At the onset of a lot of change in my life; new job, new guy, new attitude, I was graced with a new skin condition. Don’t cringe too much, I admit that it isn’t as bad as it sounds but stressful and difficult to cure? Yes. I’ve been battling a lot of personal stress these past few months but as I began to turn over a new leaf and start many exciting things my stress manifested itself into a full blown skin condition. This particular condition is called perioral dermatitis. The photos of the “rash” are pretty scary, and NO, mine didn’t look that bad, but it felt horrible. The prickly sensation on my face that turned into a full blow chemical burn feeling was plaguing me at work, happy hour, and yes on a date or two. As I mentioned earlier, I’m super lucky that my “rash” wasn’t as bad so many wouldn’t notice the pain and discomfort I was feeling.
I had to act quickly. I didn’t want to go the antibiotic route, mostly because of finances, time, and energy. Thus, I knew I’d have to get crafty with beating this condition. Luckily, there was a lot of information online about natural products I could take to ease my pain and fix my face. Little did I know how this skin condition would change my whole perspective on the products I use and the food I eat.
To combat this skin condition I started taking Zinc, Claritin (I’m supposed to take my allergy medicine as the seasons change but I admit that I often forget), Coconut oil, Tea Tree oil, and drinking water like crazy. I also changed all of my soaps and cleaned my makeup brushes (with tea tree oil). I found out the the condition was probably brought on by a combination of stress, steroid cream usage (I can get eczema), and using products with SLSs. What is SLS? Check out this article. Read this article. Feel free to go here too. As you’ve read in these three articles, SLSs are found in a lot of products thus they are difficult to avoid. But, thanks to places like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Yes! Organic Market it isn’t too difficult to find organic skincare and home products.
What I bought:
1. Kinder to Skin Tea Tree Oil
2. Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil
3. Jason Vitamin E Oil
4. Whole Foods Zinc Supplement
5. Avalon Organics Lavender Body Wash
6. Hair: Organix Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum
Regimen:
- Wash face in the morning and evening with the lavender soap
- Apply the Tea tree oil
- Apply the vitamin e oil to the “dry/rough spots”
- Apply the coconut oil generously to the entire face
- Repeat 2x every day *even after the rash is gone*
- Wash all your makeup brushes with the tea tree oil
I’ve never been a picky eater or health food nut. Yes I’ll buy organic veggies and fruits from time to time, but it isn’t because of some inner health nut syndrome inside of me. Now that might be changing a little. Think of all the harsh chemicals we willingly introduce ourselves to without knowing their true effects? From the tap water we drink to the meat we eat, do we ever take a close look at the ingredients on the back? I’m not the most healthy eater and my happy hour/brunch schedule has introduced a lot of alcohol into my diet (it’s true). Unfortunately I have neglected to balance my diet out and find a proper eating regimen. As I begin to age (we all have to at some point), my diet needs to become more of a priority. I’ve always made time for exercise but have slacked on the nutrition side of things. 2013 is going to be a great year for me and a rash around my mouth is the last thing that is going to get me down.
This bout with perioral dermatitis will impact me for the rest of my life. It is likely to reoccur and I’ve always had sensitive skin. So, as I begin to start these new ventures managing my stress and taking care of myself is paramount.
