Goat Milk Skin Care Recipes Can Quench Your Skin’s Thirst
Did you know that your skin is more than just a covering that keeps your “insides” from being on the “outside”? Skin is actually a complex organ that helps get rid of toxins through perspiration, and can also absorb substances–both good and bad–that get carried through your bloodstream and passed through all your organs. That’s how medication patches work, and why we’re warned against prolonged skin contact with substances like gasoline.
But, you can use this property to your advantage by using only healthy, wholesome products on your skin. Keep in mind that putting a substance on your skin is almost a weak version of eating that substance; some of it is going to get absorbed by your bloodstream and passed through your body.
When you think of that, it only makes sense to follow the advice that, “If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin!”
Goat milk is one of the most nutritious, wholesome foods available. Goat milk has also been used for thousands of years in both its fresh and fermented states as a beauty and skin care product.
While cow’s milk provides some of the same benefits, there are subtle differences.
First, the fat molecules in goat milk contain significantly larger amounts of medium chain fatty acids, known as capric, caprylic and caproic acids. These molecules are smaller than in cow’s milk, helping it to remain, to a large degree, naturally homogenized within the milk.
The larger proportion of shorter chain fatty acids as compared to cow’s milk, combined with the smaller size, makes the fat in goat milk more accessible to being absorbed by the skin.
Concerning protein, goat milk also differs in that it contains more shorter strand proteins, making it easily absorbed by the skin. This greater absorption property of fat and protein helps leave skin smooth and supple.
Finally, goat milk is rich in many vitamins and minerals that are absorbed through the skin along with the fat and protein. Vitamin A, of which goat milk contains about 47% more than cow’s milk, is particularly important to skin health.
While milk baths are one of the easiest and most popular categories of skin care recipes, there are other easy, inexpensive ways to use dairy products to improve your skin’s health.
Fermented products, such as yogurt, kefir and buttermilk contain lactic acid, which is a type of alpha-hydroxy acid commonly used in commercial skin care products as an exfoliant. These fermented products, either alone or combined with other natural ingredients like fresh fruits, make excellent facial masks that have the ability to moisturize, exfoliate and tighten skin.
And, the whey from these products, which is easily obtained by letting them drain through cheesecloth overnight, makes an excellent facial toner and rinse for hair.
Finally, goat milk soap and lotion provide a gentle, moisturizing basis for a daily skin care regimen. The lactose helps produce a creamy, luxurious lather that is unlike any other kind of soap, and the extra fat content from the milk ensures a gentleness that won’t dry skin.
So, the next time your skin is dry and thirsty, give it nutrients–not chemicals–to quench that thirst!
Maria Garza began raising dairy goats in 2001 as part of a diversified, small-scale farm that also included horses, donkeys, sheep, chickens and ducks. Initially interested more in the goats themselves, she was soon amazed by the quality and taste of the milk they produced.
Being by profession a scientific researcher, she put her research skills to use on goat milk, learning not only how to process it and make delicious cheeses and other products, but also about the chemical and nutritional properties. The findings convinced her that goat milk is truly an amazing nutritional substance that’s vastly under-utilized in providing nourishment in Western society.
Her efforts to educate the public and spread the news about goat milk for nutrition and skin care resulted in the creation of the website, http://www.everything-goat-milk.com, a one-stop site for information on nutritional properties, health uses, recipes and instructional articles for making cheeses and other products with goat milk. Visit the site to find out more about how to use goat milk to enhance your health.