Sunday 16 November 2008

Calendula & St. John's Wort cream

My dad has been a long time user of Nelson's Hypercal (which they recommend for cuts and sores) and speaks very highly of it. I like a new cream challenge so I decided to take a look at their ingredients and make my own "home grown" version. They list their ingredients as "active" and "other" rather than just a single list - I suppose to highlight the main stars of the show: the calendula officinalis (marigold) and hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort). So, here we have Hypercal:

Active ingredients:
  • Calendula officinalis tincture 0.45% v/w
  • Hypericum perforatum tincture 0.45% v/w 
Other ingredients:
  • Purified water
  • Glyceryl monostearate + macrogol stearate - an emulsifying & thickening agent
  • Apricot kernel oil
  • Theobroma oil - cocoa butter
  • Glycerol (humectant, i.e - helps the skin retain moisturiser)
  • Polawax GP200 (cetearyl alcohol, stearate) - stabiliser/ emulsifier (I think!)
  • Cetostearyl alcohol - stabiliser/ thickener
  • Cetyl palmitate
  • Glyceryl monocaprylate methyl parahydroxybenzoate (E218) - preservative
  • Propyl parahydroxybenzoate (E216) - preservative
There doesn't seem to be anything particularly nasty in their recipe - I wonder if the additional preservatives are needed though, given the use of the tinctures? In my version, 10% of the total ingredients are the tinctures, so no preservative is needed. Here's my version:
  • Spring water
  • Prunus amygdalus (almond oil)
  • Sodium stearoyl lactylate (vegetable-based emulsifier)
  • St John's Wort tincture
  • Calendula tincture
  • Glycerine (humectant)
  • Glyceryl stearate (vegetable-based emulsifier)
  • Butyrospermum parkii (shea butter)
  • Cetyl alcohol (stabiliser/ thickener)
  • Tocopherol (Vitamin E oil)
As with the previous creams I've made from Aromantic recipes using these emulsifiers, its a lovely consistency. I haven't added any essential oils, so it's just a really simple cream, which is what I wanted. Both the tinctures I bought from Baldwins. I'm not much of a guinea pig as I don't have any skin complaints to try it out with right now - so I'll have to wait for feedback from my dad!

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