Hello Green Beauty

Cosmetic Trivia: Can Sebo de Macho Remove Scars?

When I was a kid, whenever I got scrapes on my legs, my mom never failed to remind me to put sebo de macho on the affected areas if I don’t want to get unsightly scars on my legs. As much as I hate its scent (it stinks a lot), I religiously applied it on my scrapes every night, hoping to do its magic while I sleep. Now the big question is “can sebo de macho effectively remove scars?”.

The answer is NO. In contrast to the common belief, sebo de macho can only reduce (lighten) the appearance of scar so that it will blend to your skin's natural color, making it less noticeable. However, it won’t completely remove the scar like it’s never been there, most especially for thick raised scars like keloid.

Based on personal experience, I can vouch for the effectiveness of sebo de macho for its ability to lighten scars. The secret lies to the main ingredient of sebo de macho – pure mutton tallow. Mutton tallow refers to the processed fat of an adult sheep. In other words, it’s an animal-derived grease, thus the word sebo in its product name. It is said that the fatty acid composition of tallow is similar to the sebum found on the human skin. In fact, tallow has high concentration of oleic (47%), palmitic (26%) and stearic (14%) fatty acids. These fatty acids are responsible for reducing the appearance of scars. Wound heals faster and scar formation is minimized if the wound area is kept hydrated. The fatty acids in sebo de macho make it happen by forming an occlusive barrier on top of the skin to lock in the moisture. It is also very emollient (moisturizing) so as your wound heals, it softens and smoothens the wound area which could help in making the scar less noticeable.

To summarize, sebo de macho won’t remove scars but it can effectively reduce their appearance by consistently applying it on your newly healed wounds (yep, it won’t work on old scars). Just make sure that the sebo de macho you buy is made from 100% pure tallow to reap its scar reducing benefits.

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, by Hello Green Beauty

In Health, Healthy Eating

Product Review: Saint C Pure Calamansi Extract

Calamansi (also known as calamondin) is a widely known citrus fruits that grow in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries. It is also known as a cheaper alternative to lemon and lime. In the Philippines, its most popular application is making calamansi juice and dipping sauce.

Personally, I’m a big fan of drinking calamansi juice but sometimes I’m too lazy to manually squeeze each calamansi to create a pitcher of calamansi juice. Luckily, I discovered a bottle of Saint C Pure Calamansi Extract while waiting for our food orders to arrive at Sarsa restaurant (FYI, they’re one of the resellers of this product).

Saint C Pure Calamansi Extract is a 100% pure calamansi concentrate that is locally made in the Philippines. Unlike other calamansi concentrates in the market, it has no additives (e.g. sweetener, food coloring or water), what you only get is calamansi extract in its purest form. Saint C, the Filipino brand behind this export quality product, has made sure that each calamansi is meticulously handpicked by local farmers and hand-pressed to extract its fresh juices. The calamansi extract is then packaged in a glass bottle on the same day of its extraction to maintain its freshness for longer period of time.

Having a bottle of Saint C Pure Calamansi Extract in my pantry is truly a time saver because it takes away the hassle of manually squeezing calamansi and I don’t need to worry anymore about its juice accidentally gets into my eyes while doing so (it hurts a lot if you asked me). I also find it more cost efficient since normally you can only buy calamansi in bulk from the grocery, so they normally go bad before I get to use all of it (which translates to waste of money).

Some ideas on where to use Saint C Pure Calamansi Extract:

Make calamansi juice by mixing 2 to 3 tbsp. of calamansi concentrate to 1 cup of cold or hot water. Calamansi juice is high in vitamin C so it’s the perfect drink to boost your immune system especially in this time of COVID pandemic.
Substitute lime juice with calamansi concentrate in making a classic margarita cocktail.
Make toyomansi dipping sauce – a combination of soy sauce and calamansi concentrate.
Add calamansi concentrate to your meat marinade to tenderize the meat.
Add few drops of calamansi concentrate on fresh oysters to bring out their “fresh from the sea” flavor.

A 250ml bottle of Saint C Pure Calamansi Extract can be bought at the following online shops for Php 298 (price as of this writing):

You can also visit their official site to check their complete list of distributors.

To know more about Saint C and other healthy food condiments they are selling beside Saint C Pure Calamansi Extract, you can check them out at the following social media channels:

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and purchase the products, I’ll receive some commission.

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, by Hello Green Beauty

In Green Living,

4 Eco-friendly Alternatives to Plastic Cling Wrap

Is it possible to live without plastic cling wrap? It’s one of the biggest questions most people ask themselves once they have started reducing their dependency on single-use plastic. Let’s be honest, food-grade plastic cling wraps are so convenient to use whenever you want to securely wrap food items (most especially leftover food) in containers to maintain their freshness over a longer period of time. However, the cost of its convenience is the accumulation of plastic waste that takes thousands of years to decompose in landfills. Luckily, we live in an era where there are already plenty of options available that could replace single-use plastic cling wrap. These alternatives are considered “greener” because they are either reusable and/or made from biodegradable materials.

1. Beeswax Wrap

Image Credit: Milea PH

Beeswax wrap is made from organic cotton fabric that has been infused with beeswax, resin (e.g. pine resin) and vegetable oil (normally either coconut or jojoba oil). Basically, you just need to use the warmth of your hands to soften the beeswax as you pressed the wrap around the food or container. As the beeswax cools down, it will harden to keep the seal intact. The beeswax also makes the wrap waterproof to protect the food from unwanted external moisture, thus preserving its freshness.

Beeswax wrap is especially recommended for wrapping dry food like fruits, vegetables, cheese and bread. It is not suited for wrapping wet food items like raw meat and raw fish. It’s also important to note that beeswax wrap is not suitable for microwave use since its high heat can completely melt the beeswax. On the other hand, it is refrigerator and freezer friendly.

It’s easy to reuse beeswax wrap as all you need to do is to hand wash it with cool water and mild soap, allow to air dry before folding it just like any cloth. However, the wax coating of the wrap will wear out over time (approximately after 1 year of regular usage with proper care). But there’s nothing to worry, beeswax wrap is biodegradable and compostable so it won’t pollute the environment once thrown out.

Overall, beeswax wrap is a pretty good alternative to plastic cling wrap, plus it is available in variety of sizes and designs. However, it is pricey and can’t be used in microwave as compared to other plastic wrap alternatives.

Where to buy in the Philippines:

Milea NatuWrap Beeswax Food Wrap – Milea PH

2. Silicone Cling Wrap

Image Credit: Kimmshops

Silicone cling wrap (also known as silicone saran wrap) is normally sold as a set of pre-cut silicone square sheets that can stretch double its size so that it can tightly wrap around food and containers of different sizes. It can stick well to any container (whether round, square or rectangle) with smooth surface like glass, ceramic, melamine and stainless steel. Since it’s made from food grade silicone, you can also safely use it to directly wrap partially opened food (e.g. half-cut apple).

Silicone cling wrap is refrigerator, freezer, microwave and dishwasher safe. It can be reused several times as long as you wash and dry it completely after each use. Again, it’s important to dry it really well before reusing otherwise it won’t stick to the container.

Where to buy in the Philippines:

4 Pieces Silicone Food Wrap – Kimmshops

3. Silicone Food Covers

Image Credit: Miki Mall

Silicone food covers are very similar to silicone cling wrap except that they look more like lids with tiny tabs on the edge for easy pulling. They are also available in different sizes, shapes (round, rectangle and square) and colors so you can easily find the one that fits your chosen container.

Where to buy in the Philippines:

6 Pieces Silicone Food Cover – Miki Mall

4. Compostable Cling Wrap

Image Credit: Hearth

Among all the entries on this list, this is the closest alternative to plastic cling wrap in terms of material and packaging. Unlike petroleum-based plastic cling wrap, compostable cling wrap is normally made from plant-based bioplastic that is derived from corn starch, cassava or sugar cane. This makes it a non-toxic “greener” plastic cling wrap that is both safe to the humans and the environment. Unlike traditional plastics that can take thousands of years to decompose, compostable cling wrap can only take less than 200 days to decompose in a commercial compost facility and 2-5 years in landfills.

Compostable cling wrap is refrigerator, freezer and microwave safe. Since it’s compostable, the cling wrap will naturally deteriorate after a year from its manufacturing date, so it’s best to only purchase what you need instead of stocking several rolls at once.

Where to buy in the Philippines:

Compostable Cling Wrap – Hearth

Have you tried any of the “greener” plastic cling wrap alternatives on this list? Share your experience in the comment section below J

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Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and purchase the products, I’ll receive some commission.