What WAS I Thinking?!
Last night, I had one of the worst nights I’ve had in a long time. No, no, I’m not talking about sleeping patterns or food, or anything like that. This was far more serious, and it kept me active later into the night than I should have been.
I’m talking about dry skin and itching. You see, I haven’t been using the soaps I make … not because they aren’t good, or because I don’t like them. But rather, because I had some commercial body wash that I wanted to finish off – something someone gave me. I will admit that I ADORE the scent of this particular wash. And I like the way it lathers. But the truth is, even though it’s a liquid detergent, it is still very drying. And if there’s one thing my skin does not need right now, it’s something to further dry it out. I can do that just fine without the help of a detergent.
So I’ve been using the body wash, taking hot showers (strike number two) and running the natural gas powered heater because it’s been below freezing every night for a week now (strike three). Normally, I do none of these things; I prefer to take warm but not boiling showers, but I’ve been so cold the last few days, there was no other way to warm up. The heater hasn’t really added much warmth to the house, but it sure has sucked every drop of moisture out of the air. And so last night, I was paying for it, in a very big way. Since I was so cold, I grabbed the electric blanket and put it on the bed, then cranked it up to a very comfy “medium” … which is what I think set off my whole itchy evening. I’d already had a very hot shower and used that bath wash when I crawled into bed under that electric blanket. It didn’t take long for my legs to start itching, and for me to start scratching. I scratched so much I drew blood, and there isn’t a lotion on this planet that would sooth that dry, irritated skin!
Honestly, I don’t use a lot of lotion. I use it at work because I have to use the liquid handsoap they have, and because I use the very drying hand sanitizer a couple time a day. So I replace that moisture with hand lotion. But at home, I rarely need lotion, even in winter, because my soaps are so moisturing my skin is always soft and supple. Occasionally I will use lotion at home, and I keep it around for those times, but I usually have to throw out a bottle before it’s used completely.
Last night, I slathered lotion on my legs, but it didn’t seem to help much. The shea and cocoa butter weren’t doing a lot for me in the lotion, so in desperation (and sheer exhaustion) I went to my soap supplies and got a very small bit of shea butter and rubbed that on my legs. It did help a little but … not much. Finally I gave up and eventually fell asleep but not before going into the bathroom and tossing what was left of the offending bath gel into the trash. Better to be rid of it now than have to go through this repeatedly over the coming days.
The good news is, I also grabbed three different bits of soap and put them on the tub. Honestly, if I have my own soaps in the bathroom when I take a shower, I almost always reach for them without thinking about it. I ran out last week and never remembered to take more in, so I convinced myself that it was ok to use the bath gel “to get rid of it.” The better news is, that after just a couple of days of using my own soaps, my skin will go back to it’s former self and I won’t have to deal with the itchiness anymore. I am about to start making MORE soap because I realized last night that one can never have too many, and it’s best to stock up on it and make sure you always have your favorites on hand. And this can only be good news for you, our loyal customers!
So look forward to a couple of announcements right here and on Facebook in the coming days … I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised!
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