What is a plant extract?
What is a plant extract?
As a beauty professional, understanding the composition of organic cosmetic products is essential.
Whether to offer them in the cabin to your customers , or to display them in resale format , you need to know your cosmetics!
The only downside: sometimes the labels which indicate their composition are simply incomprehensible.
So much so that it can happen that a customer asks you for additional information on a product, which you cannot always provide…
For example, do you know what a plant extract is?
This ingredient is often found in the composition of natural or organic cosmetics.
But what do we mean when we talk about plant extract, exactly?
Green Spa, your supplier of organic and natural cosmetics, explains everything to you!
Plant extraction, a historical process
To put it simply, plant extracts are cosmetic ingredients obtained from plant extraction .
So far so good.
Plant extraction is actually a process that has been used for centuries and centuries. Indeed, in the history of humanity we discovered quite early that plants and vegetables had particular benefits.
And in order to collect these benefits and use them wisely, we have found the extraction process.
This extraction can be aqueous or oily , depending on the nature of the benefits that we wish to reap.
The principle is simple: it involves recovering the benefits of plants by infusion , maceration , decoction or hydrodistillation . Concretely, plants are placed in an oily substance or made up of water.
After some time and certain manipulations (for example, heating the substance), the aqueous or oily solution has recovered all the benefits that were previously in the plant .
It is this substance containing the benefits that we call extract .
Today it is a scientific process that is used in a manner defined by chemical rules.
Which means that all the plant extracts that you find in cosmetics have been obtained through rigorous handling, in compliance with health standards.
Plant extraction, a historical process
To put it simply, plant extracts are cosmetic ingredients obtained from plant extraction .
So far so good.
Plant extraction is actually a process that has been used for centuries and centuries. Indeed, in the history of humanity we discovered quite early that plants and vegetables had particular benefits.
And in order to collect these benefits and use them wisely, we have found the extraction process.
This extraction can be aqueous or oily , depending on the nature of the benefits that we wish to reap.
The principle is simple: it involves recovering the benefits of plants by infusion , maceration , decoction or hydrodistillation . Concretely, plants are placed in an oily substance or made up of water.
After some time and certain manipulations (for example, heating the substance), the aqueous or oily solution has recovered all the benefits that were previously in the plant .
It is this substance containing the benefits that we call extract .
Today it is a scientific process that is used in a manner defined by chemical rules.
Which means that all the plant extracts that you find in cosmetics have been obtained through rigorous handling, in compliance with health standards.
Plant extracts, at the heart of traditional medicine
Beyond technical mastery and respect for traditions , plant extracts are very often used in traditional medicine and alternative medicine.
Today, there are more than 390,000 species of plants, documented according to their benefits and the most effective extraction techniques .
And it is a science in constant evolution since we discover around 2,000 new ones each year!
Plant extracts are traditionally used in herbal medicine treatments . But with the ecological awareness of recent years, we find more and more plant extracts in modern cosmetics and in homeopathy.
Their natural dimension and delicate extraction are the basis of their reputation!
What is a plant extract?
Plant extracts are therefore substances obtained after maceration or infusion of a plant or flower in an aqueous or oily solution.
For certain types of plants , an oily solution will be required to collect the active ingredients: these will then be essential oils.
For other types of plants, it is the fatty substances that interest us. They will then be harvested in an oily solution, which will simply become a vegetable oil.
Whether benefits directly attached to the plant or to certain of its active ingredients , the plant extract can encompass numerous benefits, particularly for the skin.
This is why we find a lot of it in organic cosmetics , like those from Green Spa!
Want to know more about plant extracts? Discover the Green Spa information file: