Quench Cleanse

Quench Cleanser
I love quench cleanser…holy cats!  I find it cooling for my reactive skin (I get red really easily and react to ingredients with warmth and redness, Im kind of a delicate flower.) it gets the job done and cools my firey skin.  Lets find out how this puppy works.  Here are the ingredients:
Aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, Helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, Rosa damascena (rose) flower water, leuconostoc/Radish root ferment filtrate, glycerin, coco glucoside, coconut alcohol, lauryl glucoside, sucrose cocoate, sodium lauroyl lactylate, Calophyllum inophyllum (foraha) fruit/seed oil, sclerotium gum, Panax ginseng (ginseng) root extract, Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, hydrogenated lecithin, glyceryl caprylate, sodium anisate, xanthan gum, citric acid.
Ingredients in bold are Certified Organic
89.15% of the total ingredients are from Organic Farming pH = 4.8-5.5
 
Let’s look at each ingredient one at a time together.
Aloe barbadensis- Aloe is cooling to the skin, emollient, and healing.  I wrote about this in my materia medica…here are some of the known mechanisms of healing for Aloe: Beta Carotine, Vitamin C, E and B12 along with folic acid and choline along with minerals like Calcium, chromium, copper, selenium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium and zinc are among the MANY ingredients that cause Aloe to be such a great healer of the skin.  Its also organic!  Bonus!

Helianthus annuus is sunflower seed oil. Sunflower seed oil is really high in Vitamin E or tocopherol which is an awesome antioxidant, it is also anti-inflammatory.  So, here I am going to talk about antioxidants and why they are so important.  We always hear that this is an antioxidant or that is…wth does that really mean???
As we go through the day we encounter lots of free radicals…what in the world is a free radical?  Its an incomplete and unbalanced molecule with a charge.  Free radicals are large components of pollution. Smoke, ozone and the like.  These molecules are missing one or two electrons which make them unstable and looking for an electron wherever they can find one to make themselves stable and have a neutral charge which all molecules strive for…neutrality and balance. Without antioxidants those electrons can come from our own bodies, our skin or if we inhale them, our organs making our own molecules unstable which causes them to become reactive, it’s really a huge cycle, everyone is looking for neutrality and balance.  Antioxidants have extra electrons to share or donate freely to free radicals to make them balanced and neutral without having to wrestle them from our organs or skin.
  Antioxidants like Vitamin E and C have extra electrons to donate like the Mother Theresas of the atomic world, preventing oxidation and instability of tissues and cells.  So important to health.

Rosa damascene flower water- this ingredient is the queen of skincare ingredients (no really, rose is considered the queen of skincare).  Rose flower water is so soothing, so emollient, so supportive for mature and fragile skin. I have used this ingredient in so many of my own formulations for skincare, especially for people with health issues.  This one is organic too!  Wow!  I would love to be at that distillery…wouldn’t you?  Yummmm

leuconostoc/Radish root ferment filtrate- this is a bacteria that is the by-product of fermentation.  It has been found to have preservative properties.  EWG has this listed as super low overall hazard.

Glycerin- Glycerin is also known as glycerol, is sweet and non-toxic.  In cosmetics is used as a humectant (draws water from the air to skin) and emollient (soothing and smoothing). 

Coco glucoside- this is a surfactant (a surfactant reduces the surface tension of water making it “wetter” to better dissolve oil and dirt easier) and is super low on the EWG hazard list.

Coconut alcohol- Did you just cringe seeing alcohol in skin cleanser?  I did.  But this isn’t that kind of alcohol.  It’s the chemical kind of alcohol, which is just a chemical formulation and positions of atoms, not necessarily the stuff that burns and dries your skin.  This alcohol is a fatty alcohol that is also an emollient emulsion stabilizer (keeps emulsions emulsified), foam boosting viscosity (thickness) controller.  

lauryl glucoside- is a sugar and lipid (fat) based surfactant.  Super low on the EWG scale of hazards.
 
sucrose cocoate- overall hazard is super low, and is a skin conditioning agent, emollient and surfactant, antistatic and skin conditioning.
 
sodium lauroyl lactylate- the overall hazard is low and it is used as a surfactant and emulsifying agent. 
 
Calophyllum inophyllum (foraha) fruit/seed oil- this is tamanu seed oil.  I was just talking to another herbalist the other day about this amazing oil.  They said that this is all you would need in your tool kit for skin repair.  This really is an amazing oil!  Scientific studies include:  uses for sunburn, wound healing, scar healing. Anti acne, anti inflammatory, anti tumor , moisturinzing, increasing micro circulation, hypoallergenic all these studies are cited here: http://www.volcanicearth.com/tamanu-oil-botanical-profile.html and this paper from the International Journal of Cosmetic Science is really interesting also: http://www.dweckdata.co.uk/Published_papers/Tamanu.pdf tradition and science really speak to the quality and healing properties of this ingredient.
 
sclerotium gum- this is a skin conditioning agent, emulsion stabilizer and low on overall hazard on the EWG rating scale.
 
Panax Ginseng Root Extract-this is an organic ingredient that is very low on the EWG ingredient list.  Panax Ginseng Root extract is used in skincare according to Paula’s Choice panax ginseng is used to boost hydration, as an antioxidant and fades uneven skin tone and reduces wrinkles topically  and even boosts the natural firmness of skin. (https://www.paulaschoice.com/ingredient-dictionary/antioxidants/panax-ginseng-root-extract.html)
 
Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract- firstly, this is not rosemary essential oil, this is rosemary extract which is going to have much less oil in it, so those of us who are familiar with essential oils know that this can be a really robust EO; This isn’t that.  This is an extract which is water infused (like a tea) extract.  This has an antioxidant effect and extends the shelf life of the product.  This is more of an antioxidant for the product itself more than for our skin.
 
Hydrogenated Lecithin- this has a low overall hazard according to EWG. It acts as a skin conditioning and emulsifying agent that is non-surfactant.  It is derived from egg yolks (which is why aioli emulsifies so well with olive oil…emulsification of lecithin from the yolk of the egg 😉 …science…who said I would never use those 3 years of chemistry in college?)
 
glyceryl caprylate-an overall super low overall hazard.  This ingredient is used as a skin conditioning agent, emollient, surfactant and emulsifier,
 
sodium anisate- very low overall hazard (one source said harmless) , derived from fennel and is an antimicrobial agent to preserve the product.
 
Xanthan Gum- is a thickener used in foods and in cosmetics for texture.  Harmless.
 
Citric Acid- citiric acid is used as a buffer to maintain the acidity of the product. Citric acid is derived from citrus fruits (oranges, limes, lemons etc)
 
 
This product is 89.15% organic…I love the transparency of this statistic.  Life is about balance.  There are some things that can be used organically and some things that cannot.  There are a number of reasons that things cannot be organic.  Sustainability and feasibility being two of them.  We cannot continue to sustain some of the organic products that we use…coconut and palm being two that jump out at me, and also shortages of Santal album (sandalwood) and real high-altitude lavender being a couple more that I have seen become unsustainable in my years of practice.  I like balance.  Also some of the non-organic ingredients don’t come in organic form with the organic standards.
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The pH of the product: 4.8-5.5…love this.  The acid mantle of the skin is our very first line of protection from outside invaders.  The acid mantle of the skin’s pH is 4.5-6.2.  This product will not strip the acid mantle by being too alkaline.  Good call.

Overall:  I really like quench.  I find it to be cooling and soothing to my skin, and cleans great!  Now that I know the thought that went into it I love it even more!!!
© 2018 Donna Bass and Mamma Moon Herbals