I am pretty picky about what I put on Micheline's skin, because it is very dry and she gets eczema flare-ups quite often. If we aren't moisturizing her skin twice a day, she can become very dry and itchy.

For the most part, I prefer to use pure African shea butter mixed with coconut oil. I mix them pretty much 50/50, melt them together in the microwave to make it smooth, and then add an essential oil for a scent since shea butter that has not been chemically treated has a smoky odor.

I've been frustrated because I mixed up a large batch right before I left for China on Caleb's adoption trip, and on the way home, tossed the mixture in a suitcase during one last sweep of the hotel room in Beijing. Our luggage was overweight, so they told us to take one of the bags as a carry-on. Wouldn't you know it was the one with my shea butter/coconut oil mixture, and there was no convincing them it was not a dangerous liquid. My magic miracle cream for Micheline's skin went straight into the airport trash right before my eyes.

When we arrived home I remembered that I had used the last of my coconut oil and when I went to buy some more, discovered that my favorite source is no longer selling it. The shea butter is too thick to put straight on Micheline's skin, so while I look for another place to buy some coconut oil at a good price, I headed out to the store to try to find something that would work on Micheline's skin.

Most products go on pretty well, but after an hour or two she is already dry and scaly again. Cocoa butter does nothing for her. Most products that advertise shea butter in them, add it as an afterthought. I did find one this past week, however, that seems to work rather well for us. It's made by Jergens, and it is their Shea Butter Skin Enriching Cream.

We've tried some of the very thick products such as Eucerin and Nivea, but like Owlhaven said in this review of another cream, they go on so thick and white it takes forever to rub them in, and Micheline didn't really like them. Most of them are full of petrolatum and mineral oil, neither of which is the best for skin.

Although I think I will still always prefer the more natural shea butter with coconut oil, in a pinch, this new shea butter cream by Jergens is doing wonderfully well. It is rich and thick and actually has shea butter as its second ingredient rather than 20 ingredients down the list.

Admittedly, the shea butter in it is probably chemically purified which means it doesn't have the same healing properties that non-chemically treated shea butter has, but it seems to keep Micheline's skin very nice. Like many creams on the market it has petrolatum, and then further down the list of ingredients has mineral oil, but at least they aren't numbers 1 and 2 on the list.

The best part of this cream, though, is we all love the smell. It's not too girly, so the boys let me rub it on them after their showers as well. As Theresa on the adoptive parenting blog mentioned here, lotion is a great bonding activity with children, and my boys love me massaging their arms and legs while I rub cream onto them. Most of the lotions I used before they would resist, but they enjoy the smell of this one.

If you decide to try it, make sure to buy the cream, not the large white bottle of Jergens Shea Butter Moisturizer. When we tried a dab in the store, it wasn't very thick and didn't seem to do much for Micheline's skin. It also doesn't smell as nice.