i’ve been using shea butter on my dry and cracked hands and that has worked wonders. and i have been using a new product on my very dry and sensitive skin called Borage Dry skin therapy from Shikai. i get them both at Whole Foods and they have changed my life – or i should say, my skin!

I use shea butter on my hand, my lips and my shoes. It works great as a leather conditioner.

I am also a big of fan of Vaseline in the winter. Nivea is something I grew up with – very popular in Europe. For some reasons I always slightly prefer their creams i get in Europe, maybe the formulas are slightly different. My favorite is the cream in the white jar called “Nivea Soft”.

I love hearing about your inexpensive skin care remedies. I’ll be sure to look out for those Shikai products the next time I’m at Whole Foods, Lori.

I haven’t had as much like with shea butter in the past, but I might give it another bash. If not for my skin, then for our couch!

Tanya, I grew up with Nivea too. A good German product. What can I say – I’m really loyal to the brand. It will take a lot for me to change my hand and body moisturizing routine.

I have to say that Vaseline works wonderfully well in a pinch as eye makeup remover. I don’t really like the feeling of it, but it actually works better than my current, more expensive, product!

Very interesting ladies. As a person who has dealt with dry skin since my teenage years I’m always interested in this topic.
I’ll try Nivea, I think it is one I have not tried yet. I used Lubriderm for years and years. Now I’m using Cetaphil which I like.
Where do I find JoJoba oil? In the late 60’s a young man I knew was going to make his fortune by planting a field of Jojoba plants for the oil process. He said it was going to be the oil of the future. He may have been on to something. Unfortunately the plants didn’t thrive and that was the end of that project.
Angie I love your idea of using the shea butter on your couch. I’ve been looking for a leather conditioner for our couch and car seats. I learn so much on this forum. Thanks.

Another greasy ointment is Vicks VapoRub. I know, I know, this will sounds gross, but I get the most cracked dry feet in the winter. Put it on those feet, put some socks on and sleep with it on those feet. Wake up to beautifully smooth, soft and not dry soles. I couldn’t believe it either, but it works for me.

I am also a vaseline believer. Nothing else sooths my winter chapped lips!

Huge Vaseline fan, over here. Use nothing but on my chapped lips … but I’ll have to try it out as a shoe polish. Brilliant!

I love Vaseline, too. I use it on dry heels and lips, mostly. For some reason, the area between my knuckles gets dry in the winter. I’ll vaseline on before bed. I also read that Vaseline works better for cuts than products like neosporin (or similar). I always put vaseline on cuts when they are bandaged.

This year is my first year using Nivea in the US (I also used it in Europe, the short while I was there). In the past, I’ve used Neutrogena’s Norwegian formula. Angie’s raves about Nivea made me try it. I’ve been going for about 2 months now. I really like it.

I love Nivea Creme for areas that get especially dry like elbows, heels, hands and cuticles. I also grew up with it so it is sentimental for me because my mom always had it around the house when I was a child. It works great and the smell takes me back to childhood.

Vaseline is definitely the best for chapped lips and dry nasal passages.

Both items are always in my home.

Personally I would have concerns about putting Vaseline on my skin but I’m pretty crunchy. I like the idea of using natural products a lot better.

Haven’t heard this one mentioned… and “crunchy” folks may not like it… but I use Vaseline for dry skin by putting it on in the shower. I keep a container in the shower.
1. Warm up the vaseline by holding in the water spray for a couple seconds.
2. Spread on a thin layer on your still-wet skin.
3. Blot your skin dry rather than rubbing with your towel.

I keep open containers under all the sinks too… handwashing really dries out my hands, so a tiny dab rubbed in when hands are still damp (then blot dry w/towel) works great.

I agree about the vaseline and vicks vaporub when our household is sick!!! I use Burts Bee’s Beeswax hand cream for my dry skin and I LOVE it! It’s around $8 also!

Vaseline is a petroleum by-product and actually not good for our health or the environment.

Unrefined, natural shea butter is quite expensive, I pay $35 for a small jar. I’d be surprised to hear about you slathering it on your sofa, Angie!

Most shea butters out there are refined, mixed in with other ingredients as well, which kills the vitamins it contains, and thus its great benefits.

Interesting ladies. Actually, I’ve never slathered shea butter onto my sofa – Corey (above) mentioned that it doubles up as a leather conditioner and I’m intrigued. I’ll let you know how it works out *chuckle*.

San, I bought my first bottle of jojoba oil at Whole Foods for $11. I then recently bought a bottle TWICE as large (exactly the same brand ) at Trader Joes for $7. Can you believe it.

KLauren, Vicks is another remedy I grew up with and deep heat does wonders for achy limbs. (I’m a big Tiger Balm fan and its once more something I grew up with). If it works for you, go for it.

Christie! I’m so happy to hear that Nivea is working for you. Munequita, that Nivea fragrance takes me back to childhood too. Sweet.

Lost in translation – what does “crunchy” mean?

(I’m happy to open up this can of worms). Athena, aren’t all products natural? In its absolute sense, this is a hard concept for me to grasp. Everything (all molecules and atoms) comes from nature.

Angie – I popped back in and saw your “crunchy” question … think of Birkenstocks, granola, fresh sprouts on salad, organic food, etc. Others may want to chime in, but I think that just about covers it! I loved your suggestion of jojoba oil and want to try it the next time I visit our health food store.

I remember growing up with Nineva lip balm (in Germany)…it was the best remedy for chapped lips that plagued me then. Great ideas…I especially love the idea of sleeping in Vicks Vaporub and waking up to soft soles.

I also grew up with Nivea and Vasoline. And my grandfather used Vick Vapour Rub for all manner of uses – eg on cuts!
What I liked even better than Vasoline was pure lanolin – very sticky – but used in the same K Lauren described on feet. I haven’t seen it in shops lately.

And I can relate to your “all products are natural” comment as it as my husband, who has a chemistry major, tends to say the same thing.

Vaseline is a petroleum derivative and a by-product of oil drilling. It is not good for you or the environment. Try organic plant based oils. Shea butter, cocoa butter or coconut butter work great.

Thanks for the explanation, Mary. I don’t think I’m crunchy, but I like the word! Good luck with the jojoba oil. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Anne, thanks for hubby’s validation. See how connected we are on opposite sides of the world – vicks, vasoline and nivea are instant cultural integrators.

Ladies, please don’t use Vaseline (or baby oil) around your eyes! It doesn’t dissolve properly for that sort of use and can damage your corneas.

And please don’t put Vicks in the nostrils — inhaled, it collects in the lung tissue which doesn’t dissolve it properly, and it can seriously wreak havoc on your health. My grandmother used it daily all her life, and by her sixties she couldn’t get a good deep breath. She died at 70 of lung disfunction. Google for Vicks warnings if you’re curious.

And golly, I hate to rain on every parade… but… here goes. I used to use the Nivea creme in the pot but after having breast cancer my doctors told me to stop using all products with parabens. Nivea creme has FIVE kinds of parabens in it, more than any other product I used to use! The lotion does not contain them, though, and I’m so happy about that because I adore the stuff. It’s my favorite lotion.

Aquafor is a fantastic substitute for Vaseline, and I think it actually works better.

And one last thought and I’ll stop… just because something occurs in nature doesn’t mean it’s compatible with your health. Battery acid is “natural,” after all. Ideally we shouldn’t put anything on our skin that we wouldn’t put in our mouths. The body is absorbing it either way. Olive oil and jojoba oil — you bet.

I love to use Nivea as a hand cream although I stick with the lotion because the heavier cream in the tins feels too greasy to me. My older sister always uses Vaseline as a lip gloss, but I never picked up that habit because I prefer at least a little color on my lips. A favorite inexpensive product I love is Pond’s Cold Cream. It’s the best makeup remover ever.

K Lauren-thanks for the Vicks Vaporub tip! I have a problem with dry skin on my feet and will definitely try it.

oh no, PLEASE don’t encourage the use of petroleum jelly! it’s a terrible thing to be slathering on your skin. do you really want to be absorbing a petrol by-product into your bloodstream? if we want to move away from our oil dependency, it means moving away from all products derived from that oil…including petroleum jelly.

shea butter is a fantastic alternative. buy it in bulk from soap suppliers and it is MUCH cheaper. that’s a good way to find inexpensive jojoba oil as well. the stuff you buy at retail in stores is way overpriced. just google soapmaking supplies.

Lynn, good point about avoiding Vaseline around the eye area. It does not absorb and I forgot to mention that . Also, thanks for mentioning the paraben content in Nivea cream. I’m glad to hear it’s not in the lotion and I think I knew that. It’s interesting that it’s actually in the crème because most parabens are banned in Europe and Nivea is a German product. I am aware of the paraben debate and my mother died of Cancer (but not breast cancer). I’m glad that you brought this point into our discussions.

(“just because something occurs in nature doesn’t mean it’s compatible with your health” – my point exactly). Everything on earth comes from a natural base. You have to choose your arguments and apply your conclusions to how you see fit.

Joelle, ponds cream is the BEST eye makeup remover in the world. It blows my mind how much more effective it is than any other product. It’s also been around forever.

Vaseline: I put it on the soles of my horse’s hooves to keep snow from balling up in them and making ice balls in them.

That’s about it.

Petroleum byproduct that has been over rated for a number of decades.

Your local co-op has Jojoba, sweet almond and apricot oils.

Shea butter from various organic sources is much nicer.

Avalon Organic Lavender lotion is FABULOUS.

It’s bad enough that everything has dimethicone or some variant in it. At least with products you buy at the grocery store, you can read the labels. The department store goop is just expensive mystery goop.

I love the St Ives Olive Oil cleanser for make up removal. It’s a knock off of DHC’s, which is fabulous, too.

I’m the other Athena

The trick is that plant oils absorb into skin (partially) and moisturize her better than petroleum jelly. Actually, most cheap non-organic moisturizers are just that – petroleum jelly, some silicones (they give the effect of skin being smoother to the touch), some plant extracts (mostly to brag about them in the ads) and conservants. Parabens have been used in the industry for ages, they aren’t that scary. Actually, 8 out of 10 products any of you uses contains at least one type of paraben. Despite some sorts of them being banned. There are worse things, honest.

As for petroleum jelly (and its cosmetic siblings), it doesn’t truly moisturize the skin. Its positive effect comes from forming a sort of layer protecting skin from drying out in the cold dry air. That’s why people love it in winter and that’s how it makes chapped lips better – it simply prevents further chapping, and lips get better by themselves.

But it doesn’t “add” anything, it’s simply a protective measure, and it softens the upper skin layer a bit. For this reason a lot of people with dry skin love those products, they feel like their skin is getting nutritive care.

Oils derived from plants are closer to the oils our own skin produces, thus they are absorbed better (not completely, of course, nothing can do that save for some extreme chemicals), and they restore the skin’s condition itself.

But petroleum jelly also isn’t the monster it’s recently being made up to seem. You cannot absort it into your blood stream – if surface moisturizers were able to reach that far, we’d have magical creams by now.

It just doesn’t have that many benefits, especially for those whose skin isn’t very dry. It often causes clogged pores, inflammations and white heads when applied to normal and oilier skin types. Not because it’s poisonous or whatever – but because the very protective layer I described in the recent post does not let the skin’s own products “out”. Natural oils are forced to stayed locked in, and they aren’t meant to do that. Thus – pimples and other things.
People with very dry skin almost never experience this because their own skin produces too little oil for it to cause any big visible effect.

Okay, I’m shutting up now. It’s just that I’m a chemistry student.

I grew up in Germany (Bavaria) and have been a long time fan of Nivea. Unfortunately, I just found out recently that Nivea tests products on animals. I don’t know any specifics about their animal testing, only that Nivea is listed by a trustworthy source as a company that does animal testing. As much as I love Nivea’s products, I don’t like the idea that animals may have had to suffer for products that I am using. Looks like I may have to phase Nivea out of my life :-\

I am sure you have read that the German Nivea has ingredients similar to Creme de la Mer. Nivea toner was a very important product for me for several years till they discontinued it. It seems that the Nivea market is growing in other countries but shrinking in the U.S. Nevertheless I am happy with what products they still sell. I have a Nivea tin somewhere that I ought to be slathering on at night…..

Nivea used to make a wonderful facial cleansing gel (came in a blue tube) that I can’t find anymore. The toner (pink bottle) was very nice and mild too. Both were available at drugstore.com but they no longer carry them. They seem to have more Nivea products for men now and very few for women.

I also bought quite a few imported German Nivea products here in the US at eurobeautymart.com. They have a nice selection of German bath and skin care products and prices are very reasonable.

I have been using vaseline under my eyes and on and around my lips before bed for years, I am hoping to stave off wrinkles. P.S. I also use it on the rubber gasket on my car doors, so my car door doesn’t freeze shut in the winter. AH, the many wonderess uses of vaseline!

All very interesting thoughts and opinions ladies. I will have to do a bit of research myself. I forgot about nivea, my mom used it when I was growing up. She also used vicks vaporub when I was sick with a cold. Anyway you all have given me food for thought and yes lets not forget that what we put into our bodies has ramifications to our skin. Until next time, hope to hear back!!
~Stephanie

just want to clarify, cinncali, Nivea does NOT test on animals. u can check out the list of companies through Peta..
If u do have any articles or reliable source that states otherwise, please do share.

Arrgh! Nivea Creme does NOT contain any parabens, and what is more, the packaging clearly states that it is a preservative-free product, so does not contain any nasty alternatives either. The thickness of the cream makes it unnecessary to include these ingredients.

On the other hand, the Nivea Lotion (in either the white or dark blue bottles) is runnier and does, in fact contain paraben preservatives. Please check your facts before submitting such inaccurate scaremongering.

I am posting from the UK and do not work for Nivea or the beauty industry.