All About Rose Hips

A little info on rose hips.

They are actually the FRUIT of a rose plant!
When rose flowers say goodbye and drop their petals, left on the branch is an itty bitty berry-like rose hip. These little guys are jam packed with all of the benefits from roses like super antioxidants, inflammation fighting power and they are one of the best sources of Vitamin C – 50% more than oranges! 

Rose hips are a mild astringent so they are helpful for balancing excess oil. They also help regenerate new skin cells and repair scars or burns.
High in Vitamin A, the “skin vitamin”, rose hips help keep skin elastic, prevent wrinkles, and even help minimize lines that have already formed. They are a good ingredient for cancer prevention calming inflammation.
Try a cup of rose hip tea for your daily does of vitamins and immune-boosting goodness.

One important note – rose hip tea can be a mild diuretic and laxative! 🙂 We put lots of natural rose hips in our anti-again Napa Valley Grape Skin Fresh Mask. Look for rose hips when searching for wrinkle-fighting and renewing facial products!

Easy Avocado Hair Mask

We all know avocado has amazing skin benefits.

It can help with dryness, spots, and wrinkles among other things. Full of nutrients, delicious and healthy fats, plus vitamins like B, C and E…it’s a practically perfect food. 
Well all of those amazing avocado characteristics are excellent for hair too!

Not only are avocados exceptionally conditioning for hair, but they can actually prevent hair loss and even promote hair growth. Vitamins in avo’s protect and strengthen hair on a cellular level, while the fats help with dry hair and breakage. They have been used as far back as Egyptian times, and can easily be made into a quick natural hair treatment. Rather than add a million other ingredients, we are keeping this short and sweet, with all of our focus on our star ingredient.

Avocado hair mask
– Blend about 1/4 cup of fresh avocado with 3 Tablespoons of water. Blending will give you a smooth, thick texture.
– Add a splash of apple cider vinegar if desired to help slow oxidation of avocado (ACV is also excellent for conditioning and smoothing hair).
– Cover with cap
– Leave on 30 minutes – 1 hour and rinse.

You can also make a quick hair mask with our Mineral Mud, just add water or juice!

Matcha Green Tea Mask

Mmmm matcha afternoons.
Matcha is a quality green tea from Japan, one of the world’s finest teas. The benefits of matcha go far beyond your teacup!

It is extremely rich in chlorophyll and antioxidants (higher than many superfoods), and is effective for detoxing, healing and reducing inflammation.

Matcha is also antibacterial which is great for fighting and treating acne and eczema irritation. Its UV resisting properties make it excellent for fighting signs of premature aging and blocking UV damage.

Mix matcha powder with yogurt of choice, coconut oil or even water for an age fighting, skin firming mask. Leave on 10-15 minutes and rinse.
We use real matcha powder in our Matcha Ginger Fresh Mask mix, combining it with ginger, coconut milk and burdock root. Use our Fresh Mask mix to make a mask or sprinkle in your bath for whole body goodness. Find it on SimplecareProducts.com Some matcha mix contains added ingredients – for best results, use pure matcha powder.

Matcha Ginger Fresh Mask Mix is made with real green tea matcha powder, finely ground so that nutrients are easily absorbed.  Paired with coconut milk, burdock root and ginger.

Lycopene for Skin

Smashing some lycopene in the Simplecare kitchen today.

So what is LYCOPENE?

Lycopene is a strong antioxidant found in pink or red fruits and veggies like watermelon, tomato and guava.

One of the biggest known benefits of lycopene is UV protection. 

Studies have shown that this antioxidant neutralizes free radicals that are created by UV rays from sun exposure so they are not absorbed by the body. Free radicals are believed to be responsible for a range of nasty things from the breakdown of skin cell structure to skin cancers.

Eating foods rich in lycopene can also help naturally build UV resistance in skin and can boost collagen. Collagen keeps skin firm and youthful but formation usually slows with age, so keeping lycopene around means younger-looking, healthier skin. 
You can find real lycopene-rich ingredients like watermelon, tomato and goji in our body products.

All this tomato talk and now I want a bloody mary.