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Crisco as a Moisturizer

Face Moisturizer, Papain

At any given retail store, facial and hand moisturizers line the shelves offering healing from dry skin, fine lines, and instant visible results from aging skin. But according to the back of the bottle, the main ingredients can be found at the local super market for a fraction of the cost. Well known products such as Vaseline, Crisco, and olive oil all contain the same active ingredients found in many expensive moisturizers. So, is it possible that one can use Crisco in the same manner as these high priced moisturizers?

The history of Crisco started in 1911 by well known manufacture Procter & Gamble. They invented this product as a substitute from animal fat for making candles. Once electricity became more popular, this lard hit the shelves as cooking grease, and named Crisco to implicate it being derived from crystalline cotton seeds. Now days, Crisco is a blend of soybean and cottonseed oil.

Many plant seeds, such as soybean and cottonseed, contain olien oil. This oil was named after the olive and has been discovered for its moisturizing properties. The process of turning it into lard consists of hydrogenating the olien into a more fatty substance. The ingredients listed on a moisturizing cosmetic may label it as oleic acid, or a plant extract.

But since cottonseed and soybean are not very glamorous, cosmetic companies begin to lure customers by using the by-products of more exotic plants. Shea, olive, and palm all have olien oil, the same found in Crisco, but are more commonly seen on labels. Lately Shea oil and Shea butter has become increasing popular on the market for its proven ability to moisturize and repair skin.

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Indeed cosmetics entice us with added vitamins, minerals, and advertisement of instant visible results. However, does this justify these products high prices and claims of healthier skin? According to a book titled Dry Skin and Moisturizers: Chemistry and Function, the authors, Marie Loden and Howard Maibach, had this to say:

“…The ingredients are not only increasingly numerous but more diverse, satisfying the popular desire for more “actives”….So we find moisturizers containing vitamins,…a mélange of anti-oxidants, minerals (selenium, copper), various micronutrients, exfoliating enzymes (papain), humectants (urea, glycerin) and infinitum. In no case has it been demonstrated that the removal of any one of the many ingredients making up these preposterous cocktails would lessen efficiency. It is commonplace for moisturizers to contain 2 to 3 dozen or more “active” ingredients which are intended to seduce consumers into pricey purchases while avoiding the regulatory snare of being classified as drugs.”

It seems safe to say that Crisco can in fact be used as a moisturizer and provide similar results as many cosmetic lotions. Again, it is the glamour behind it that turns people off. However, women for generations have used Crisco as a face moisturizer with optimal results. In fact my own great grandmother used Crisco for decades and the proof is in her pictures.

As cosmetic companies increase their prices to break even in a dead economy, many people are finding it harder and harder to justify the cost. By using everyday kitchen staples, such as Crisco, this is a great way to cut back from buying a pricier alternative. Surely homemade beauty product recipes can be found in abundance on the web with a quick search. Don’t be surprised that you just may find the same recipe you grandmother used decades ago.

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http://www.shea-butter-and-olein.com/shea-olein

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisco

http://books.google.com/books?id=JpfgVgb62nsC&printsec;=frontcover&dq;=dry+skin+and+moisturizers&ei;=8HkaS7CYI5SszQS4opDKDg#v=onepage&q;=&f;=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=9MBGyqcED0cC&pg;=PA92&lpg;=PA92&dq;=crisco+olein+oil&source;=bl&ots;=k5w2hmB5yY&sig;=nsXOHFyeYEhP_HEZrhqASWU_FgA&hl;=en&ei;=V6YZS6D0DYnR8Qazj9zqAw&sa;=X&oi;=book_result&ct;=result&resnum;=3&ved;=0CA4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q;=crisco%20olein%20oil&f;=false