This week, I will detract from my usual sharing of recipes that my family enjoyed during the week. After being forced to do hard labor by a bib overall-wearing warden, I mean helping my charming husband clear dead trees from the property, I A) did not feel like cooking and B) didn't have anything interesting to share. It's been a week filled with wiener roasts, mountain pies, and easy meals. Instead, I will share an easy skin care practice I have employed since the late 80s.
Do you remember Jafra Cosmetics? In the late 80s through the 90s, Jafra parties were all the rage. Women would gather at a friend or acquaintance's home, and a Jafra consultant would come in to share the bountiful benefits of said skin care, cosmetics, and cosmetic tools. Often, this make-up expert was a friend, family member, or neighbor who spent a few hours at a training seminar, learned the lingo of the pyramid scheme, and then convinced fellow women to join their ranks with promises of discounted beauty products and easy income. I know I was one of these women. I had no false illusions about hosting parties; I was far too introverted for that. I wanted to receive a steep discount on all the wonderful products that came in my sales kit. I believe that when it was all said and done, I owed Jafra more paychecks than I would like to admit.
There were many lessons to learn from this experience. First, I am not a salesperson. Second, the lipstick named Ole' remains a universal color for any skin tone. If I could get my hands on a tube of this, I would wear it every day. Third, there is an easy, almost instantaneous improvement in one's skin if one washes their hands with sugar, oil, water, and a gentle cleanser. Remember lining up in a single file line at your friend's kitchen sink during a Jafra party and having the "spa" experience of using a sugar scrub on your hands? Yeah, who knew Jafra was so forward-thinking? Sugar scrubs are all the rage some thirty years later. Genius.
At a Jafra party, you would use their delicious-smelling almond oil, sugar from your friend's kitchen, and the Jafra gentle foaming cleanser, finishing with Royal Jelly Milk Balm. I am sure none of these products were pure and clean and totally filled with garbage and fillers. But, hey, it was the 80s and 90s. We used AquaNet and poo-pooed parabens, and petroleum-based products were good for you! Believe it or not, I continue practicing this sugar scrub technique but with my own clean, pure products. I don't know about you, but my hands are rough this time of year. R-U-F-F, as one bib overall-wearing comedian likes to say. After busting my knuckles on a lampost, hauling wood, moving stones, and playing in the dirt, my hands look like they belong to an old farmer.
My go-to treatment is simple. I take a tablespoon of oil. If I am in the studio, I use almond oil or rice bran oil. If I am in my kitchen, I use olive oil. I take a tablespoon of sugar, mix it with the oil, and rub it vigorously all over my hands. I then use our foaming hand soap. This time of year, I like to use the honeysuckle scent. I then wash my hands in warm water. I follow this with a large dollop of our moisturizer. Again, this time of year, I like to use the honeysuckle scent. My hands feel soft and moisturized almost instantly, and I feel a little pampered. This sugar scrub is a simple practice that can be used whenever your hands feel overly dry, have ground in dirt, or need a little TLC.
On this sunny spring day, stay safe, be smart, and enjoy a little stroll down memory lane. Not all practices from the 1980s and 90s are misguided. Use clean products that are good for you, keep it simple, and keep washing your hands.