When Your Pet Isn't the Only One Scratching - Bend Soap Products for Sensitive Skin and Eczema

Dwight and Marilee Johnson (no relation to us!) and their family live on a 40-acre farm in beautiful Central Oregon. I know that area well. Back when I was playing airline pilot we had a run into the Redmond/Bend airport and it was one of my favorite trips as we had a layover long enough to enjoy the amazing scenery.

 As the Johnson's raised a herd of happy healthy goats that ate only good food and were given natural substances to keep them healthy rather than medications that would then end up in their milk – they got the idea of making some soap with it. With a long history as a successful entrepreneur and the support of his creative and clever wife, Dwight's initial soap soon became a family effort as a result of crafting some soap from their farm’s goats to help with eczema that their young son Chance was suffering with.

Making some goat milk Kefir in my "cowboy wineglass"
 - no milking involved, just a trip to Whole Foods.

Consuming goat milk (which I drink in place of cow’s milk which I don’t digest well) the Johnson family knew the benefits of the milk nutritionally.

• Goat’s milk is full of vitamins, proteins, and minerals
• Is easily absorbed by the body
• And has a pH that is relatively close to that of the human body

Could that also help young Chance's skin if used topically?

They found that by putting a couple bars of their newly created honey and oatmeal soaps into the bath and letting Chance play and soak in the water for 15-20 minutes gave him great relief, and his eczema was practically gone after one week of daily baths like this. This is great news because it’s often recommended that you avoid frequent bathing if you have eczema as it dries out the skin, making the itching worse.

That’s the secret behind their amazing milk bath product. This was one of the first products I ordered, because sometime after I turned (ahem) 50-something I developed a sensitivity to most skincare additives and perfumes and had regular eczema flare-ups.  The only things that work on my face are Ishga skincare from Scotland (my newest "love it" find and more on that later), Little Seed Farms, and Frangipiano products 

The goat milk bath is SO soothing and it's seriously helped the eczema on my hands and arms.

Rather than a powdery, strongly scented product like many bath additives, it’s fine shards of the purest soaps with essential oils (except the unscented one which has no essential oils) that dissolve in your bath like a cloud. Goats milk also has natural alpha-hydroxy acids which will gently exfoliate the skin. 

I also started using the bar soap as a shampoo. As instructed, it took about 3 days for my hair to get used to it (the first couple of days it felt somewhat oily), and then wow.  Soft, full hair and I don't have to use conditioner to get a comb through it after shampooing.  Even my hairstylist commented a couple of weeks ago that my hair was MUCH thicker and stronger, asked what I was using (it was NOT their high-end salon products anymore), and had me quietly jot down the name of the product on a piece of paper for her. 

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Got Pets with sensitive skin?  Made to lather well, the goat milk soap is easy to use on your dog or cat's coat.  It will get their fur clean, but it is a LOT easier to rinse off than most other pet shampoos.  Gentle and non-irritating on the skin it also doesn't contain chemicals that their bodies will absorb, or remain on the skin to be licked off later.  Always do a patch test first like any new product, but Abby and Lorelei Lab have their baths with goat milk soap (a much more expensive brand so I'm happy to find this) since we got her and her fur is SO soft and shiny.

For a shower or bath for us humans, it’s great. Most commercial skincare products are made with a mixture of alcohols, synthetic fragrances, and other chemicals which strip our skin of its natural oils that keep it protected and are intended to defend it against becoming dry, irritated, and unhealthy.I had a little rubber bucket of assorted bath products for my nightly bath, but I couldn't use them every night or my skin would dry out and itch.  (I hadn't learned yet that the GMO oils used in cheap bath products, even those touted as "moisturizing", can irritate and dry the skin.)

The Bend Soap and Bend Milk Bath have made a huge difference in my eczema and air in only a few weeks and the milk bath is soothing and inexpensive enough I can use it frequently! 

• Bend Soap Company

There's soaps, lip butters, scrubs, lotions, and even a natural deodorant and lots of information on their company and products on their website.

Go check them out, especially the gift tins with the holidays coming up (and seriously- orange Sugar Scrub? - I am SO ordering that!)