High Silica Herbal Tincture and Skin Toner

Today, I’m creating both a tincture and skin astringent that are high in silica. Essential for bone preservation and development, silica protects against osteoporosis and assists in healing broken bones and strained or damaged connective tissue. Silica also increases collagen production so it’s wonderful for the skin, hair, and nails and at my age, creating a tincture to add to tea as well as an astringent to use on my face seemed apropos.

The four herbs I’m using, horsetail, nettle, dandelion, and oatstraw, contain a significant source of silica. Additionally, these herbs also contain calcium, magnesium, and potassium helpful in other issues such as fluid retention a Crone might face during this phase of life.

Dandelion’s high potassium content, for example, protects and maintains the body’s potassium level and doesn’t strip it from the body the way chemical-based diuretics seem to do. So, although my focus today is on skincare, this collection of herbs in tincture form is helpful for other conditions as well.

Oatstraw protects the nervous system and is very soothing; Nettle improves liver function, treats allergies, and is a valuable source for Vitamin C; and horsetail, as I indicated above, provides a significant source for silica.

Although herbal remedies can be used to treat acute conditions, typically the herbal approach is more foundational. In other words, it sometimes takes a little longer, but herbalists focus on healing and rebalancing the underlying physical process that’s been compromised. So, it’s not only about treating symptoms. We want to get to the bottom of why the imbalance happened in the first place.

Using my experience with severe rheumatoid arthritis as an example, the six different rheumatologists I saw over thirteen years saw only my symptoms and never looked any further. They each prescribed the same treatment regimen and I never moved out of the severe range. I wrote about it in my first book, Confessions of a Back Porch Herbalist, where I describe not only my healing and remission with cannabis concentrates but maintaining my remission with both cannabis and traditional herbs.

As I wrote in the book, after realizing that I wouldn’t survive the disease, I became a cannabis patient and unexpectedly achieved remission after only 2 1/2 months on cannabis concentrates. I discontinued everything but the Humira which I continued using until September 2015. Given how ill I had been, I was too nervous to discontinue the biologic, but during the last year of it, I spread out the injections to the point that it was clear I no longer needed it. But it took leaving the allopathic medicine format and returning to what I knew and a focus on healing the underlying reason for the imbalance to really heal.

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Anyway, back to my skin tincture and facial astringent. Although I prefer to use fresh herbs when tincturing or making a skin toner or liniment, because it’s October, I’m using dried herbs for both. Because horsetail is so high in silica, I used 3 parts horsetail, adding 2 parts oatstraw, 1 1/2 parts nettle leaf, and 1 part dandelion leaf from there. But honestly, the portions were somewhat arbitrary. I could have just as easily used equal parts, but I only had 8-ounce jars, so I reduced the other portions a bit.

Parts are nice because they can be anything as long as you remain consistent. So, in this case, I used large pinches for parts. But I could have used tablespoons or some other form of measurement as well.

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I added the same portions to each jar and then poured witch hazel over the herbs I’m soaking for the facial astringent and 80 proof vodka over the herbs for tincturing. I’ll shake them daily (assuming I remember) and then strain and re-bottle each after two weeks. Or longer if I forget.

I labeled both the front of each jar (because they really do look identical) as well as the lid with the tincturing information including start date, the herbs used, and the type of menstruum (alcohol or witch hazel) I used. This is important otherwise I could ingest one that I’m using for skin toner. This practice is essential if using fresh herbs for tincture because with that herbalists often use grain alcohol to account for and offset the water content of fresh herbs. After the tincture is finished soaking and strained, it still needs to be diluted to at least half before it can be added to teas for further dilution. Grain alcohol is almost 100% alcohol, so it’s quite poisonous to ingest in that form.

As always, if you’re under the care of a physician or herbal practitioner, please consult with that person before using herbal remedies so that they don’t interfere with or reduce the effectiveness of prescribed treatments. The same applies if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.

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But for this Crone, I typically make what I need, and I love a good facial toner or astringent. I remember when I was in high school, my mother bought some Sea Breeze astringent and I loved it! But I can’t see buying any when chickweed and cleavers grow on my property, or dandelion, plantain, and nettle. All are great skin herbs so why buy something someone else made when I can walk outside, gather some fresh herbs, toss them in a jar and make a really cool facial toner?

Anyway, it’s nice to feel fresh during the winter and both the tincture and the skin toner should help.

Until next time…

Herbal Blessings!

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Disclaimer

The information above is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose any condition or prescribe any treatment. Please consult your medical/herbal professional for further advice regarding the use of herbs, particularly if you’re taking prescribed medications to avoid any unnecessary harmful interactions. Please seek treatment from a medical professional should symptoms occur that do not quickly resolve on their own. If you’re pregnant, please consult your medical/herbal professional before using herbal remedies.

References:

1. Erickson, Jan. Confessions of a Back Porch Herbalist. Kindle. 2016.