OH mon Dieu. We have entered the season of Very Dry Skin and PeaceBang is very happy to have discovered an affordable source of raw shea butter.
Raw shea butter is an amazing moisturizer. It keeps my skin supple but not greasy. It repairs my cracked feet and hands. I use it very sparingly in my hair (dig out a tiny amount from the pot, rub it into hands well, then distribute through ends of hair using quick strokes). And with the discovery of Nubian Heritage brand shea butter infused with frankincense and myrrh I am not only soft but fragrant in a seasonally-appropriate way, all Baby Jesus-ready for Advent!
Guys, I think the scent might even be okay for you. I tend to like more masculine scents. If it isn’t good for you, however, PLEASE don’t dismiss the idea of moisturizer. A lot of you really need some. The little flakes of dead skin hanging out at the side of your nose and your cracked, bleeding cuticles are, in a word, icky. Unscented raw shea butter isn’t that easy to work with but it’s very good for your skin and it does the job. You need but the tiniest amount. Dig into the pot, warm the product up by rubbing it between your hands and then apply very lightly.
I find that the crepey skin on my chest (sadly sun damaged) has improved a lot since I started using an exfoliant and a regular application of the shea butter. Boy, I was starting to look ancient, and how much of a bummer is it when your face looks good but the skin on the neck and chest are heading to Shriveled Crone territory?
This is about $10 at my local health food store and as always, PeaceBang doesn’t get bupkus from endorsing products.
Had I known, we could have walked to the place in the old neighborhood that has it out like baked goods. Gotta love a Ghanaian grocery.
If your manly-man readers are after a really appropriate scent, there’s always lanolin. It does for me what you describe about the shea butter–right down to needing only a tiny amount and needing to be warmed up a bit. There is just that faintest whiff of lanolin, though, which some people are sure to find offputting! [I was gonna mention lanolin but it makes me so greasy that I decided against it. But everyone’s skin is different so I’m glad to hear that it works for you. Baaaaah. – PB]
Lanolin reminds me of nursing. 🙂 It’s great on cuticles. I’ll have to find some and see if it helps my son’s cheeks. They are rough and red, kind of in a British rose kind of way. 🙂