In your teenager years you suddenly get spots and blackheads on your face (and maybe on your chest and back). How does this actually happen? And what can you do about it?
In my previous blog I promised to bring you some Oats Do-it-yourself tips. Oatmeal contains lots of different active properties, making it very versatile. You’ll discover this if you search the internet; oatmeal is used for treating athlete’s foot, chicken pox, insect bites, itching, eczema, dry skin, allergic reactions, ichthyosis, sun burn and skin irritation from using Vitamin A Acid (research).
Kris Verburgh of ‘De Voedselzandloper’ can be proud of me: for years I have started my day with a bowl of porridge oats and almond milk. If I am to believe him, this will give me healthier veins, lower blood pressure, better metabolism and more energy. I do believe him, but I also enjoy it anyway. What many people don’t realise is that porridge oats have been used for centuries to treat skin problems. People suffering with eczema or burns would sit in a bath of colloidal oatmeal: the powder which is left after oats have been ground and refined. This relieves burning, itching and redness.
After an around the world trip with husband and kids (lucky me), I find myself sitting behind the computer once again. I couldn’t forget my work altogether on holiday though. Whether it was somewhere in the Jungle of Indonesia, the Australian Outback or a forgotten island in the South Pacific; there was nothing nicer than to quiz the locals about which ointments and plants they used to look after their skin. Just like Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I came home with piles of information but unfortunately, unlike Willy Wonka, I still haven’t found that “miracle remedy”! My children felt that they had. As after one of the locals had shown our children how to use the sap from the leaf of an Aloe Vera on a wound, no plant in the area was safe! If the Aloe Vera suddenly becomes an endangered plant I know nothing about it okay…
‘You’ll grow out of them!’, ‘it could be worse?’, ‘it’s a fact of life, you should be happy that you are a teenager!’: these are just a few reactions you may be met with if you’ve finally plucked up the courage to go to the Doctor about those dreadful spots.
There are all sorts of reasons for sensitive skin. Sometimes the cause is a condition that you can’t cure completely. Sometimes the reason is an allergy to an ingredient in your cosmetics.
Those warm rosy Dutch cheeks. Nice, until you get them yourself. It starts with a small burst vessel and before you know it, both cheeks are full of them. And if you are really unlucky, you get a red nose too. When you look in the mirror you immediately see the image of your mother, as she, too, suffered from them.
Last week my husband went on an annual trip with his “old” student friends. On his return (because, of course, we missed him so much…) the kids were waiting by the door to greet him with their banners, drawings, practiced dance routines, etc. When he eventually arrived home the children didn’t gave all their usual screams of joy. It was only our eldest, after a few minutes of silence, who dared to make the remark: “Papa you’re so red”. It turned out he’d spent a day on a sailing boat and hadn’t noticed anything due to the cold wind. Seriously burnt! After some harsh remarks (I write about the dangers of the sun daily, and this happens…) I did give him a few tips.
A burning, prickling, stinging skin. How distressing! And if you look in the mirror you can’t really notice anything. Sometimes this happens if you have just applied a new cream, and sometimes if you haven’t changed anything at all.
Cosmeceuticals and derma pharmaceuticals. They look like jumbled words that don’t really mean much. Yet the terminologies are used daily by specialists.
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