The very crops that fill the plains fields are finding a second life in the region's skincare, as spas turn sunflower and flax oils into local beauty lines.
The plains grow oilseeds by the millions of acres, and a small but spirited movement is bringing those very crops from the field to the beauty shelf. Sunflower oil, prized for its light texture and vitamin content, and flaxseed oil, rich in the fatty acids the skin craves, are finding a second life in locally made skincare, turning a commodity crop into a boutique product.
From the Field to the Face
Fictional makers such as Goldenrod Botanicals in Bismarck press and blend plains-grown oils into salves, serums and soaps, marketing the appeal of a beauty product raised on the same prairie that uses it. The story sells: a lotion made from sunflowers a customer can see blooming down the road carries a resonance no mass-market bottle can match.
From the almanac's reckoning:
- Sunflower and flax oils are prized for skincare use.
- Local makers press plains-grown oils into salves, serums and soaps.
- The local-crop story distinguishes the products from mass-market bottles.
It is a natural marriage of the region's agriculture and its growing wellness trade, keeping a little more of the crop's value on the plains. The almanac counts prairie botanicals among the more inventive of the region's new enterprises — beauty distilled, quite literally, from the fields.
Elsewhere in the Almanac
The Return of the Classic Wet Shave
Amid a broader revival of old crafts, the classic straight-razor wet shave has made a comeback in the barbershops of the plains, a small ritual of luxury and heritage.
Hair Care for the Hard-Water Country
The mineral-heavy water of much of the plains poses its own challenge to hair and skin, and the region's stylists have learned to work around it.
The Wellness Retreat Comes to the Quiet Countryside
Trading on the plains' greatest asset — space and stillness — a new kind of rural wellness retreat invites guests to unwind far from the noise of the city.