I want to make a lotion/solution using witch hazel and colloidal silver.
I am including an excerpt from a website about how witch hazel tincture is made and wondered if any of you chemistry heads out there would comment on the combination. I am making an infusion (with DW) instead of a tincture (with alcohol) and will add some cs water to it. I am using the leaf and the bark (branches). I may also make some with Rosewater vodka instead of DW and add CS to it. Can anyone give me any feedback on these combinations? Don't know that I'd use it internally but I believe it could be used internally. It should be good for a number of internal and external ailments. Here's the excerpt: Witch hazel "extract" is a steam distillate of the recently harvest twigs of the shrub, with about 14 percent alcohol added. This is the witch hazel water" that reaches most pharmacies in America. In Europe, however, a water-alcohol extract of witch hazel twigs and leaves is more commonly used. Witch hazel is also used an astringent ingredient in a wide range of personal care products including deodorants, after shave lotions, cloth wipes, soaps, creams, and other products. What makes it work? Depending upon how a preparation is made witch hazel products contain varying amounts of active compounds such as flavonoids, tannins (hamamelitannin and proanthocyanidins), small amounts of volatile oil, and other components, which may be responsible for its astringent action and to stop bleeding. Tannins have been characterized as hamamelitannin and a number of proanthocyanidins. The bark contains 31 times more hamamelitannin than the leaf extract, so plant part used in preparation is important. In distilled witch hazel products much of the tannin content is lost. A recent study shows there may be more at work in witch hazel than has been previously known. A specially filtered fraction of the extract, containing mostly proanthocyandins, was found to have significant anti-viral activity against Herpes simplex virus type 1. The same fraction was also found to have a strong antiphlogistic (inflammation-reducing) effect. In contrast, fractions high in hamamelitannin were found to have weaker antiviral or antiphlogistic activity. The significant of this study is that it shows that compounds other than tannins may play a role in witch hazel's recognized antiphlogistic effects, as well as newly recognized topical antiviral activity. Such studies serve to improve products available to consumers by helping manufacturers refine extraction processes to enhance the best possible therapeutic results. Antioxidant, radiation-protective, and anti-inflammatory activity have been confirmed. Recently hamamelitannin and proanthocyanidins isolated from witch hazel were evaluated for their mechanisms of action in reported anti-inflammatory activity. It was found that some proanthocyanidin fractions inhibit inflammatory mediators derived from arachidonic acid and inhibited the formation of platelet-activation factor, a chemical mediator of inflammatory processes. When it is quelled, so is inflammation. Strong antioxidant activity against superoxide (a highly reactive form of oxygen), released by several enzymes during the inflammatory process may also play a role in witch hazel's anti-inflammatory effects. In a recent study, Japanese researchers sought plant compounds that protect cells in skin tissue from damage against harmful forms of oxygen. Witch hazel was found to have strong activity against reactive oxygen in skin tissue. The scientists proposed that witch hazel extracts should be further researched for their potential application in anti-aging or anti-wrinkling products to apply to the skin. Sounds like my grandmother was directing the study! Still Accepted! While most herbs are sold as dietary supplement, witch hazel is one of very few American medicinal plants still approved as an ingredient in non-prescription drugs by the Food and Drug Administration. Witch hazel is approved as an over-the-counter astringent in the external analgesic (pain-relieving), skin protectant categories, and as an external anorectal, primarily used for symptomatic relieve of hemorrhoids (as pads, ointments, or suppositories). In Germany, the bark and leaf are approved for treatment in mild diarrhea, inflammation of the gums and mucous membranes of the mouth and mild irritation or local inflammation of the skin, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins. There, witch hazel is considered astringent, inhibits-inflammation, and locally styptic. For nearly 200 years, witch hazel has been valued for astringent, tonic, and mild pain-relieving qualities, used in treating hemorrhoids, itching, irritations, and other minor pains. Few clinical studies have been conducted but every generation of Americans, since the formation of the United States has had witch hazel preparations in their medicine cabinets. Thanks Grandma! -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. Instructions for unsubscribing may be found at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
