I've mentioned my suffering for eczema before on my blog and I know I'm not alone when I say, I'm an adult with eczema.
For those's who are lucky enough to be blessed with normal skin, I'm going to ramble about how frustrating it can be.
So for around 6 years!! I've had to deal with this skin condition, I've had it as a child which then went away and came back in my late teens. Winter is a terrible time for any dry skin as it's a fighting battle with constant temperature changes.
Think about what it feels like when you get an itch, now remember how nice it is when you scratch that itch and then it's gone. Okay, imagine having a constant itching feeling, yeah you can distract the mind from it, but it's still always there. When you go to scratch this itch, it's just the best feeling in the world as it gives you that sense of relief for maybe a few minutes until you start to experience the hot burning, bumpy flared up skin which then has left me with bleeding, red raw skin and a wave of frustration as I just can't cope with how stressful this whole cycle is. So that's been my life for 6 years!
I haven't got rid of my eczema but I have managed to control/reduce these nasty flare ups and I'd like to share my tips that I've found helpful over the years.
I do research on how to get rid of eczema and I got sick of trying so many creams which is going nowhere that I decided to change things in my lifestyle, diet and hygiene products.
So a while back I read an amazing post from London Beauty Queen about her boyfriend's eczema which you can read here about how he started taking cod liver oil tablets and within a few months it started to clear up. I started to take cod liver oil tablets to see if it made a difference and after a few months things did improve but not to the extent that it made it go away, but it's worth a try.
Alpro Soya Milk
I have always my whole life drank semi-skimmed cow's milk (green top), but seeing people cut out dairy and how it's improved their skin amazed me this is a good top for acne. I simply cannot cut dairy out my life completely because I love it too much so I decided to switch my milk, that way I can still enjoy my tea and cereals but see if my skin benefits using Alpro Soya milk. At first, I hated the taste but I knew that was something I needed to get used to.
Honestly, I didn't notice a massive difference but that could be partly from the fact I was still eating cheese, butter, and yoghurts but I'm still not experiencing flare ups and that's good for me.
I think Sam got sick of seeing me stressing out that much over my flare ups which have brought me to tears before, he decided to help out with the research and found that most shower gels contain the ingredient (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) this chemical is what makes them lather up and you'd be surprised how often this ingredient is used in products even the ones that claim to be all natural and good.
So it's bloody hard to find a shower gel that's SLS free but I recently discovered there are alternative chemicals which are used to make it lather for a more gentle wash. I've been using the Dr Organic Aloe Vera Body Wash £5.56 from Holland & Barretts. I've been using this combined with coldish showers, it's much easier in summer but I can't do this now we are approaching the colder weather, I noticed from first use that I didn't experience tight dry skin when I got out the shower. I've now moved on to using soaps as these contain no SLS, I'd recommend The Body Shop & Lush.
Hydrocortisone 1% Cream
Desperate times call for desperate measures and that's exactly what happened, I only turn to this when I'm losing the will to live with my eczema, you get to a point when you've tried everything and nothings helping so that's why this steriod cream which you can buy from the chemist is the best thing ever to calming down your red raging flare ups. You can get a stronger one from prescription if needed and this is only a short term thing as it can cause your skin to thin overtime.
After using my steroid cream you can't just stop using moisturiser because it looks like the eczema has disappeared well not for me as it came back within 2-3 weeks so this Aveeno Skin Relief Moisturising Lotion I'm using and I've mentioned it before on my blog, I've been literally applying this to my inner arm crease and neck by the hour or as much as I can as this bottle goes everywhere with me and it really has helped loads as it's brought the redness down which I used to be self conscious about. This cream has natural ingredients including oats, shea butter and 24hr moisture.
I hope anyone who reads this post comes away with something new to try as I know how much we all wish for eczema to just disappear from our lives. If you're interested in other products I've tried then click here.
Let me know if you have any tips?
