Why Lemons and Castile Soap Make the Best Cleaning Partner
This fruit used to be so rare that kings of different kingdoms would give them to one another as gifts. It was a symbol of wealth in the Victorian Era and people grew the trees of this fruit in their yards to show high status in society. These are high in vitamin C– containing 51% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin C intake. Can you guess what fruit this is? (Hint: It’s yellow and sour!)
The answer to this juicy quiz is: lemon. (Did you get it right?)
Lemons are enjoyed around the world in various different ways. Whether it be in a nice lemon meringue pie for dessert or a nice wedge for a cool glass of water, lemons are a common favorite for many to be eaten.
However, lemon is not just for little lemonade stands during summer vacation. Nope. Lemon is an incredibly versatile fruit that we cannot get enough of! Lemon has antioxidant, astringent, antifungal, and skin brightening properties, all of which we will discuss in today’s post.
Antioxidants
Lemon juice contains high levels of vitamin C. In fact, lemons contain approximately 53 mg of vitamin C per 100 g of juice, which makes it an excellent fruit to help you get the daily recommended intake of vitamin C (btw: it’s 90 mg for men and 75 mg for women). You may ask, why is it all so important? Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that helps to prevent cell damage. Free radicals play a huge role in cell damage and to get rid of them, vitamin C plays a huge role. Antioxidants help by getting rid of free radicals from the body and preventing oxidative stress on cells. Oxidative stress may cause cell aging, which we don’t want, right? (In case you didn’t know, cell aging causes waste products to build up in the tissues and cause cell atrophy, yikes!)
The skin is where the most visible signs of aging manifest. With increase in age, we see wrinkles, drier and saggier skin. We don’t want to look into the mirror in the morning to find crow’s feet or bunny lines! No! We want to see youthful, glowing skin. Lemons are here to help us provide our bodies with the antioxidants it needs to help us retain our youth!
Vitamin C from lemons have antioxidant properties, which help to provide protection against damage from environmental factors. In addition, by helping to get rid of free radicals in the skin, they help to decrease the amount of wrinkles and fine lines as well. Not only that, but they also do a great job of brightening the skin, giving a more energetic look.
Astringent
An astringent helps to tighten the skin. By tightening the skin, the skin ends up looking more tight and youthful. Astringents have the amazing ability to make pores appear smaller and cleanse them as well. (They are like plungers for pores!)
Another cool thing about astringents is that they help to reduce and prevent acne too! As we discussed in an earlier post, acne is generally caused by clogged pores. By getting a thorough cleansing of the pores with the help of astringents, acne breakouts are less likely to occur. Blackheads and whiteheads are also prevented with the help of astringents. But what else has the ability to do all this than lemons? Lemon is a citrus fruit, meaning that it contains citric acid. Citric acid is an AHA, making it effective at breaking down dead skin cells that may cause acne. (AHA! Brilliant, huh?)
Thanks to its level of acidity, lemons are known to have astringent qualities. They are known to decrease inflammation and oil production, due to its high pH level, on top of its astringent abilities to truly help with acne-prone skin!
Antifungal
The antifungal and antibacterial properties of lemons have made them a household name for cleaning. From cleaning microwaves to getting the stubborn stuck-on food on dishes, lemons are sought out by households everywhere for their incredible abilities to clean.
Antifungal properties of lemons have been proved to be helpful to the skin as well. A study done in 2017 showed that lemons have highly powerful antifungal properties that can be effective when topically applied against certain types of fungi that cause athlete’s foot, oral candidiasis, and yeast infections.
Brightening
Last but certainly not least, lemons have skin brightening properties, which can help the skin brighten up. Lemons contain certain acids that help to naturally lighten up the skin. Through consistent usage, they are effective at lightening up age spots and acne scars. These acids are also effective in the rejuvenation of dull skin, to add to the skin looking more youthful and give a glowing effect.
Lemons are Versatile!
There are endless ways we can go about using lemons to utilize their amazing properties as the benefits of lemons are ceaseless! Lemons never cease to amaze us with their awesomeness!
For example, in the case of medicine, lemons were a game changer for the world back in the 18th century. Way back in the 18th century, men who were sailing through the seven seas were prone to a disease called scurvy (motion sickness too… but… let’s focus on scurvy in this post). Scurvy, which is caused by a lack of vitamin C in the body, was a common disease among the men on ships as they were unable to get the healthy amount of nutrients that their body needed in order for them to stay healthy. (With an estimated 50% death rate from scurvy, more sailors died from this disease than wartime action!) The most common maritime diet at the time consisted of beer, biscuits, salted meat, and oatmeal. (None of which provides the needed amount of vitamin C or proper nutrients to maintain a healthy body!)
In 1747, James Lind, a Scottish doctor who is nicknamed as being the “founder of naval hygiene in England”, paved the road for brighter days. Lind was the first to discover that citrus fruits, like lemons, have the amazing ability to prevent and cure scurvy!
Since Lind’s discovery, the Royal Navy made sure that those on voyages that are to last more than a month have enough lemons for all the sailors. In fact, lemons are even accredited to having played an important role in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo as they kept the soldiers alive to actually fight in the battle! As tribute to the incredible fruit, the Institute of Naval Medicine chose the lemon tree to be the symbol to represent it, which still holds valid to this day.
Stories like these are endless and we are forever amazed by lemons and their awesomeness… which is why we used them for Rich Farmers Co. Lemon Scented soap!
Lemon 🤝Castile Soap... Versatile Meets Versatile!
We cannot stress enough how versatile castile soap is! (We even talked about it in a previous blog post!) We also cannot help but be in awe at how incredibly versatile lemons are… That is why it only makes sense that the two unite! Together they make the most versatile soap that one can ask for!
We would like to share one of our favorite ways to use castile soap, which is for washing dishes. Doing the dishes will not bore you like a chore when you use Rich Farmers Lemon Scented Soap! The antifungal and antibacterial properties of lemon help this castile soap become the best dish soap your kitchen will ever see! Not only will it help you get all the remnants of last night’s deep dish pizza off your plates, but it will also leave your kitchen smelling like a lemony heaven!
The lemon scented castile soap from Rich Farmers does not have an overpowering scent. Here, at Rich Farmers, we found the perfect formula to have just enough fragrance to make your day a bit more refreshing and clean. Our lemon soap smells deliciously of summer splashes and lemon tarts! (Both of which we truly cannot get enough of!) Treat yourself to a bottle today and enjoy the versatility of lemons and castile soap!
Wrap This Up!
Next time life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade! There are so many awesome ways lemons can be used to benefit us! With their antioxidant, astringent, antifungal, and skin brightening properties, we cannot get over how cool and versatile lemons are! Be sure to try the lemon scented soap from Rich Farmers! It’s the product of two incredibly versatile things packed in one single bottle for you to enjoy!