Runners companion: Summer care foot balm

Today's post is written by Jilly who is not only an excellent formulator but a passionate runner and dedicates a good portion of her time in the lab creating specialty "natural" products for runners.

Athleisure is one of the hypes of 2018! This is the trend where beauty, fashion and sports meet each other and come together. It’s totally hot and fashionable to walk, stroll and parade around in typical sportswear or activewear without actually being active. You certainly have seen this look: women all around the world wearing gorgeous dresses … with sneakers underneath them! Something I have been doing for at least the last decade, simply because I like to have comfy feet; so no, this doesn’t make me a fashionista avant la lettre! For once, it’s a welcome trend! May it last and go on for many many years to come.

Another athleisure combination is the upcoming sports-care products. Whether you are biking, walking, boxing, surfing, running, splitting wood, doing errands, swimming, climbing, skiing, … there is a beauty care product hitting the market to make you feel more comfortable before/during/after your activity. I have seen the big brands starting to sell (questionable) foot creams, anti-chafe products, blister prevention, light feel gel-emulsion moisturisers, cooling gels, warming gels, … you name it, it’s hitting the shelves! High time the green beauty jumps on this ship too and starts to formulate worthwhile products.

Coming August I will be running for 5 years. FIVE whole years! Unbelievable, but true. Ever since I have been making my own beauty products I have been developing my own run-care products too. If you want to kick off a sports-care brand, I truly believe it helps when you are active and really into this niche yourself too, simply because it helps you understand the needs this group of people have (if you’d ask me 6 years ago about chafing, Jeffing, and endless waiting in your corral I wouldn’t have had a clue what you were talking about ). Combine this with the knowledge and experience you have about formulating and ingredients, and ka-boom, you have a match made in heaven!

Last year we already posted some run-care products, so yeah, in that case we are a bit innovators avant la lettre

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/504-Runners-companion-Foot-Deo-and-cooling-gel-and-spray.html

and

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/536-Runners-companion-After-sports-massage-oil-guest-post.html

and a more recent one

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/551-Green-tea-muscle-relief-whipped-butter.html

The summer specials are very often a treat too after a good run, and I have found these ones very handy on many occasions

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/498-Functional-foot-soak-tutorial.html

and

https://skinchakra.eu/blog/archives/507-Aftersun-Body-Splash-with-Aloe-and-caffeine.html

And of course don’t forget to have a look at the deodorant series for some welcome anti-stink .

As a runner the general health and condition of my feet is essential to keep me doing my miles. Since we don’t have sebaceous glands on the soles of our feet, they can feel very dry because of the lack of sebum. During a run your feet are closed up in socks and shoes (please make sure to go to a professional shop and get your feet measured up so you have excellent fitted shoes suited for your needs), pounding the ground for quite some time, getting all hot and sweaty. Athlete’s foot is just around the corner so go take a shower, dry your feet and between your toes, wash your socks after each run, let your shoes breath, and take care of your feet.

Surprise, surprise  today I am here with a foot pampering balm, especially for this purpose! I use this on a daily basis so I always have several jars at the ready. I am head over heels with Amazonian oils and butters, they are so precious with such amazing qualities! This balm has been a successful and existing formula for quite some time, and I have upgraded it for this occasion with green tea powder for it’s stunning colour. It’s a more advanced formula with quite a lot of ingredients, but each and every one is carefully chosen for its purposes and to work synergistically together.

To sum it up in a nutshell: moisturizing, nourishing, protecting, cell regeneration, soothing, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial/fungal, refreshing, vitalising, and a bit of deodorant active for some anti-stink.

Depending on where you are in the world, you may want to adjust the butter/wax/oil content. This balm has followed me on my run-cations and has proven to be stable across Europe.

Oh … and even if you are not into running or any other sport … you can still enjoy this balm. Whenever I make a new batch, my dear mum is always eyeing up a jar of her own because she loves it so much too. Initially a run-care product, but also usable as a summer special, or simply when your feet need some extra TLC.

Here we go, here is our formula for this run-care foot balm:

Procedure:

1/ Blend phase A, B and C in separate beakers (we’ll wait with the EO’s until last so they don’t evaporate).

Side note for phase C: Rice starch, allantoin and green tea powder do not dissolve in the oil phase. You only need to blend them and keep them suspended.

2/ Calendula CO2 and chamomile CO2 are both a thick paste. As you know by now, it helps if you warm them up slightly for easier blending. I prefer to do this with semi-solid oils because these don’t need much warmth either. Melt your phase B in a water bath below 40°C. When it’s ready set it aside for later.

3/ Turn up your heat, and heat phase A in a water bath between 80-85°C. Ascorbyl palmitate needs this high temperature to melt in the butter/wax phase. If you don't use any ascorbyl palmitate, you need to heat the butter phase according to the melting point of your waxes and butters.

4/ When the wax/butter phase is melted and the ascorbyl palmitate fully blended stop heating, remove from the bath and start cooling down. You can put your beaker in the fridge and stir it every now and then to avoid graininess or you can cool down at room temperature while blending (this takes much more time).

5/ When the blend has cooled down to below 40°C you can add phase B, keep stirring and cooling down.

6/ When the butter comes to a light trace you can add phase C and phase D and continue cooling and stirring.

7/ At a heavy trace you can start whipping. You may need several steps of whipping and cooling till you reach the desired consistency.

8/ Fill this magical potion in suitable jars and put the (unclosed) jars for overnight in the fridge.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that my ramblings have inspired you a bit .

Stay hydrated during the summer,

Happy keep on running,

Be magical

Jilly

Disclaimer: SkinChakra is responsible for the content of this blog post. Please send your comments and questions directly to SkinChakra and don't try to contact Jilly in private or via any other online forum/platform. Jilly or one of our team will happily come back to you.