News — Farm to face skincare

We are at the hallway point between winter and spring which seems an ideal time to share our love of Maine and the story of shower shots.  Shower shots are small nuggets filled with pure essential oils and topped with our flower confetti.  They are simple, sustainable self care.  Perfect for someone who is looking to add a bit of ritual and thought into everyday activities- like taking a shower.

When we started Dulse & Rugosa our focus was on our seaweed rich shampoo bars.  I discovered the power of seaweed while searching for a long term solution to my chronically itchy scalp.  Our shampoo bars are work horses and last a long time.  We realized we needed to expand our product line to help that annoying bottom line.  We have bills to pay.

 We wanted a product that served many purposes.  First, it needed to be of value to our customers.  We also needed a product that fit our environmental standards. A product that’s a joy to create.  Finally, our creation needed to reflect our love of place, the state of Maine.

 Folks often ask how shower shots work.  Simply place a “shot” on the floor of the shower.  As the water hits it, it will dissolve.  Quickly with a heavy stream of water or slowly under a trickle.  As it dissolves, it melts and releases a specific scent.  Aromatherapy in the shower. 

 We have a variety of scents, some to relax including lavender and feel better.  Others to uplift including peppermint and sinus relief.  PMS or Balance is our most quirky scent, when you most need it it can be quite powerful but if life is fairly balanced it can be a bit UH.  We package all our shots as sustainable as possible in compostable not plastic bags.  Individual shots are available as well as curated gift boxes. 

The actual making of shower shots is production work.  We are small assembly line.  We use vintage shot glass molds and a lot of muscle power.  Each individual shot is topped with a mixture of dry flowers that relates to the scent.  Once the shots have dried out they are packaged and ready for sale.

Last summer in particular I noticed how pollinators loved our flower gardens.  Many moments were spent outside simply watching pollinators in action.  We don’t have to add dried flowers to our shower shots.  Most companies that produce them do not.  We do it simply because we love flowers and want to add a bit of beauty and love to your shower ritual.

We use a wide variety of flowers.  We look for hardy species that can take the changing Maine climate.  Wet springs and fall with dry almost drought conditions in the summer.  Being able to reseed is an added bonus and we love sunny Calendula for its resiliency. 

My favorite story from last summer is a customer visiting our sweet shop noticed all the bees in our front garden.  He was memorized and mentioned he hadn’t seen so many bees for years.  I encouraged him to sit in the nearby chair and simply observe.  I often wondered  while sitting if the different species would be able to share a blossom.  They can giving me hope for the future.

We’ve noticed since Covid that our quality can be erratic. Occasionally a shower shot will “melt”.  We’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out the problem.  One easy solution would be to switch our packaging to plastic which would also save us money.  This wasn’t even considered.  After quite a bit of observing and tinkering we discovered that we sometimes get wonky batches of baking soda.  Being super frugal we try not to waste ingredients but now if we see the baking soda is off we don’t use it.  However, because of the compostable packaging, storage conditions, humid summers you might get a melty shower shot.  Simply let us know and we will gladly replace it.  You don’t have to toss the defective shower shot, use it as a toilet bowl cleaner.  This is especially effective before company arrives. 

Maine shops that support Dulse & Rugosa and sell our shower shots.  I know I’ve forgotten a few and I’ll update as my memory from the summer kicks in.  And word of mouth is by far the best way to grow a business, if you have a favorite store where our shower shots would fit please mention us to the staff.  XXOO

Bell Farms in York

Maine Homestead in Lyman

Heritage Seaweed in Portland

Portland Food Coop

Rising Tide in Damariscotta

Archipelago in Rockland

Good Tern Coop in Rockland

Tiller & Rye in Brewer

Granite Hall Store in Round Pound

Sheepscott General in Whitefield

Belfast Coop

Vignettes of Maine in Hallowell

We are skincare chefs at Dulse & Rugosa.  We enjoy food- eating and cooking so making handcrafted skincare is a natural transition.  For nourishing and hydrating your skin we make both butters and oils.  What's the difference?

Butters are whipped and similar to a lovely butter creme frosting on top of a luscious  cake.

Body oils are blended and compare to a well crafted salad dressing.  Especially if your summers are hot and muggy or while traveling botanical oils are perfect. Why?  They don't melt.  You can leave them in the car, pop them in a suitcase and keep you summer skin hydrated, moisturized while looking and feeling great.

Body oils are super easy to use.  As with most natural skincare products they work best on slightly damp skin.  Apply after your shower or bath and give about 5 minutes for the oil to be absorbed.  Our Hydrating Body Oil is a careful blend of oils designed to be quickly absorbed into your skin with the added benefits of botanicals indigenous to the coast of Maine.

Our newest product our Face Serum is a fresh bouquet of flowers for your face. Designed for faces that need extra love by way of moisture it's very beneficial when used before bed.  If water is one of the first ingredients listed on your current face creme you'll be pleasantly surprised by how little of our Face Serum you need to feel wonderful.  

Adding botanical oils to your skincare routine won't just benefit your skin but also your overall well being.  Our Hydrating Body Oil is a walk in Acadia National Park, with hand picked botanicals added to each bottle.   Rose petals, chamomile and Irish Moss are simply lovely.  Take a few extra moments to gently massage oils into your skin and enjoy a few moments of aromatherapy bliss.  Sometimes in our busy, stressful lives we forget how beneficial it can be to our overall mental well being to do a small but significant act for ourselves.  Make body oils a part of your summer skin care routine and enjoy some happy.

Here in Maine, spring is sometimes really late coming.  For months now my Facebook feed has been full of flowers and green grass from my friends further south.  But after a week of rain, the sun finally came out and it feels like spring has arrived.  The first daffodils have unfolded, the forsythia is blooming, and the symphony of lawnmowers and chainsaws has begun.

For us, the promise of spring started months and months ago, back when there were still snow drifts on the ground. We grow all the botanicals, flowers and herbs that go into our products but we also grow most of the veggies that we eat all season long and through the winter.  Back in February the first seeds were sown for this summer’s harvest.  Three trays of onions that steadily grew and grew as the days got longer and longer.  Four weeks ago we moved them to the outside greenhouse to make room for the trays of flowers, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs.  Our living room is filled with green, busting at the seams, as the plants grow.  In a few short weeks, once we are sure that the nighttime frost will not return, they will be carefully placed outside and the hard work of summer will begin.

This weekend we celebrated spring by transplanting or potting up the majority of our vegetables and flowers.  We cleared off the picnic table, mixed batches and batches of potting soil and rooted through the shed to find the right size pots for our precious babies.  As we worked together the barbecue was going in the background with the promise of an amazing dinner once the work was done.  One person worked, gently uprooting the small plant, while the other prepared its new home.  Once the plant was snugly tucked into its new abode we gently watered them before bringing them back inside.  Its still too cold here in Maine for some of tender plants that we grow to live outside…just yet.

It’s a labor of love to grow these plants from seed all the way through till the end.  It would be much easier to just buy the tomatoes, the onions, the lavender, the thyme.  But that is not what we believe in here at Dulse & Rugosa.  We know that the tomatoes that you grow will taste better than any other.  In the depths of winter when we reach into the root cellar and pull out our onions, potatoes, and squash something magical happens.  Even though its winter a glimmer of summer shows through.  The same magic happens each time I go to make our shower shots or our seaweed shampoo bars.  I open the glass jar filled with rugosa rose petals and I am back on Gotts Island, next to the ocean reaching for the petals, avoiding the thorns, and breathing in the heavy scents of roses, salt, and the summer sun.

 

There is a magic in growing plants.  And each spring as the small, hard, dry seeds magically turn into bountiful flowers, succulent fruits and verdant vegetables I am reminded of how lucky I am to a part of this process.  I cherish spring for its power, magic and most of all the return of GREEN.  Spring has finally sprung here in Maine and we are sooo excited. 

The "dog days" are here- it's been hot in Maine for 2 weeks so I imagine it must be steaming in other parts of the country.  Our skin needs a bit of extra love with heat, humidity and sun exposure.

The Benefits of Scrubs

We all know how important sunscreen is but how do you get it off your skin?  After I shower my arms are still covered with a greasy white film.  Scrubs are perfect for removing sunscreen film.  They gently exfoliate and remove old skin as well as sunscreen and leave your skin looking polished and fresh.  At Dulse & Rugosa we add just a bit of nourishing oils so at this time of year it's often not necessary to moisturize after your shower.  

Scrubs can be made with sugar or salt, both make excellent exfoliants, it depends on your skin type and what you want from your scrub experience.  Sugar is gentler because it has "round" granules.  If your skin is sensitive sugar is for you.  Salt, can be a bit tougher and really helps get rid of dry skin buildup.  Another benefit of salt is it helps removes toxins from your body.

All our scrubs contain a blend of oils, hand harvested botanicals and wildcrafted Maine seaweeds.  The addition of Maine seaweeds means you are detoxing and restocking all your trace vitamins and minerals every time you exfoliate.  Regular use will leave your skin looking smooth and polished and function better because scrubs help increase circulation.

Scrubs are designed for shower use.  Try not to take super hot showers because the heat can dry out your skin.  

Heading to the Beach?

Before you head to the beach make sure you pack a wide brimmed hat.  I don't like hat head but keeping the sun ray's off your face is important.  And pack a salad.  Salads are a treat this time of year with all the fresh tasty produce but there is some scientific evidence that taking Vitamin C and E orally can help prevent sunburn.  The WebMD sight list this combo as "possibly effective".  Who really knows- but a salad rich in citrus, tomatoes and some nuts is sure to be tasty.  For some more food ideas to help ward off sunburn check out this article "12 Superfoods That Can Help Prevent Skin Damage".   If you do get a sunburn, try our Seaweed Packs for Sunburn and Stress.   We recommend wetting the seaweed and placing it directly on your sunburn, cooling, refreshing and oh so healing. 

 Wine and Chocolate for Great Skin!

After the beach, sip some wine.  

White can be especially refreshing but reds are more healing.  Reds contain "resveratol"a natural phenol.  This is important because resveratol is an antioxidant and helps capture free radicals.  Free radicals are bad because they go after stable molecules and cause havoc.  Which means red wine is a health drink!   If you want some summer red recommendations check out this article What Kind of Red Wines Should I Drink This Summer?  A chilled Beaujolais sounds yummy!  To be really healthy add some dark chocolate, rich in "flavanoids".  Falvanoids are plant based compounds rich in antioxidants.  Of course, moderation, moderation, moderation especially with wine and chocolate or you'll be needing our Hangover Smelling Salts the next day.

Have fun in the sun!

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I've been using handcrafted soap for years.  I still remember my first bar, Carly gave as a gift.  It was so magical especially as I used a commercial bar full of chemicals.

Here's a list of ingredients found in my commercial soap-

Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate or Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Chloride,Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Maltol, Titanium Dioxide

But to my surprise the ingredients are only part of the problem.  I was surprised and saddened by the amount of plastic packaging found in the soap aisle of my local grocery store.  First, liquid soaps have taken over from bar soaps.  There may be times when liquid makes practical sense but it's not good for our environment.  Bottle after bottle of plastic to keep us clean while our world gets more polluted.

Even bar soaps packaged in cardboard boxes were wrapped in plastic.  It's really tough to reduce your plastic consumption and one easy way is to use a hand crafted, low packaged bar of soap.