Best lotion I have found for dry skin - shea butter with coconut oil

[doublea1535]

I have had dry skin problems since I was a kid, particularly on my hands and during the winter. As an adult, it only got slightly better. I also wash my hands frequently which doesn't help. I tried different kinds of lotions which only provided temporary results. After a day or two, my hands would start to crack and turn white again. Then I tried this stuff, Nubian Heritage Coconut Papaya Shea Butter.

_http://www.amazon.com/Nubian-Heritage-Butter-Infused-Coconut/dp/B001ESC1MM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1379882938&sr=8-3&keywords=nubian+heritage+shea+butter

I first started using it a couple months ago. I applied it twice in one week and left it one for a few hours, before having to wash it off since it is pretty greasy. I only used it on my hands those two times that I can remember, and the change was pretty remarkable. Only until last week (about 2 months later) did I notice that my hands started looking a little dry and cracked, but not as bad as they had been before. Even then, by the next day w/o applying any lotion they were back to normal looking.

On their site they advertise:

Nubian Shea Butter heals different kinds of skin ailments and complications. Nubian Shea Butter is designed to target and heal the conditions at the root of skin ailments both through use of natural ingredients and natural fragrance formulations, that deliver aromatic healing benefits

And it appears they are telling the truth. Not sure how exactly (or what ingredient), but it appears it has actually heal my skin instead of just temporarily alleviating the problem. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients: shea butter, coconut oil, papaya extract, vitamin e, and essential oil blend

Before that, I was using coconut lotion that had vitamin e in it. So maybe the big thing is the shea butter with coconut oil and vitamin e together?

 

[Meg]

Beef tallow works wonders, too. I add lavender essential oil to mine and leave out the olive oil. It leaves my skin moist, clear, and it feels and looks so much healthier.

Tallow Body Balm

Tallow is Safe:
First of all, this stuff is so safe you can take out a spoon and eat it. Tallow has long been an traditional ingredient in skin care that has recently been omitted in favor of fancy laboratory generated compounds that are full of promises of beautiful and unspoken health risks.
Tallow Works Great:

Because of it’s similarity to the natural skin oils, tallow is readily absorbed, effectively moisturizes, but doesn’t leave a greasy residue on the skin.

According to a maker traditional of tallow balm, “Tallow fat is typically 50 to 55 percent saturated, just like [human] cell membranes… so it makes sense that it would be helpful for skin health and compatible with our cell biology…. Another strong indication of tallow’s compatibility with our skin biology is its similarity to sebum, the oily, waxy matter that lubricates and waterproofs our skin.”

Tallow is Nutrient-Dense:
Tallow contains the abundant natural fat-soluble activators, vitamins A, D, and K, as well as vitamin E, which are found only in animal fats and which are all necessary for general health and for skin health. Tallow also contains fats like conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which has anti-cancer ¹ and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as palmitoleic acid, which has natural antimicrobial properties.²

Skin compatible and nutrient dense – not to mention, super simple to make. Are you ready to give it a go?

Tallow Body Balm Ingredients

1 1/4 cup tallow*
2 tablespoons olive oil – find amazing olive oil here
A few drops of essential oils of choice

*Be sure to use tallow from pasture-raised animals (cows or sheep) that are 100% grass-fed. You can obtain high quality tallow from your local farm or get the fat (suet) to render it yourself. Tallow is rendered exactly the same way as lard, so you can follow this easy recipe, but don’t use the tallow skimmed off of making broth.

Olive oil is used to make the tallow softer and more spreadable at room temperature. The ratio is 1o parts tallow to 1 part olive oil, but if you prefer a more spreadable balm, use more olive oil. Be sure to choose pure, extra virgin oil oil like this one.

Lavender essential oil is known for its long-standing tradition of being healing to the skin and relaxing to the spirit. Another major benefit of using essential oils in your balm is to give it a fresh, pleasant scent and to neutralize the scent of the tallow, which is distinctive although not necessarily unpleasant. Choose whatever oils make you happy.

http://holisticsquid.com/how-to-make-tallow-body-balm/

 

[Josi]

Beef tallow works wonders, too. I add lavender essential oil to mine and leave out the olive oil. It leaves my skin moist, clear, and it feels and looks so much healthier.

I have been using this as well for the last three months and by far has been the best for me. I add just lavender essential oil to the fat I rendered, and apply generously.

 

[H-KQGE]

Thanks for the info Menrva & ignis.intimus, these sound great especially for those with a history of dry skin.

 

[Jasmine]

And it appears they are telling the truth. Not sure how exactly (or what ingredient), but it appears it has actually heal my skin instead of just temporarily alleviating the problem. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients: shea butter, coconut oil, papaya extract, vitamin e, and essential oil blend

Before that, I was using coconut lotion that had vitamin e in it. So maybe the big thing is the shea butter with coconut oil and vitamin e together?

Yeah the Shea butter is probably making the difference for you. And the product sounds really natural, with no extra additives. Was the other previous coconut lotion all natural as well? I couldn't tell from your post if you new that Shea Butter is a natural oil that is extracted from the nut of an African Shea Tree. Here's a link for more info. I have a 50 lb box of raw cocoa butter, as I was going to start making my own soaps & lotions. And I was using it all summer long, and just like Shea Butter, it's fantastic for the skin. But in it's raw form it's completely hard/solid if not kept semi-warm, so that's a little bit of an obstetrical trying to keep it warm for easy application. Whereas Shea Butter I believe is much more versatile and not completely hard in its raw form. I think that's why it's preferred over Cocoa Butter, but they're similar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shea_butter

Beef tallow works wonders, too. I add lavender essential oil to mine and leave out the olive oil. It leaves my skin moist, clear, and it feels and looks so much healthier.

Also thanks Menrva, This is brand new to me, never heard of using Beef Tallow. Fortunately I have access to a local farm where I get my grass fed beef. It'll definitely be on my list for the next trip. Thanks so much for this great tip and recipe! :)

 

[Renaissance]

Lard is great too and a bit softer than tallow. It was the go to moisturizer back in the day before it became so misrepresented.

 

[Gwenllian]

Lovely thread and great suggestions. :)

I used lard for a while on my face, neck and hands, but it was lard from industrial pigs, so I stopped using it. I have used coconut butter since then, but I am not sure whether it contributes to inflammation.

I will go back to lard from grass-fed pigs now and see if I can mix it with some essential oils. My tallow is as hard as a rock, so I am not sure how I could use it for my skin. :/

Some extra information for people with dry skin:

Commercial skin preparations concentrate on adding lubricating oils externally, but the aromatherapy approach is to combine such oils (almond, avocado, cocoa-butter etc.) with essential oils that gently stimulate the sebaceous glands to function more efficiently. Anything which improves the general health of the skin and the blood supply to its growing layers will also help.
This kind of skin is often very delicate and sensitive, so gentle flower oils such as Camomile, Jasmine, Neroli, or best of all, Rose are the most suitable. Oils which have a balancing effect on sebum production are also good. These include Geranium, Lavender and Sandalwood. You will see elsewhere that these three oils are also used in treating oily skin, and this is because they have a normalising effect, and will reduce or increase the amount of sebum secreted by the little glands beneath the skin, according to what is needed.

 

[theos]

Shea and coconut oil are great. I make a mixture to use on my skin and hair. I'll also add some coconut butter and jojoba oil and a little tea trea oil to make it smell good. I melt down/soften the hard ingredients and mix it all together with a hand blender to make it soft like whipped butter. It's very easy to make yourself and the ingredients aren't that expensive. It certainly saves you $$$$ in the long run.

 

[doublea1535]

Beef tallow works wonders, too. I add lavender essential oil to mine and leave out the olive oil. It leaves my skin moist, clear, and it feels and looks so much healthier.

Thanks for the info, I had no idea about using animal fat as a lotion.

I am curious, those of you that have been using it, does either lard or tallow have a long-term healing effect, or is it more of a substitute for commercial lotions? Is it the animal fat itself you think, or are the essential oil ingredients crucial?

Was the other previous coconut lotion all natural as well?

It was the most natural stuff we could find at our local "natural" markets. We don't have bottles of it anymore, and I forget the brand, but it had the least amount of ingredients and no titanium dioxide. I believe the coconut oil was organic, but still, the ingredients list was pretty long if you ask me. It was the best option any of the local stores had.

Commercial skin preparations concentrate on adding lubricating oils externally, but the aromatherapy approach is to combine such oils (almond, avocado, cocoa-butter etc.) with essential oils that gently stimulate the sebaceous glands to function more efficiently. Anything which improves the general health of the skin and the blood supply to its growing layers will also help.
This kind of skin is often very delicate and sensitive, so gentle flower oils such as Camomile, Jasmine, Neroli, or best of all, Rose are the most suitable. Oils which have a balancing effect on sebum production are also good. These include Geranium, Lavender and Sandalwood. You will see elsewhere that these three oils are also used in treating oily skin, and this is because they have a normalising effect, and will reduce or increase the amount of sebum secreted by the little glands beneath the skin, according to what is needed.

I did some digging around on the essential oils aspect, and it seems that whatever blend they use is what did the trick for me. In some people it reduces the sebum for those with oily skin, and for people like me with chronic dry skin, it seems to increase sebum production. Which makes me think, you could use a variety of different lotions (coconut, shea, lard, tallow) to address an existing dry skin condition, and if you could not wash your hands super-frequently for a day or two, the proper essential oil blend by itself would be sufficient to boost sebum production to maintain that state. Thank you for that info Mariama!

Low sebum amounts could also be why I am very sensitive to topical DMSO, even when diluted.

 

[WIN 52]

My very dry skin has been eliminated by eating lard consisting of about 30% protein and 0 carbohydrates.

The dry skin returns as soon as any volume of carbs are consumed. People ask what I am doing. When I tell them they just look puzzled.

 

[3DStudent]

Many thanks for this thread. I have dry skin, mostly on my hands. They sometimes get to the point where they crack along my fingertips. This is inconvenient when you need to type and handle things all day. It's that time of year, and like clockwork, last week my hands started getting dry. I wash them a lot, but I try to put shea butter after they're wet to lock in the moisture.

My face gets really oily, if only I could trade! I sometimes wipe my face to get a little oil on my hands. I've even blown hot air like pipe breathing to moisturize them a little . The shea butter alone is good, but I could use something better.

I often wipe the excess tallow and lard on my hands when I'm eating. My fingers haven't split yet, but it's still 70s-80s Fahrenheit. I will try that tallow, olive oil, and lavender recipe. I have a few essential oils I used for bug repellant. If that doesn't work, I'll try the Nubian cream. Fingers crossed; I was actually recently talking with a co-worker that has the same problem.

 

[hotfrog]

I've had badly cracked heels for years. Can't seem to figure out how to get them better, they are worse in the winter. I will try this also -- shea butter with coconut oil. Why not?

 

[Gwenllian]

I have been experimenting a bit with lard and comfrey for the skin and with lard and essential lemon oil. So far the results have been pretty good.

If you wish to make your own salves/lotions/moisturizer with lard some nice facts:

_http://livingfolkways.blogspot.nl/2013/07/making-plant-infused-animal-fats-for.html

The quality of your salve can go up dramatically by using infused animal fats along with or instead of infused oils. I find that animal fats make an exceptionally smooth and absorbable salve, not leaving the same sort of greasy residue that oils can leave on the skin. The fats used on the skin not only carry the medicinal qualities of the herbs involved, but also that of the fat used,-animal fat is similar to our own natural skin oils. The medicine brings a moisturizer for the skin, different than a water based poultice/compress.

Animal fats have the advantage of being able to catch both dried or freshly wilted plant material. Oils have a very hard time catching dried plants in my experience.
I have been constantly impressed with the way that animal fat takes on both the color and the aroma of the plant that I choose, in much less time than oil, because of the double boiler method. I have seen white pig fat turn gorgeous orange from home dried calendula or emerald green from freshly wilted comfrey. White bear fat turns sea foam green from elder leaf and flowers, and the scents of the plants all come through, if allowed to 'cure' for a few weeks. You will understand what I mean after we look at the simple process together. When my students feel the texture of the salves that I make with animal fats, they are totally sold on using them. I wish you could feel the difference yourself, you would then understand the value of these animal based medicines.

When not to use a fat-based medicine:

The situations that I feel an infused fat based product to be most helpful are generally when skin is dry/irritated or healing from trauma. Salves and whatnot are very helpful for low grade to moderate eczema, psoriasis, low grade dry fungal infections that are struggling to heal, healing burns/cuts, stretch marks, itchy bugs bites/scratches, healing sores that are not hot or infected, bruises and sore muscles. The situations that I do NOT use fat or oil based medicines are acute/severe burns, puncture wounds, acute bleeding, acute/severe itching from allergic reaction, acute eczema and acute microbial infections of the skin. Fats have a way of trapping heat/trauma inside.

Just a bit more about lard:

Greasy mustard plaster was used on the sufferer’s chest for a deep cold. To avoid being burned by the mustard, this plaster was made with lard and spread on a cloth that could be laid on the sufferer’s chest without burning. ~ Another non-burning plaster was made with mustard, lard, and egg whites.~

A family in Singers Glen used a mustard and lard poultice for pneumonia. When the patient’s chest started to turn red, it was removed. The patient was washed off thoroughly, and then a hot onion poultice was applied. ~

_http://bethtrissel.wordpress.com/tag/a-mustard-and-lard-poultice/

I lard.

Added: I ditched the coconut oil and started using home-made lard as a moisturizer for my face and body. It does wonders to my skin, OSIT. I will make some mixed with essential oils, but I have found that if I use these oils I become very popular with bees. :D

 

[Gwenllian]

And more about lard. :)

They started to experiment with other mediums (oils, petroleum jelly, etc) as well as different extraction methods. And what they found was that no matter what they used, the effectiveness of the salve was not as good as with lard as the medium. While they could optimize the extraction of the flowers, they could not find a more effective delivery medium. The reason lard is so effective is because it is very similar to human fat, allowing for more efficient absorption.

To further support their findings they mention an independent study done in Switzerland in 1987 which found that the extraordinary healing properties of calendula ointment for skin problems are ONLY present if the FLOWER EXTRACT AND LARD ARE COMBINED - present at the same time! Using either the flower extract or the lard by itself is of little use. The calendula extract by itself has very little effect and without the lard cannot be absorbed well enough to heal as intended.
This ends my rough translation of their findings.
---------------------

Maria Treben the well known Austrian herbalist (and incidently a friend of the Theiss') now deceased, gives the following instructions which I have been following twice now - from the book "Health through God's Pharmacy" on page 8 (This book is in English and readily available in the US).

"Two heaped double handfuls of herbs are finely chopped. 500 gm. of lard are heated as if for frying schnitzel
[:p]. The herbs are stirred into this hot fat, allowed to crackle briefly, stirred around, the pan is removed from the hotplate, covered and cooled overnight. The next day the whole is warmed lightly, filtered through a linen cloth and the still warm ointment poured into previously prepared glass jars or ointment pots.

Barbara and Peter Theiss say Calendula ointment made with lard has a long tradition and was prepared by every farmer in Germany to be used for wounds and skin problems on man and animal alike.

They say that Lard plays a double role: 1) as an extraction medium (carotinoids present in calendula are fat soluble) and 2) as a basis to carry the medicinal properties of the herb to the cells.

_http://www.healingwiseforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5043 (the site is down now)

I also made some calendula ointment (used an elixer) with lard for my youngest child. His skin looks better now.
You have gotta love lard.

 

[Oxajil]

Interesting!

According to a dermatologist I have a very thin and sensitive skin. I've tried a lot of natural skin lotions and creams (including plain coconut oil), but they all caused some kind of reaction (didn't try lard or tallow though!). One cream that I tried works great for my skin, and that's shea butter (with nothing else in it).

This is the one I have: _http://www.iherb.com/Out-of-Africa-100-Pure-and-Unrefined-Shea-Butter-Raw-and-Wild-Crafted-8-oz-227-g/34908#p=1&oos=1&disc=0&lc=en-US&w=wild%20raw%20shea%20butter&rc=162&sr=null&ic=2