The woman stands at the counter. The woman holds a phone in her right hand. The screen shows a picture of a blue jar. The blue jar has a white label. The label says the product will make the skin glow.

The woman points at the screen. The woman says she wants the blue jar. I look at the skin on the face of the woman. The skin is red. The skin is tight. The skin is peeling near the nose. The skin is very dry. I know the ingredients in the blue jar.

The blue jar contains alcohol. The blue jar contains fragrance. The blue jar contains acid. These ingredients will make the red skin worse. These ingredients will make the tight skin hurt. I am the expert at the counter. I know the science of the skin. I know the science of the balm. But the woman does not ask for my knowledge. The woman asks for the blue jar.

From Consultant to Clerk

I reach for the blue jar on the shelf. The shelf is high. The glass of the jar is cold. I put the jar on the counter. I do not say that the jar is wrong for the skin. I do not say that the woman needs fat for her skin. I do not say the woman needs tallow.

The woman has already decided. The woman saw the advertisement. The advertisement told the woman what to buy. The woman believes the advertisement. My expertise is now a tool for fulfillment. I am not a consultant. I am a clerk. I move the jar from the shelf to the bag. I take the money.

I watched a man steal my parking spot this morning. I work as a disaster recovery coordinator. My job is to see the disaster before the disaster happens. I saw the man in the silver car. I had my signal on. I waited for the truck to pass.

The man drove his car into the spot. The man did not look at me. The man did not care that I was the person who found the spot. The man had a goal. The man took the spot. The woman at the counter is like the man in the silver car. The woman has a goal. The goal is the blue jar. The woman does not see the expert. The woman does not want the disaster recovery plan. The woman wants the blue jar.

The Mechanics of Protection

This is how the skin functions. The skin has a top layer. The top layer is the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum is a barrier. The barrier is made of skin cells and lipids. Lipids are fats. These fats keep the water inside the body.

These fats stop the bacteria from entering the body. When the skin is dry, the lipids are missing. The barrier has gaps. The water leaves the skin through the gaps. The skin becomes red. The skin becomes inflamed. To fix the skin, a person must put the lipids back.

The person must use a fat that the skin recognizes. Grass-fed tallow is a fat. Tallow has a molecular structure. The molecular structure of tallow is very similar to the molecular structure of human skin oil. Human skin oil is called sebum. Because the tallow looks like sebum, the skin allows the tallow to enter. The tallow fills the gaps in the barrier. The tallow stops the water from leaving.

The woman pays for the blue jar. The blue jar will strip the lipids. The blue jar will open the gaps in the barrier. The woman will go home. The woman will put the cream on her face. The cream will sting.

The woman will think the sting means the cream is working. The woman is wrong. The sting means the barrier is breaking. The woman will come back in one week. The woman will say her skin is still dry. The woman will ask for a stronger jar. The woman will ignore the expert again.

Water Rising

In my job, I tell people the water is rising. I tell people the power will go out. I tell people to move the machines to the second floor. People do not like the advice. People like the plan they made in their heads. People wait until the water touches the machines.

Then people call me. They ask why the machines are broken. They ask why I did not stop the water. I tell them I tried to stop the water. I tell them they did not listen. Skincare is a disaster recovery process. The skin is the house. The dryness is the water. The blue jar is a hole in the roof. The woman thinks the blue jar is a patch. I know the blue jar is a hammer.

The Slow Process

We provide a guide for the skin. The guide explains the tallow. The guide explains the lipids. The guide explains why the grass matters. The cow eats the grass. The grass has nutrients. The nutrients go into the fat. The fat becomes the balm.

This is a simple process. It is a slow process. People do not want a slow process. People want the blue jar from the screen. People want the glow in the picture. The picture is not real. The skin on the screen is not real. The red skin on the woman is real. The pain in the barrier is real.

Many people search for

tallow balm for eczema

when the blue jars fail. They search for the balm when the skin is broken. They search for the balm when they are tired of the sting. They find the guide. They read about the sebum. They read about the lipids.

They start to ask questions. They stop bringing the prescription. They start bringing the problem. When the customer brings the problem, the expert can work. When the customer brings the answer, the expert is a clerk.

I feel the frustration in my chest. It is the same frustration I felt in the parking lot. It is the same frustration I feel when the levee breaks. I want to take the blue jar out of the bag. I want to show the woman the tallow. I want to explain the acid. I want to explain the barrier.

But the woman is already walking away. The woman is looking at her phone. The woman is looking at another advertisement. The advertisement is for a yellow bottle. The yellow bottle promises to fix the damage from the blue jar. The cycle continues.

Patience on the Shelf

The expert knows the end of the story. The expert has seen the story many times. The story always ends with dry skin. The story always ends with a broken barrier. The expert waits. The expert stays at the counter. The expert keeps the tallow on the shelf. The tallow is patient. The tallow does not need an advertisement. The tallow only needs a person who is tired of being wrong.

When you walk into a store, do not show the phone. Do not show the picture of the jar. Show your skin. Tell the person how the skin feels. Tell the person when the skin hurts. Ask the person what they know.

You are paying for the knowledge. You are not just paying for the jar. If you only pay for the jar, you are hiring a clerk. If you ask the question, you are hiring an expert. The expert can save the skin. The clerk can only fill the bag.

I went back to my car after work. The silver car was gone. The parking spot was empty. The man had his goal, and then he left. He did not know he took my spot. He did not know I was there.

The woman with the blue jar does not know I am an expert. She thinks I am the person who stands behind the wood. She thinks I am the person who takes the money. I am more than that. I am the person who knows why her face hurts. I am the person who has the balm. I am the person who understands the fat.

The cost is the money spent on the blue jar. The cost is the time wasted on the wrong answer. I want to save the woman time. I want to save the woman money. I want to save the skin. But the woman must want to be saved. The woman must stop prescribing the cure. The woman must start describing the pain.

We write the words in the guide so people can learn. We write about the tallow so people can understand. We do not want to be clerks. We want to be the people who stop the disaster. We want to be the people who fix the barrier.

The skin is a living thing. The skin is not a screen. The skin does not care about the label. The skin only cares about the lipids. The skin only cares about the balm. I put the tallow on my own hands. My hands are soft. My hands do not sting.

I watch the woman walk into the sun. I hope she comes back. I hope she brings a question next time. I will be here. I will have the tallow. I will not be a clerk. I will be the expert she needs.