Le Lait de Chevre Sur Mon Visage

During our Valentine's Day trip to Dahlonega, one of the places we stopped was High Cotton. Located on the north side of the square, this delightful little shop displayed, among other things, a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook in the window.  My copy had been left behind in California, a gift to a special friend who had fed me on many occasions.

Knowing I missed my cookbook, Randy suggested we go in. Then bought it for me for Valentine's Day.

A Better Homes and Gardens cookbook has been in my house forever, I learned to bake from Mama's as a child. The recipe for my all-time favorite cookie, the snickerdoodle, is still in there, same ingredients, including cream of tartar. Without that, it's just a cinnamon-coated sugar cookie. Still good, but definitely not a snickerdoodle.

The cookbook itself has changed substantially. Nostalgic and sad, I stifle the urge to comb used book stores to find an older version. I get a similar feeling when I visit Villa Rica, the town I grew up in. There is now a bigger, newer, updated version of my home town. Some probably think it's better. Me? Not so much.

Still, my new cookbook, a thoughtful gift from my guy, is a welcome (return) addition in my kitchen.

But I digress.

That day, in High Cotton, I also bought a purse-size lotion for my hands. It's made in Canada by Canus. From goat's milk. Julia Norton, the shop owner with a youthful, dewy complexion, said she uses this lotion on her face. Surprise. It would never occur to me to do that. Instead, I spend $30+ on a tiny bottle of moisturizer because the marketing gurus told me I should. And pay even more for night goo. And then there's the eye cream.

Yet, this beautiful woman (who is older than me) uses nothing on her face, except this goat's milk lotion. Not even make-up. Her radiant skin is devoid of wrinkles. And she glows.

Now, I have been having a skin-care crisis for years, trying first one brand then another, alternating between store-brands and the expensive stuff, trying to find what works. Yet, my skin health visibly declines. I am aging in front of my eyes. I only want what every woman wants. What Carol has.

So, I thought, "What the hay. I'll give it a try."

Beginning that day, three weeks ago, I've used it on my face and hands. So far I see no miracles. The lines haven't miraculously disappeared. But my cheeks feel plumper, less dehydrated. I'm not flaking. Or peeling. Not breaking out. No red splotches. My hands feel better, less rough and dry, more smooth.

Reaching the end of my experiment (i.e. the last tiny squirt in the go-size bottle) I returned to High Cotton. Instead of Carol, there was another beautiful woman who also uses le goat's milk potion on her face. And loves it. I bought a 16-ounce bottle of the fragrance-free for only $11.75. I'm also trying the bar soap, which sells for $4.00.

I'll let you know. But my face and hands feel younger already. And I'm beginning to think that my skin-care crisis, at long last, is over.

By the way, I looked up the ingredients on the cosmetics database (previously Skin Deep). Of all the stuff I've used over the years, this one is the least toxic. Wow. So not only will I look younger, I will no longer be ingesting all that toxic stuff that the U.S. seems to not give a hoot about. Yeehaa!

Thank you, Canus, for looking after my health and my youthful skin. Thank you, Carol and High Cotton, for caring enough to not only use this fine product, but to sell it to me. And, thank you, Randy, for my Valentine's gift.

Picture from the Canus website.