My daughter Marianne fought dry skin all her life. We saw many doctors and used a ton of lotions, creams and even prescription medicine. For a surprise birthday gift I took her to a weekend class where she learned the basics of lotion making. She returned home and began to experiment, using her own children (who are all blonde or red-haired with very fair skin and who also inherited the dry skin condition) as the "trial" for the lotions she made.  Finally, she achieved success, and we continue to make her successful recipe today -- one batch at a time in our kitchen. We add no water or alcohol; only good oils that we have found to work!