This hard yellow-brown wax comes from the Carnauba (car-NOW-ba) palm tree (Copernicea Cerifera), which is found only in the north east of Brazil.
The wax is obtained from the film of powder that coats the sword shaped leaves; protecting them from the severe climate of the region.
During the harvest period (August-January) the leaves are cut, bundled together and put to dry in the sun. The powder is then mechanically threshed from the leaves and graded by colour, with the lightest powder originating from the younger leaves.
Once refined, the Carnauba Wax is offered in different colours, grades and forms.
Pure Carnauba, in its natural state, is harder than concrete and is the hardest natural wax available.
One of its most interesting properties is that it swells and closes its pores when exposed to water, thus providing a very hard barrier to protect against airborne contaminants such as acid rain, bugs, tar, road grime, salt and bird droppings.
Carnauba also dramatically reduces paint oxidation by diffusing (refracting) UV and infrared radiation from the sun.
Carnauba effectively retains oil and offers excellent gloss properties, due to its lustrous composition.