A solid moisturising balm scented with lavender, from Daki, a small Portuguese artisan soap works. It is a balm rather than a cream, and the difference is worth understanding because it changes how you use it.
Balm, not cream
A cream or lotion is mostly water, emulsified into oil. A balm contains no water at all — it is oils, butters and wax, solid at room temperature and melting on contact with skin.
Two consequences follow. The first is that a balm needs no preservative: bacteria and mould need water to grow, and there is none here. That is why an honest balm has a very short ingredient list and no preservative system, where a cream must have one.
The second is more practical. A balm cannot moisturise on its own, because it contains no moisture. What it does is seal — it forms a barrier that stops water evaporating from the skin. So a balm applied to bone-dry skin locks in dryness. Applied to slightly damp skin, straight after washing or a bath, it traps the water that is already there, and that is when it works properly.
This is the single most useful thing to know about any balm, and almost nobody is told it.
Where to use it
On the places that take the most punishment and have the fewest oil glands of their own: hands, cuticles, elbows, knees, heels, and the dry patches on shins in winter. It is also good on lips and on the ends of dry hair.
Use very little. A balm is concentrated and warms to a spreadable oil between the fingers — people apply four times what they need, then complain that it is greasy.
Note
For external use. Avoid the eyes. Lavender is a well-tolerated essential oil but natural does not mean hypoallergenic — test a small area first if your skin is reactive. Keep the lid on and store below about 25 °C; a balm softens or melts in heat and re-sets on cooling, which is harmless but messy.
Fleurance Nature
Fleurance Nature
