March 19, 2018
Magic Starfish
While I’m diligently working on getting Stitch On A Stick up and running, I don’t want anyone to think that I’ve forgotten about my first love - scrubs. I’ve decided to do a series on my scrubs, detailing their components and histories and how they make me feel. I love this stuff and I want to share it with those who may not have a clue why scrubbing is such an awesome experience. I’ve already done this a little bit with postings on the differences between sugar and salt, etc, but now I want to go into my products themselves. Sound like a plan? Not necessarily a good plan, but a plan nonetheless.
Einee, minee, miney, Magic Starfish! Bad segue? Absolutely! Great scrub? Even more absolutely. Magic Starfish is an apricot kernel oil based scrub that had been rumbling around inside my brain for a few months before I actually put it all together. My mother had gone to what used to be our local spa and found this cream lotion that she fell in love with. It was one of the first things she told me about the next time that I saw her. The part she was so excited over was the apricot oil used in the lotion. She loved the light smell and the feeling that it gave her skin. I had been wanting to branch out beyond the whole almond oil/coconut oil thing and this seemed like a good place to begin experimentation.
Of course, there’s the whole research part. This took me down a really weird rabbit hole that involved St. Ives Apricot Scrub. Which is a apparently something that people love to hate. This led to an entire afternoon of reading about the things people are willing to scrub their skin with, including walnut shells. Allow me to digress a little bit here. I don’t use things like walnut shells because they don’t dissolve in water. This means, to me, that they are too harsh to be used on skin and could lead to over scrubbing (tearing, abrasions, etc). Back to it.
Apricot oil is great because, like grapeseed oil, it is light and can be absorbed into the skin readily. This means no greasy afterwards that feel awesome at first but last way too long. Instead, you just get that “my skin is moisturized” feeling. This is all because of its fatty acid content. Not to mention the vitamin components (A, C, E, and K) that all play a part in keeping your skin healthy and beautiful.
Because apricot oil has a scent to it, I wanted an essential oil that complimented it and didn’t clash. I decided on either geranium or ylang ylang and this time went purely on the scent profile. I wasn’t as concerned with their properties (like lavender for calming, peppermint for cooling, etc), but I was all about scent. I wanted something that made me happy because it smelled good. Ylang ylang it was. Thankfully, my tester audience agreed.
I wanted this to be a middle of the road scrub. I didn’t want it to be off limits for people with sensitive skin or not be enough for people who really like to scrub down. I’ve found cane sugar to be an excellent compromise. It has enough scrubbing power to do the job and it is a humectant so it pulls moisture in from the air around it. Double moisturizing power! And just because the air has been so damn dry here, I added in some rosehip oil. Again, fatty acids and vitamins. Good stuff.
That's Magic Starfish there in the center. Surrounding it are the boot cuffs I'm working on for Stitch On A Stick. Two sites, one stone. Nailed it.
Finally, the name. Like I said in my previous blog post, naming things requires a shit load of vulnerability on my part. I have a weird sense of humor and I want to express that but I’m concerned about going to far. Usually overcoming this requires the assistance of alcohol or the absence of sleep for a prolonged period. This time, I outsourced and a name was born of wine and one of my closest people’s crazy imagination. I laughed out loud when they put it out there and so I’m keeping it. Magic Starfish, welcome to the family.
P.S. I'm not a doctor and these statements haven't been evaluated by anyone other than me. So please. I encourage you. Do your own research. It's YOUR skin. You can control what you put on it. It's one of the many awesome benefits of being you.