in praise of sensual pleasures

[snugglekitty]

- First - chaider. Chai made with apple cider instead of water or milk. Avoids the whole question of dairy vs. soy, has a good mouth feel, and is really yummy. They have it at Tealuxe.

- Second - sugar scrubs. For those who aren't familiar, this is granulated sugar mixed with scented oil. You rub it all over your dry winter skin. (If anybody out there reading this right now does NOT have dry winter skin for some reason other than exfoliation - what am I doing wrong?) I love the lavender vanilla one from Bath and Bodyworks.

Comments

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yes! I got a big gift box full of B&BW products that aren't very 'me' as a gift this winter. It meant well, but the scents were not right. Anyway, I exchanged it for credit and the orange ginger sugar scrub, and my skin is FINALLY not scaly-dry! Love love love.

The chaider also sounds awesome, though I admit I first read the word as "chaidar", the ability to detect when a beverage is really secretly chai.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Yes - this is how I got the scrub, too - I traded it in for a whole bunch of Ecalyptus/Rose scented stuff my in-laws got me for Christmas.

I love the idea of "chaidar." :) Maybe that could be MY useless superpower.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

I have become enamored of the rice scrub from Origins which is exfoliating for faces. Even my sensitive skins deals with it just fine.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

I love Origins so much. I use their Modern Friction on my face. I never knew that a face exfoliant could be so non-irritating...

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Totally non-sequitor, I know that we both have a vested interest in taking care of Ceelove. If you need any help with anything let me know. I would love to send more food her and her hubbie's way, so if you are going to the hospital let me know, since I work in Davis I could send a care package with you.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Thank you - that's very sweet. I don't think I'll be visiting her in the next few days, since my partner is about to go in for surgery, so I'll be doing some recovery care here at home... but I would be happy to bring her food for you sometime next week.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Sounds good, take care of your partner.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

For dry winter skin, I've been slicking myself with a lotion I bought last summer--a Banana Boat lotion with heavy moisturizers designed to rehydrate sunburned skin. It works for winter too.

[cathijosephine.livejournal.com]

I totally hit up my sugar scrub last night too. It was a wonderful way to recover from family visit and last day at work and more than a week of celibacy. I washed all of that nastiness away and got laid. Life is good.

[arachne8x.livejournal.com]

Other options include a lotion I use called Lac-Hydrin. I used to get the prescription version but now I use the over the counter. The stuff uses alpha hydroxy exfoliants and is non-scented. Its amazing stuff. It got rid of scaley practically scabbed patches on my skin within a week and left me with much softer skin. Also using it once or twice a day pretty much eliminates the itchy feelings I get.

When what I need is serious hydration I go to one of three products: Eucerin creme for body, Neutrogena hand creme for my hands (this stuff is the best) and either an origins night cream for my face, or if my face has been unhappy then I use a Eucerin resoothing lotion.

[purplepathos.livejournal.com]

I use the cheapo Suave lotion (I like the Skin Firming one for unoffensive scent and non-greasiness) after every bath or shower and periodically throughout the day (on hands, face and arms anyway). Every day, year 'round. I've been doing that religiously since childhood due to a propensity toward dry skin--and haven't had "winter skin" in 25 years. I suppose it would take some dedication for most people, but I can't stand the way my skin feels if I don't use lotion, so it's no hardship for me.

[asciikitty.livejournal.com]

I love the sugar scrubs.

I love the home-made cheap version better. Either salt and oil (and whatever scent I want, usually I toss some ginger in there for warming) or sugar and honey with a little oil, or all four, with ginger and cloves, mixed up good.

doesn't keep as long as the store bought stuff, but works well, and the sugar and honey ones smell SOOOO good.

[hanseth.livejournal.com]

I have crazy-dry winter skin all year round too. I used to use the drugstore lotions like Suave and Vaseline Intensive Care and all that stuff, but they never quite worked for me, and I finally figured out why: they all contain mineral oil and/or dimethicone, which my skin hates with a fiery, eczema-fueled passion.

I switched to only using mineral-oil-free lotions since discovering that mineral oil is a petroleum by-product (http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Environment/anderson84_p.htm) and my skin got a heck of a lot better. Currently my favorite is the Alba Botanica original unscented. Lately I've been using the formula for extra dry skin, though, which has alpha-hydroxy exfoliating goodness. It has somewhat of a scent, though, which doesn't bug me too much, but I like the unscented so much better.

(If you decide to investigate your mineral-oil-free options, skip CVS entirely and head straight for Whole Foods or the hippie section at Star.)

Anyway, like cocobuttr, I've been slathering on the lotion all over, every day, after every shower and sometimes more frequently, since childhood. And I keep a little pump of lotion at my office too, for my hands.

[catskillz.livejournal.com]

I've been using liberal amounts of Alba body butter (from Whole Foods) after every single shower, and for once I don't have scary scratchy dry skin. My skin feels like a tender marshmallow. Yay! As far as I can tell from the label, it doesn't appear to have any bad substances in it, though I'm not the most educated about what body product chemicals to avoid.