Close the Gap

Advanced Botanical Care for Wounds, Compromised Skin & the Healing Cascade

For the moments when skin needs to do more than feel moisturized—it needs to repair.

Close the Gap was created specifically around the biology of wound healing and tissue repair.

When skin is scraped, cracked, cut, chafed, or otherwise compromised, the body begins an extraordinarily coordinated process known as the healing cascade. Different stages of that process involve protecting the area, rebuilding damaged tissue, forming new extracellular matrix, and gradually remodeling the repaired skin.

Close the Gap was formulated with that process in mind.

Rather than creating another heavy herbal salve, we combined Plantain, Calendula, Aloe, Olive Oil, Myrrh, Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamin E, and complementary botanicals with Ætherbal’s patent-pending topical delivery platform.

At its foundation is Orthosilicic Acid (OSA), the water-soluble form of silicon used throughout Ætherbal’s delivery technology. Silicon is particularly interesting in a tissue-focused formula because of its biological relationship with connective tissue and collagen. The molecular size of key components in our delivery platform is specifically selected with the skin barrier in mind, while our amphiphilic system accommodates both water- and oil-compatible compounds.

Botanicals selected for compromised skin + ingredients chosen with tissue repair in mind + a delivery platform designed around the challenges of topical formulation.

This isn't everyday moisturizer.

This is the formula you reach for when the skin has something to repair.

✨ Built Around the Healing Cascade

Wound healing isn't one event.

It is a coordinated biological cascade in which different processes occur as damaged skin moves from injury toward repair and remodeling.

That distinction matters because Close the Gap wasn't formulated around one trendy “healing” ingredient.

Early response
Immediately after skin is injured, the body begins protecting the area and initiating repair.

Inflammatory phase
The body's normal inflammatory response helps coordinate the early stages of wound repair and prepares the area for rebuilding.

Proliferative phase
New tissue begins forming. Fibroblasts, collagen production, extracellular matrix formation, and re-epithelialization become important parts of the repair process.

Remodeling phase
The newly formed tissue continues reorganizing and maturing over time.

We selected the ingredients in Close the Gap with this larger biological process in mind.

The goal wasn't simply to coat compromised skin. It was to formulate intelligently around the environment in which normal repair takes place.

🌿 Why These Botanicals?

Close the Gap begins with some of herbal medicine's most respected traditional skin herbs.

• Plantain — Compromised skin; traditional wound-care botanical
• Calendula — Tissue repair; traditional skin restoration
• Aloe — Soothing hydration; vulnerable skin
• Olive Oil — Lipid nourishment; softens and conditions repairing skin
• Myrrh — Traditional wound-care botanical; tissue-focused herbal use
• Lavender — Soothing skin care; sensitive or stressed areas
• Rosemary — Traditional skin care; robust aromatic botanical
• Eucalyptus — Refreshing botanical character; traditional topical use
• Vitamin E — Antioxidant support; skin conditioning
• Hyaluronic Acid — Hydration; supports an appropriately hydrated skin environment
• Orthosilicic Acid — Water-soluble silicon; foundation of Ætherbal’s delivery technology

Plantain and Calendula are particularly important to the identity of Close the Gap. Both have long histories in traditional herbal preparations for damaged and compromised skin—the kind of old-fashioned herbal knowledge that originally inspired this formula. Pasted text

Plants our ancestors would recognize. Formulation technology they couldn't have imagined.

When Skin Has Something to Repair

Close the Gap was created for targeted care of minor wounds and compromised skin, including:

Minor cuts • Scrapes • Cracked skin • Chafing • Friction-stressed areas • Minor abrasions • Rough, compromised areas • Skin recovering after everyday mishaps

It can also be used after an area has closed when continued botanical skin care is desired during the later stages of visible repair.

Close the Gap is not a substitute for appropriate medical wound care.

Deep wounds, puncture wounds, serious burns, surgical wounds without clinician approval, wounds showing signs of infection, wounds that aren't healing normally, and wounds associated with impaired circulation or diabetes should be evaluated and managed by a healthcare professional.

A Note About Diabetic Wounds

The biology of impaired wound healing—including the challenges encountered in diabetes—is one of the reasons wound repair is such an important area of botanical and formulation research.

But a diabetic wound is not an ordinary scrape.

Diabetes can interfere with circulation, sensation, immune response, and normal tissue repair. A seemingly small wound—particularly on the foot—can therefore become medically significant.

For that reason, we don't position Close the Gap as a replacement for professional diabetic wound care.

If you have diabetes and want to incorporate Close the Gap into the care of an existing wound, have the wound evaluated and ask the healthcare professional managing it whether this topical is appropriate for that particular wound.

That distinction allows us to take wound care seriously without pretending every wound carries the same level of risk.

How to Use

For appropriate minor skin injuries, gently clean the area first.

Apply a thin layer of Close the Gap to the desired area. Reapply as appropriate as part of your skin-care routine.

Because damaged skin can be more sensitive than intact skin, discontinue use if the formula causes unexpected irritation.

For external use only. Avoid the eyes and mucous membranes. Do not ingest.

Seek medical care for deep or puncture wounds, significant burns, uncontrolled bleeding, spreading redness or swelling, drainage or other signs of infection, severe pain, wounds that are worsening or failing to heal, or wounds associated with diabetes or significant circulation problems.

✨ What to Expect

Close the Gap doesn't feel like an old-fashioned herbal salve.

There is no thick layer of wax or petroleum-like material sitting heavily on the skin.

Instead, the formula spreads easily in a thin layer and provides the area with botanical oils, whole-plant extracts, Aloe, Hyaluronic Acid, and Ætherbal’s Orthosilicic Acid-based formulation in a lightweight topical.

The aroma comes from the plants themselves. Lavender provides a softer herbal note, Rosemary and Eucalyptus add freshness, and Myrrh contributes a deeper resinous character.

Lightweight. Botanical. Targeted. Made for skin that's actively repairing.

Ingredients

Orthosilicic Acid (OSAC), Olive Oil*, Plantago major Extract*, Hyaluronic Acid, Etherium Gold, Aloe Powder*, Fulvic Acid, Lavandula angustifolia Essential Oil (EO), Eucalyptus globulus EO, Rosmarinus officinalis EO*, Myrrh EO, Calendula officinalis Extract*, Vitamin E, Choline Citrate, Potassium Sorbate (naturally derived from cassava).

*Certified Organic

The Product That Helped Start Ætherbal

Close the Gap has a different history from most products in the Ætherbal collection.

It began in graduate research in herbal medicine.

The original work explored botanicals traditionally associated with compromised skin and how they could be brought together in a more sophisticated topical formulation. That research ultimately became part of the much larger exploration of Orthosilicic Acid as a topical foundation and helped shape the formulation philosophy that became Ætherbal. Pasted text

In other words, Close the Gap isn't simply another product we added to the line.

It is part of the reason the line exists.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Close the Gap designed for?

Close the Gap is specialized botanical care for minor wounds and compromised skin—the scrapes, cracks, abrasions, chafed areas, and other everyday injuries where the skin's normal repair process has been activated.

It was formulated around the larger biological process of wound healing rather than simply moisturizing the surface.

What is the healing cascade?

The healing cascade is the coordinated biological process the body initiates after tissue is injured.

It includes overlapping phases commonly described as hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. Cells, signaling molecules, blood vessels, extracellular matrix, collagen, and other biological systems participate at different points as the body protects and reconstructs damaged tissue.

Close the Gap was formulated with this biological process in mind. That does not mean the finished product has been clinically demonstrated to accelerate each stage of wound healing.

Why Plantain and Calendula?

These are two of herbalism's classic skin and wound-care plants.

Their inclusion isn't based on a beauty trend. They were foundational to the herbal research from which Close the Gap developed and have extensive histories of traditional topical use for compromised skin.

Why is Orthosilicic Acid especially interesting here?

Orthosilicic Acid is the water-soluble form of silicon at the foundation of Ætherbal’s delivery technology.

Silicon has biological relationships with connective tissue and collagen, making it particularly interesting when thinking about skin structure and tissue repair.

That biological rationale helped make OSA an important component of the formulation, although it does not establish that the finished product clinically accelerates wound healing.

How is this different from a traditional herbal salve?

Traditional salves usually suspend herbs in substantial amounts of oil and wax.

Close the Gap combines Olive Oil and botanicals with Orthosilicic Acid, Hyaluronic Acid, Aloe, Fulvic Acid, and Ætherbal’s delivery architecture to create a much lighter formulation.

The herbal tradition is old. The way we formulate it isn't.

The Science Behind Our Patent-Pending Delivery System

Wound care creates an interesting formulation challenge because the skin barrier itself may be disrupted.

Ætherbal’s patent-pending delivery system was developed around molecular size and the need to accommodate both water- and oil-compatible compounds.

At its foundation is Orthosilicic Acid, with a molecular mass of approximately 96 Daltons. In intact skin, research in skin-permeation science commonly references an approximately 500-Dalton guideline, although molecular size is only one of several characteristics influencing skin permeation.

Our system also incorporates Hyaluronic Acid selected at different molecular weights. Hyaluronic Acid is particularly relevant to the biology of skin because it is a natural component of extracellular matrix and participates in the tissue environment associated with repair.

Close the Gap then combines an aqueous OSA phase with Olive Oil, whole-plant extracts, Aloe, Fulvic Acid, Hyaluronic Acid, Vitamin E, and aromatic botanical compounds.

Ætherbal’s amphiphilic architecture was designed around both hydrophilic and lipophilic environments, allowing chemically diverse ingredients to coexist within a formulation built around topical delivery rather than a conventional heavy salve base.

Controlled studies of the finished Close the Gap formula have not established its effect on wound-closure time, individual phases of the healing cascade, penetration depth, flux, or skin retention of individual botanical constituents.

The biology informed the formula. It doesn't give us permission to claim results we haven't clinically measured.

Botanical Wound Care, Formulated Differently.

Close the Gap began with one of the oldest jobs in herbal medicine:

helping care for damaged skin.

Plantain. Calendula. Aloe. Myrrh. Olive Oil.

Then we asked a modern question:

How could we formulate those plants more intelligently around the biology of skin and the healing cascade?

That question helped lead to Orthosilicic Acid, Ætherbal’s delivery technology, and eventually the company itself.

Compromised skin. Ancient herbs. Modern formulation. Close the Gap.

For external use only. Close the Gap is intended for personal skin care and is not a substitute for professional wound treatment. Deep, puncture, infected, non-healing, diabetic, or otherwise serious wounds require appropriate medical evaluation.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.