Great for getting feet in tip top condition, our Flip Flop Foot Balm works wonders, and not just for the summer months but all through the rest of the year when those feet are tucked away in wellies & boots!
Here at Down to Earth, we handmake our Flip Flop Foot Balm in small batches using organic Calendula Infused Oil, Shea butter, Olive Oil, Safflower Oil and Beeswax, ingredients all selected for their beneficial skin healing and reconditioning properties.
I thought a bit more information about Calendula would be great for customers to understand how the infused oil is made and why it's such an important raw material for us since it's used in quite a few of our products.
Calendula, also sometimes called Marigold, Golden Bloom or Pot Marigold is most renowned for it's healing properties and has been used by herbalists for many centuries. It's important to know, not all varieties are suitable for use in making products for cosmetics and Calendula Officinalis is the one that should be used for all cosmetic creams, oils and balms.
We use an ethically sourced organic infused oil (Sunflower Oil) from the Calendula Officinalis plant.
Last year, I ran a little project to grow my own Calendula Officinalis and infuse my own Calendula oil just so I could follow the process and gain a better understanding of the plant and product.
Firstly, I sowed some calendula seeds indoors (climate in the North of England not as dependable as other areas!) and got them going in seed trays. I'm fairly sure most people would have success sowing straight into the ground where they want them to grow but I wasn't taking that chances!
Then, when they'd got going and no more frost was forecast, I planted them out in my little allotment bed. As you can see they did really well, produced some lovely blooms and it was a joy to see every time I visited the plot. Great for the insects and with a lovely golden, sunny aroma.
When they were in full bloom, and on a dry day, I harvested my first crop and took them home to dry out for a few weeks. It's important to let the flowers completely dry to ensure there's no mould able to form before being introduced into the infusion process.
After drying, a clean jar with a good seal was filled about 3/4 full with flowers and then organic sunflower oil was poured over the flowers to cover them.
The jar was then sealed and left on a sunny window sill for a good 6 or 7 weeks to allow all the goodies from the Calendula to seep out into the sunflower oil.
After this the flowers were strained off the oil to leave a lovely golden infused calendula oil.
It's this oil that's so used in our Flip Flop Foot balm, Out & About Hand balm and Out & About Hand Cream too.
Properties of Calendula Infused oil
As mentioned earlier, Calendula is a wonderful herb for treating a whole host of skin problems due to its healing properties. It's the carotene content in Calendula that imparts the orange colour in the infused oil and is also brilliant in helping to heal dry cracked skin. So, great for cracked heels and chapped hands particularly in winter time when the cold weather takes its toll on the hands.
It's a wonderful skin healer promotor and rapidly helps with skin tissue repair and minimises scar formation.
It also has anti inflammatory properties and great for using in cases where skin is inflamed, sunburnt, sore, irritated and itchy.
Often used in eczema and psoriasis treatment products. Quite a few customers have used on these problem areas with great results.
Safe to use with children for nappy rash, chapped skin on faces etc
It has anti fungal properties and so it was an obvious choice to use in a foot balm to treat any anti fungal problems,
particularly athletes foot.
Flip Flop Foot Balm Facts
A little does go a long way! As the product is a balm (a sort of thick buttery consistency) and contains no water, it spreads and melts onto the skin as its rubbed in and so a small amount covers a good area.
The tins we use are made from aluminium, 100% recyclable.
Essential oils of Tea Tree (a fantastic antifungal, antibacterial & antiviral oil), Lavender (all of the properties above and more, great as an anti inflammatory, very soothing on the skin, and especially good for promoting healing) and Myrrh, chosen because it's excellent for helping to heal cracked skin ( I'm thinking of sorting out those dry heels!). Myrrh also works well as an antiseptic, antifungal and anti inflammatory.
Contains Beeswax, the best you can get, no bees are harmed in the extraction of the organic beeswax we buy. Beeswax not only forms a barrier to protect the skin but also (unlike Vaseline & mineral oils) penetrates the skin structure to moisturise and promote skin cell rejuvenation.
Hope this has given you an insight into all things Calendula & Flip Floppy, there's loads more to write about but i'll save that for another time!
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