Living As Pain Free As Possible
Beauty is an inner state that glows through the skin. At any age, anyone can express the inner contentment as outer beauty. That inner serenity is enhanced by good health and comfort in your skin.
Skin is so important to take care of. It’s the first line of the body’s defenses, and the largest organ of the body. Many of us know quite a bit about eating right: fiber, organics, antioxidants, and lots of veggies. Seems that fewer people consider the effects of chemicals found in various skin care products. If you wouldn’t want it in your food, why would you want it on your skin?
Fortunately, finding products to enhance your health and contentment is increasingly easy, even for those of us who prefer to use cannabis in our health regimens.
Let’s start with a New England company called Budsuds. They make large, hand-sized bricks of soap in four varieties; Lemon Kush, Eucalyptus, Lavender and Thin Mint (cocoa butter and cocoa powder blended with peppermint). As the product description makes clear, even the cocoa is healthy, “chocolate is great for the skin and is an antioxidant.”
The scents are more subtle than overpowering, diffusing a delicate fragrance into the air. All ingredients are chosen for their health benefits: shea butter, coconut, hemp, grapeseed and olive oils, honey, herbs, essential oils and minerals. Each bar contains 25 mg. of CBD. Best of all, in my opinion, the soaps feel luxurious, lathering lavishly, rinsing thoroughly, and leaving only a clean, soft feel to the skin. Lovely!
I’ve yet to try Budsuds Chakra Bath Bombs. These would make great gifts for any Valentine (hint, hint). Each of the seven bath bombs is named for a celestial body — Saturn, Mars, Sun, Earth, Neptune, Uranus, and Jupiter — has its own herbal profile, and comes with a different semi-precious stone embedded in the top. They look really classy and contain the same healthy skin ingredients as the soaps. Pure luxury; pure health.
Another element of beauty is living as pain-free as possible. This quest I know all too well. Pain is exhausting and definitely takes a toll on skin. I deal with a form of multiple sclerosis that is mild in most respects. After 25 years with it, I still walk on my own two legs, for which I am very grateful. But, I deal with a lot of muscle spasm pain, some fleeting; some lasting weeks. Toughest to get through are the spasms that hit muscles while I’m using them. That leads to muscle damage, a sprain, and can take a week or more to heal. One particularly memorable example was the morning I woke up with a sprained right shoulder. Must have used muscles in spasm to move in my sleep. All I know is I wore a sling for three days!
So, I was delighted to find out about Golden Goddess Tingle Cannabis-Infused Balm. Each two-ounce jar contains 150 mg. of THC from either an indica or hybrid strain. While I still appreciate products like Tiger Balm, when I’ve already damaged some muscles and want to quiet the pain, I’ve found that Tingle Balm works directly on the muscles to lessen a spasm as it’s happening. This is a more effective approach to pain management, lessen or avoid it altogether! If I catch it in time, no limping around for days. What an improvement!
Like Budsuds, Golden Goddess uses only high quality oils, herbs, and essential oils, all with health benefits of their own. This Oakland, California based collective produces organic tinctures, edibles and topicals. At their website they invite you to “indulge in the healing properties of the cannabis plant.”
One special aspect of all their products is that they utilize specific strains rather than blends so customers can learn which ones work best for them. “Our products come with a strain specific label and are available in an indica, sativa, hybrid or CBD only formula.” They are very careful in their solvent-free extraction methods too. From their website, “our extraction processes can last a day to a month or longer for tinctures. We use traditional herbalist methods to ensure that we capture the full range of medicinal cannabinoids, not just THC.”
The Tingle Balm delivers “an indica or hybrid concentrate to relieve pain, reduce inflammation and relax anxiety,” and enhances its medicinal profile with an assortment of Thai herbs. Unlike Tiger Balm, the scent is subtle and the product does not leave your hands covered in aromatics that can burn eyes. There’s a sexy, edible Tantra Butter too, made with a sativa strain, cocoa butter, coconut oil and vanilla for a more sensual experience. You might also try their Ritual Face Serum, a restorative, sesame oil based facial.
Newest is their line of CBD extract aromatherapy tinctures, each for a different application. Lucid uses a spice blend to clear and awaken the mind. Lumin uses more floral aromatics to evoke a contemplative mood. Lush combines earthy herbals to invoke a “walk in the moist forest on a crisp morning.”
Don’t forget their amazing line of edibles. You’ll find infused, spiced Heavenly Honey, two flavors of cannabinated granola, hot sauce and BBQ sauce. Three of Golden Goddess’ most ingenious ideas are their discrete little bottles of infused culinary oils that add that special something to any dishes, whether home or away. Try Mediterranean cuisine with olive oil, lemon, garlic, rosemary and black pepper; Latin American dishes with chili peppers, lime and oregano; or Asian food with sesame oil, shallots, chilies and ginger.
Additional products include medicinal spray tinctures for under-the-tongue application. Evening Elixir uses both Heavenly Honey and citrus vodka infused in a month-long process with an indica (for relaxation and pain relief) or sativa (for uplift) strain. Honey Tincture is a sweeter version that features both THC and CBD.
There’s an application online. Join and you can order their THC-infused products within California. CBD-only products can be shipped anywhere in the country and do not require a medical recommendation. Golden Goddess products are found at various sites online and at dispensaries in the San Francisco Bay Area, south and east of SF, Alameda and Malibu. They say they are “dedicated to the medicated” and I believe them.
For more information, visit GoldenGoddessBotanicals.com
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