Today in class Darcy and I hustled! We made an aloe vera gel that is going to be a part of the moisturizer.
Since we are making our own essential oil we needed to get that started today so the moisturizer could be properly made.
Vera Gel!:
Aloe vera gel is very easy to make! To start we used 1 large aloe leaf and 2 small/medium sized leaf. The peeling process is very easy if you do it the right way. The first time we didn't do it the correct way which lead to us having to individually pull out the guts from the gooey stuff and let it sit in a strainer over night to let the sap get off. Sap is something we are trying to avoid because skin can react really badly to sap and since its going to be a face moisturizer we do not want that! So then today we did it the correct way which is by letting the leaf sit in water for 10- 15 minutes. That allows the sap to get out of leaf. (that is why you see the yellow water in beaker) Later I crushed vitamin c pills so that I could mix it into the gel so that it won't mold (that is why the gel is an orange color). I also cut open vitamin E, just because it helps the skin heal from any damage. Finally we blended it in the blender and got the gel. At first it came out foamy but it needs to sit.
Since we are making our own essential oil we needed to get that started today so the moisturizer could be properly made.
Vera Gel!:
Aloe vera gel is very easy to make! To start we used 1 large aloe leaf and 2 small/medium sized leaf. The peeling process is very easy if you do it the right way. The first time we didn't do it the correct way which lead to us having to individually pull out the guts from the gooey stuff and let it sit in a strainer over night to let the sap get off. Sap is something we are trying to avoid because skin can react really badly to sap and since its going to be a face moisturizer we do not want that! So then today we did it the correct way which is by letting the leaf sit in water for 10- 15 minutes. That allows the sap to get out of leaf. (that is why you see the yellow water in beaker) Later I crushed vitamin c pills so that I could mix it into the gel so that it won't mold (that is why the gel is an orange color). I also cut open vitamin E, just because it helps the skin heal from any damage. Finally we blended it in the blender and got the gel. At first it came out foamy but it needs to sit.
Extraction of Lavender:
Here is our distillation system for the extraction of oils. Darcy and I needed to extract the oils from lavender to add it into our moisturizer.
Here is our distillation system for the extraction of oils. Darcy and I needed to extract the oils from lavender to add it into our moisturizer.
First we had to fill the beaker with lavender and put enough water to barley go over the plant portion of the beaker. After we had to step up the correct pipes to allow the steam to evaporate and the actual oils proceed through the pipe to the mini bulb at the top. Once the oils collated and concentrated there, it dripped down into the beaker in the side with the other end of rubber pipe. Btw it smells amazing!!!
This process took at least 2 hours which meant we needed a lot of patience but the second time we did this extraction we got more hydrosol then actual essential oil. The fact that we only got a little bit of oils was fine because we only needed 10 drops of it. This whole process was repeated twice because the first time we put the oil in the plastic container and the plastic and oil reacted to each other which led to the plastic absorbing the oil.
This process took at least 2 hours which meant we needed a lot of patience but the second time we did this extraction we got more hydrosol then actual essential oil. The fact that we only got a little bit of oils was fine because we only needed 10 drops of it. This whole process was repeated twice because the first time we put the oil in the plastic container and the plastic and oil reacted to each other which led to the plastic absorbing the oil.