Lanolin - buy the real thing

Fall and winter in Encino means cold dry days and cracked skin. For those of you who suffer, may I recommend Lanolin. Not the white, lightly scented cream that is widely available. No, I mean the real thing – thick, sticky, viscous yellow 100% Lanolin. The stuff that actually works.

You have to weigh the pros and cons. The pro is that 100% Lanolin works where nothing else does, at least in my experience. The con is that it smells strongly of sheep (leading to sheep jokes) and it can rub off on bedsheets and clothes and leave an oily mark. I think of it as a trade-off worth making but it’s obviously not for everyone. I think it best suits people who work in the garden or who have overly dry skin that cracks.

But where to get it? While the purified form is widely available, I have not seen real yellow Lanolin anywhere at retail or from any of the vendors on Amazon. I found it in New Zealand (land of sheep) and if you want to order it online from there, this website is the best. The one to get is about halfway down with a red label and lid that says “100% Pure Lanolin,” like in the photo.