Why do we use Lanolin?

While you probably know from our name, many of our products contain goat milk – but are you familiar with our other key product ingredient, Lanolin?

Lanolin is a thick, sticky wax derived from wool. It’s what waterproofs wool, and helps sheep to stay dry. It is often recommended to nursing mothers due to its protective qualities and mildness.

We currently incorporate Lanolin into our Hand + Heel Butter, Smooth + Soften Sugar Scrub, and our Beeswax + Lanolin Lip Balm. Sometimes using goat milk in a product doesn’t make sense due to preservation issues or just common sense – like in a scrub or lip balm. Lanolin provides wonderful, long-lasting moisture in these products.

You may ask why not use Lanolin alone? What benefit is there to using it in Pure Goat Soapworks products? While you may certainly use Lanolin in its natural form, (trust us) it’s far easier and much more pleasant to use in our products! Used alone, Lanolin is extremely sticky – and due to its waterproofing qualities, it’s very hard to remove if you apply too much! It also has a slightly unpleasant odor, so it becomes much more pleasing when added to a product instead of being used alone.

Lanolin provides both moisture and acts as a barrier to lock that moisture locked into your skin. Its effects are even cumulative! This was a benefit that I was unaware of before I began formulating our Lanolin-based products. As I experimented with the formulation of our ever-popular Hand + Heel Butter, I realized that I needed less of it each day I applied it. When I dug deeper, I stumbled upon this fascinating tidbit from The Lanolin Book (Hoppe, Udo) “When applied daily at around 4 mg/cm sq. for five consecutive days, the positive moisturizing effects of lanolin were detectable util 72 hours after the final application.” Wow! No wonder this makes for a long-lasting moisturizer!