Tips to Prepare Your Skin for Winter

1. Switch from lotions to creams. As the weather gets colder, our skin requires added moisture in the form of balms and creams which are longer lasting and create a barrier on the skin to keep moisture in instead of evaporating into the dry winter air.

2. Moisturize your hands with every washing. There's a reason they say that our hands show our age first! Constant contact with harsh detergents, hand-washing, hot water, cold and wind can dry out and chap hands. Wash with our enriched goat milk soap to keep skin soft and healthy. To ensure that you are keeping the moisture in, place a bottle of lightweight lotion next to the sinks in your bathroom and kitchen, in your desk drawer and car so you have no excuse to skimp on moisture. Place a bottle or tub of cream next to the bed for heavier application at night. Apply the moisturizer, then put cotton gloves on the let the moisturizer work wonders on your hands over night.

3. Start a lip care regimen now. Nip dry lips in the bud by starting a lip regimen now. Our Shea Butter Lip Balm is great to keep the moisture in and soften. Drink plenty of fluids to keep your body and skin healthy.

4. Be kind to your nails and cuticles. Nails are made of keratin which becomes brittle and can crack under harsh, cold conditions. Not to mention what the havoc of holiday cleaning and dish washing can do to your cuticles! You won't believe the difference our cuticle cream will make on your hands. Make it a habit to massage the cuticle cream into your cuticles morning and night to keep your cuticles healthy and soft.

5. Exfoliate to restore your natural glow. Dead skin cells from UV exposure, swimming in chlorine and collections of sebum and other debris clogging your pores can make anyone's skin look dull and lifeless. Using a scrub product to exfoliate is a great way to loosen and remove dead skin cells, giving you a new canvas of fresh skin to pamper. Golden Goat has numerous products that will fit the bill. Dead Sea Peels can invigorate your face and deep clean while detoxifying your skin. Dead Sea Salt scrubs work wonders for the rest of the body to soften, exfoliate and nourish skin.

Dandruff

Whenever I think of dandruff, I remember those silly commercials where a man is wearing a black turtleneck shirt with white specks of dandruff all over his shoulders, and the women avoid him. Then some woman hands him a bottle of shampoo, and he tries it. The next shot is of him in that same black shirt, no flakes, and women hanging all over him as he grins at the camera. I told you, it is a silly commercial. I don't remember what the product was, but the images stuck in my mind.

Dandruff is a form of skin inflammation (dermatitis) which has no known cause. It occurs any time from infancy (in babies, it is known as "cradle cap") to old age. It can also come and go at random. Treatment is usually focused on treating the inflammation to stop the dead skin flaking off.

There is controversy over whether or not the dandruff is actually caused by a yeast, or if the yeast is fed by the inflammation. Either way, yeast is usually a problem when dandruff is present.

My research has shown that our Goat Milk Shampoo Bar has helped every person that has tried it. Castor oil naturally kills yeast, and also moisturizes the scalp, effectively eliminating the cradle cap or dandruff. Many users have reported that they find their hair cleaner, and fuller, and that they don't even need a conditioner with the bar shampoo.

For those that need deeper treatment, I recommend the dead sea mud shampoo which utilizes deeper cleaning fromt he dead sea mud. It still has castor oil in it, but the addition of the mud makes it a much deeper cleaner and detoxifier.

Rashes

Do you know much about rashes? What causes them? How to prevent them? Read on to learn more...

A rash is a change in the skin which affects its appearance or texture. A rash may be localized to one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, dry, cracked or blistered, swell and may be painful.

A rash breaks down the skin barrier and makes the skin more susceptible to infection. It is possible for a serious skin infection to develop in an existing rash. Signs of infection may include:

• Increased pain, swelling, redness, or warmth around the affected area.
• Red streaks extending from the affected area.
• Drainage of pus from the area.
• Swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit, or groin.
• Fever or chills with no other known cause.

Many rashes aren't necessarily cured, they are controlled. Rashes such as acne, eczema, atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, hives, or rosacea can can come and go depending on many factors. The best thing to do is to educate yourself about a rash you've been diagnosed with so you know what to expect in the future. Once you find something that helps your rash, you may need to continue treatment to keep it under control.

Atopic dermatitis: is perhaps the most common form of eczema. This is a hereditary skin problem that often begins in childhood as chapped cheeks and scaly patches on the scalp, arms, legs, and torso. Later in childhood, atopic dermatitis may affect the inner aspects of the elbows and knees.

"Dermatitis" means inflammation of the skin. "Atopic" refers to diseases that may be associated with allergies and tend to run in families. This is often worse in the winter months, when the air is cold and dry.

Skin affected by atopic dermatitis becomes extremely itchy and inflamed. It may look red, swollen, and cracked. In some cases, the skin can also weep and crust. Liquid that oozes out of such crusts is often not infected; what comes out is the body's normal tissue fluid. Treatment specific for eczema is helpful, not antibiotics.

Patches of atopic dermatitis may appear on various parts of the body, but the condition is not contagious. It may appear off and on throughout life, but there may be long intervals between outbreaks. Also, the condition does not get progressively worse with age; if anything, it is most extensive during childhood. Many use steroids to control the eczema, though steroids may hold a potential risk of future health problems with prolonged use.

We suggest using our Goat Milk Soap to alleviate dry skin conditions. Nutrients and vitamins in the soap help to give the skin what it needs to remain healthy and heal itself. Added moisture helps to coat the skin and retain the moisture that it has within. Use our lotions and raw organic unrefined shea butter to soothe the itching and dryness until your skin begins feeling normal.

Contact dermatitis: is a rash that is brought on either by contact with a specific material that causes allergy on the skin or with something that irritates the skin. This can be anything from frequent hand washing to poison ivy to detergents and fragrances.

We suggest our organic unrefined shea butter as a treatment to soothe the discomfort from these types of rashes, and then continued use of our Goat Milk Soap to keep the skin soft, healthy, and clean.

As for prevention, most of it is common sense. Watch for poison ivy, avoid fragrances and detergents, use goat milk soap daily to wash hands and body, retain natural moisture with goat milk lotion or shea butter...

There are many other rashes, but these are the most common complaints we see in our customers. Next time, we will focus on dandruff.

MythBuster Beauty

Below you will find a blog that was posted about my products. This lady bought some of my products, and did an independent review on what she bought. She liked it, and I didn't pay her to say a word of this. She actually paid me for products, and told it like it is....

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The Golden Goat, LLC: Handmade Soaps and Skincare

One attribute I greatly admire is the art form of making things from scratch. Anyone can throw a frozen pie into an oven, but to prepare a pie crust, roll it out and carefully lift and place it into a pie plate is a thing of beauty. To peel and slice freshly picked peaches and pour them lovingly into your prepared pie crust is even more spectacular.

The ability to create and perform these once everyday actions are lost to many of us. I cannot tell you the last time I rolled my own pie crust! We use our rolling pin for play-doh these days.

The art of making handmade soaps is another amazing art form to me. And lately, many independent handmade soap and skincare companies are appearing around the country. Beautifully thought out and carefully manufactured beauty products from their own kitchens.

Today I would love to introduce to you Pam Keller the owner of The Golden Goat, LLC from the heartland of America, Osh Kosh, Wisconsin.

In 2003, Pam found her passion for animals, particularly goats. Being a one income family, Jeff decided that the animals would have to pay for themselves so as not to affect the family budget. Pam, being a researcher at heart, discovered numerous ways to fulfill that demand, and settled on soapmaking.

She taught herself to make soap, and when the goat milk started flowing, she was ready to start selling her fantastic products. Local Farmer’s Markets and crafts fairs gave her a good footing and a loyal following. Soon, the customers requested a retail store front from which they could buy her products year round.

The first product that caught my attention was The Golden Goat’s Goat Milk Shampoo Bar. Being a fan of some different shampoo bars on the market, I found that this formula was easily equal if not a little more nourishing than the other shampoo bars I have tried (It must be the goat milk). This shampoo bar creates a lovely lather and has a naturally sweet scent. Shampoo bars are wonderful for anyone with a sensitive scalp, dry, or naturally curly hair (you can read more about my post on shampoo bars here). If you are a fan of shampoo bars you must try this one!

A few months ago, we went out to dinner with some good friends. I noticed that my friend Chris’ neck and face looked slightly irritated and also had a few knicks from shaving earlier that evening. Chris has been bothered by this issue for as long as he has been shaving, and I asked him if he would like to try a different type of shaving soap. He was more than glad to volunteer as a guinea pig!

Here is a bar soap for shaving. The added bentonite clay forms a slick coating on the razor edge. The razor glides sleekly over the skin, cutting the hairs in its wake. Less scraping the skin means fewer nicks, no dry skin, more softness. Amazingly, the clay does not dry your skin!

You have to try this to believe it. Men love it for their faces (and some men shave their entire head with it), preventing razor burn and nicks. Women love it for legs, underarms, bikini area…

No more little red bumpos on your legs. Sleek, shiny, soft legs are the norm wth this soap. As an added bonus, your razors will last longer since the blades aren’t being dullled from scraping your skin!

Chris has been using The Golden Goat’s Goat Milk Shaving Soap for the last month and has reported significant improvements with his skin. Less knicks, less irritation and a much happier face altogether.

No need to thank me, just doing my job Chris, just doing my job!

Not only does Pam create handmade soaps, she offers a variety of homemade skincare and cosmetic products at her online store, The Golden Goat, LLC. I am confident you will find something that you will want to try, and Pam is so incredibly nice; you might even make a new best friend in Osh Kosh, WI no less!

How can I forget my own soap?

Ok, so I sometimes forget my own soap when I go away overnight. Yes, that is absolutely ridiculous, I know, but I always have more soap than I know what to do with, so why would I think of packing it?

So, anyways, when I forget my wonderful soap, I end up with my own eczema flare ups. I don't think of myself as having eczema just because I rarely have any problems. I only know that I have eczema because when I go to a hotel and forget my soap, I have to use the gross stuff that I find in the bathroom of the hotel.

When I use that soap, I start to dry out and my skin flares up in little red patches on the inside of my elbows. It started out as just the inside of my right elbow, every time I used soap that wasn't my own. More recently, I have been finding that my left elbow also starts to rash up and itch like crazy.

I kick myself when I forget my soap, but once I get home and start using my own soap for a few days, it is all gone again until the next time I have a brain fade and forget my soap. In the mean time, I can't stand the itching.

What I like to use to soothe the itching is plain shea butter. It is great stuff. I carry the unrefined shea butter so it has all the good properties to it. It is good for relieving itchies, rashes, and even bug bites. I rub it on my lips for lip balm when I find that I am parched.

So, that is my shameful admission for the day. I can't imagine what you all must think of my silliness, but I usually just have so much else to get ready that I barely get enough socks in my suitcase for three kids, one husband and myself.

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