As winter rolls around again, you can bet on feeling cold winds outdoors and hot dry air from heating systems inside. Now’s the time to plan for this assault on your skin and give it what it needs most: moisturizing and protection against inflammation and microbes that could cause itching and infection. There are key ingredients that are important in any body butter, cream or lotion you apply to your skin. Many of these ingredients are well known, but some are new, especially in the cannabis realm. Let’s examine the healing ingredients we use in COMFORT and COMFORT+ in more depth.
Ingredients that work
First, aloe vera is a primary ingredient in our body butters. It not only moisturizes and hydrates the skin, but in addition: “It contains antioxidants, enzymes, Vitamins A and C, and it is highly anti-inflammatory. It can help treat burns, acne and dry skin.” Baylor College of Medicine, “Aloe Vera Has Multiple Benefits”, March 2018
Other ingredients in our products that are moisturizing for the skin include shea butter, coconut oil, kokum butter and the essential oils. The benefits of each oil vary but the fatty oils help restore lipids in the skin and essentially help the skin retain moisture that creates a barrier against dryness. Sweet orange and clove essential oils, found in our Comfort and Comfort + body butters, can be effective at stopping the growth of some types of bacteria and fungi and clove oil also reduces itching. Cinnamon essential oil has antibacterial and antioxidant properties, while white camphor oil is anti-inflammatory and can help boost the activity of the circulatory system, making blood more accessible to the skin.
And finally, cannabis topicals activate receptor sites of the two best known cannabinoids, THC and CBD which means that these cannabinoids bind to elements in skin cells, releasing their healing qualities. Very recent research conducted in Poland by Martyna Zagórska-Dziok, et al, and published in Molecules 2021, by the University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland states that “hemp extracts can be a valuable source of biologically active substances that reduce oxidative stress, inhibit skin aging processes and positively affect the viability of skin cells. The analysis also showed that hydrogels based on cannabis extracts have a positive effect on skin hydration.”
Use our body butters to combat dry skin
While some folks do use our COMFORT body butters on their faces, they are especially good to use in winter on dry elbows and knees or other spots of dry skin on the body. In fact, I use them both for pain relief and for hydrating skin on my hands, arms, and neck to relieve stiff fingers, knotted tendons, and a sore wrist. Whenever possible, keep your skin in peak shape this winter with Sweet Releaf’s COMFORT body butters. Enjoy!
