I’m quickly learning that the source of the hottest spa and skincare ingredients matters just as much as (sometimes even more than) the ingredient itself. That’s why more skincare companies include farms in their business model or reach out to sustainable producers to ensure ingredients are pure and potent for discerning spa directors like yourselves and your savvy clientele. Here’s how the magic ingredient, jojoba, gets from the bush to the bottle in the entire The Jojoba Company body- and skincare line:
The Jojoba Company owns and manages the entire production of the skincare line from farming all the way to the shelf to ensure that all of its products are all-natural and of the best quality.- The Jojoba Company established large jojoba plantations in Australia to grow the Wadi Wadi variety, which was adapted with help from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) over the course of 15 years.
- The female jojoba shrubs produce jojoba beans. During spring female shrubs are covered in primitive tiny yellow flowers.
Every 17th shrub is male. Male plants produce pollen, which they release in late spring at the peak of flowering of the female shrubs.- Fertilized flowers on the female shrubs close in late spring to form pods. Beans begin to form inside the pods.
- Jojoba beans mature in the seedpods through spring and into summer. When the jojoba bean reaches maturity the seedpod splits and the plant simply drops the bean on the ground.
- Beans are left to dry naturally under the skirt of the shrubs. This minimizes the moisture content and concentrates the wax esters in the beans.
During summer, sweeper harvesters drive through the plantations to collect the beans as they progressively mature, drop, and dry.- After being thoroughly cleaned, the beans are slowly and gently cold pressed to release the golden liquid wax that makes up to 50 percent of the mass of the jojoba bean. Nothing whatsoever is added. As it comes from the bean golden jojoba is naturally antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, contains Omega-6 and Omega-9 essential fatty acids, and vitamins A, D, and E.
Intrigued by ingredients? Check out our Hot Ingredients round-up with professional picks in our May issue.