Very dry and sensitive skin: need moisterizer reccomendation

I have not yet made soap, but it does not seem complicated. No more so than baking a cake. I like the idea of having a year's supply of soap that I made. I might give it a try because I like trying new things as self-sufficient as I can (which is not very). GLC1968, do you ever make soap with goats milk? I love goat's milk soap--its so gentle and creamy.

I use Weleda these days. I use the Sea Buckthorn body oil on my face and all over. It's wonderful. I also use coconut oil (the kind you get in a health food store). It keeps my skin moisturized until the next time I take a shower.

I have to shampoo my hair every day or it gets nasty. That's just me, though. I've heard of people who wash their hair once a week or less, but not me.

My hands turn to fine grit sandpaper in the winter. I've tried Gold Bond, Vaseline, Neutrogena, Oil of Olay, DermaSoft, and nothing seemed to help. I even tried an old school remedy of rubbing Preparation H gel on my hands and wearing gloves.

Then I saw this in the Duluth Trading catalogue.

I ordered it and I am more than pleased with it. It dries to a very fine film and it's like wearing an invisible glove so it keeps moisture in. It is not greasy.

As for body lotion, Mr Sundial the pharmacist recommends Sarna lotion to his customers who have dry, itchy skin. He also likes the Sesame oil lotion from Neutrogena.

I want to add too that you might be very surprised about the laundry detergent buildup in your laundry. That could definitely add to your woes. This winter I started using 21 Mule Team Borax and white vinegar and my laundry is much softer and cleaner. I no longer have residual soap. A nice benefit of using vinegar in your laundry is that it cuts down on static. :)

The humidifier also made a big difference.

I make my own soap! I don't do cold process, I just don't have enough room to feel safe having lye around. I've been selling it and I'm getting a lot of people with sensitive skin wanting to try it. So far, no complaints. So many things can give you dry skin, from how much water you drink to how dry the air is, and soap alone won't fix that, but it could help it from getting worse. For me, no matter how "gentle" of a soap I bought, I'd always come out of the shower with tight skin, itching, and with hives all over my chest. Since making my own, I haven't had that problem. Plus you have total control over what goes into it. I've also found that I can't use orange oil on my face, so I can avoid putting that into my soap. If you compare the price of buying supplies to make your own natural soap to buying the same amount of natural soap in the store, making your own is totally the way to go.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shootingstar

Sounds like everyone's hair is different. But that's great it works for you, GLC.

---

Yes, I should mention that I have very, very thick, curly hair, so not using shampoo is possible. Curly hair is naturally dry even though my scalp was oily...so it wasn't until I stopped trying to dry out my scalp that it 'normalized'. My face skin is that way too, once I stopped drying it out, the oil production reduced greatly. But if you have naturally thin or straight hair, you probably can't get away with NO shampoo for very long.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tulip

GLC1968, do you ever make soap with goats milk? I love goat's milk soap--its so gentle and creamy.

---

Not yet! We unfortunately didn't get around to learning how to make soap until after we'd stopped milking our goats! And this year, we didn't breed them, so we will be without our own source of milk for a whole year. :( We will be making it eventually, though.

I too have very thick and curly hair. I only shampoo (with Burt's Bees--anything else makes my scalp itch after two weeks) once a week or a week and a half in winter, if I'm not doing anything that requires me getting dusty or sweaty, or I haven't put products in my hair (I almost never do). I'll rinse it through with conditioner in the meantime, but not very often. Occasionally I'll put almond (my mom always did this for us when my sister and I were growing up) or neat cheap olive oil on the parts away from my scalp.

I have dry skin everywhere except my face, and to complicate matters, I have eczema on my hands. It's made worse by both dryness and by the greasy creams that don't let my skin breath. Delicate balance there, so I'm rotating hand lotions constantly. To make matters worse, the water in my building runs HOT, and I have yet to find a comfortable shower temperature that doesn't dry my skin out without making me feel like I'm taking an ice bath. We also have very hard water, which makes my skin less happy.
I soap my legs after I shave, because if I don't, I end up with angry red spots. I use a moisturizing shower gel for that as well as any sweaty parts and removing grease. My face gets washed in the morning with milder a salicylic acid cleanser, because if I skip it, I turn into a zit. Some kind of body lotion post-shower. Shea or cocoa butter in winter, whatever the heck I want in summer. I'm dreading the after-college experience because winter gets expensive!

nono, how do you make soap without lye? not that I know anything about soap making at all. Using lye seems rather harsh, too, but who would ever have thought to use fat to clean grease?

Even if soap making is simple, I'd imagine there's basic science to it that would make one soap better than another. I remember making soap in my grade 11 chemistry class. My partner and I ended up making "Ivory" soap - one that floats. Not sure how, but I remember the teacher commenting that to the class when he saw ours.

Does anyone here ever make soap with clay? or try dudu osan, the African black soap? (I bought one last spring authentically made in Ghana when I bought my shea butter, only I have no idea where I've put it. so bummed!)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by badger

nono, how do you make soap without lye?

---

You can buy pre-made base and all you have to do is melt it, add your color and scent, and pour it into molds. And there's no month-wait to enjoy your goodies :) The place I order from has laurel/laureth sulfate free bases. I've been using natural colorings like ground spices and cocoa, and use essential oils instead of fragrance for scenting.

Tulip, I'm just finishing up my goat's milk base now. People seem to like it, but not as much as the olive oil base. I actually had a few people kind of scrunch their noses and say "Goat's milk?!" I've yet to make a bar for myself with it. I did like the olive oil, and the honey base wasn't bad. I may try shea butter next time.

Piccies:
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._5663660_n.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7518573_n.jpg

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._5143804_n.jpg

Wow, Nono...those are gorgeous!

Our soaps are quite a bit more rustic looking...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43625927@N05/4290396525/

(both have the same oils but the darker one has dried cranberry fiber added for gentle exfolliant)

While lye is exceedingly dangerous and caustic - the soaps made with it using today's formulations are perfectly gentle. If you use the correct lye to oil/fat ratios, you don't need to wait ages to use the soap. It can be used the same day if you don't mind a softer bar. The old methods (of making your own lye and then guessing about fat/lye ratios) was totally different and you would absolutely have to let it age to avoid burning your skin (and sometimes, even then, whole batches had to be tossed out).

And there are LOTS of different oils that give lots of different properties to the finished soap (suds factor, moisturizing, cleansing, hardness, etc).

I think I find it so fascinating because I have always loved chemistry.:o

NoNo, how pretty! I can just see you giving gift soaps to the lucky people on your list. :)

Nothing wrong with rustic! There's a woman that's been buying from me that doesn't ask for any coloring or scent. Not because she doesn't like them or they irritate her skin, but because she's just showering with it, so what's the point of making it look pretty? I don't argue, it certainly saves me time!

We added a mister to our furnace--a built in humidifier. Kicks on with the heat. I also use body oil--slather it on before I get out of the shower (learned that on the weather channel!) Hubby recommends Bag Balm--his fingers used to split open in the winter (just avoid petting the cat until it soaks in).

I also have naturally curly hair and only shampoo once a week--just rinse and condition the rest of the week. I was grossed out at the concept, but desperate to save my curls.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TrekTheKaty

I also have naturally curly hair and only shampoo once a week--just rinse and condition the rest of the week. I was grossed out at the concept, but desperate to save my curls.

---

I'm lost: you mean washing your type of hair more often, means loss of the natural curliness or what?

From a naturally straight hair person. For certain, I will be unable to leave my hair unwashed up to once a wk. My system still produces plenty of hair oil..even in old, frail age I predict I just need that shampoo sudsing several times/wk.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shootingstar

I'm lost: you mean washing your type of hair more often, means loss of the natural curliness or what?

From a naturally straight hair person. For certain, I will be unable to leave my hair unwashed up to once a wk. My system still produces plenty of hair oil..even in old, frail age I predict I just need that shampoo sudsing several times/wk.

---

Curly hair and straight hair have totally different textures and as such, require different things. It's like the difference between how you would treat cashmere fibers or how you might treat silk. Both can be luxurious but both need different care.

Curly hair tends to be dryer - so it will absorb moisture out of the air. This is why curly or frizzy girls get curlier or frizzier in humidity and straight hair girls don't (or get limper, sometimes!). By not washing, we can keep our curls better naturally moisturized so that they remain healthy and don't need to absorb environmental moisture. Plus, curly hair tends to be fragile, so it can't take constant washing, harsh chemicals, rubbing with towels, rough brushing, etc and still remain curly, smooth and healthy looking. It's a pain for sure!

I did notice that while my scalp produced a lot of oils when I washed daily, part of the reason was precisely because I was washing daily and it was trying to compensate for it. When I stopped washing so much, my scalp calmed WAY down and so did the oil production. Similiar to not using harsh cleaners on oily skin to keep oil production lower (another issue I have!).

Quote:

---

I did notice that while my scalp produced a lot of oils when I washed daily, part of the reason was precisely because I was washing daily and it was trying to compensate for it. When I stopped washing so much, my scalp calmed WAY down and so did the oil production. Similiar to not using harsh cleaners on oily skin to keep oil production lower (another issue I have!).

---

I thought this as well when I washed my hair daily. About 4 years ago I decided to wash every other day to stop this oil over-production. I have to say that my scalp is still oiler than ever, much to my frustration. In 24 hours my roots are noticeably oily so the second day I usually have to wear my hair in a pony tail.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GLC1968

Plus, curly hair tends to be fragile, so it can't take constant washing, harsh chemicals, rubbing with towels, rough brushing, etc and still remain curly, smooth and healthy looking. It's a pain for sure!

---

Honest, I had no idea about the fragility of some curly hair. See how different life is for straight-haired chicks. :)

I think lots of thick fine straight hair or thick, coarse straight hair tends to be stronger than with thin, fine/straight hair. Some people have straight hair that takes ages to grow any noticeable length. My hair grows fast.

But then, how does one explain when curly-haired gals iron their hair to straighten it? That must be awfully tough on the hair especially if the hair has a strong wave/curl. To me, it looks tougher on the hair compared to using a curling iron for touch-ups daily for just a few min.

I'm not keen to try to reduce washing my hair daily, especially when I've been cycling nearly daily since I've moved to Vancouver. I've tried skipping a day of hair washing..at different times in life. Just hasn't worked. My scalp starts to itch, etc. Then skin near hairline tends to break out.

That is why I don't need hair conditioners at all. I probably voluntarily used hair conditioner less than 8 times in my life. And my hair is healthy ..as assessed by every hair stylist I've had. I don't do manicures, pedicures, facials, body wraps, etc. But the health of my hair & scalp is something I make an effort to look after.