Cleopatra is renowned for her beauty. She bathed in camel’s milk, honey and roses daily for soft, supple skin. Her famed milk baths are a beauty ritual still practiced today.
Today, East Africa holds the key ingredient – camel’s milk – for beautiful skin. Camels are abundant in East Africa. Somalia boasts one of the largest populations of camels in the world. Kenya, its neighbor to the south, holds the fifth largest camel population in the world. Camels provide a direct livelihood to Kenyan camel farmers, causing new entrepreneurs to call it, “white gold.”
And as the Beyoncé lyrics asks and answers, “Who run the world? Girls!” That’s right. Female pastoralists in Kenya are the frontrunners of the camel industry. It only makes sense that women are on the frontline of beauty remedies.
Now that I’ve gotten out my women’s empowerment anthem, I’ll tell you what’s the big to-do about camel’s milk. Camel’s milk boasts amazing benefits for skin, hair and nails. This applies to both drinking and applying camel’s milk topically.
- Camel’s milk is a natural probiotic. Probiotics keep a healthy gut flora. The gut and skin are interconnected. Therefore, when your gut is healthy, your skin is healthy.
- Camel’s milk is antibacterial and antimicrobial. The alpha hydroxy acid, lactic acid, helps combat bacteria. Hence, it removes germs, dead skin cells, and aid in reducing acne.
- Camel’s milk contains the fatty acid, lanolin. Lanolin helps lock in skin’s natural moisture and soothes inflammation. Best of all, lanolin doesn’t clog your pores.
- Camel’s milk is rich in antioxidants. It has three times the amount of vitamin C than cow’s milk. That makes camel’s milk good for detoxification, stimulates collagen production for plump, youthful, soft and supple skin texture. Yes, I’ll say it, “It’s anti-aging.”
- Camel’s milk also contains that wonderful protein, elastin, which maintains skin’s elasticity and firmness.
- Camel’s milk has greater omega-3 fatty acids to moisturize and nourish hair follicles and strengthen nails.
- Camel’s milk is environmentally friendly. Camels emit less greenhouse gas, methane, than cows because they don’t need large grazing areas like cows. Therefore, they contribute to a greener world.
Bottom line, camel’s milk is good in cosmetics for soft, clear, healthy skin. One caveat: camel’s milk is very expensive – to the tune of 50 times more expensive than cow’s milk. So, if you seek products containing camel’s milk, expect it to be pricier than similar products not containing camel’s milk. I guess that’s the price you pay for “white gold.”