you know, its funny the things i've been strangely excited about recently. here are a few. these cool fun glitter bottles (use hot water to make these). strangely addicting to watch. made them for the boys, but i kinda want one for me too.
i was also pretty excited about making and eating strawberry rhubarb sauce. it was AMAZING, and i've already made 2 batches. wish our rhubarb plant in the garden was available to provide rhubarb this year so I could make more - guess i'll just wait for more from our CSA.
But, my newest obsession is soap. yes, that's right. soap. (i can't figure out how to rotate the picture. sorry!) i tell you, i'm strangely excited. was stalking the tracking information on when, oh when, will it arrive? i was so excited when i could smell the lovely soap even before i opened the mailbox yesterday. ha! i'm a dork and admit it.
ok, here's the story. so, it appears that carter has inherited sensitive skin issues from me. recently, he ended up with a nasty looking spot on his knee which was the result of some eczema gone bad. We had seen signs of eczema all winter long, but was surprised when this didn't clear up right away. we took him to the dermatologist recently, and he gave us some cream to put on the spot to hopefully clear it up. the verdict is still out on that since it seems to be taking its time getting better. ok, treatment of skin issues is one thing, but prevention is another.
The derm suggested trying a different soap - his suggestion was dove since it is supposed to be ph balanced with the skin and won't over dry the skin. i had told him that we were currently using Dr. Bronners castile soap which (to the best of my knowledge) is one of the purest forms of soap you can get. He hadn't heard about it, but suggested we investigate in case the ph was too high or too low.
So, i put on my researcher hat and found out that Dr Bronner's soap has a ph of around 9 where the skin mantel has a ph of around 5. So, that sent out the red flag, and we tried dove on carter's skin for a few nights to see what that did. not sure if this is related to trying new products on sensitive skin or not, but he ended up with a rash all over his chest and back. so, what is one to do?
In my searching for any and all information about ph balanced soap and skin care products that use pronounceable ingredients, i came across this online store that sells soaps and has a wealth of information about soap, skin, hair, ph, hard water, etc. it is fascinating and i highly recommend ida's corner for lots of great information.
After doing a bunch of reading and researching, it became clear to me that while the soap we were using has good, pure ingredients, the high ph of the soap was over drying Carter's skin because pure castile soap does not have any moisturizers in it, and applying lotion afterwards hasn't been enough. plus, i've learned enough here to make sense of some of the skin and hair issue's i've had for years and years through the roller coaster of skin changing hormones of pregnancy.
SO, we ordered a few different sample soap bars, a few different shampoo bars and some moisturizers and we'll see how they do. and yes, there is a difference between soap and shampoo bars - soap is more moisturizing than shampoo bars. so, my plan is to try out several different combinations of soaps and shampoos, try rinsing my hair every so often with apple cider vinegar to restore the ph of my hair and because our water is moderately hard, and depending on how things go, maybe even a baking soda rinse to remove buildup. yes, i'm THAT crazy.
i'll get back to you on how well it works - but for now, i'm strangely excited about my new soap project.
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