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Frequently Asked Questions & Best Questions Asked
Return to Eden Cosmetics is attempting to establish a wholesale relationship with several retail stores throughout Colorado. We want to offer the retail store owners the option of selling our products at the same price we offer online - we just simply cannot make a profit by selling any cheaper to retail, and likewise, they just simply cannot make a profit by charging any less for our products in their stores. Second, you can personalize almost every product online by choosing your own fragrance - because of that option, we must charge more because we are not making a large batch of product with a single fragrance, we are customizing to your preference (yes, we know it adds to our workload, but it also - hopefully - makes you more willing to buy from us). Third, we feel if you buy from us at one of our events, then you deserve a discount for supporting local business and events (we ALL like to see more vendors and a variety of vendors at New West fest, Bridal Festivals, Celebrate Lafayette, Farmers' Markets, etc).
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It seems the only general consensus on healing of scar tissue is that collagen formation must be promoted. Several ingredients in our products promote collagen synthesis: palmitoyl tripeptide-5 and coenzyme Q-10 (ubiquinone). These ingredients can be found in our Continental Divide Hand Cream and in a higher concentration in our Jar of Youth Face Creams. Hyaluronic acid has also been found to leave "prettier" scars by reducing the amount of fibrous tissue generated. Hyaluronic acid can also be found in our Continental Divide Hand Cream and in our Dahlonega's Gold Hand Cream. It is also in our Jar of Youth and Vitamin C Face Creams.
Several vegetable oils are reputed to aid in tissue repair, specifically avocado oil, pumpkin seed oil (for high levels of phytosterols and omegas 3 & 6), raspberry oil, and rice bran oil (which contains gamma oryzonal, a mixture of polyphenols that not only provide anti-oxidant protection but also stimulates peripheral blood flow thereby aiding in tissue recovery).
Vitamin E is also touted as useful in healing scar tissue. Wheat germ oil and rice bran oil both contain high levels of Vitamin E.
Our products should absolutely not be used on broken skin or open wounds.
You could also try the following yourself:
Buy some Vitamin E oil from anywhere and massage into the affected area several times a day--Target, Safeway, Kroger, Whole Foods, The Vitamin Shoppe, Publix, Albertson's, City Market, etc.
Try the same thing with honey--tons of people are now swearing by the healing benefits of honey, sticky, yes, but you could make a mask and massage into the affected area and leave on for ~15 minutes before washing off
Calendula--also regarded for its wound healing properties-
Please be advised that these remedies are not based on any scientific evidence but rather information from what we deem to be respectable online sources. We make every effort to back up our research with scientific experiments but have not yet succeeded in sourcing scientific papers for the claims that honey, vitamin e, or calendula aid in speedy recovery of scar tissue. Also, these remedies should never be tried on open wounds or broken skin.
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3) Do you have any products for eczema?
At the very first event I ever attended, a lady who had a little girl with eczema asked if I could recommend anything for her condition. That prompted me to make the Gentle Body Bar and to make the Oats, Milk, & Honey Bath Milk.
Oats seem to be one of the key home remedies mentioned over and over for relief of eczema. Colloidal oatmeal used in the bath is mentioned repeatedly. Our Oats, Milk, & Honey Bath Milk contains oat flour to soothe irritated skin. Oat flour can also be purchased at most groceries and added to the bath. Several of our products also contain oat protein because of its ability to draw moisture to and retain moisture in the skin. Our By Land or By Sea Hand & Body Cream is one such product, our Oats & Pomegranate Day or Night Face Cream are two other great products containing high levels of oat protein.
Individuals suffering from atopic eczema are also at a higher risk of latex allergies ( British Association of Dermatologists ). Those with latex allergies should avoid (or at the very least be tested for allergies to) shea butter, papaya, and a variety of other foods and oils. This is often quite difficult because shea butter is in many personal care products and is even in foods (check the label sometimes on the white chocolate goodies from any brand name candy). We have a couple of lotions on this site and in the works that do not contain shea butter. We are also attempting to make a few of our products free of nut oils (including coconut) for those with mild allergies (all of our products are currently made with equipment used to process nut oils and shea butter whether those ingredients are in the final product or not, so those with serious allergies should use with caution).
The reason we recommend the gentle body bar is because it contains no shea butter (or other oil known to be frequently associated with skin allergies) and offers moisture. It is also high in Vitamin E and in other skin friendly vegetable oils (i.e. rice bran oil & evening primrose oil). Through our research, it seems a lotion (water based) may be more suitable for the relief of eczema than a water-free lotion bar or body oil.
I am also a firm believer in using natural soap, especially if you have eczema (i.e. that good old fashioned lye soap--and, if it's properly formulated, it is not stripping but rather nourishing to the skin--Luminous Skinn in Fort Collins sells Bobbi Silacci's handmade soaps primarily formulated with olive oil--if you're unsure of what to try, try these, they are superfatted meaning they contain excess oil in addition to the oils saponified during the soap making process). Many soaps and cleansers on the market contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) both of which are harsh and stripping. I tend to avoid these for use on the body because I find them too harsh and stripping and actually use natural soap almost exclusively. I do use shampoo with SLS though I have had problems with shampoos where SLS is too far up the ingredients list with totally stripping my hair. I try not to use anything that contains any ingredients ending in -th (i.e. Laureth, Ceteareth, etc.) because the act of making these ingredients often produces carcinogenic by-products.
It seems as though PUFAs (PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acids) help relieve eczema symptoms (see pdf file regarding nutraceuticals - a link to this file is listed in the Article Links section). According to the Nutraceuticals article, gamma linolenic acid in particular is useful for relieving eczema. A quick bynote on PUFAs in cosmetics--the concentration of PUFAs in any formula must be restricted because PUFAs are by nature fairly unstable (which is why they are such great anti-oxidants). I have a blog post on this subject as well, but PUFAs must be carefully formulated with MUFAs and saturated fatty acids plus oil soluble anti-oxidants (such as Vitamin E and Rosemary Oleoresin) to ensure the right balance and preservation of PUFAs in a formula. We carefully calculate the concentration of each type of fatty acid in all of our formulas to ensure a stable and safe formulation.
Finally, hyaluronic acid creams are sometimes prescribed for those with eczema. You could try one of our creams without a prescription to see if it works for you. We recommend the Jar of Youth Face Cream as this product has a higher concentration of hyaluronic acid than any of our other products.
Once again, these products offer our best attempt at providing relief to those burdened with eczema. We make no claims that the products will work for you, but if you are willing to experiment, these are our suggestions. Please use with caution performing a patch test first with any leave-on products and perhaps simply a foot soak first if you are trying out the Oats, Milk, & Honey Bath Milk for the first time.
A list of vegetable oils commonly regarded as good for treating eczema:
Avocado
Black Currant Seed Oil
Evening Primrose Oil
Pumpkin Seed Oil
Raspberry Oil
Rosehip Oil
Sweet Almond Oil
We do not stock products in all of our fragrances, so chances are if you order any product with fragrance, we'll have to make the product at the time of order. We aim for fast turn-around, so we try to have the order in the mail (or if you're in Fort Collins delivered) within 2-3 days. Most of the time, we have a supply of all face creams on hand. So, if you're ordering a face cream, we can generally ship (or deliver) within 1 or 2 days.
If you are placing a large order (i.e. wedding/shower favors or even gift baskets where there are multiple items to choose the fragrance of), we guarantee 21 days from date of order until shipment. This gives us time to order any supplies we may not have (specifically packaging materials for a large favor order) and time to make the product.
This business is currently "just a side business," though if you haven't been able to tell from talking to me or from perusing this site and the blog, it is my passion. I have a full time job on the side for paying the bills that ties up about 45 hours a week.
It takes about three hours from start to finish to make a batch of single product (for creams) and approximately two hours for all other products except the hydrosols/toners (which take ~10-12 hours, sometimes longer). This time does not include the time it takes to label each individual container. So, the entire process is time consuming, and there are just some nights and weekends where I cannot afford the time necessary to make product, so turn around time is longer than it would be from larger companies.
Customer satisfaction is important, however, so every effort is made to make and deliver product as quickly as possible after an order is placed. If you are ordering just a few items (two or three for instance), the very best effort is made to ship or deliver the item within three days of purchase. If you are ordering gift sets, Return to Eden will typically ship or deliver within seven days of purchase. Sometimes, we have to order an ingredient to make some of the products in the order (or, more likely, we have to order containers to complete an order). In those circumstances, we will typically ship whatever we can as soon as possible and ship any remaining items separately at no extra charge to you.
Bulk orders are in a class by themselves as we typically do not have the requisite amount of containers on hand and because product batch sizes are somewhat limited. We hold and ship an entire bulk order at once with guaranteed shipment 21 days after order (though the time is typically about seven days less than that even if we have to order materials). If you need a bulk order (or any order for that matter) any faster, let us know before placing your order, and we'll let you know if it's possible.
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Rutin_White_Paper.pdf This link provides some great information on Rutin and Green Tea Extract. It is issued by Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories who sell glucosyl rutin, so please keep that in mind, but I include it here because of the great visuals and because the information is presented in a clear and straightforward manner and echoes what other research papers have found regarding Rutin (the fact that it is an INCREDIBLY effective UV inhibitor).
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FAQs, BQs, & Article Links