Eczema, Dermatitis, Psoriasis, and Cleaning Products
Here's a quote from one of our members about the link she found between the harsh chemicals in many household cleaning products and personal care items and her skin problems.....
I Suffered with eczema since 10 yrs. old. My problems with eczema are a big part of the reason I listened to someone talk about the harsh chemicals in cleaning products in the first place! For those of you who don't know what eczema is, let me enlighten you. It is a skin condition, often associated with allergies (yes, I have hay fever every spring -- allergic to all sorts of grass pollens and can't use the normal washing powders, fabric conditioners and moisturisers).
It manifests itself in different ways. Almost always it makes the skin itch. Trying to control yourself from scratching is MOST difficult. In the winter, I would experience very dry, itchy skin in patches. If I scratched, it would be very flaky. Eventually (if I scratched too much) it would begin to turn red and hurt. Other times, I'd have a patch, but the skin wouldn't turn dry. Instead, it would turn "weepy" -- moist to the touch at all times and always, always itching. YUCK! It is gross and very annoying! When I was 10, my parents took me to a dermatologist (a luxury after months of suffering and not getting the stuff to go away). The dermatologist gave me some prescription salve to put on my arms (only place affected). I was also given a long list of things to stay away from -- all soap except Ivory, all bath oils and bubble baths, warm baths were ok; hot baths or hot showers were off limits, don't sit in the grass or play in the grass, don't wear wool, etc.
The salve and the life changes helped, but the salve seemed to take the pigment out of my skin. I was left with large white splotches on my arms. Since I'm Caucasian and relatively pale anyway, the "bleached arms" weren't that big of a deal until summertime when part of my arms wouldn't tan at all!! My condition also seemed to get worse with stress. I began having some problems in school in the 5th grade, and that's when all this eczema started (the hay fever had started 3 years earlier). When I'd get anxious before a test, etc. the eczema would really flare up. The condition continued off and on for years. Sometimes I might go a whole year with no episodes; other times it would flare up every 3-4 months. When I heard about a company that provided chemical-freee cleaning products and special moisturisers I was 7 months pregnant with my 2nd child, my eczema was flaring up and I had long ago stopped using the salve.
My two-year-old had just been diagnosed with eczema and she wouldn't let me near her with the medicine the pediatrician had prescribed for her. She would scratch her little legs at night after she'd gone to sleep until they would bleed. I heard that there was something called Renew Problem Skin Lotion that was supposed to be good for eczema and I decided to try it for my daughter's sake. What did I have to lose? I'm happy to report that the Renew Problem Skin Lotion used once or twice per day TOTALLY cleared up my eczema and my daughter's eczema in less than a week! She would let me put it on her because it just looked like lotion -- not medicine, I guess.
Nothing had EVER worked that quickly on me before. That was 6 years ago. My daughter's eczema had never come back (and no, I don't use the Problem Skin Lotion all the time -- I keep it on hand for any sign of dry skin, but we don't use it exclusively and certainly not all the time).
I Suffered with eczema since 10 yrs. old. My problems with eczema are a big part of the reason I listened to someone talk about the harsh chemicals in cleaning products in the first place! For those of you who don't know what eczema is, let me enlighten you. It is a skin condition, often associated with allergies (yes, I have hay fever every spring -- allergic to all sorts of grass pollens and can't use the normal washing powders, fabric conditioners and moisturisers).
It manifests itself in different ways. Almost always it makes the skin itch. Trying to control yourself from scratching is MOST difficult. In the winter, I would experience very dry, itchy skin in patches. If I scratched, it would be very flaky. Eventually (if I scratched too much) it would begin to turn red and hurt. Other times, I'd have a patch, but the skin wouldn't turn dry. Instead, it would turn "weepy" -- moist to the touch at all times and always, always itching. YUCK! It is gross and very annoying! When I was 10, my parents took me to a dermatologist (a luxury after months of suffering and not getting the stuff to go away). The dermatologist gave me some prescription salve to put on my arms (only place affected). I was also given a long list of things to stay away from -- all soap except Ivory, all bath oils and bubble baths, warm baths were ok; hot baths or hot showers were off limits, don't sit in the grass or play in the grass, don't wear wool, etc.
The salve and the life changes helped, but the salve seemed to take the pigment out of my skin. I was left with large white splotches on my arms. Since I'm Caucasian and relatively pale anyway, the "bleached arms" weren't that big of a deal until summertime when part of my arms wouldn't tan at all!! My condition also seemed to get worse with stress. I began having some problems in school in the 5th grade, and that's when all this eczema started (the hay fever had started 3 years earlier). When I'd get anxious before a test, etc. the eczema would really flare up. The condition continued off and on for years. Sometimes I might go a whole year with no episodes; other times it would flare up every 3-4 months. When I heard about a company that provided chemical-freee cleaning products and special moisturisers I was 7 months pregnant with my 2nd child, my eczema was flaring up and I had long ago stopped using the salve.
My two-year-old had just been diagnosed with eczema and she wouldn't let me near her with the medicine the pediatrician had prescribed for her. She would scratch her little legs at night after she'd gone to sleep until they would bleed. I heard that there was something called Renew Problem Skin Lotion that was supposed to be good for eczema and I decided to try it for my daughter's sake. What did I have to lose? I'm happy to report that the Renew Problem Skin Lotion used once or twice per day TOTALLY cleared up my eczema and my daughter's eczema in less than a week! She would let me put it on her because it just looked like lotion -- not medicine, I guess.
Nothing had EVER worked that quickly on me before. That was 6 years ago. My daughter's eczema had never come back (and no, I don't use the Problem Skin Lotion all the time -- I keep it on hand for any sign of dry skin, but we don't use it exclusively and certainly not all the time).
