Olive oil beauty care

" Oro verde" translated as Green Gold is how the Spanish refer to this wonderful, natural product. Here in Andalucia olive harvesting has now finished and most farmers have their yearly quota of olive oil sitting at home in 5 litre cans, to last them through the next year, eaten simply with fresh bread and a little salt, used to lace all kinds of dishes with its heavenly flavour or dribbled over sun ripened tomatoes in the hot summer months. Every olive grove produces its very own uniquely flavoured oil and if you ever have the chance to taste someones own olive oil you will never be content again to use the mass produced product that gets sold in our supermarkets. Olive oil has also been used here for centuries as a cure all for various ailments such as cradle cap in babies to a sting soother mixed with a little vinegar. Spanish women have also used it since time immemorial as a beauty aid. Mixed with a little lemon juice and applied to the skin as a moisturizer with the lemon acting as a lightener for blemishes and as a general astringent. Full of natural antioxidants vitamins E and A and squalene a natural moisturizer its the perfect choice for sensitive and dry skin conditions. Infact it´s a very useful aid in the relief from excema and psoriasis, but of course the choice of an organic olive oil is very important as any chemical residues can be absorbed by the skin and commercially grown olives are regularly treated with pesticides. Olive oil can also be used as a hair treatment- gently heated and applied from roots to tips leaving it to work its magic a while, before washing and rinsing thoroughly. If massaged into the scalp it can also help to decrease the appearance of dandruff especially if infused with the herb rosemary or with a few added drops of rosemary essential oil. So next time your at a specialist food hall, pick out a good organic olive oil and use it in the kitchen or as part of your daily beauty regime.