And, like the rest of our products, we test this ourselves (more about R&D here). This particular product was put through it's paces quite a bit this fall. Most people don't think about cardboard being a drying agent to skin. But it is. Anyone who handles boxes all day will testify to that. It strips the oils right out of your hands, scuffs them, scratches them... ever get a paper cut from cardboard? It hurts badly - and is a nightmare to get healed.

So, as I entered January my hands were really feeling challenged after handling so many boxes. Then, the side of beef that we'd spoken for from a local farmer was ready to be picked up at the processing house. We always can a portion of our meat (in quart glass Ball jars) so there's a ready supply of pre-cooked meat on hand for fast meals. It's great for vegetable soup, barbecue, beef manhattan, beef & noodles, etc. Just open the jar and heat. But getting it to that point requires a bit of work. The meat comes in chunks from the butcher unfrozen in big plastic bags. The procedure after that is to stuff the raw meat into clean jars, put on the lids, and pressure cook each batch for the required time. Do you have any idea how many times a person washes their hands in hot, soapy water while processing 80 pounds of meat? Me neither, but it's a LOT. Between the physical effort required to pack the cold meat tightly into the jars, along with being wet/washed/dried over and over - my hands were a mess at the end of the day. All I had to do was slather on some Horse Woman's Balm at bedtime and they were like new in the morning. Whatever is in this stuff is what hands need - that's for sure. The great thing is, too, you can use a little - or a lot. For minor dryness, a little dab makes a thin film that absorbs quickly and doesn't feel greasy. For major dryness like I was having - you can use quite a bit so it continues to "feed" your skin as it soaks in overnight.