as well as helping with depression and irritability
  • Melissa – good for managing acne and oily skin; has antifungal and antibacterial properties that are effective for conditions such as athlete’s foot; helps with nervous exhaustion
  • Tangerine – good for toning and uplifting the skin, and managing skin irritation and acne

How do you know if an essential oil is high-quality?

The quality of an essential oil comes from its purity. Unfortunately there’s no certification around the term ‘pure’, so even low-quality oils can have this written on their label.

If you’re unsure about the quality of an essential oil, ask the seller about its provenance. They should be able to tell you exactly where it comes from. For example, we get all our essential oils from H. Reynaud and Sons in Provence, who distil their own botanicals. Another indicator is price – you can expect to pay at least £5 for 10ml of a pure essential oil.

Are essential oils safe to use on skin?

The short answer is generally yes, as long as:

  • They are pure and high-quality (not cheap essential oils)
  • They are safely blended in low concentrations (less than 5%, or 1% for the face)
  • You use the essential oils externally (i.e. you don’t ingest them)
  • You dilute them if you’re going to apply them to the skin (we recommend 10ml of base oil for every 5 drops of essential oil)
  • Your skin isn’t irritated or broken

If you have very sensitive skin or you are undergoing medical treatment, we recommend that you don’t use skincare products that contain essential oils.

If you are not sure about using a certain essential oil, you could always perform a patch test, just to check if you are sensitive or allergic to that particular oil.

H2: Buy 100% pure essential oils today

You can buy essential oils from the Purdie’s online store, or pop in to visit us in Inveraray If you have any questions about the provenance, benefits or uses of our essential oils, get in touch - we're more than happy to help.

What does beard oil do?

Since releasing our men’s range of organic skincare products, we’ve had lots of interest in our beard oil. (And we’ve also seen some fine Scottish beards, we might add!) But, we meet many customers who are unfamiliar with what beard oil actually does. So, we thought it’d be helpful to explain a bit about what beard oil does and how to use it here.

What does beard oil do?

Beard oil is a conditioning leave-in oil that keeps your beard soft, full and manageable, while promoting healthy facial hair growth. It hydrates and moisturises the skin beneath your beard to stop it getting dry, cracked or itchy. Soaps and face washes can strip away the natural oils found in your skin, and beard oils help to replace these for healthy facial growth.

A good beard oil:

  • Repairs split ends
  • Prevents the growth of wild hairs
  • Encourages your beard hair to grow strong and fast
  • Eliminates dandruff
  • Heals, nourishes and reduces inflammation on the skin beneath your beard
  • Gives your beard a healthy shine

Beard oils contain wonderful blends of aromatic essential oils, which can relax you and significantly improve your mood – making applying beard oil a lovely moment of self-care.

We’ve added therapeutic essential oils like amyris, cedarwood, frankincense, lavender, peppermint and rosemary to our organic beard oils.

Does beard oil work?

Yes, it does – although it depends what you mean by ‘work’. Beard oil is not going to help you miraculously grow the perfect beard overnight. But what it does do is improve the overall health of your beard and the skin beneath it so that strong growth is possible.

Here’s how beard oil helps you maintain a fuller beard:

  • It makes your beard less itchy, so you will shave less – meaning your beard can grow unimpeded
  • It reduces breakage and split ends – allowing your beard hair to grow quicker
  • It stimulates hair growth through the act of massaging the oil into your beard
  • It enhances collagen production as the organic oils are packed with vitamins, helping you grow a richer, fuller, healthier beard

Our organic beard oil contains argan oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, olive oil and sweet almond oil, so it is full of vitamins A, D and E that are perfect for facial hair growth.


How to use beard oil

For most beards, we recommend applying beard oil twice a day – once in the morning, and once before you go to bed. However, if your beard is particularly thick, you may only need to apply it once a day or less. See how your beard feels and adjust as needed.

We find beard oil to be particularly effective if applied after a bath or shower, as the steam opens your pores and allows more of the oil to be absorbed. If you’re not showering, you could splash warm water on your face before applying so that your skin is slightly damp.

Here’s how to apply your beard oil:

  • Put 2–3 drops of oil in your hands using the pipette
  • Spread the oil evenly over your palms and fingers
  • Brush your palms along the sides of your beard, and then down the front
  • Bring both hands up through the bottom of your beard
  • Comb the oil through using a beard comb

Once applied, you can leave the beard oil in to work its magic.

Buy an organic beard oil today

Ready to try to beard oil for yourself? Buy our organic beard oil online or at our shop in Inveraray. It is handmade in Scotland with 100% pure essential oil and organic base ingredients.

Meet our best-selling plastic-free moisturiser

One of our best-selling organic skincare products here at Purdie’s is without a doubt our face moisturiser. It’s been featured in magazines such as Scotland’s No 1 Magazine. But beyond being a high-quality organic face cream with exceptional healing benefits, one of its big draws is that it’s plastic-free. As we continue on our journey towards reusable packaging for all Purdie’s of Argyll products, we thought we’d take this opportunity to tell you a little more about our eco-friendly face moisturiser and all its lovely benefits.

An organic face moisturiser in a glass jar

Our plastic-free moisturiser is made with certified organic ingredients including raspberry seed oil, rosehip oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil, sunflower oil, shea butter and cocoa butter.

It is available with different essential oil blends, such as:

  • Frankincense
  • Frankincense and Rose
  • Geranium, Lavender, Raspberry Leaf and Rosehip
  • Lavender
  • Natural (no essential oils)
  • Patchouli, Raspberry Leaf, Rosehip and Sweet Orange

We have also recently launched some men’s blends, including:

  • Amyris, Cedarwood and Frankincense
  • Lavender, Peppermint and Rosemary

All our moisturisers are packaged in heavy glass jars that can be recycled or reused once you’re finished – giving you a high-quality face cream without the guilt of buying plastics.

Why create a plastic-free moisturiser?

The whole team here at Purdie’s is fairly eco-minded, and this has crept naturally into the products we make. As always, we’ve listened to our customers as our range develops, and we know this is something you care about. The overuse of plastics is a serious issue for our health and environment. So, wherever possible, we are trying to phase out plastic packaging and replace it with reusable alternatives. Packaging our moisturiser in a glass jar is a simple, eco-friendly fix that keeps the product in excellent condition.

The skincare benefits of our eco-friendly face moisturiser

Our organic moisturiser is packed with nutrient-rich organic ingredients that provide a wealth of skincare benefits. Here are some of the main ways it can help your skin:

  • Anti-inflammatory – The raspberry seed oil has high levels of alpha linolenic acid and phytosterols, which are effective against eczema and psoriasis. The fatty acids in the flaxseed oil also help to reduce inflammation, as do sunflower oil and shea butter.
  • Anti-aging – Rosehip oil has marvellous anti-aging benefits thanks to its high levels of vitamin A and molecules that boost moisture and collagen levels deep within the skin. The antioxidants in raspberry seed oil also help with anti-aging.
  • Smoothing and softening – The squalene in olive oil mimics your skin’s natural sebum to smooth and soften your skin. We also use shea butter, which has high concentrations of fatty acids and vitamins to condition and smooth your skin.
  • Healing for skin conditions – Flaxseed oil is particularly healing for skin conditions like rosacea, acne, dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis, as well as acne, redness and irritation. Many of the other ingredients in our organic moisturiser are also healing against skin conditions, including shea butter, sunflower oil and raspberry seed oil.
  • Hydrating and nourishing – The fatty acids in cocoa butter improve the elasticity of your skin and provide hydration and nourishment.
  • Conditioning and toning – Shea butter is effective for conditioning and toning the skin, especially on the face.

Where to buy our plastic-free face moisturiser

You can buy a jar of our best-selling organic face moisturiser on our online store. Alternatively, if you’re in Inveraray, you can pop in to visit us in person at our wee shop!

Our eco-friendly skincare packaging

The more eagle-eyed among our loyal Purdie’s customers may have spotted some changes in our packaging recently. And you’re absolutely right. We are gradually changing our packaging to move away from plastics and towards more reusable alternatives. We’re really excited about this so we wanted to share with you a bit about what we’ve been doing.

Why move to reusable packaging?

Purdie’s has always been an eco-conscious brand. This is a big part of our driving force behind using only high-quality, certified organic ingredients. And while a lot of our packaging has always been recyclable or reusable, we ideally want to remove plastics wherever possible. So, we have been working on adding even more earth-friendly packaging for our products. Read on to find out the eco-friendly skincare packaging we’ve introduced.

What eco-friendly skincare packaging do we now use?

Compostable wrappers for our bars

All our organic Soap Bars, shampoo bars, conditioner bars and shaving soap bars now come packaged in waxed butcher paper. This is not recyclable, but it can be composted - simply shred it up and pop it in your compost pile. There is no plastic in these wrappers.

Reusable glass pots for our skin creams and lip balms

Our organic face moisturiser and men’s organic face moisturiser come in heavy glass jars. Our organic lip balms come in frosted glass jars with a bamboo top. Once you’ve used up your product, you can either recycle the jars or find another use for them. You could fill them with toothpaste tablets, for example, or get crafty and use them as tealight holders.

Reusable tins for our body butters and body creams

Our organic bath salts, organic body butter, organic foot cream and organic hand cream all come in reusable blue metal kilner jars with clip tops. Again, once you’re done with your products, these can be reused! They are handy for storing small items like jewellery, or even holding small food items like sweets or nuts. Or, if you have any toiletries or creams that you’d like to decant into smaller containers, our metal tins can be useful for this too.

Glass over plastic wherever possible

We have opted for glass for a good portion of our skincare and beauty range, rather than plastic. All our aromatherapy rollers and organic lip glosses are in glass containers, for example. Not only is this a more eco-friendly option, but we think it gives our products the high-quality feel they deserve.

Why are our hand washes and body washes still in plastic?

Our hand washes, body washes and body lotions come in recyclable plastic bottles. This is still something we’re working on. However, as we add new products, we are staying away from plastics. We hope that, in time, we can offer a range that is completely plastic-free!

If you’d like to browse our range of organic, eco-friendly skincare products, head to our online shop or pop in to see us in Inveraray.

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Is organic skincare better? 3 beautiful benefits of using organic skincare products

We know that there’s a lot of debate around whether ‘natural’ or organic skincare is better for your skin than synthetic products. In this blog, we share our thoughts on why high-quality organic skincare that’s free from manmade nasties is better for your skin any day.

Is organic skincare better?

For us, well-made organic skincare is just as effective as products containing synthetic ingredients. It also offers so much more than synthetic skincare. Organic ingredients nourish and heal your skin with a vibrant mix of naturally occurring nutrients, rather than messing with it using chemicals. But it’s not just about results. Organic skincare is also better for your overall health, better for your skin’s long-term health and better for the environment.

So, if these things matter to you, then yes: organic skincare is better.

The benefits of using organic skincare products

1. Organic skincare is better for your health

Since our skin is porous, it absorbs most of what we put on it. As such, if we use products containing parabens, phthalates or sodium lauryl sulphate (which a lot of synthetic skincare contains), these can end up in our bodies, with potential health implications.

The worrying thing is that many people don’t even know they’re putting these ingredients into their bodies. That’s the beauty of organic skincare – you can look at the ingredients list and see exactly what has gone into your product.

2. Organic skincare is better for your skin’s long-term health

The harshness of some synthetic ingredients can take its toll over time – especially if your skin is sensitive. You may find that the products work for a while, but then you start to experience problems like dryness, irritation, sensitivity, oiliness or clogged pores. Organic skincare doesn’t contain manmade nasties; it is gentle and genuinely healing for the skin.

Organic skincare lets you nourish your skin with vibrant, nutrient-rich ingredients that are packed with essential vitamins and minerals. Just as eating a diverse diet helps your body feel its best, treating your skin to all these organic goodies allows it to heal itself and restore balance. You simply don’t get this level of nutrition with synthetic skincare products.

Look at our organic body butter as an example. It contains organic beeswax, shea butter, cocoa butter and flaxseed oil. Beeswax is rich in vitamin A – it boosts cell reconstruction, has anti-inflammatory properties, and protects your skin without clogging your pores. Shea butter is high in antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and vitamins A, D, E and F, which soften and heal the skin. Cocoa butter has vitamin E, which is naturally moisturising and strengthens the skin’s natural barrier, as well as fatty acids that hydrate the skin and improve elasticity. Flaxseed oil reduces inflammation and balances the skin’s natural oils, making it beneficial for chronic skin conditions such as dermatitis, eczema and psoriasis.

There is a wealth of skincare benefits already present in these wonderful natural ingredients, which we believe is better for your skin than manmade ingredients any day.

3. Organic skincare is better for the environment

Organic skincare is made using ingredients that are free from pesticides, fertilisers, synthetic chemicals and genetically modified organisms, so it is much better for the environment.

The myth that organic skincare doesn’t work

In some circles, anything labelled ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ gets a bad rap and is written off as ineffective. The truth is, knowledge about organic skincare ingredients has developed enormously in recent years. For us, being organic and eco-friendly is a lovely bonus. It’s the quality and skincare benefits of the organic ingredients that we care most about – we truly believe that organic ingredients enable us to make the best quality skincare.

Buy organic skincare from Scotland’s West Coast today

Here at Purdie’s, all our organic skincare and beauty products are made using Soil Association and COSMOS-certified ingredients.

To buy, head to our online Purdie’s store or visit us at our wee shop in Inveraray.

If you have any questions about our products, get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.

 

 

 

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