My boys are wonderful, but they are also gross, and touch everything and lick some of it and then suck their lips or fingers or whatever. Guh-ross.
I was reading a hippy blog last year and found a solution: roasted root of dandelion tea. I found some at fred meyer and brewed it for the boys; it is apparently good for digestion, but it is also fantastic for ridding the skin on widdle faces of the redness of rashes (if not the rashes themselves?) and the redness from sucking or licking in dry, winter weather. It tastes a bit like coffee, in my opinion, but the boys are used to it now, and when I plonk a cup in front of them, they just drink it down. After 2 – 3 days, there is no red mustache on 6yo’s face; after 4-5 days, the rash on 7.5yo’s face is barely there at all.
If you, like me, don’t like your kids looking like hobos, I highly recommend getting some roasted root of dandelion tea at your earliest convenience. You’re welcome.