Rejoice in Rooibos

It was 15 years ago when we first started making skin care. We were excited about this venture, determined to make all recipes from scratch with nutrients healthy for the skin.   ‘Rooibos'  was the buzzword.  It seemed everyone was into sipping this miracle tea, full of antioxidants, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties.  Consuming the tea helped to make the skin healthy too, so we thought,  why not give the skin an extra boost by applying it directly.  Remember, this was not the norm in thinking for most of us back then.  In Canada, we relied heavily on the cosmetic market to satisfy our needs.  Little did we know what we were actually wearing.

But we learn.  In formulating a foot cream recipe, the idea of adding Rooibos became a reality. After all, our poor feet need all the help they can get.  As many people's feet suffer from itchiness, dryness, redness, scaling,  soreness, we considered different nutrients to counter all of these aliments.  Like neem, argan, clove, shea, and rooibos.

We purchased an 'organic' rooibos from a tea farm in Ontario.  We made the tea.  We drank the tea. We wore the tea in our new foot cream.  It was later that we learned rooibos had been tested on 11 dart frogs (brightly coloured poisonous frogs that live in South America).  The rooibos prevented the frog's skin from fungal infections.  A positive for our feet!  A positive for the frogs!

Rooibus has high flavonoid content, the beneficial water-soluble plant pigment and thus the red colour in rooibos.  It is highly anti-aging.  Rooibus also acts as a protectant on the skin due to its high source of zinc and vitamin D.  The goal is to keep the feet young and tuned.

Hints for using rooibos tea

* If you make a foot bath with our clay-neem add a little rooibos tea to the water.  Do the same for a facial.
* Apply the rooibos tea directly to your skin.  The longer you brew the tea the higher the anti-oxidant properties.  It can be applied anywhere.

Hints for using our argan neem foot cream with rooibos

* Apply after showering. Absolutely no reason to apply it just on the feet.  It makes a great hand, elbow, leg cream.
* Apply daily if needed.

I remember an 84 year old lady grinning with her secret, " I love the smell of your argan neem foot cream.  I love the feel on my skin.  I know it says it is for feet but I wear it on my face. Shhh."