Witch Hazel: What is it? Where does it come from? What does it do? How does it benefit us? Are all Witch Hazels created equal? How can it best be used in shaving? These are all questions this write up will attempt to answer.
Witch Hazel is an astringent that is produced from the leaves and twigs.of the North American witch hazel shrub. Astringents, loosely defined, shrink or constrict body tissue, such as skin or more accurately the pores of the skin.
It is manufactured via a process known as Steam Distillation. This is the same process by which Essential Oils are extracted from various trees, plants, flowers and shrubs. The difference in the manufacture of witch hazel is these oils are removed from the top leaving an aqueous (water based) solution. Witch Hazel is basically an "Essential Water" if you will.
Witch Hazel in its natural and orginal form has many benefits to the skin. It has anti-inflammatory properties, reducing swelling and irritation. It locks moisture into the skin. It encourages skin regeneration. It accelerates healing. It can stop bleeding. It has anti-bacterial properties. It also contains powerful anti oxidants.
As you can see the benefits as they relate to a post shave situation are numerous. The question then becomes well are these things true of all witch hazel products. Well to varying degrees yes. Substantially varying degrees.
Sadly as with many things that have become "overly refined" in this day and age so is the case for witch hazel.
The first difference in witch hazel products is the alcohol content. The higher the alcohol content, the cheaper the product is to manufacture or at least sell.
Now it has been put out in shaving circles that zero alcohol witch hazel is potentially the best for the skin. However this is not entirely true. Alcohol is responsible in large part for witch hazels inherent natural astringent properties. Many witch hazel product available have an alcohol content in the neighborhood of 14%. This is, in my opinion, slightly on the high side. However zero alcohol is robbing witch hazel of some of its primary benefit. The same benefits can be had with some alcohol content, without the costs of potentially drying out the skin. One must remember that witch hazel contains essential oils that naturally moisturize the skin. The alcohol plays a role in closing the pores, locking in these moisturizing essential oils. So some alcohol content is not only beneficial but even optimal, just not the alcohol content of the witch hazel that is readily available to us.
The second and possibly more notable difference is that the witch hazel available readily over the counter in pharmacies and local marts have the tannins removed. Tannins have powerful anti inflammatory properties and also contain powerful anti oxidants that encourage and proliferate skin regeneration.
As you can see often the benefits of a product over time, as the product becomes overly refined, actually decrease. This becomes an issue because said product is recognized and marketed under the context that the product still contains the ingredients or content that offer these benefits, when in fact they do not.
Now the good news is one can go about, with the right knowledge, equipment, time and desire, taking a 100% organic witch hazel and producing a witch hazel that contains all these beneficial ingredients as well as an appropriate alcohol content for maximal benefit. The bad news is no one will go through the time expense and effort to create said version of witch hazel.
The exception to this might be someone that would go to the trouble of filtering all their oils to 100% sterile condition before using them in their product. Someone that would refine tallow to its purest form and the use it to make a premium shave soap. Someone so concerned with quality, purity and performance that their concern isn't the cost for their time they invest because it is a labor of love. A personal passion. Someone like WetShaveObsession.
I hope you have found this article informative and the information useful. I certainly have learned quite a few things researching the topic.
Stay tuned for the Ultimate Skincare Line. Much like all our products we take skincare in wetshaving to the next level!
Enjoy Your Shaves!
Jim@WetShaveObsession
* This article is property of WetShaveObsession.com. It may not be reproduced or duplicated without accurate credit and reference given; including author and content owning website. http:// www.WetShaveObsession.com
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