As a northerner, the only skin issue I had encountered was dry skin; that all changed when I moved south. My days of throwing on sandals and running through the fields with no fears were gone- the forests of the south are much different and bring new dangers along with new skin challenges. As an outdoors woman, there is nothing better no matter what the weather, than spending time in the woods, it’s peaceful, spiritual and full of adventure. I found myself living for the weekends when I could shed my work attire and put on my jeans and boots and hike for hours. After the first hot weekend of the early spring, I became, painfully I must say, aware of the challenges my new stomping ground brought.

May I just say- I have never seen so many bugs, mosquitos and spiders in my life, not to mention the ticks! I have often said since moving to the south, everything here wants to kill ya – while I say that in jest, my experiences have been lively to say the least! I quickly learned that throwing on sandals and running around was not an option – it only took once and it was my skin that paid the price after I walked through a bunch of stinging nettles. Holy moly – the itching did not stop! Lesson learned, it was that same weekend where I learned that my jeans were not thick enough to go through the wide variety of brambles and heavily thorn laden vines that the south has to offer. I spent hours plucking thorns from my legs and arms- it was then I knew this was a whole new world of the outdoors compared to what I had been used to. I soon found that I would be trading in my usual rubber boots for heavy snake-proof ones, the importance of these learned from a separate frightening experience – but that story is for another time, my light weight pants which I had worn because the heat was scorchin’ and it wasn’t even considered summer yet, for heavier jeans and my pretty smelling deodorant for bug spray and scent free deodorant. These changes did in fact lead to hours of fun in the woods with The Huntsman, but at the same time led to endless skin irritation and itching with no relief. I tried everything to ease the pain and skin irritation I was encountering- I knew one thing was certain – I was not giving up my time in the woods; something had to change.

I started experimenting with the different gentle and sensitive skin soaps that were on the market, tried countless lotions and salves to help prevent and soothe the skin irritation that, at this point, was an almost constant battle. By the time I would finally make some headway, back in the woods I’d go with my heavy boots and jeans in the 90 plus degree heat only to further irritate my skin – nothing was working. At this point I started to research. Every time I would search what I was experiencing, homemade products would pop-up using natural ingredients- hmmm. Perhaps I should give that a try I thought – can’t be any worse! So, I bought my first natural products and tried my hand at soap making.

I used the bars of soap I had made for a week and did not use any of the products I had bought at the store; the homemade soap was so simple –no way this is going to fix the problem- to my surprise, it worked! I was no longer experiencing skin irritation and itching, my skin was conditioned and soft and I was using a product I had made myself with no chemicals or preservatives and my skin was reaping the benefits. Soon, I started making facial specific bars, facial moisturizer and make-up remover among other things, the improvement in my skin and its appearance was remarkable. No more blemishes on my face and most importantly no redness or itching on my skin after being in the woods. I quickly found that the one thing that needed to change, the one thing that made all the difference was the natural ingredients that I was using in my soaps and products. Once I realized the benefits, I have not purchased soap, moisturizer or make-up remover since.