How can I soothe my skin when things don’t go to plan?

In my previous blogs on skin…

What are the pimples on my face really telling me?

Essential Oils and Skin Conditions – Eczema, Dermatitis and Psoriasis

I spoke about the inside of the body and how nutrition, organ function and gut health play the biggest part in how our skin behaves. This time I would like to make mention of another aspect – the irritants that can set it off even though the actual cause is from elsewhere.

These areas are mainly stress and chemicals that we are unknowingly using in a vast amount of our personal hygiene and cleaning products.

We can teach you more on these subjects in our workshops.  The  De-Stress and Relax Workshop  we teach how to deal with or reduce stress.  In the Sensational Skin and Hair Workshop you learn how to make your own skin care and personal hygiene products or the  Practical Workshop where you learn to make all your own totally natural cleaning products from scratch.

Once in an angry state, the skin can take a long time to heal – I have had instances where the merest contact with a commercial hand sanitiser or hand wash has caused my dermatitis to flare and it has taken months to heal completely.

The base I find best to soothe is our Hemp Crème Base as it creates a barrier over the skin – keeping the outside world away while the healing begins. I decant this into a 60 ml Jar and add the trusty Skin Pack.

Sometimes I need to tailor it by tweaking the mix with other oils like Spearmint to cool, Immortelle to soothe and heal, Cade for damaged skin, Tea Tree if there is infection or Violet Leaf to reduce inflammation. I mix this in what is termed a 2-1 ratio, 60 ml of base to 30 drops in total of essential oils. I generally stop at a maximum of 7 oils as taught by Jennifer Jefferies (the author of our books). I apply this multiple times a day initially until it settles and then continue as needed until the skin heals properly.

This same recipe can be used equally well for Psoriasis and Eczema as above, or in the Shampoo, Conditioner, Shower Gel, Body Lotion bases.

Having your hands immersed in water will lengthen the healing time so avoid washing dishes, particularly if commercial detergents are in use. Even the chemicals in the water itself can irritate angry skin so make your time in water is less if possible.  If you are having a bath to soothe really angry and itchy skin then grab a cup of full cream milk, a good squirt of Comfrey Oil to coat the skin, along with 20-30 drops of your chosen oils. This will leave your skin feeling cool, soft and nourished.

In our book Amazing Scents, page 113 offers you some other recipe options.