Many of us dread winter because of the cool winds, all the snow to shovel, and the outrageous heating bills! If those weren't bad enough, many people experience cracked, dry, flaking, and itchy "winter skin" year after year! The usual remedy is to stock up on moisturizer and lip balm which is always a great idea... BUT did you know you can also help save your skin from the winter woes BEFORE they start with products other than just moisturizers? It's true! Healthy skin can happen all year long! I'm sure many of you have experience itchy dry legs after shaving even in the summer - but no more! It's time to take back your skin! I used to have itchy dry legs and cracked sore heels all year long but thankfully, now that I'm older and wiser (haha), I've figured out what the problem was! The problem was that I was using commercial body washes full of detergents! Detergents are used in almost every commercially available body wash, hand soap, and bar soaps that you can find at big retail stores. If there's one thing you pick up from this post, let it be this: switch to REAL SOAP, as in the handmade kind that is free of detergents, and you'll save your skin a world of hurt! It may sound drastic, but in my experience, before switching to handmade REAL soap, there was no doubt in my mind that I had dry skin! As it turns out, this simply wasn't true! Now that I'm using real soap, I have "normal" skin. It's not dry, it's not oily... it's simply the way skin is supposed to feel because I'm not using products that strip it of its natural oils! Sure, I use my body butter too, but I usually don't even need to use it as a moisturizer! I just like the smell of it! :)Here's a little bit of a history lesson for you...
You may have already started to wonder why commercially made products aren't made with real soap and are instead made with detergents. The truth is, before the 2nd world war, real soap WAS made commercially and everyone used this real soap on their skin, hair, and even as household cleaners. However, during the war, the fats and oils that are used to make real soap became scare because they were being used to manufacture nitro-glycerin for explosives. This created a dilemma - how to create soap without the actually ingredients to make it! Petroleum became the next option and scientists where able to make all kinds of new products out of it including detergents. Without the supplies to make real soap, society quickly replaced real soap with detergents for their personal hygiene and household cleaners. After the war, manufactures continued to make and market detergents as being just as safe and as beneficial for your skin as real soap because detergents cost them so much less to make! They were actually making more of a profit by using cheap petroleum in their products rather than sourcing out high quality fats and oils for soap making (so of course they would continue to convince consumers that detergents are just as good! They didn't want the truth to cut into their profit!). The sad truth is that detergents will NEVER be good for your skin or hair no matter how many ways the marketers and advertisers spin the story... the truth is that REAL soaps made with fats and oils will ALWAYS be better for your skin and hair than detergents will.
So what does that have to do with saving your skin from the winter woes?
Everything! :) If you're still using commercially bought body wash, then the first way to stop your skin from drying up is to switch to a cleanser that wont strip your skin of its natural oils. This means using real soap or a carefully formulated handmade body wash. Real soaps don't damage your skin's protective layers like detergents do. Detergents are the reason why your skin can't retain its natural moisture levels. In fact, detergents actually dissolve skin protein and draw your skin's natural oils from far beneath the surface. After you get out of the shower and towel dry off, the itch you start to feel all over your skin is your skin telling you something is wrong! And what's even worse is that if you're using a commercially made cream, you're not doing your skin any favors because that "big brand name" cream is full of drying ingredients (yes, I said drying ingredients! If your big brand name moisturizer did its job the first time you wouldn't have to use so much cream throughout the day and that's not what big commercial companies want! They want you to have to feel that itching urge to slather ridiculous amounts of cream all over your body every few hours so you keep buying MORE cream and they keep selling MORE products... rather than producing a product that is good for you in the first place because that just wouldn't be profitable!). On the other hand, while a lot of peoples experience super dry skin due to this drying cycle, some people have the opposite reaction - they get oily skin! Why do they get oily skin you ask? Well, they end up with oily skin after using commercial body wash and commercial moisturizer because the deep stripping of natural oils causes their skin to produce copious amounts of oil to compensate for it. This in turn aggravates acne and makes skin problems worse!
What about my hair??
This same cycle happens with commercially made (big brand name) shampoo & conditioner. The shampoo damages the hair by stripping it of its natural oils and people become convinced that they just have "problem hair". Rather than using conditioner as a detangler, they end up relying on it to restore their hair from all the damage their shampoo as done, but unfortunately, those commercially made conditioners are just as bad for your hair as the shampoo! My advice? Steer clear of commercially made big brand name cleansers (no matter HOW expensive) for your hair and your skin!
So why are my commercial products getting me these drying results?
The simple answer is that it's their intended results! Commercial companies are not as big as they are because they produces high quality products. They are as big as they are because they MARKET their products as being the best while using the cheapest ingredients to produce a product to sell. Handmade sellers do NOT embrace this "code of ethics", in fact, it's the complete opposite. Handmade soap makers like myself, make high quality products with ingredients that WILL NOT damage, strip oils, or otherwise wreak havoc on your hair and skin. We don't have the big marketing firms to tell the public about us so we need our products to speak for themselves. They need to be products that do what they say will do. I make and sell bath & body products because I'm passionate about high quality hair and skin products. I wanted something better than was being offered to me in the stores, and I wanted to know the truth about all those ingredients. And I wanted to ensure that my family and friends were using products that were actually GOOD for their skin! With watching so many people I know struggle with skin problems, unruly hair, and my own battle with acne, I knew SOMETHING had to be done! Something had to change! I started with soap, and have expanded my knowledge and product line into skin care and hair care products. Each and every product has a story behind it and has been made with a purpose - made with a person in mind - made to offer a healthy alternative to what was available at the store.
What's the bottom line? How do I save my skin & hair from the winter woes?
The bottom line is that the best thing you can do for your skin & hair is to ditch any detergent filled cleansers you're using and replace them with REAL soap and cleansers!!!
Now the tricky part.... you will NOT find real soap at most corner stores, the grocery store, or the big box stores! You'll have to hunt it down from a handmade soap maker like myself. Handmade soap makers can be found all over the place! Most cities, towns, and villages have at least one soap maker who is selling their skin loving creations. For example, my soaps are available at a local shop called Weezi, available online, at home parties, and at local craft shows! If you're local to me, you'll definitely be able to find me out and about a lot in the community, or you can simply place an order online! And, if you order online and live in London (Ontario) and area, I'll deliver it for free! If you're not local, no worries! I ship worldwide :)
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