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We love citruses for both their ability to uplift your mood and also benefit your skin. We’ve discussed how citrus oils can fight bacteria and clear your complexion, while also providing a refreshing tropical aroma to your favorite personal care products - from bath products all the way to skin care. Citrus uses go beyond that too. You may have heard of the classic citrus juice in hair for natural highlights trick for the summer time. It sounds so simple and effective: you squeeze citrus juice into your locks and then let the sun naturally work with the acid to bleach your strands. Unfortunately it’s not a completely harmless process. If juice accidentally trickles onto your forehead or neck and you proceed to go outside and lie in the sun, you’re usually left with an intense burning sensation, irritation, and increased photosensitivity. This happens because citrus juice and UV rays interact on your skin to actually give you a chemical burn, ending up causing more harm than good. For this reason, it’s important to be take caution when choosing skin care products with citrus ingredients in them. At Puristry, we took additional preventative steps to ensure that you can enjoy the full benefits of citruses like bergamot essential oil without worrying about any detrimental side effects.
Bergaptene Free Bergamot
While the vitamin C and other nutrients in citruses like the bergamot orange have potent benefits for anti-aging, skintone evening, and shielding skin from the effects of pollution with antioxidants, directly applying the wrong kind of citrus juice to your dermis can cause intense photosensitivity. The culprit here is a chemical called bergaptene - a form of furanocoumarin - which interacts with UV rays to produce chemical burns and skin discoloration. Discoloration will usually deepen after a day of exposure, and sometimes lingering brown spots will stick around for weeks on end, a condition called phytophotodermatitis that sometimes requires extensive skin-lightening treatments or exfoliation to ameliorate. The potential harms of bergaptene go far, and we didn’t want to take any risks by including it our skin care collection. If you’ve read our previous blog post on chemicals in cosmetics, you’ll remember that Puristry champions whole, natural and organic ingredients for full effect and healthier skin care. On the other hand, we do want you to fully enjoy the wondrous health benefits of bergamot essential oil, so we incorporated it responsibly sans bergaptene in our products. Although cold pressed bergamot essential oil contains furanocoumarins like bergaptene, steam distilled bergamot essential oil is bergaptene free - which is exactly the kind Puristry uses!
Benefits of Bergamot
At Puristry, we’re always dedicated to using the most concentrated, potent ingredients for effective skin care, which is why we’re particularly impressed with the benefits of bergamot. Bergamot is a fragrant citrus fruit with a yellow-green color similar to a lime and a flavor not unlike a bitter marmalade orange. Bergamot oil’s famous aromatic profile has gained it currency as a powerful aromatherapy oil. It’s been used for centuries for its alleged mood-lifting effects, anti-anxiety properties, and ability to promote clarity, relieve mental fog, and promote sweet dreams. It also happens to be an incredible tonic for skin and hair, which is why we chose to incorporate a bergaptene-free form of it in all of our Puristry products.
Bergamot oil has great skin cleansing abilities because of its antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. It’s known as a “problem-solving” essential oil that normalizes oil production in skin, and because of that has gained a reputation as a potent natural anti-acne agent. As a high performing astringent, it’s also a brightening and skin-smoothing tonic that soothes redness and promotes moisture retention and elasticity. It features prominently in our Nopal Cactus Cleanser - an everyday cleanser gentle enough for sensitive skin with an organic vegetable glycerin and aloe base for maximum soothing and anti-inflammation. Bergamot brings its anti-acnegenic properties to the formula, endowing this must-have skin care essential with skin revitalizing and clarifying properties. We believe a natural skin cleanser should be just as nourishing and moisturizing as it is cleansing.
Our nourishing bergaptene free bergamot essential oil also features in the formula of our Yerba Mate Eye Cream, a concentrated remedy for tired looking eyes that helps increase circulation with caffeine rich yerba mate, and provides intense hydration from organic coconut oil and grapeseed oil - both also antioxidant packed ingredients. Bergaptene free bergamot oil contains natural skin brightening properties, contributing to our eye cream’s ability to help brighten dark eye circles and promote a more lively appearance. In addition, the Yerba Mate Eye Cream formula incorporates Japanese honeysuckle extract, a nutrient-rich anti-inflammatory that contributes to the soothing and under-eye-circle-eradicating magic of this super silky cream.
We also made sure to include organic bergaptene free bergamot oil in our enriching Vine Therapy Serum, a skin softening product that activates antioxidant-rich grape seed extract and acai for potent cell-damage reversal. The serum also features hyaluronic acid, a powerful humectant that draws moisture and other beneficial ingredients into your skin and seals them in. The bergamot oil provides a soothing, woodsy scent while also contributing to the natural preservative system of our products, making the impressive citrus an essential for longer lasting and more potent skin care products and more healthful skin.
We guarantee that you can wear these products out into the sun without having to worry about doing harm to your skin. Our founder Susie Wang has over ten years of experience formulating natural cosmetic products, lending her ability to develop a still potent bergamot formula sans bergaptene. She’s a highly experienced chemist who has developed our synergistic, bioactive and skin-loving Puristry formulas. The many years of experience she has under her belt, plus the care and knowledge she puts into all of her research and formula troubleshooting means that her formulas are truly effective, safe, and suitable for everyday use. Concentrated products that are always natural, safe, and high performing - that’s the Puristry way.
