Milk: It Does a Body Good…Inside and Out

Milk is once again making headlines in Hollywood, and this time not because it’s Harvey’s last name. 

Rather, actress Charlize Theron will introduce viewers of Snow White and the Huntsman, a Universal Pictures film that debuts today, to her youth- and beauty-obsessed evil queen character’s age-defying regime: milk.
Though the film includes many lines from the classic children’s story, there are definitely some adult-only twists and turns, including the fact that the most important part of Queen Ravenna’s beauty regimen should be kept refrigerated. That’s right…it’s milk! But not consumed, rather, poured into an oversized, built-for-a-queen bath tub where she soaks for hours on end to defy the visible signs of aging.

If you do an internet search on the use of milk for skin beauty, there are recipes for facial masks, body scrubs, tub soaks and lotions. I remember older women in my family who swore by Rose Milk, a hand and facial cream from the 70’s and 80s’s that smelled like roses and contained skim milk powder. Its tagline was (and still is, as the product is available for purchase online): For Softer, Smoother, Younger Feeling Skin.

According to the New York Daily News, the milk bath has become an in-demand day spa treatment throughout the Big Apple.  For example, SoHo’s Haven spa offers a number of treatments that prominently feature milk. According to the company’s co-founder Gabrielle Ophals, “It’s said that Cleopatra took milk baths and she was the most beautiful woman in the world,” reports the New York Daily News. And after seeing Theron take a dip in 2%, Ophals predicts other women will want to give it a shot. “Women today are very proactive when it comes to doing what they can to attain beauty,” she says, “so seeing this movie’s milk bath could absolutely influence people to try it.”

It’s the same nutrients that do the body good inside (when consumed) that are recognized for slowing the skin’s visible aging process through physical application. Further, milk’s inherent lactic acid is recognized as an exfoliant that washes away dead surface cells to help the skin shine.

So, why am I writing about this? Well, if this is what it takes to get aging moms (like me) to buy more milk, then why not go with it? How about a promo to drink one more glass of milk while soaking in a milk bath (most economically made through the addition on milk powder) or relaxing with a milk mask? Offer some recipes. By the way, I think this afternoon will be spa day at the Berry home.