Although the demand for clean beauty skincare products is high these days, the natural beauty movement is actually nothing new. People throughout history have been tapping into the powerful healing and beautifying properties of medicinal plants and oils.
We drew on this ancient wisdom when selecting our “soothing seven” ingredients for the unique formulation in our signature ocean clay cleansing bar. We knew we wanted ingredients that would provide nourishment and deep hydration, so we turned to one of nature’s most powerful natural moisturizers: castor oil.
Why Castor Oil Needs to be Part of Your Skincare Routine
This awesome ingredient comes from the seeds of the Ricinus communis plant and has a range of benefits when used as part of a skincare routine.
Like we mentioned above, castor oil is a high-powered moisturizer that produces smooth, plump, glowing skin. But that’s just the beginning of what this awesome oil brings to the skincare table. Castor oil is also anti-inflammatory, helps to treat acne, and has even been used to heal wounds and skin conditions. It stimulates tissue growth, which creates a protective barrier between broken skin and the surrounding environment, keeping potential infections at bay.
So with all of these unbelievable benefits, there’s no way we were going to create our ocean clay soap without it.
How Castor Oil Creates the Creamiest, Lushest Soaps
To understand how castor oil is able to offer such a lush, hydrating experience for your skin, it helps to know just how castor oil is extracted and how it performs in soap.
When castor beans are pressed, a thick oil is produced. This oil is hydrophilic, which means that it loves water and attracts water molecules to itself. It’s also a humectant, which means that it draws water out of the surrounding air and onto your skin, so you become a literal moisture magnet.
When incorporated into a soap, castor oil acts as a softening agent and produces a fluffy lather that’s above and beyond what you’re used to seeing from run-of-the-mill drugstore brand bars.
How We Use Castor Oil in Our Ocean Clay Cleansing Bar
We’re green beauty advocates all the way, so in crafting the formula for our ocean clay cleansing bar, we wanted castor oil in its highest quality form. So, naturally, we went for expeller cold-pressed organic castor oil, which offers all of the amazing hydrating and healing properties without impurities or other artificial stuff.
Something else that we do a little different here at OGO is that we “superfat” our handmade soaps. What this means is we leave a portion of the ingredients unreacted, so they remain in their raw state in the natural soap. This helps pump up the potency but it also means their shelf life is shorter. We recommend using your ocean clay cleansing bar within one year of purchase to get the best experience out of it.
Want to know more about how we pack all this goodness into one little bar? Check out our Ocean Clay Cleansing Bar page.
