I have a dear friend from college (we have been friends for 10 years! whew time flies) who lives in Seattle, and is a fellow clean living/clean beauty person, and we frequently exchange long facebook messages about things were are doing/want to try/ have had success or failure with, etc etc, in the beauty and lifestyle arena. Mostly we talk about skin stuff, sometimes in conjunction with diet stuff, and basically lament that we don't live in the same town anymore because we could create an awesome business out of what we make for our personal body care products. ANYWAY, she mentioned that her skin, in particular her face, was feeling really dry lately and the oils she had been using have just not been cutting it. She described it like "I put a good amount of oil on in the am, and it seems to be just sitting on the skin, rather then absorbing like normal, and my skin still feels dry and uncomfortable". Well, wouldn't you know, I was having the EXACT same problem. I noticed a few days ago that I was having the same problem- lots of soothing oil that I normally love on my face was just not cutting it. It also happens to be freakin' freezing in Santa Cruz right now (literally), as it is across most of the US (and the entire Northern Hemisphere, really), so I am sure that A. my skin is reacting to the very cold and very dry air, and B. I am probably not alone here. She and I chatted about the various options to treat this, and I told her I have been putting on oil, then a thick face cream, and then sunscreen. It has been helping, but my skin is very sensitive, and if I put too much on it, it tends to get reactive- which it has been starting to do, as I glop on all this stuff to keep my face from being super parched. I suggested Tallow, (rendered fat- I know it sounds gross but it supposed to be a miracle on dry skin), since she and I are both on board with humanely raised meat consumption and other uses. I have heard that Tallow can be amazing for dry, chapped skin, and have been thinking of trying it. And then, while I was mulling over buying some Tallow, I thought "hey, what about Ghee instead?" I had a pot of fresh Ghee popping away on the stove already, so I sat down to do some research and see if slathering Ghee on your face was a legit thing or I was just the crazy lady thinking of putting butter on her face. After a little internet sleuthing, I found out I am not crazy! (well, at least not for wanting to put Ghee on my face). Ghee has been used for thousands of years as food and medicine, and is apparently amazing for skin issues. Ghee made from pastured cow milk is high in vitamin A (the main ingredient in all those retinol products people use for anti aging) and vitamin D (which is having a huge moment in skincare right now), and is very high in fatty acids to moisturize, nourish and soothe the skin. So, I decided to do a little experiment. As you may already know, I eat a lot of Ghee- in my tea, in my food, a big tablespoon first thing in the morning (in Ayurveda, it is thought that a spoonful of Ghee in the morning followed by warm water gets rid of toxins, stokes the digestive fire and gets things *moving*, if you will)... so putting it on my skin wasn't huge jump for me- I make a big batch about every week, and always have it on hand. I decided I am going to try a week long Ghee experiment, where in the morning and evening, I put Ghee on my face (and nothing else). I washed my face last night and slathered it on (and went a little overboard and had to wipe some off), and then waited to see if any red bumps or flushing would occur (my sensitive skin reactions)- and neither of those happened, and in fact my skin felt amazing- cool and soft and yummy. I let it soak in for about an hour before bed, and I didn't notice any coming off on the pillow when I finally laid down. This morning, for the first time in awhile, I didn't wake up with dry, itchy skin- woo hoo! So I am going to give it 7 days of twice a day application and see how my skin likes it. I'll update you when the experiment is over. Let me know if you try it!
Enjoy this cold winter weather, stay warm, and eat (or wear) some Ghee!
