About | Slow Botanicals
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À propos de Slow Botanicals

Are you choosy about what
you put in your body?

When you’re deciding what to use on your skin, you have to be careful, because what you put on your skin sinks right into your body. Your skin care choice is as important as choosing what you eat. And so, you want to make sure it’s pure. You don’t want your beauty products causing you harm.
Do you agree?

Green and purple vegetables grown in the organic Slow Botanicals garden
Fresh Veggies From My Garden  🥦

Truth is, most skin care products, even those considered natural, are causing you damage! Do you find product labels alarming and discouraging, with their long lists of ingredients you can’t pronounce?

Even some natural ingredients are harmful.
This includes some of the most commonly used essential oils. 
Even essential lavender oil can irritate.
 

This is what happens when you take botanicals apart and use only some of their properties.

Sounds a lot like whole foods versus processed food, doesn't it?!
 

Watch Clips Now on YouTube:

Why do the Ingredients in Slow Botanicals work?

slow botanicals garden growing yarrow flowers

What is Skin Care, Really?

You carefully pick out products because you want to give yourself healthier skin. This is the point of  the word “care” in skin care. You want your skin to feel way better. You want to become prettier.

And extra important, you don’t want to watch the good health and beauty you already have, to slip away. And definitely not because of the products you’re using!

This is how I see it.
Can you relate?
Are you looking for something better than
what you’re already using?

Chwynyn Vaughan of Slow Botanicals slow beauty skin care for sensitve dry and aging skin

This is where I come in 

For years, I couldn’t find products that met my standards. So I met my own tough standards!
I make sure every beauty product touching your skin is:

-fragrance free
-dye free
-petroleum free
-irritation free
-no long list of ingredients

about slow botanicals skin care natural products.jpg

This list is all negatives but I’m actually a pretty positive person. I aim to keep my cup half full 🤩
I focus more on what I do want than what I don’t.

Pure products by Slow Botanicals available for customizable skin care basket

Skin Care
Non-Negotiables

Here's what skin care products MUST do for you:

-comfort your sensitive skin
-provide lots of hydration for dry skin
-make your skin soft and smooth
-get rid of dull patches
-make you glow
-calm inflamed areas: no redness!
-wrinkles form at a snail’s pace 🐌 (and much later in lifer than expected) 
-keep age spots at bay
-diminish dark circles and puffiness under your eyes
-feel confident and satisfied when you look in the mirror!

wild rose is processed slowly for slow beauty products by Slow Botanicals
about slow botanicals skin care natural products.jpg

Is this what you’re looking for? Yes?

about slow botanicals skin care natural products.jpg

You read claims like this all over the place.
Why should you believe Slow Botanicals actually work?

I'm known to walk my talk.
I'm known for my integrity. And for my honesty (to a fault 🙄)

Chwynyn Vaughan in the garden with her kids. Being a mother has taught her what care means.

Here's how my values impact your skin care

1987: I became vegetarian. I make cruelty free products with no lard or other animal fats.
1989: When I had my environmental awakening. So, of course, I make sustainable products.
1992: Began organic gardening. I organically grow and pick the botanical ingredients used in Slow Botanicals products.
1992: The year I switched to organic food. The oils in these products are certified organic.
1993: Started wildcrafting – a fancy word for foraging wild medicinal plants. Whatever I don't grow organically for Slow Botanicals, I harvest wild, instead. Ethically.
1993: Began my midwifery studies. I approach skin care with the philosophy that your body knows what to do and will take care of itself with the right tools and ingredients.
1994: Made my first herbal medicines and salves. An intention to heal is the motivation behind my skin care products.
2005-2006: went through rigorous fashion design program.  Good design and aesthetics matter. Slow Botanicals are pretty!
2019-2021: managed the lab, assisted doctors and roomed patients. I combine a passion for research with a desire to help you feel comfortable and heard. This is the blend of science and wise woman wisdom that goes into every decision at Slow Botanicals. 

 

Making products this way is labor intensive and takes expertise

Wonder what goes into making Slow Botanicals, and how it's markedly differently than other natural skin care? Making skin care products the way I do takes a lot of time and a great deal of experience and knowledge. First, I go into the wild and spend hour upon hour harvesting botanicals. Each botanical, including mushrooms, has different processing needs. Chopped, torn, clipped, left alone, dried, or used fresh. Once I've meticulously prepared the botanicals, I infuse the oil. Later on, I'll strain out the oil and make a strong, concentrated tea. This botanical preparation takes days, weeks or months! Each step is uniquely tailored for every individual skin care product. Now I'm ready to begin! It's essential to get all that done before I even start. Consulting my royal blue notebook of the recipes I've created and perfected over the years, I weigh out ingredients. Carefully I mix and blend and pour, creating one small batch of soap or skin cream at at time. I draw images in the surfaces or carefully place dried flowers, some of them pressed months ago, onto the surface of every bar. This makes them beautiful. I do it all by hand. When soap bars are finished hardening, around 24 hours after pouring, I unmold the bars and with a sharp knife I cut away the edges of each bar. This makes for a nicer surface. Then I transfer the soap to metal racks where it cures. How long does the soap cure and why? Slow Botanicals soap bars need to cure for six weeks. This allows the soap to reach a pH that makes it perfectly gentle for your skin. Did you know that the longer you wait, the gentler and lighter in color the soap bar becomes? If you see a stack of handmade soap, always grab the bar that looks the oldest! Skin cream works differently. Blending beeswax and botanically infused oil, I fill jars one at a time. This can be messy work! Once the cream has cooled to room temperature, it is ready to be used. No curing necessary. Like soap, this cream has a very long shelf life. The ingredients that make it superb for your skin barrier, also keep the skin cream stable and free of contaminants. I put on the lids and then get ready to write the labels by hand. You’ve told me how much you love and appreciate this personal touch. It does make sense! After all the individual care that goes into every single step of making Slow Botanicals, it only makes sense to do this last one by hand, too. Do I ever run out ouf your favorite products? It's true that since the ingredients I use come from nature, sometimes a product sells out and stays out of stock there for the rest of the year until the next season of harvest. I don't order herbs from large warehouses full of plants being shipped in from around the world. Gathering my ingredients is NOT as easy as going online and then walking to my mailbox. It's much more intensive than that :) Harvesting in the wild, on a warm summer day, is one of my absolute favourite ways to spend my time. Still, I am one person, and I'm never able to harvest as long as I'd like. I’m sorry if I run out of your favorite Slow Botanicals product! The good news is I can usually recommend another product in my line that will be just as amazing for your skin and its unique traits. I don’t want you to lose the beautiful skin you have cared for - so I will always have another option for you! Thanks for reading all the way to the end of my process. It's a joy to share with you!

Chwynyn Vaughan harvests wild yarrow to use in slow beauty night cream by Slow Botanicals. Photo taken by her son who she's teaching her knowledge of medicinal herbs
daughter in yarrow field while mom harvests yarrow for slow beauty regenerating night cream by slow botanicals

Trivia Time!

You made it all the way to the end of the page. Thank you SO MUCH!
Here's some Q&A just for fun! 

Q: Husband and his profession?                                                                              A: Etienne Zack, he’s a professional artist.
 

Q: How many kids?                                                                                                   A: 2
 

Q: Look forward to every day?                                                                                A: Latte brewed from home roasted coffee                                                                                                                                                 beans. I love to sit on the couch and settle                                                                                                                                             in, snuggled under my woven Irish blanket                                                                                                                                             in the winter. Coffee on my blue bench in                                                                                                                                               the garden when it's warm enough.
 

Q: Reading right now?                                                                                             A: I’ve been reading Anthony Trollope for the                                                                                                                                           past 18 months and there’s no light at the                                                                                                                                             end of the tunnel. Trollope wrote 45  novels                                                                                                                                           and they’re all on my book shelf.
 

Q: Most unusual food eaten on a regular basis?                                                   A: Roasted whole sunflowers. They taste like                                                                                                                                             artichokes but much easier to eat. Try it!
 

Q: Flower can’t live without?                                                                                    A: Any colorful variety of yarrow, but                                                                                                                                                           especially the terracotta.
 

Q: Herbal remedy can’t live without?                                                                      A: Red Clover tincture.
 

Q: Supplement can’t live without?                                                                          A: l-methylfolate. It’s been a game changer.
 

Q: Ocean or desert?                                                                                                 A: Definitely ocean! Everyone should get to                                                                                                                                               live on a peninsula 😊

blue bench in the slow botanicals garden where chwynyn likes to drink her coffee as a way to slow down every day and  reflect on what's important and meaningful
My family after ice skating in December. Here with my husband, Etienne Zack, and our beautiful children
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