Would you bathe in dried milk powder?
THE steam wafting under my nose carries a sugary sweet, creamy aroma. The smell is so evocative of a cakeladen cafe counter that I half-expect someone to bring me a cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge.
No such luck, alas, because I am not at a cafe, but in the bath. A milk bath, in fact — and the delicious fragrance is rising from the cloudy white water and rose petals swirling around me.
I’m testing a bizarre beauty tip, one that TV presenter Holly Willoughby apparently swears by to keep her youthful bloom. She said she picked up the ‘weird trick’ from skincare guru Liz Earle, who told her to mix ‘oldschool dried milk powder’ with rose petals and lavender oil.
‘Just take a scoop of the powder and put it in to make a milky bath — it’s so soft!’ the 36-yearold enthused.
Compared with Liz Earle’s €19 famous facial cleanser, which hordes of celebrities swear by, it’s affordable. And she is not the first to dream up this beauty fix.
Cleopatra was said to bathe in donkey’s milk, while during the 17th century milk baths became popular in lots of royal circles. In 18th-century France, Napoleon’s sister Pauline demanded her servants make a hole in the ceiling above her bath to pour milk directly into her tub.
An established, if bonkers, beauty ritual, then. But can it improve my skin? I visit Dr David Jack, a skin specialist, who assesses my skin before and after I take my milk bath, to find out.
Inspecting a magnified picture of a patch of my forearm, Dr Jack says my skin is ‘pretty normal’ for a 39-year-old working mother of two, whose beauty routine extends to a daily shower and a sporadic dollop of body lotion. ‘It’s reasonably hydrated with minimal sun damage,’ he says.
So what benefits, if any, can I expect from a milk bath? ‘Milk contains lactic acid, which is a member of the family of alphahydroxy acids (AHAs) that break down the bonds between dead skin cells, removing them from the skin’s surface,’ says Dr Jack.
‘So there is a gentle exfoliating effect. The sugar chain molecules that milk contains are also a humectant — attracting water to the skin to boost hydration.’
I could go one step further, he says. ‘The ancient Egyptians used curdled milk because the bacterial fermentation that takes place when milk goes off makes lactic acid much more active.’
I glance at the €2.40 carton of Marvel powdered milk in my handbag and wonder if bathing in off milk could ever be worth it. Best stick to powdered, I decide.
Holly’s tip is down to earth and budget friendly. That’s typical of the savvy presenter, who knows only too well how to maintain her girl-next-door image.
‘My mum’s beauty routine was simple when I was growing up and I’m the same,’ says Holly, married to TV producer Dan Baldwin, with whom she has Harry, eight, Belle, six, and Chester, three. ‘I would give the same advice to my daughter; to keep it simple, drink water, sleep lots and wear sun protection.’
Dr Jack says that the milk bath may be effective in a few different ways. ‘Vitamins A and D in milk are antioxidants, which help neutralise damage from free radicals, repairing sun damage. Lavender oil contains antioxidants and will help seal in moisture,’ he says.
So I head off to mix a handful of rose petals — which also contain vitamin C and are said to have antibacterial properties — with dried skimmed milk. I sprinkle it under running bath water, adding €10 lavender oil from Holland & Barrett liberally to the tub.
AT FIRST, the milk powder congeals into lumps broken up by globules of oil. It could easily be dirty dishwater, but after giving it a good stir it starts to look quite pretty. The smell of roses and lavender is overpowered by the stench of milk, and I feel as if I’m sitting in a supersized children’s drink.
After 20 minutes peacefully submerged, though, I could happily drift off. My skin is definitely softer, if slightly sticky, after I come out. Next time, I might go for a quick shower afterwards.
Crucially, after examining a new magnified picture of the same patch of forearm skin, Dr Jack concedes there is a difference.
‘There is more definition between your pores, suggesting the skin cells are more plumped up and hydrated,’ he says. ‘But for the lactic acid to have any exfoliating effect, you’d need to have these baths fortnightly.’
If you love baths, it might be a tempting proposition. But I sniff my skin, which smells as if I’ve rolled through a condensed milk factory, and decide I’ll stick to showers instead.