What is it?
French Green Clay is by far one of the
most majestic, most effective, and most commonly used mineral skin
clays found throughout our global community.
French Green Clay
(AKA Illite Clay) contains a cornucopia of valuable elements, which
include montmorillonite, several (up to 9) important mineral oxides,
magnesium, calcium, potassium, dolomite, silica, manganese,
phosporous, silicon, copper, and selenium. Green clay owes its
coloration to 2 very important factors, which ultimately decide a
good quality clay from a poor quality clay. They are, iron oxides,
and decomposed plant matter…..Yes, that is correct, decomposed plant
matter. The natural green tones found in this luxurious clay are
from the very cycles of life this earth uses to regenerate itself.
When purchasing French Green Clay it is of uptmost importance that
it is truly green, and not off-green, or grey-green. Any clay less
then a nice earthy green color is considered a useless end product
with little potential.
How does it work?
Unlike other clays where key
elements work in symbiosis off of each other, French Green contains
several elements which act as their own "body". In French Green
Clay, each element is responsible for working the outer epidermis
(skin) in its own way and in dispensing their biological
constituents as best as possible. Here is an analogy… Lets say any
other clay has 20 workers, but out of all the 20 workers they only
work to the potential of 1 worker, very unproductive indeed. But
now, lets look at French Green Clay with its 20 workers. This
marvelous clay will work to the potential of 20 workers, not just 1.
The highly micronized, and often fragile molecular state of
French Green Clay allows for far greater absorption of impurities,
dust, oil, contaminants, and make up then other clays, and when
seeking treatment for the skin, health professionals will always
choose French Green over the other varieties.
Where does it come from?
Well contrary to popular
belief, not all French Green Clay comes from France. While Mountain
Rose Herbs stocks a beautiful imported clay from France, we have
seen several French Green varities from Wyoming, Montana, China and
some European countries.
Here's what happened…
At one time
the French Quarries controlled the production for the little market
they knew as "Green Clay", and enjoyed this un-hampered success.
Because this was going on for so long, the worlds market decided to
coin the term "French Green Clay" because all of the green colored
facial clays were coming from this country. After a surge in
worldwide popularity and booming financial prospects, several other
quarries realized they had deposits very similar to that of some of
the major French exporters
So, needless to say many other
players have come onto the field for a little bit of the French
Green action, and regardless of where it comes from, it appears as
if the world will still refer to it as "French" Green Clay.
How is it manufactured?
French Green Clay is quarry
mined from deposits that can range anywhere from 100 feet to several
thousand feet. This depends on the health and vitality of the land
it is on and how far a producer will have to go to find the right
clay with the right color and consistency.
From here it is mined
an brought out into the sun to remove excess water and moisture and
to make it easier to work with. Now begins the final
transformation…it gets heavily processed (ground) with huge
hydraulic crushers and then micronized (finely pulverized) with more
micro managed, fine mesh equipment. After it is processed, it is
laid out in the sun one more time to dry in hopes of removing the
final amounts of moisture.
