A glycerite for spring skin
A remedy I’ve just set to brew; listening to what my body needs and responding to the herbs which will support me now.
My skin feels so exhausted by this winter. It is dry, papery and depleted. I’ve been conscious of keeping hydrated, and using my favourite Rose-infused-castor & Rosehip oil blend but it’s just not giving me the sort of rehydration I need.
I realised it’s time for a glycerite!
A glycerite is when glycerine is infused with herbs where the glycerine ‘draws’ out the goodness of the plant material. For my spring skin-food remedy, I’ve combined:
Calendula flower heads for their vulnerary action, promoting skin cell regeneration;
Rose petal for their nourishment and gentle astringent action;
Cleavers (Sticky Willy) for its cooling, anti-inflammatory and soothing properties;
Lemon balm because it was just beckoning to me in the garden!
These herbs will macerate in the vegetable glycerine for 4 weeks, to extract the herbal constituents. There’s a full how-to recipe below.
The glycerine itself is healing to the skin — it is a humectant meaning it draws moisture to it, and in the case of a skin remedy, it draws water to the skin. It is also effective at extracting and preserving many beneficial herbal constituents. Glycerine is a clear, colourless, odourless liquid with a viscous consistency. It can feel sticky, so my serum is going to be a combination of 1 part glycerite to 1 part rose water, see the recipe notes below.
If you’re going to have a go at making a glycerite, maybe to create your own facial serum, here are a few useful notes:
Glycerine is good at extracting constituents from fresh herbs, and you can use it to extract herbal consituents from fresh plant material. Be sure to muddle the mixture thoroughly to get a good contact between the glycerine and the herbs.
Finely chop the plant material, to expose maximum surface area to the glycerine.
I like to place the glycerite in a warm, dark place, out of direct sunlight. At this time of year, when it’s still quite cool, I place the glass bottle iwth the combined herbs and glycerine in a warm water bath: the slow cooker set to ‘warm’ for a few hours.
For glycerites made with dried herbs, you must add water to rehydrate the herbs and loosen up the botanical matter. I would generally recommend using 75% glycerine and 25% distilled (or boiled & cooled) water. The good thing about using fresh herbs in glycerites you’re introducing that water content in the most clean and sterile way possible — from the plant’s own moisture content!
As glycerine is colourless, look for the beautiful changes in colour as a sign of the potency of your extraction, it should take on the colour of the herbs you are infusing it with.
How to make Herbal Glycerites - with fresh herbs
Ingredients
Organic herbs of choice, fresh and finely chopped
Organic vegetable glycerine
Fill a clean glass jar nearly to the top with finely chopped fresh herbs. For a spring-time skin-tonic using fresh herbs, you could try using Cleavers, Lemon Balm and Nettle. If you’ve got any dried calendula flowers or rose petals, add those too although as they’re not in season, you can just leave those out and you’ll still have an incredibly nourishing remedy!
Pour undiluted glycerine over the chopped plant material to completely cover leaving a little space at the top of the jar (makes mixing easier and less messy)
Use a long, clean spoon or chopstick to mix the plant material and vegetable glycerine and release any air bubbles. Now top up with glycerine to the top of the jar.
Cap jar tightly. Label with name and ratio of ingredients along with date made.
Set aside away from sunlight at room temperature to macerate for 4 weeks and shake daily to mix.
After 4 weeks strain the glycerite through a few layers of muslin or cheesecloth to remove all the plant material. Be sure to squeeze cheesecloth to get every last drop of glycerite.
Bottle in a clean glass bottle with an airtight lid. Label with ingredients, ratios, and date strained.
Store in a cool, dark area.
To blend into a light spring-skin remedy…
To lighten up this somewhat sticky glycerite for use on the skin, combine 1 part glycerite with 1 part rose water. I like to store the resulting serum in a brown glass dropper bottle, and smooth half a dropperful onto my face when its feeling particulary dry and ‘thirsty’.
As ever with herbalism, personalise the recipe. If you haven’t got these herbs to hand, think about what you might have stored, I think Plantain and Daisy would also be wonderfully soothing.
Glycerites can also be taken internally, but that’s for another post… ❤
