Cocoyuyo English Page

01/09/2014

09/07/2014

Lavender production.

07/06/2014

Malva sylvestris

Malva sylvestris is a species of the Mallow genus. It’s also called “common mallow” and “high mallow” or “tall mallow.” Pretty, bright, and typically some shade of purple, it’s long been used as an emollient.

Today, malva has found new popularity as a soothing and softening ingredient in sensitive skin formulations. Particularly good for inflamed and irritated skin, malva flowers make a great addition to skin care products.

Health Benefits

Malva has a reputation for being soothing because its leaves contain a high level of plant “mucus,” making them perfect for use in a tea to soothe bronchitis, emphysema, sore throat, and cough. The tea also has a reputation for soothing stomach problems and calming intestinal inflammations, and is still used today to soothe these digestive and respiratory problems.

The leaves and flowers also contain tannins, flavonoids, and vitamin C, all protective antioxidants that can help strengthen the immune system. Traditional uses of the herb also include the treatment of gallstones, kidney stones, kidney inflammation, headaches, and toothaches. A warm malva compress could help cool superficial burns and relieve mouth sores, as the leaves contain mild pain killing properties and help protect from infection and drying.

Benefits to the Skin

In addition to wound healing, malva is best known in skin care for its ability to soothe dry, rough skin. If you’re suffering from winter dry skin, eczema, dermatitis, or similar skin conditions, malva is the perfect remedy. The flower extract forms a soothing, protective gel that not only moisturizes skin, but helps form a protective barrier to reduce moisture loss.

Like most plant extracts, malva also has anti-inflammatory properties, which is also perfect for damaged, sensitive skin. Apply this soothing extract and skin instantly feels calmed and hydrated, helping to reduce redness and irritation. If you stayed out in the sun a little too long, malva is also great for sunburn, and makes a perfect soothing balm for diaper rash.

Of course, those with psoriasis and eczema are often dealing with open, weeping sores. You always have to be cautious applying products to sores like these, but malva is perfectly safe and will actually help heal these sores more quickly. Sores, boils, insect bites, abscesses, and other wounds can all benefit from the application of malva extract.

Malva is even beneficial for hair! It softens, conditions, and gives hair back its bounce, which makes it perfect for all hair types, but particularly useful for fragile and fine hair that tends to break easily.

07/06/2014

Calendula.

When looking for an herbal remedy to treat skin or wounds, think flower power -- or, more specifically, calendula. Its flowers, and occasionally its leaves, can be used to treat a variety of afflictions in different ways.

Calendula has a long history of use as a wound-healing and skin-soothing botanical. This lovely marigoldlike flower (although called pot marigold, it is not a true marigold) is considered a vulnerary agent, a substance that promotes healing. Calendula also has anti-inflammatory and weak antimicrobial activity. It is most often used topically for lacerations, abrasions, and skin infections; less commonly, it is used internally to heal inflamed and infected mucous membranes.

Calendula oil is often used for dry or damaged skin. It has natural restorative properties that infuse the skin with a youthful glow. Calendula oil is also used to protect the skin from premature aging and thinning of the skin. Calendula is safe enough to be used on the delicate skin under the eyes to help prevent crow's feet. Creams containing calendula are also used to treat diaper rash.

07/06/2014

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil.

The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, cholesterol level maintenance, weight loss, boosted immune system, proper digestion and regulated metabolism. It also provides relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV, and cancer, while helping to improve dental quality and bone strength. These benefits of oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and their respective properties, such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-fungal, antibacterial and soothing qualities.

Coconut oil is used extensively in tropical countries especially India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines etc., which have a good production of coconut oil. At one time, the oil was also popular in western countries like the United States and Canada, but there was a strong propaganda campaign in the 1970s spread by the corn oil and soy oil industry against coconut oil. Coconut oil was considered harmful for the human body due to its high saturated fat content until the last decade (2000s) when people began to question the claims of the propaganda. Next, let’s look into some more details of how coconut oil works in our body.

How is lauric acid used by our body?

The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, which is supposedly helpful in dealing with viruses and bacteria that cause diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It also helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and helicobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia.

Composition of Coconut Oil

More than ninety percent of coconut oil consists of saturated fats (Don’t panic! It’s not as bad as it sounds, read to the end of this review and your opinion may change), along with traces of few unsaturated fatty acids, such as monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Virgin coconut oil is no different from this.

Saturated fatty acids: Most of them are medium chain triglycerides, which are supposed to assimilate well in the body’s systems. Lauric acid is the chief contributor, representing more than forty percent of the total, followed by capric acid, caprylic acid, myristic acid and palmitic.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids: Linoleic acid.

Monounsaturated fatty acids: Oleic acid.

Poly-phenols: Coconut contains Gallic acid, which is also known as phenolic acid. These polyphenols are responsible for the fragrance and the taste of coconut oil and Virgin Coconut Oil is rich in these polyphenols.

Certain derivatives of fatty acid like betaines, ethanolamide, ethoxylates, fatty esters, fatty polysorbates, monoglycerides and polyol esters.

Fatty chlorides, fatty alcohol sulphate and fatty alcohol ether sulphate, all of which are derivatives of fatty alcohols.

Vitamin-E, vitamin K and minerals such as iron.

CoCoyuyo.

04/06/2014

Eucalyptus extract.