I live at the foot of a mountain in Southern Appalachia. I live a semi green lifestyle, raising 3 boys to love nature and appreciate the gifts of every day life. We get our water from a spring that feeds into a holding tank and pumped into our house.

I have been making a line of natural skin care products for several years and it has come to my attention that mimosa hostilis is an awesome ingredient to add....however I don't know how to get an extraction for my skin creme that will not make it gritty. It works well added to bath salts used for dermabrasion...but how can I make it smooth and potent for skin cremes & soaps?

Welcome to the Nexus and congrats for your lifestyle

Mimosa Hostilis (aka Mimosa Tenuiflora) has indeed been used with excellent results for skin treatment, not just cosmetic but also regenerating and healing, since the mayans were around. The popular name for the tree in that aspect is "tepezcohuite". Lots of information can be found online about it. The main difference is the part of the tree used. Whereas for tryptamines extraction you have to go for the root bark, tepezcohuite refers to the tree bark.

As for using it for preparing ointments and creams, you could slowly cook the pieces of tree bark in water until all the goodies are extracted and the solution is well concentrated, reduce the water to a manageable amount, filter and discard the solids and use the extraction as an ingredient for soap making or add it to a base cream. If you have made soaps and ointments with other plant essences, there should be no major difference in the making.

Ohhhh...that's it....some friends had turned us on to tepezcohuite when my partner was badly burned and it was incredible. Big 3rd degree burns with no infection, although there was some scarring.
I would like to extract it without water...like wondering if it would extract properly in a double boiler with coconut oil....know anything about the properties in that case?
And it is the root bark used in textile dyes?

I think dyes are obtained both from the tree bark and the root bark (with that nice purplish pink color). And probably you can extract the tannins of the bark for skin treatment using vegetable oils as well, but I cannot tell you for sure.

Anyone?

thanks...will continue to research...