Solving dry skin with goat milk

When living in a desert, it’s common for people to experience severely dry skin and frustrations that never seem to go away.

Finding quality moisturizers can also be a trial for those who have sensitive skin or skin disorders.

In 2002, Becky Yeagar founded The Spirit Goat, a business located on Federal Avenue in Logan. Her business is dedicated to creating skin care products with goat milk as the primary ingredient.

Yeagar used her background in wildlife biology and chemistry to create soaps and lotions for those who were unable to use products from the store.

Deanna Outsen, a lifelong friend of Yeagar, joined the business and is now the owner of the skin care business.

Spirit Goat employee Mady Twede scoops homemade product into a container on March 17.

According to Outsen, goat milk can be found in nearly all their products and they research skin care and create new products continually.

“Goat’s milk is very unique in itself. It is just a great moisturizer,” Outsen said. “When someone uses goat’s milk, it is naturally good for someone who has skin irritations or skin sensitivities because it doesn’t disturb the acid layer that is on the skin.”

She explained it is described as natural because it has the same pH acidity as human skin.

Using cleanser and moisturizers with natural ingredients has more benefits than one may realize. When checking the ingredients on the back of popular facial cleansers, it’s not unusual to find alcohol to be a prominent ingredient.

The problem with alcohol is it will dry the skin and make people feel the need to use more lotion than necessary.

“Your skin tries to produce more moisture and it produces more oil to kind of outweigh the dryness that the alcohol creates and then it clogs your pores, and you end up getting acne,” Outsen said. “Then what you do is start worrying and using more of this product that’s got alcohol in it. It can become sort of an unhealthy cycle.”

The best advice Outsen said she had for skin care is keeping it simple and finding a routine unique to one’s skin. Cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing are all important to skin care and no two people will follow the same routine.

Incoming USU student Aimee VanDenBerghe’s biggest pet peeve is having dry skin and never leaves the house without lotion.

She said it can be annoying when you spend money on lotion and it either does nothing or makes skin drier.

“One thing that’s really important — especially in today’s society — there’s amazing plans that people have, or they see on TikTok, or they see out there in the world of, ‘This is how you should do it,’” Outsen said. “But your skin is uniquely yours.”

Some people have naturally drier skin than others and some have skin that’s more sensitive. A problem some people’s faces, especially during the drier months of the year, is putting on so much lotion your dry skin can’t escape.

According to Outsen, there are more factors to keeping your skin healthy than simply cleansing and moisturizing.

“I do think that a lot of people say that their lips get super dry, but then they also need to think about how hydrated they are,” Outsen said. “If you are drinking enough water and caring for your body that way, you’ll find that your skin isn’t as dry, and your lips aren’t as dry.”

-Brielle.Carr@usu.edu

Photos by: Bailey Rigby