The first thing that flashes in one’s mind when cactus plant is mentioned are its dangerous thorns that are unforgiving to the skin.
But the frightening picture now being substituted with sexy body, beautiful face and stretch marks free nice legs.
Thanks to the unveiling of beauty product courtesy of City businesswoman Jane Kamau who found Aleocactus cream and body lotion.
Kamau zeroed in on thorny cactus plant while at home following extensive research before going to class for short course at Cosmetics Kenya and now milking proceeds from the thorny plant.
“It is barely a month now in the market but I’ve been using cactus to cook for long time, however I started researching about it while nursing my baby” she told Nairobi Journal.
Adding “afterwards, I enrolled for short course at cosmetic college to learn more about soaps and body creams and to confirm more about my findings”.
According to Kamau, fresh cactus plant contains abundant mucilage and cellulose that is good supply of vitamins and antioxidants.
It also contains substance that helps skin retain moisture thus its fights stretch marks, sun burns, acne, razor burn, dark circles around the eyes cracked feet among other skin problems.
However, to achieve her product she mixes it with aleovera and sallicylic acid that is mostly used to remove dead skin before the product lands on dressing table to be applied on the face twice a day.
For this reason, she visits Nakuru on weekly basis to get the Cactus that she buys from the locals and sometimes get it for free in deserted areas.
“I buy a kilo for Sh200, on the other hand aloevera is easily available, from there I slice it into have, scoop the jelly stuff and blend them” she explained.
Adding “sallicylic acid goes for Sh2000 in chemists but it is used in small quantity, the resulting cream that is meant for facial problems has contains 60 percent Cactus”.
Kamau’s cream at he Imenti House Shop retails at Sh1,500 for 50gram container and bigger ones going up to Sh5,000, body lotion that has lower percentage of cactus retails at Sh2000 for 250 grams up to Sh3500 for 500grams.
