Sunflower oil is another ingredient I use in some of my soap and skin care product recipes. I chose sunflower oil after reading articles such as this one,  http://oilypedia.com/4-reasons-to-use-sunflower-oil-on-your-skin-and-6-easy-ways-to-do-it/  and discovering that sunflower oil does contain high amounts of vitamin E and offers qualities such as being anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, moisturizing and acts as a skin protectant.

Another reason I chose sunflower oil is that I have a belief that God provides everything that we need. It is this belief that leads me to search for local, natural remedies. While ingredients such as coconut oil, olive oil and shea butter are terrific for making soap and skin care products, I have absolutely no hope of picking coconuts from a tree in my back yard or going to the local orchard to buy a bushel of olives or shea nuts. These are products that must travel halfway around the world to arrive at my, Michigan, home. This link, http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/extension/agronomy/agronomy-publications/sunflower-production-guide/ , that explains everything you would ever want to know about growing sunflowers, includes Michigan and some of our neighboring states as sunflower growers. Of course I knew that sunflowers could be grown locally since we have grown them for the past few years on our farm. I have not yet identified any local processors of sunflower oil, nor have I grown enough sunflowers to process my own oil, but who knows what the future holds.

I do use sunflower oil in my Face, Hand and Body Balm. I have also used it as an alternative to olive oil, in a soap recipe, after having a lady tell me that they had a severe olive oil allergy in their family. I plan to use sunflower oil as an alternative to olive oil for infusing fragrant herbs, as it has less of a natural scent to it than olive oil, so in theory, when infused, will pick up more of the herbal fragrance.

Until next time 🙂