For Houston, this is DARN cold!
Last night I was talking to some friends from Indiana and other parts of the country. I made a comment about how cold it was here, and they got quite the kick out of it. For some reason people just don’t associate “Texas” with “cold”. It’s true that Houston rarely sees snowfall, so I should probably quantify why I think we’re dealing with extreme cold. So here we go (and I promise this will relate to bath products! No, I’m not posting this on the wrong blog. LOL).
First of all, the average temperature in Houston during the month of January is about 50ish. I’m not sure what the average temperature has been this month, but I think it’s been much lower than 50. I know that we are currently experiencing 35ish degree weather at night and that’s pretty cold. In fact, this has been the coldest winter I can recall in many years. Not cold in the sense of below freezing temperatures, but rather, the number of days this season that have not been above 50 degrees. For a city who regularly celebrates Christmas wearing shorts and flip flops, this is noteworthy.
So yeah, for a lot of folks in the country, we’re experiencing mild weather. However, those are the folks who have a better heating system than we do, and who do not have air conditioning in their homes. LOL Seriously though, our heating systems are not made for this sort of weather. They do ok for a few nights of 30 to 40 degree weather but for an entire season of cold? No. The downstairs of my home has been so cold this winter, I’ve literally had to move upstairs and I avoid the use of half of my house because it’s just too cold for comfort. You can actually feel the temperature drop as you reach the bottom of the stairs – by several degrees! We don’t have fireplaces that generate a lot of heat – the ones we do have are built to be decorative, not functional. This is why we have so many fires during cold periods – people use space heaters to provide warmth for their families, and they are careless with them.
Another reason why the cold in Houston is more difficult to deal with is clothing. We simply do not have the type of clothing necessary for cold, windy weather (and it’s a rare occurrence for us to have cold weather without a stiff wind). We lack things like long johns and sweaters and such. I’m not even entirely sure what “cold weather clothing” is because I have spent my entire life in Houston. I’m pretty sure it isn’t two pair of socks and pantyhose under your jeans, though. But that’s about all I’ve had. I don’t even have gloves or hats! Someone recently told me that the secret to dressing for the cold is “layering.” In my world, that’s a cooking/baking term, not a clothing term. I don’t have waterproof boots or even long sleeve shirts, nor a heavy winter coat.
All of this has led me to take more hot showers. Why? Because it’s the only way I’ve found to somewhat thaw out. And more hot showers have led to dry, itchy skin. You’d think that using my soaps would combat this problem, but frankly, it isn’t doing the job right now, probably in part because I haven’t been drinking enough water to stay hydrated, but also because I don’t really use lotion much. And between the wind whipping through my practically non-existent clothing and the scalding showers I have to use to melt the ice from my hands, I’m not doing my skin any favors at all. Enter the body butter.
Made with cocoa and shea butters, and a bit of beewax, this is a rich, creamy butter that makes my skin rejoice. Seriously, angels were singing last night when I tried it out for the first time. A touch of tangerine essential oil also helps with dry, cracking skin, and makes the butter smell wonderful. Not yet listed on the website, you can expect to see the Wonder Butter (yes that’s what I’m calling it) up in the next two or three days. I want to tweak it just a bit and then I’ll put it up there for ya’ll. It may make this winter worth it because I think this stuff will be good any time of the year.
The other thing I’m doing with tangerine oil is a new shampoo bar. It will be best for those who suffer from dry, scaly skin conditions like dandruff, eczema and psoriasis, but it will also be good for anyone who wants to put a little more moisture on their skin – it will, as usual, double as a bath bar as well. Look for further information on this over the next few days.
Other than that, we aren’t planning to roll out anything new over the coming weeks. We’re going to be very busy with packing and moving from our current home to new digs, but we’ll still be providing the stuff that we already selll – we just won’t be developing anything new for a little while. Once we get to the new place, however, I’m looking at an exfoliating bar for your face that I’m hoping will rival anything that a particular apricot scrub can do, and another shampoo bar for people with normal hair. Also, I am searching for a container for a lotion balm – this will be a stick lotion that will be great for your purse because I HATE lotions that are liquid in there. And I’m hoping to formulate a stick lotion for dry, cracked feet as well – I just need to find the packaging I want.
Be sure you check back here over the coming weeks though, because I’m thinking about running a contest or two, and also because we’ll be having a “moving” sale soon.
If you’re in the Houston area, we’ll be in Missouri City this weekend at the Weight Watchers open house at 2817 Dulles, at the corner of Cartwright and Dulles. Stop by and check out our products for yourself!
See ya soon. Until then, keep it clean!
