Source: palmbeachdailynews.com
I am excited to add another hemp-derived product to my cabinet.
Last year, I found loaves of hemp bread in the frozen foods department at Publix. The bread’s labels touted the product as vegan, kosher and low-glycemic.
I’m always on the lookout for high-fiber products and hemp bread is a sprouted whole grain product with wheat, organic flax, pumpkin and sesame seeds. It sounded good. And it was.
But, until recently, I hadn’t run into any other hemp products in my usual shopping. I still like buying at local stores and do very little purchasing online, where you can get most anything from anyone at any time. This probably explains my shortage of hemp products.
But I happened to be walking by a Sally Beauty store, right over the bridge on Belvedere Road and Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. I noticed that they carried a trial bottle of Moist brand Hemp Body Moisturizer for dry skin.
It came in several fragrances – mango, coconut lime and acai berry, among them. I usually prefer fragrance-free products, especially with skin care items. But I always try sniffing whatever I buy to see if it can past the non-irritating test. If I don’t choke or end up with watery eyes or scratching, I go for it.
I couldn’t find a sample bottle to sniff, so I bought a small bottle of moisturizer with no added odor. Just a few dollars, so it wasn’t a big investment.
Hemp products fascinate me. There has been such a commotion about them since marijuana, derived from hemp seeds, is illegal. I had even found that the Drug Enforcement Administration had tried to ban all hemp products in 2003, fearing, I guess, that people would get high eating bread or applying skin lotion.
The explanation? These products may contain trace amounts of naturally occurring THC, the main psychoactive substance in marijuana.
The hemp-derived products I have seen now carry labels officially announcing that they are THC-free. Can you imagine how much bread you’d have to eat or how much lotion you’d have to smear on to get any kind of buzz, if that were possible?
My Palm Beach expert on these matters, Dr. Earl Campazzi Jr., has a good sense of humor whenever I ask him to comment on such offbeat issues.
“As my wife said (not really in jest), I was too busy studying medicine to have any personal knowledge (of hemp.) Perhaps apropos, I have found some pertinent information on the Wise Geek website,” he replied in an email.
Wisegeek.org says hemp body lotion products are apparently not exaggerating when they claim, as my bottle does, that, “It’s nature’s most serious form of moisturization.”
According to the website, “The lotion is becoming increasingly popular due to current research that shows hemp oil to contain high amounts of omega-3 and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) oils, known as essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs help prevent moisture loss in the skin and may play a regenerative role in the skin aging process.”
Wise Geek further affirms, “The seeds of the plant do not contain the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is only found in significant amounts in the flowering tops of the female plant. Hemp oil is not only non-toxic for external use in lotions, moisturizers and creams, but it is also safe and even healthy for internal ingestion.”
What about the body moisturizer?
It came out of the bottle easily, disappeared quickly into the skin, and released an earthy smell that was pleasant and not the least bit irritating to me.
Closer to home, Lewis Pharmacy on South County Road carries hemp hair conditioner, an exciting alternative I’m eager to try
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