Three Good Reasons You Should Be Using Cold Cream

  I don't know about the rest of you, but I am a product junky. I go through phases with everything. What I wash my face with is no exception. After I turned 30, I was having issues with dryness AND blemishes (grrr). I went to see help at my local health food store and the proprietor suggested that bar soap was better than the liquid washes. The explanation for this is simple, when you have water in a product, you HAVE to have someway to inhibit microbes from growing in it. They tend to feed on the nutrients in any product containing water for them to grow. As a side effect, your product can become noticeably gross or cause your skin to breakout, but I digress. I switched to using bar soap with my Clarisonic. The best soap I found was an MSM soap on iherb.com by At Last Naturals http://www.iherb.com/At-Last-Naturals-MSM-Soap-Herbal-Moisturizing-Bar-3-oz-85-g/21305. It isn't the greatest for removing eye makeup, or makeup in general though.

Idk if you can tell here, but I wear a TON of makeup!

 I was getting those inexpensive store brand makeup remover wipes, but they seem so wasteful if you don't have that much to take off. A month ago I got it into my head to pick up some Pond's cold cream, but I kept forgetting until I saw a 2 for 1 sale at CVS. So I picked up one each of the cucumber & deep cleansing varieties, & I have been happy with my results. This also prompted me to do some research on my latest cleansing craze.
 According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_cream, cold cream is a water-in-oil type emulsion, the opposite of the oil-in-water type emulsion that body lotion is. This is why it's good for removing  makeup & dirt, it lifts residues from the skin while the opposite formulation is good for sealing things in. The water being suspended this way, also leaves a feeling of coolness when applied to the skin, which is why it's called "cold cream." Cold cream is a tried & true cleanser, dating back to the invention of it by Galen, a second century Greek physician. Today it's possible to get cold creams that are very close to Galen's formula, like Lush's Ultrablandhttp://www.lushusa.com/Ultrabland/02749,en_US,pd.html, but at $30 a jar I'll have to wait!
I'll just have to stick with my Pond's that starts at $3.59 a jar & is available everywhere.

  My favorite of the two varieties is the Cucumber Classic. I've tried both kinds for shaving & this one doesn't gunk up my razor. As you can see from the texture it's not as thick as the deep cleansing. The smell is also nice. The deep cleansing is really good for removing mascara. Both varieties contain mineral oil & preservatives. I really don't have a problem with mineral oil. It has a long history of safe usage & is excellent for removing makeup. I also haven't heard of anybody with allergies to mineral oil. The presence of the preservatives also doesn't bother me, because I don't want to have to keep my cleanser in the fridge. I love using cold cream for shaving now, & I've also convinced my husband to switch over to shaving with it as well. It's even great for shaving more sensitive areas with. A dirty little secret of mine is that I don't shower every day. I wash my face & brush my teeth, but I will cut shower time from the schedule in a heartbeat if I'm pressed for time. I found that cold cream is excellent for quick wash ups in the sink, it completely removes any sweaty smell from my pits. Since I know of at least 4 uses for this product (cleansing, makeup removal, shaving, & soothing sunburns), I put this in the category of an inexpensive bathroom shelf staple. Do you have a unique usage for cold cream? I would love to hear about it in the comments section below. TTFN
*All photos are property of me, & I expressly forbid any use of them without my permission. I know that my selfie is blurry, but I'm not the greatest at taking these kind of pics & putting your pics out there on the interwebs is nerve wracking.