Which Alpenglow Skin Care product is best for eczema?

            We receive rave reviews for our Face cream and Cottonwood Balm (aka Balsam Poplar Balm) from customers who have eczema. Which will work best for you depends on the type of eczema you have and your personal preference.
            How you cleanse your skin is very important. Reducing or eliminating detergents from contact with your skin should help. Sodium lauryl sulfate, found in almost all commercial liquid pump soap, shampoo and laundry soap, has been found to irritate eczema. Customers have told us using our soaps and shampoo exclusively has improved their eczema.
            How you moisturize your skin is very important. The main active ingredient in our Face Cream is organic jojoba oil. This oil is an extremely long straight-chain wax ester and not a triglyceride, making jojoba the most similar to sebum, the natural oil that our skin produces. Jojoba is greaseless and completely absorbs and penetrates beneath the pores rather than clogging them. Our Face Cream also contains unrefined shea butter, which has a rich nutritional profile. It is anti-inflammatory and healing to damaged skin. The deeply penetrating jojoba brings the healing, softening shea butter with it. Our customers tell us that eczema really benefits from the combination.
            Cottonwood balm works on eczema in a different way. Cottonwood buds and calendula flowers promote cell growth and skin regeneration. They calm the itch and irritation caused by eczema. Our Cottonwood Balm is made with extracts of these two plants in sweet almond oil and olive oil. They don’t absorb as readily as jojoba, but they provide a protective barrier against environmental toxins which can cause eczema to flare up. Try our Face Cream and Cottonwood balm in a small size to see which relieves your symptoms best.

How is your traditional cold-process bar soap made?

            We melt plant oils, which are fatty acids and blend them with lye which is an alkali solution (or a base), and a chemical reaction occurs. The process of converting fatty acids and alkali to glycerin and soap is called saponification. After the ingredients are blended into a thick liquid, the soap is ready to be poured into a block mold. Saponification occurs primarily over a few days, as the temperature of the liquid rises then cools into a solid block. When the curves of decreasing temperature and increasing hardness cross perfectly, the block of soap is ready to be cut into bars. We use a wire cutter to form nice even bars. Each bar is cured on a well-ventilated shelf for at least a month, so each bar is long lasting.

How do you make liquid soap and shampoo?

Why do you use lye in your soap?

            Soap can not be made without lye. Formerly lye was obtained by soaking hardwood ashes in water. Today, lye is made in a cleaner and purer form by passing electric current through salt water. Lye has been used to make soap since soap was first made. In our bar soap and shampoo the lye is sodium hydroxide mixed with snow melt or rain water. In our liquid soap and shampoo the lye is potassium hydroxide mixed with snow melt or rain water. The process of saponification converts the oils and lye into soap and glycerin, so that no lye remains. Our products are pH balanced and very gentle for even the most sensitive skin.

What is the difference between Alpenglow’s bar soap and shampoo bars?

            The shampoo and shave bars have nutritional plant oils chosen to cleanse scalp and hair. You may wonder why you would want oil in your hair, especially if you have oily hair. In our shampoo (either liquid or bar) the oils are converted into shampoo and glycerin, so they do not leave hair or skin oily. The shampoo and shave bars are great for washing body as well as hair, making them excellent for travel and home. Our bar soaps are better reserved for skin alone.

Alcohol is a main ingredient in even expensive organic skin care products. Is it really all that bad?

            Alcohol (rubbing or isopropyl) is a cheap ingredient added to most skin care products as an evaporating agent in conjunction with water as a main ingredient. Sometimes this fact is disguised by listing water as “hydrosol”. Why so much water? Because it increases profits in manufacturing. If you use a lot of water and do not add alcohol, it takes a long time for all that water to evaporate. You’d be rubbing that lotion in forever. The problem with alcohol is that it is extremely drying to skin. In fact, it can continue to dry your skin long after the products moisturizing ingredients have stopped working. This can create an “addiction” or the feeling that one needs to reapply the product frequently. Unfortunately, doing so only gives a brief sense of relief from dry, tight skin. You will never find alcohol in any Alpenglow Skin Care product. Our products have a low water content making them very concentrated so you only need a small amount. This saves both money and packaging.

Do you use sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate, and what is it anyhow?

            No, we don’t and never will. Called SLS for short, it is an inexpensive synthetic surfactant or foaming agent used in many commercial skin, laundry and car cleansing products. SLS is known to be a skin and scalp irritant. It is implicated in conditions from eczema to psoriasis and dandruff. Worse, it can cause dioxins and carcinogenic nitrates to form. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration encourages manufacturers to remove SLS because of its harmful effects, its use is not currently required by federal law (1). Alpenglow Skin Care products effectively cleanse and nourish your skin without any synthetic or harmful ingredients.

What are Parabens and why do they receive so much bad press?

            Parabens are inexpensive and very effective synthetic preservatives. The most common types are methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben and propylparaben. There is a growing body of research showing detectable levels of parabens in breast cancer tissue. They have also been implicated in impaired fertility and are thought to harm the developing fetus and young child (2). Some of the studies showing paraben’s harmful effects are considered controversial, but the precautionary principle seems wise in this circumstance. This principle states that if an action or policy might cause severe or irreversible harm to the public or to the environment, in the absence of a scientific consensus that harm would not ensue, the burden of proof falls on those who would advocate taking the action (3). In other words, until it has been proven that parabens are not harmful, they should be avoided. Alpenglow Skin Care products contain rosemary oil extract as preservative instead. It is completely natural and very effective because it inhibits bacterial growth and drastically slows oxidation.

Do you superfat your soap? 

            Yes we do.  It may sound disgusting if you think of it in terms of food. But soap is food for the skin and our skin needs and loves fat.  It’s not as if we are recommending rubbing Crisco all over your body - especially in Alaska's grizzly bear country. When we superfat our soaps it means we add more plant oils and butters (fatty acids) into our formula, than can be converted by the alkali (base). So our soap remains extra rich, extremely gentle and softening. Your skin won’t feel tight and thirsty as it would using a bar of soap that you buy in a ten pack at the big box store - that stuff is as different from Alpenglow as McDonald’s is to organic tomatoes from your farmer’s market.

Does Alaska’s Best Insect Repellent really work? 

            You wouldn’t believe how many people tell us how effective it is after they’ve experienced an ‘Alaska-size’ patch of bugs. We’ve also received enthusiastic reports from folks visiting tropical countries that have different insects from up north. The repellent contains a wide spectrum of essential oils, each with specific attributes that add to the overall efficacy of this potent blend. Our family spends a lot of time outdoors. It has worked very well for us on mosquitos, no-see-ums, black flies, white socks, sand fleas and jejenes in Mexico. Alaska’s Best will protect you from insects where ever you go. It smells wonderful and is totally safe for children.

How and why did you start Alpenglow Skin Care?

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_laureth_sulfate
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabens
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle