Do You Have Eczema?

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Do you have eczema?

Many people do. I never knew how many until I started putting this sign out at my boutiques. Now people passing by stop and tell me about their grandchild or friend who struggles with eczema. Or better yet, they lift their pant leg or push up their sleeve so they can show me the struggle they are having with this annoying skin condition. Often they've tried everything from prescription creams to whatever else they can find that might work.

Eczema is complicated. Generally it is caused by some factor that can be hard to identify. Your doctor may have recommendations about changing your soap or what you put on your skin. If the condition persists they may begin testing for allergies or other things that may be triggering the miserable rash.

Over twenty years ago my oldest daughter started having problems with eczema. We would lube her up with lotion, not having a clue that the mineral oil and other petroleum ingredients in the product we were using only complicated the condition, instead of helping. When we changed to a natural soap and better skin products it all went away. Our struggle was a small one.

One of my favorite stories to tell is of a dear friend, who at age 65 had been struggling with eczema on his feet for twenty five years. He was using a combination of a quality cream on the market and a prescription cream. By doing this he had been able to manage the eczema, but never get rid of it. He decided to give our herbal balm a try. He religiously used the balm a couple times a day and was able to clear the rash completely for the first time in twenty five years. I suspect the reason this worked so well for him was that he was using a product with no preservatives or other additives, and certainly no mineral oil. The simplicity of the five ingredients of the balm are what make it so effective: olive oil, beeswax, calendula, comfrey and chickweed.

What have you tried for your eczema? What success have you had?

Apples for Healthy Skin

Eating right influences the health of your skin as dramatically as what you put on it. One source of skin loving nutrients is an apple. The vitamin C in an apple helps your body produce the collagen needed to give the skin elasticity and a plump appearance.

Apples are fabulous fresh, but the apple is versatile and adds the right touch to many dishes. Here's one idea for adding apples to breakfast.

When you have an abundance of apples, core and peel them, then cut them into bite-size pieces and dehydrate them. I use a Nesco dehydrator, which lets me dehydrate eight trays at a time.

Then add the apples to an instant oatmeal mix, like the oatmeal packets you can buy for the microwave. Here's the recipe:

2 cups oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup powder milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup dehydrated apples.

Mix this all together and store in an airtight container.

To prepare measure:
2/3 cup instant oatmeal mix
3/4 cup water

Microwave for 2 minutes and enjoy your apples and one more way to healthy skin.

What variations of this oatmeal mix have you seen or tried?

A New Look for my Site

I finally have a new look for my SkinTastic website. It's been a long time coming. Here's a peek.

There's more to see at http://www.skintasticcreations.com. And still more to come. We are working on adding all our products to the site again, as well as leaving them on Etsy, thus offering two easy options for purchasing.

Photographing White Lotion Bottles

This morning's project was a new picture for my Etsy banner and Facebook page. The struggle has been that I usually photograph on a white background. That worked well for my other Etsy shop, Mulberry Junction, but not so well with my white lotion bottles.

In the picture below you can see how I do my photography for most of my products. I built this light box with some carboard boxes, white fabric, white paint and spray on glue. I use it next to the window you can see in the picture and then add light with my halogen work lights. 

Today, as you can see in this picture, I pinned green fabric to the backdrop to make my white jars and bottles stand out more. I added some color with calendula flowers and threw in some peppermint and a comfrey leaf, all herbs I use in my lotions and balms.

Any thoughts on improving the picture? How do you make your online pictures stand out? Do you have any photography tips to share?

What is Castille Soap

This is the batch of Castile soap I'm in process of packaging right now. Castile soap is a simple soap that is made with olive oil. Although the history of Castile goes way back, it is believed that the soap was first made in Castilla, Italy. This makes sense when you understand that in that area they grow olives and have easy access to the oil. Evidently at a time when the rest of Europe was using rendered animal fats to make soap, the soap in this part of Italy was made from olive oil. Eventually it became the popular soap for the rich all over Europe.

The nice thing about a soap made with olive oil is that it's mildness. This fabulous oil has many properties that should make it an oil of choice, not only in the kitchen, but for our skin. Because of it's mildness it is a perfect soap to use for babies and others with sensitive skin. The squalane in olive oil helps it absorb easily and quickly into the skin. The high content of oleic acid  gives olive oil humectant properties, meaning that it pulls in the moisture from the air. The oleic acid also help the skin to regenerate. Overall it's an amazing oil for the skin.

Soap made from olive oil makes a fine, creamy lather. If you expect large bubbles, you may be disappointed. But if you want a gentle soap that pampers your skin, it doesn't get better than Castille.

The soap that is pictured above also has goat milk added in place of the water. This makes it even more luxurious. 

What properties do you like in a bar of soap? Feel free to comment.

Castor Oil Bubbles

When I re-batched the soap I talked about in yesterday's post, I learned something.

I needed to add the oil I'd forgotten to add when I first made the soap. I was initially going to use avocado, but had recently read something that reminded me that castor oil helps give great lather. When I read this it reminded me that years ago when I made shaving soap that was one of the key ingredients. So just for fun I decided to see what would happen if I added half castor oil as the superfatting oil and half jojoba.

Do you see the bubbles above. This was what happened after I poured the soap in molds and filled the crock pot with water. What a fabulous lather.

Now I can't wait to use the soap.

Saved Soap Batch

Several months ago I made a batch of soap and forgot to put the avocado oil in at the trace stage to superfat my soap. This is a pretty important step if you want a soap that is mild and not lye heavy. I don't really want to be making "Grandma's scary lye heavy soap". The sad thing is that it smells so good and I'd love to try it.

Frustrated I left the batch to cure, not knowing how I was going to fix the problem. At some point I decided it would probably work to re-batch it by melting the soap down with some water and adding the missing oil into it. Yesterday I tried it. I grated the bars of soap into the crock pot, added water and the missing oil and patiently stirred it for a couple hours while it melted to a liquid consistency. 

Once it was all mixed together I let it cool and harden til it was a good consistency to mold with my hands. Then I formed it into a ball around a rope. I just molded it with my hands. I also tried pressing the soap into a mold with the rope in the middle. 

The ball is kind of fun, but I quickly decided to remelt it and pour it into molds. The bars look and smell great (Cool Water fragrance). I'm looking forward to trying it out after they cure and harden again.

I'm crazy about the Cool Water fragrance. Do you have a favorite fragrance? Share it with us.