HERBALIST'S JOURNAL

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Opting for Healthy Body Care

5 Ways to Spot Body Care That Doesn't Care

When I first began experimenting with botanical body care over a decade ago, it was in pursuit of products that not only worked well but that I could adorn knowing that they were healthy. While we normally think of the skin as an intact barrier between us and the world around us, the reality is that this ‘barrier’ is in fact very permeable — much more like a screen than a door. Most of what we apply on our skin gets absorbed, which is why we need to give as much consideration to what we wear topically as to what we consume internally. I've compiled the following clues to help spot body care that doesn't care about your body. 

Deanna Rose Ahigian

Interview with the Founder

I recently had an interview with Laarni Gedo of Farm Link Hawai'i, as part of a feature to welcome Indigo Elixirs onto their platform. Farm Link is an online marketplace where O'ahu residents can buy local produce directly from Hawaii's farmers. You can see the featured blog post here and read the full original interview with me ~ Deanna Rose, the founder of IE ~ on our Journal.
Wanderer Set

My Top Tips for Healthy Travels

Airline travel opens up the world for us, but getting from point A to point B while staying healthy can be a daunting task within itself. A little extra preparation (and a few of my favorite elixirs) can go a long way in helping you feel your best when you arrive at your destination.

The following list incorporates my best advice for staying well while traveling by air, along with essential the products I never fly without. You can find all five of the elixirs mentioned in my new Voyager Set. 

Seven Seeds Moisture Balm

Caring for Overwashed Hands

If your hands are more dry than they've ever been, you are not alone. The current season has us all fully focused on hand hygiene to help keep ourselves and those around us healthy. From washing like crazy to heavily relying on hand sanitizer, all that soap and water and alcohol can certainly dry out the skin. And because our skin serves as a crucial component of our physical immune system, we want to keep it in intact ~ which means taking good care of it in between all that washing and sanitizing. 
How to Eat for Optimal Health

How to Eat for Optimal Health

Our diet provides all of the nutrients to fuel our entire body ~ every metabolic process, every movement, every thought is powered by the foods & drinks that we consume. When we find ourselves outside of an optimal state of health, we often need to reevaluate our dietary habits if we want to see improvements in the way we feel. From frequently catching colds to chronic exhaustion, eating well can dramatically improve the state of our health and, in turn, our immunity. We are only as resilient as our diets allow us to be. 
DIY Hand Sanitizer

DIY Hand Sanitizer (+ All the Facts)

What's the best way to keep your hands clean when you can't wash them? Hand sanitizer. In the wake of COVID-19, these simple antiseptics are all the rage (and out of stock). Here you'll find everything you didn't even know you needed to know about hand sanitizer, what you don't want in yours, and how to use them to make sure they are effective. I also share detailed instructions on how to make your own with ingredients you already have at home, including which essential oils are most likely to fight 2020's trending virus. 

Stay Well through Cold & Flu Season

How to Stay Well through Cold Season

There’s a reason the winter is known as ‘cold season’ — changing seasons and harsh temperatures can make us more vulnerable to catching seasonal colds and flus. Once you’re in the throes of illness, your symptoms generally need to run their course before you’ll feel reprieve. That’s why the best way to stay well throughout the winter is to avoid getting sick in the first place! Traditional wisdom offers no shortage of advice on how to support our body’s optimal state of being, and with a few simple life hacks you can keep your immune system at peak performance.
Hawaii Grown Citrus via Farm Link

Citrus Bliss

Check out this citrus bliss! The abundance of bumpy limes in the box means that more Citrus Cream is on its way back into the shop. This dreamy lime-scented concoction is a traditional recipe from Thailand, and can replace both your shampoo and conditioner (or one or the other) while leaving your hair super smooth and scalp ultra refreshed as it cleanses and hydrates your mane. In addition to being my new-found all-time favorite hair elixir, possibly the coolest part is that the formula consists entirely of local Makrut Limes from @lokoea, Butterfly Pea Flowers from @petalmetal and water. ⁠ ⁠
Hawaii Grown Butterfly Pea Flower

Butterfly Pea in Bloom

Currently in the final stages of brewing Citrus Cream, which means I get to work with this beautiful bloom! Known commonly as Butterfly Pea Flower and scientifically as Clitoria ternatea, those brilliant violet petals impart a deep shade of indigo when infused into water. This blue hue is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a water-soluble antioxidant that lends rich color and healing benefits to blue, purple and red botanicals. ⁠ ⁠
A Decade of Indigo Elixirs

A Decade of Indigo Elixirs

2020 is here, and amongst a sea of meanings it marks a full decade that I’ve dedicated to Indigo Elixirs. My earliest explorations with botanical materials were incited by a quest to find a beauty routine that worked for my body: specifically for my eternally dry skin and exceptionally thick Armenian hair. While spending a semester in Europe during my sophomore year of college, I became inspired by the desire for products that were not only effective but also versatile — to easily fit into the backpack I was living out of while traveling — and healthy — as I began questioning ingredient labels with increased scrutiny.
Vetiver Balm with Hawaiian Vetiver Roots

The Final Elixir Collective

This month marks the end of the Elixir Collective in its current iteration.⁠ I initially started this monthly subscription as a way to share some of Hawaii's more unique and rare flora, in the form of limited batch items that allowed for ultimate creative freedom. After nearly two years, I've crafted dozens of new products ranging from infused honeys to incense and every form of skincare in between. This project has been ultimately fulfilling, as it challenged me every month to formulate something I've never made before, and gave me space to explore materials and mediums that I'd otherwise never dedicated time to. ⁠ ⁠

Elixir Collective No. 20 ~ Citrus Cream

Elixir Collective No. 20 ~ Citrus Cream

Woven into every culture is a rich tapestry of wellness rituals — age-old practices to worship our bodies with the plants growing around us. While many of my creations involve intuition and experimentation, I always find wisdom and inspiration in the recipes of yesteryear that have long been passed down. As usual, some of the best-kept secrets are not written in books, but rather are kept alive through family traditions and found in some of the more remote and exotic places on the planet. This month’s offering is my take on a beloved recipe from Thailand, by way of a friend who traveled there and experienced a magical shampoo made from one very special local ingredient....