Organic ground almond

Well I guess ground almond doesn't need much of an introduction. Most of you are familiar with it as a baking ingredient and know its familiar nutty flavour. You probably also know that almonds are high in protein and are good sources of several minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese and potassium. A real superfood! But almonds are also good for skin due to their high concentration of linoleic acid (anti-inflammatory, moisturising and acne reducing) and oleic acid (helps skin repair and defences).

However, in the case of ground almond, I have selected this ingredient less for its nutritional properties and more for its physical properties. The grainy but soft consistency of ground almonds makes it a perfect gentle exfoliator which removes dead skin and impurities without scratching or damaging the surface of the skin. When used as a  product that is washed off (even if kept on for a while as a mask), there is not enough time for those nutrients to really be absorbed by the skin, so in that sense it doesn't matter too much what the nutritional benefits of ground almonds are for the skin, so long as it is doing its job as an exfoliator. And doing it much more sustainably than those little plastic beads (microbeads) people used to think were a good idea to use as exfoliators (more on microbeads in cosmetics here)

So we’ve seen that ground almond is a good natural exfoliator, but is it sustainable?

Well it is a natural and renewable material, which makes it leagues ahead of microbeads, but of course it is not sustainable as the production and transport use more resources than can be returned to the Earth. And almonds are unfortunately a particularly unsustainable crop. They require a lot of water and are prone to disease so producers often rely on pesticides to increase yield. 80% of the world’s almonds come from California and the climate change induced droughts have put additional pressure on the system. Positive aspects are that almonds produce little waste as the husks are used for livestock bedding or for energy production, and processing is very minimal meaning low energy costs. However, transport from California is costly in terms of carbon emissions. So overall, not a great score for sustainability. 

I’ve done my best to get the least environmentally damaging ground almonds by buying organic. The current batch are from Spain (bought in Migros).
Perhaps I will find another solution for a gentle, natural exfoliator for Face the Flowers and Scrub the Love. I’d love to hear from you if you have an idea!

This image was produced using AI.