Borage

Borage is a freely seeding, easy growing annual plant with vivid blue flowers and leaves with the flavor of cucumbers. It is consider an herb, but is often grown as a flower in vegetable gardens where it attracts pollinating bees and is considered a good companion plant for tomatoes, squash and strawberries. It’s even supposed to deter tomato hornworms and improve the flavor of tomatoes growing nearby.

Burdock

Arctium lappa extract

Burdock (Arctium lappa L., Asteraceae family) is a biennial woody plant that originates from Europe, North America, Africa and North Asia. It has flowers marked by little “hooks” that cause them to attach to clothes and animal fur, enabling the diffusion of the plant’s seeds on passing animals. It would appear that the way these flowers attach to clothes inspired the inventor of the Velcro opening/closing system. In cosmetic terms, the most important active ingredients available are the caffeoylquinic acids, which give the plant excellent skin purifying properties, as well as making it an effective disinfectant and anti-mycotic. Burdock extract is therefore used to prepare anti-acne treatments and dandruff cleansers because they help purify the epidermis and scalp.

Carrageen

Chondrus crispus extract

Carrageen is a compound obtained by working the thallus of red seaweed of the class of Rhodophyceae (also known as Irish moss, carrageen moss or carrageenen), from the rocky coast of the North Atlantic. Carrageen are substances of a polysaccharide nature (they consist of various sugars, able to bind and withhold a great many water molecules), which give the extract emollient, filming, protective, anti-inflammatory and moisturising properties. An excellent source of mineral salts, vitamins and polysaccharides, the red seaweed contains substances that are able to “combine” with the proteins of the skin and hair, forming a protective film and leaving a pleasantly soft, silky sensation on the skin.

Centella

Centella asiatica

Centella asiatica, also referred to as the “tiger herb” in India, is a medicinal plant belonging to the Apiaceae family. Originally from Asia, it also grows in Australia and Africa, where it thrives particularly in damp, swampy areas. Its action is seen in two main therapeutic forms: vessel-protective and trophic-healing, due to the terpenes in the extract. The active ingredients also help maintain tone and elasticity in the vessel walls, encouraging the drainage of liquids in cellulite and providing relief to swollen legs.