Dry and flaky skin is something that no one wants, whether that's our lips, hands or even our scalp. So as we move into autumn, today at The Amazing Blog, we bring you two excellent Finnish skincare products by HAVUKA with their unique ingredient of spruce resin.
HAVUKA is a family-owned, Finnish natural and artisan skincare. Their unique products utilise the natural resources from the Finnish landscape and Elias Lönnrot's recipes. Elias Lönnrot was a Finnish physician, philologist, and collector of traditional Finnish poetry. A well-known traveller, Lönnrot collected poems and folk stories from across Finland, which resulted in the creation of the Kalevala, one of the most significant works in Finnish literature. During his journeys, Elias discovered the healing powers of the golden and gooey resin from spruce trees, this is not to be confused with the thin, watery spruce sap. Spruce resin has been used in Nordic countries for many centuries to treat skin infections, insect bites, chapped hands, cuts, scrapes, eczema, burns and rashes, to name but a few. HAVUKA continues the path of Elias Lönnrot, and brings natural skincare products all made according to his original recipes, into the modern-day. Havuka wishes to preserve the knowledge that Lönnrot gathered and the recipes he created, so each product tells its origin and story through the eyes of Lönnrot. As a family-owned company HAVUKA has passed on the tradition of producing these natural products for three generations, and Timo Tynys follows in his family's footsteps as the current CEO. Even today, these sustainable spruce resin products are made from mainly locally-sourced botanicals, and are all collected by hand.
The Spruce Resin Lip Balm tells the story of how Elias was able to use spruce resin to create a natural lip balm. By mixing the resin from the spruce tree with fat, he created a 100% natural lip cream to soothe dry and cracked lips. Today each lip balm is hand made in Finland, with 100% natural ingredients. For many years, this natural resin has been used in Nordic folk medicine and therapy. Tree resin, like spruce, is not only helpful in treating dry, cracked skin, it has been proven to heal cuts, rashes, and burns. The spruce resin, in particular, has always been a source of fascination to us, as we love how it contains ‘various antioxidants and flavonoids’ which all work together to create a fantastic antiseptic-like substance. Spruce produces a resin as a natural defence mechanism to protect and heal itself from a wound, or bacteria, fungi, and other harmful microbes. These natural defence principles, can also be applied to skincare, in this case by Havuka, who use it as a key ingredient to help heal and protect the skin. The conditions of the Nordic forests and nature, together with the seasonal variations, northern light and the darkness of autumn and winter, grants spruce resin its healing powers, making it one of nature's potent healing forces. The long and storied history of spruce resin, has led to medical research for wound care here and has further proved itself as an effective natural remedy. This lip balm is made up of four simple ingredients: Finnish spruce picea abies resin, organic beeswax, sodium cocoa butyrate and jojoba oil. The beeswax contains myricin and serine which have antibacterial substances to heal and softens dry and chapped skin. The sodium cocoa butterate is the fatty acid derived from cocoa butter and provides relief to damaged skin; and the jojoba oil is used to hydrate the skin – the perfect ingredient for a lip balm. This Spruce Resin Lip Balm is smooth and creamy to apply with a mild cocoa butter-y taste. As cold weather approaches, we think that with all these simple yet effective ingredients, it’s one to keep handy when you go outside - not only does it taste good, it’s also very shielding. The Spruce Lip Balm was first nominated for Best Lip Cream for the Nordic Natural Beauty Awards in 2020. You can purchase this hydrating natural Spruce Resin Lip Balm at 4g here for € 12.90.
Next, we have the Piece of Spruce Resin Soap, this was also nominated at the Nordic Natural Beauty Awards in 2020, and we can see why. With its gentle antiseptic qualities, this soap can be used on both the skin and scalp, and is ideal for dry, flaky and sensitive skin. The spruce resin will also soothe the scalp while supporting the ‘normal function of the skin’. This handmade, 100% natural soap contains minimal ingredients and follows Elias' recipe, making it both an eco-friendly and sustainable product, with its plastic- free packaging so there is no need to worry about the impact on the planet. There are only five ingredients here with Finnish spruce picea abies resin (which we have discussed), organic rapeseed oil that has antioxidant properties for the skin and is a rich source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These antioxidants help protect the skin from free-radicals and potential environmental factors, like pollution. Sodium olivate is the sodium salt of the fatty acid of olive oil and is commonly used in soaps and as a detergent substance. Along with these, there are also coconut oil and sodium palmate, which are a gentler alternative to harsh cleansers that are typically found in other soaps. The advantage of these is that they have a high content of the monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid. It is very easy to use, we were sent the 40g soap, which has lasted well. We used it in the shower on the body and scalp, and found that it lathers up but has no fragrance. In regard to using it on hair, we would say that it’s more for treating the scalp and not the hair, as it left our hair a bit tangly and in need of conditioner. We think it would be ideal to use when cold water swimming (as suggested with Saltvattentvalen No:1 ) and with all these natural ingredients you want to use it to be at one with nature following in the steps of Elias Lönnrot. The Piece of Spruce Resin Soap is offered in two different sizes, 40g at € 5.90 or 100g at € 12.90 here; all products are available through HAVUKA's website or if ordering from UK you might want to go to The Artic Pure here. Also look out for our review on their Spruce Resin Balms soon.